Affinity

Do you think it's true that you make better art when you have an affinity for the subject matter? That people have a particular aptitude, say, for still life, landscape, figure art, and struggle with other subjects? Or does one talent eventually lead to another...but only if you branch out and try them?

I haven't done much in the way of landscape--most of my paintings and drawings are "set pieces" wherein I set out some objects on a table and draw from life--a book, a candlestick, some lemons...so when I discovered that Every Day in February was a travelogue, with a painting "from" each location to which we virtually travel, I was both reluctant and excited.

Also, there are some countries on the list of "Every Day in February" to which I have no desire to go, no particular curiosity to discover more about them. Then there are others that I think of as part of my eventual fate--one of the many dreams that we start out with in our youth:

"I'd like to be a book editor and live in an apartment at the heart of New York City."

"I'd like to have a farm in the Cotswolds and raise horses."

"I'd like to be an architect with an office right on the boardwalk in Venice Beach, and roller skate to work."

"I'd like to learn French and become a pastry chef in Paris."

"I'd like to live on the water somewhere and have a little boat to potter about in."

The countries that have figured especially large in my daydreams (apart from various places in the USA) are Greece, France, and Ireland. How fortunate, therefore, that when I came (late) to the February party, two of my first three drawings were set in the lands of my affinity!

While there are many aspects to Ireland (small villages, bustling towns, countryside, ocean cliffs), here is one wherein we inhabit a tiny cob and thatch cottage at the edge of a lake, with a handy rowboat tied up nearby.

Drawn with LePen, painted with watercolor.