Stepping Stones

For awhile I was painting on this oblong rough-textured watercolor paper.  I bought it, I remember, at a big sale, when all the more typical paper selections had sold out.  The paper ended up working so nicely that I used it all up and have been looking for more.

This was painted at the Self-Realization Fellowship International Headquarters.  It is a beautiful peaceful little chip of Los Angeles, with gardens in which to quietly reflect.  It is so peaceful that watercolor painting seems almost disruptive.  But who cares?

There are bonsai trees with large weights on the branches.  There are benches in the shade.  There are stepping stones.  Stepping stones are like life; at least they are more like life than stairs or pathways.

I was trying to think what might be the opposite of self-realization.  I came up with self-befuddlement.  I almost used that for the title of the post, but finally decided that might reveal too much about my feelings.
I hope people make their way back to my neglected blog.  I could use somebody to talk to.  

Building Momentum

This is a view painted from one of the courtyards at Union Station.  Union Station is one of my favorite buildings in Los Angeles, and I believe I'm not alone in that.  It shows up in movies and television shows very regularly.  Union Station images used to show up on album covers when album covers were a thing.  With a longing more theoretical than real, I used to want to be an artist of album covers.  That desire has been replaced by a desire to paint pictures for bottles and cartons of microbrewed beers.