"I don't paint things. I only paint the difference between things." -- Henri Matisse

I have completed one six week watercolor class.  The last session was a breakthrough for me, and I was able to create or finish three pieces that my instructor felt were worth framing.  I offered Leroy his choice as a birthday present, and he picked the one  shown below.  Later, he mentioned that he would really like to have all three.

So I framed the three and hung them in the kitchen in a kind of mini-gallery.  It may be that we'll get tired of looking at them, or that my style of painting will evolve over time -- in which case I can either add more framed watercolors to the wall, or use these frames, standard for watercolor paper, to display newer work.

One thing I know for sure:  I am never bored when trying to paint.  Some may see it as arrogant to frame anything at this early stage of learning how to paint.  Others may suggest that there is little or no sign that I am taking a course in the Volunteer Park Conservatory in the 12-15 watercolors that I did paint during the course. I don't really care what anyone thinks.  I've got a lot to learn and hope that at some point in the future I will actually be able to paint what I see.  In the meantime, Matisse's quote seems appropriate.  I'm signed up for another six weeks of classes at the conservatory. 

Never forgotten.

Birthday dinner, July 13.  Diana and her oldest son, Charles

We arrived at the University of Washington in 1977, the same year that Hazard and Diana Adams arrived from the University of California, Irvine.  As colleagues, Hazard and Leroy went on to edit and update several collections of critical theory; and Diana and I became fast friends.   She read more than I ever could, and was deeply knowledgeable on culture, politics, travel, gardening and history. We celebrated our four birthdays with dinners each of those years, including this past July.

She died on September 6th. 

Her influence and ideas live on in all of us. 

Deep in the past

I formally started keeping journals in 1981, but had actually kept smaller versions earlier to chronicle things like our move across the country from Rochester to Seattle in 1977. 

I am not sure whether to call these journals or diaries.  In reading back through them, I see how useful they were for me to solve problems, especially at crucial times in the evolution of my first company, Delphi Computers. 

I do wish that I had included last names on everyone I wrote about, and that (at times) my handwriting had been more intelligible.  I see from looking back this far that there are patterns I identified that become clearer now.  The reading and organizing of the journals will provoke some additional changes in my life as I move forward.