Jocelyn Curry

Art & Joie de Vivre

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As a retired lettering artist and illustrator, I still create a lot of visuals and have fun doing it. My website is a place I can post and share them from my Shoreline, Washington studio in my home.

A Day Reserved for Painting

November 23, 2025

Did I need a deep plunge into a new blog site, right when such a time-consuming challenge really didn’t fit into my crowded calendar? The answer, no surprise, is “no” but at least I was able to navigate the mind-befuddling process of transferring the data from my old platform to this new, AI-enhanced version of good ol’ WordPress. My previous experience of working on good ol’ WordPress wasn’t stellar, so I’m hoping to improve my relationship with it asap. So far I have been able to upload my seasonally appropriate squash painting! But now, HOW do I get rid of “Hello World!” which was placed there by Good Ol. I’m not sure about this, but I think Good Ol’s default tips will stay on this, my First Post until I figure out how to discretely remove them without being told “This is not a good idea.” At least I got my squash up on this new site for your viewing pleasure! Happy Thanksgiving :-).

Daily life responsibilities tend to sweep us along and we often never get around to doing things that nurture our creative selves. To remedy this tendency, my friend Claire and I set up our second date to paint together last week. She paints with watercolor, I with oils (these days). We commit to a 10 AM-4 PM span of time, which includes a potluck lunch. Here are a few photos documenting our seasonally-themed still life painting day in my greenhouse:

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Early in the day, we both launch into preliminary work. My small painting is seen on the left as an underpainting done in burnt sienna. Claire works on watercolor studies on the right. Our still life glows in the distance.
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Claire's first work: on top, the rosemary pot is studied on a single page. Below was Claire's first take of the left side of the still life. Although Claire wasn't happy with this painting, the colors are beautiful.
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As a final painting, Claire isolated the rosemary pot and added a turtle!

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Here you can see that my painting now has color added as I work from dark to light values. Claire is seen studying her rosemary pot as she paints it.

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My finished painting. After Claire left the "studio" I added a pair of soiled fuchsia gardening gloves to the still life. It just looked like it needed something more. Eventually I'll sign the painting on the right, and then maybe it will be balanced. I hope.

 

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