The park in July

To come to terms with the heat of the Texas, I have been sneaking away during my lunch hour and going to a park nearby.  The first day I went, there was only one other car parked in the parking lot which belonged to a young mother that left a few minutes after I arrived. It was was little eerie knowing that I was totally alone in the park, in the mddle of the day.  I sat at a picnic table beneath a large oak tree that provides plenty of shade and decided to paint a small water color of the trees and the grass. (I always carry around my sketchbook and a small set of traveling paints). I didn't finish the painting that day, but I went back to the park a couple of days later and finished. I decided to write a quote on the back by Andy Warhol "Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." Then I signed and dated the front. As I walked towrds my car I casually set it on a differnet picnic table and put a rock on in it so it wouldn't blow away. I left it there. Maybe when someone finds it, they will either appreciate it or throw it away.

Today I went back to the park, the painting from the day before was gone. I sat down at the same picnic table under the tree. This time I painted some flowers that were a bright orange. They were from a flowering ivy that had wrapped itself up the large oak tree and the flowers were protected by the shade of the leaves. When I finished this little painting, the quote I wrote on the back was from Dalai Lama " There are only two day out of the year that nothing can be done. One is called yesterday and the other is called tomorrow. So today is the right day to love, believe, do, and mostly live."  I signed and dated the front, and again, casually placed it on a picnic table and put a rock on it as I walked towards my car.  I guess I should take pictures of the little paintings before I leave them there.

It's interesting that while I am painting in the park I don't feel the heat. Also the other days that I had gone to the park, bedsides that first day, there were people there having lunch, and kids were playing on the playground. It was actually nice to be outside.

On another note, for the last month I have been working on my new website. I had taken the old one down a few years back feeling that it was stagnant and I wasn't producing enough art at the time to keep it fresh.  Now that I am working on more art I felt it was time to to create a new website. So check it out dritaharris.com .