Our Occitanie View

Our view from our apartment in Palavas-les-flots, Occitanie (that's in France!)

And my favorite view, Anywhere!

Lisbon Sunrise - Plus!

Lisbon Sunrise - Plus!

We flew into Lisbon from Atlanta, then NYC, and we knew we had one more leg to get us to Toulouse - yep, we're dragging!

But this time, I had a window seat! As we left Lisbon, the sun was rising, and we tilted over the Atlantic and the enormous Rio Tajo

Then we crossed the Pyrenees

We landed, collected All FOUR (YAY!) of our suitcases, rented our car, drove to our hotel, and saw this interesting sculpture on our way to dinner

Oh The Agony!

Oh The Agony!

We're sitting in our seats on the first of three legs for our flight to France! Check! But getting here was total Agony - do you see a rant coming? ;-)

We booked through TAP, with our first leg via United from Atlanta to Newark (then on to Lisbon, then Toulouse). When we got our tickets (way back in November), we thought we would probably take 2 checked bags each, but we weren't positive. So we checked to make sure that we could buy that extra bag once we knew, and left it at that. Well, the problems started when we tried to do that via the TAP website (it is one of the worst sites I have ever seen!). We couldn't get to a page that let us do anything, not even check in. OK - we called United, and they said no problem; we could pay at the airport, and all bags would go through to Toulouse (a little extra $$). Hmmm

We got to the Atlanta airport plenty early (8:30 for our 11:00 flight), and started to check in. And we couldn't add bags! We got "help" that amounted to nothing. We called TAP, and after 20 minutes on hold, got disconnected. We called again. Meanwhile, the United agents are saying they can't do anything; rules are automatically applied. We now have only 15 minutes left to check bags, and we're still on hold with TAP. We start rearranging stuff so that we can check one bag each and leave 2 behind (luckily,  Rick's sister had helped us with the baggage train, and was waiting to see what would happen). FINALLY, we get through - down to the wire, the TAP agent talks to the United agent, and they do a manual override. A MANUAL OVERRIDE! Over an HOUR and a HALF later! After an HOUR and a HALF of shaking their heads! We rush to repack, weigh, pay for, and tag our bags - and run (OK, fast-walk) to our gate. We had some luck here - TSA pre checked, and the close terminal (no train ride)!

All I can say is Those Bags Better Meet Us in France!

Florida and Atlanta

Florida and Atlanta

We had a lovely visit with family in Atlanta and Tallahassee before leaving for France. Rick's sister and niece took us to Agatha's A Taste of Mystery (http://agathas.com), where Rick played the perfect role: Captain Spork, channeling Peter Lorre - see it on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/SEX0FpVtCJU

We drove to Tallahassee to visit both of Rick's nephews and their other halves - we packed in a whole lotta games and I got to exchange recipes and authors!

Nephew Brandon took us on a tour of Florida State University, where he is a member of the coaching / training staff

It kills me that we didn't get a single picture of those game nights!

Need Rain?

Need rain? Just have us visit!

We left Albuquerque in the rain, drove through Arizona and Southern California in a sleet storm, and brought days and days of rain to Northern California. Then, Atlanta somehow knew we were coming - rain! We snuck up on Florida - it wasted a tornado before we got there, and we had a couple of warm, sunny days. We left in the rain :-)

And what do you suppose awaits us in France? Yep, a week of rain =-O

Good-byes

We said good-bye to our car, with its beautiful New Mexico license plate:

And we've meandered around the yard, as one does:

And played Pinochle games - the folks took pity on me:

Most of all, we're hugging a lot!

(See what happens when Dad takes the picture? He's not *in* it!!)

La Mer

La Mer - in this case, the Mediterranean, looking East from Palavas-les-flots, at sunset.

I wanted to try something very different, and this was it - very soft and subtle changes of color, lots of variation in the sea, but a gentle, fairly flat surface. I made more studies of this than ever - so many that I think I was a little tired of it by the time I got to the canvas! But I learned a lot, and kept track of my tries - what worked and what didn't.

~~~ My summary ~~~
Mediterranean Sea, Palavas-les-Flots
October, 2015

acrylic
1 - sky: light blue permanent + ultramarine blue (red shade)
2 - sky: base of #1, dry, then yellow + white, sponge then dry brushed
3 - sky: base of #1 as wash, dry, quinacridone magenta (slow dry) + titanium white
3a - horizon line: dry brush #3 base, dry, then #5 wash, and dry cloth scrub
4 - far sea: light blue permanent + titanium white
4a --- boat: touch of #4 + titanium white
5 - near sea:  light blue permanent + prussian blue
6 - waves: #5, #4, #4 thinned w/ water, titanium white dry brushed, #5 + payne's gray
7 - land spit, boat shadow:  payne's gray wash (not burnt umber +)

Much of this doesn't work well
- 2 - at least it's not green
- pink/magenta is too strong
- colors, shades are not subtle, too strong
- sponging on thick paint wasn't subtle

I like (but didn't do for final canvas)
- the thicker paint/blobs for the sea and waves
- a rough mix (palette knife) of multiple hues for streaks
- very light magenta wash over sea (best over waves, not as good over distant sea)

Techniques for final canvas:
- sky stronger at top, wash downward, remove upward, then paper towel dab
--- make sure no streaks! Dabbing helps reduce this; used new brush
--- when almost dry, use barely damp brush to smooth out sky dabs
- wash lemon yellow over faint blue (this did not look green!), dab
- wash magenta over faint blue, dab
- far sea is wash over blue wash, almost all white, touch of lt blue
- paint spit and underwater contours before waves/sea
- hint of land spit
- wash white over sky to brighten one side
- wash blue over sky to soften other side
- far sea doesn't look like sea; add more wave detail than in original
- boat isn't clear enough; add more detail and a wake

With gesso on paper:
--- wash still works, but doesn't soak in as much (careful of drips!)
--- washes need more paint; let dry slightly before dabbing off

To try on a different version:
- posterized version, not subtle, strong stripes; slashes for boat
- wash yellow and pink, then spray w/ water for droplet effect or blot off w/ sponge
- paint sea last; keep thick streaky paint for it
- practice boat, shadow, try #6
- no boat, no spit - or just a hint
- horizon line - needs to be subtle
- other edges - transitions in sky, sea need to be softer - try dabbing
- check on acrylic thinners good for canvas (just use water)

Pink Perfection

A nice welcome home: a vase of Pink Perfection camellias!

These are from my parents' garden, started by my Great-Aunt Rachel - good memories...

Adios, New Mexico!

December 30, with the car packed to the gills, we left Albuquerque. Our 3-day drive to Northern California started just before noon - whew!

At our first real pit stop, I caught this view of snowy Mt. Taylor

We crossed into Arizona for a beautiful sunset

The next day, we were in California with a storm headed our way