Retreat land just before spring growth

(C) 2015 Dale DiMauro

This is a little watercolor I did at the end of winter before spring came on. In the winter I often walk through the woods as the Brattleboro Retreat land is only a block from our house. When I come out of the woods and into the upper field, there is this sweeping view of the distant hills and sky, which I find captivating. Through the seasons I have seen deer, red-tailed hawks, ruffled grouse, turkey vultures, and other creatures exploring this area with me.

However, the image is not cropped right. After nearly sixty posts this is one of the frustrations of using the software provided by iPhoto and Blogger. Sometimes the camera image transfers from my memory card to the blog sideways! I use the edit mode to rotate the image and on occasion it still transfers sideways. My other frustration with Blogger is that once an image is transferred, I am not able to crop it! So very frustrating! 

I am making progress but this is an example where to keep a blog going requires skills far beyond painting. Other skills you need to have or develop along the way include: drawing, photography, graphic design, writing, editing, social media and technical skills. Most of the time I have an image I am ready to upload and the post develops rapidly. However, if I do not have an image taken and taken in natural light then I have to scramble to come up with something.