:: Paroles de Migwetch ::

Si la vie était dure je jure
que je ne l’ai jamais su
Je n’ai de regret que celui de mon âge
et ce jeune cœur de moi est intact
Le mal qu’on m’a fait est écrit dans le sable
et le bien est gravé dans le roc
Souffle ce vent de haine
ma peau est feuille de chêne
Je suis si seule parfois
parfois si souvent
souvent toujours
Je ne serai plus l’architecte des nuages
ni de vos existences
Vos beaux yeux noirs déposés sur mon visage
comme une récompense
J’irai rejoindre sous la feuille
mon bien-aimé
si doux celui
qu’un jour m’a dit
Pour toute la vie
— Richard Desjardins, partie de la chanson Paroles de Migwetch

I went to visit my 92 year old Mom today and as usual she was in very good spirits. She seems to have adjusted very well to her new residence on Dufferin Street in Valleyfield and enjoys the company of her girlfriends. She keeps telling me that she has a 19-year old boyfriend — always laughing out loud as she tells me… and I almost faint every time that she says so! Of course this is a joke! This painting is on the backstreet to where I lived for 9 years with my young husband… very good memories of those days gone by…

When I scan my paintings it (Epson) seems to dull the colours a bit and I always want to have the scan look as much as possible to the real painting. So the steps that I take in Photoshop are the following.
a) I scan at 300 dpi for my high resolution image;
b) I then do –> auto tone –>auto contrast –> auto color” which gives me good results, even though the colours become too vibrant
c) I then open –> Layer –> New adjustment layer –> Levels and then I move the mid-adjustment gamma to 1.15 instead of the mid value of 1.0
d) I also open –> Layer –> Color Balance- -> where I put the yellow slider to +0.15 and the red slider to +0.15. This combination seems to work well for most paintings that I do, except for the black and white ones of course.
d) I save my image –>international date.paint subject.myname.jpg
e) I flatten the image and then resize the resolution to 100 dpi;
f) I save again adding –>loRes add the end of the filename and this is the one that I post.

I am listening to the music of Rectify on Spotify, a TV show that still resonates with me!

Paper: Travelogue Sketchbook 8″x8″ #22
Watercolours: DS Q. Gold, DS Pyrrol Crimson, MG Ultramarine, DS Raw Sienna, WN Burnt Sienna
Fountain Pen: Platinum Carbon Desk
Ink: Noodlers Lexington Grey
Reference photograph taken in Valleyfield