Where I Stand Sunday

Again, we walked our asses off, but saw some cool things. This is where I stand with my daughter (tennis shoe) and the tip of the stroller showing my granddaughters feet inside the cover (cause it's cold and windy here) and me standing on the platform of the subway station to go to Manhattan, to the Guggenheim Museum.
We saw Cai Guo-Qiang, "I Want to Believe". A portion of his work is on very large papers or panels where he paints by igniting gunpowder. I know, you say what is so cool about that? The symbolism and connections and disconnections with the East and the West transforms your mindset into another dimension while viewing his works. BTW go to Guggenheim Museum and look at the exhibit there.
My very favorite part of the exhibit was called "Head On". Since no photos were allowed, I took one from the ground floor starting up the first rotund before the "sign" appeared. A pack of 99 life-sized wolves gallop toward a transparent glass wall only to collide head on into an unyielding barrier.

For the artist, wolves possess ferocity and courage and achieve heroism through their collective unity - although in this case their cohesion leads to their ultimate downfall. It addresses human fallibility of following any collective ideology too blindly and society's fate to repeat mistakes unthinkingly. (There - I copied that right off the magnet set I bought of "Head On".) Each wolf has a different posture and as you approach the glass, their speed - body movement - increased. It's truly amazing.
Scarlett held up well, she is amazing too!
Manhattan in the springtime is beautiful! So many tulips and pansies!

These are called "Cheerful" daffodils.

Greetings from the Big Apple

Soakin' up the granddaughter time. It goes fast! We have been around town. Above is a pic of a food stand. I liked it because it advertised "Patties". Ha! I am taking lots of photos. I can see why Karin Jurick likes to do "peoplescapes". They are interesting when you are in this huge city.
Check back for Where I Stand Sunday. I have figured out how to use my camera on the Mac.

Where I Stand Sunday

Sorry, no photo, camera is charging. Getting ready to go see my kids in NYC. Be back in 10 days. It's always an art trip, too! Don't know if I will blog during that time or not. We'll be pretty busy. I have an 8 month old granddaughter, who is hitting milestones everyday, to play with!
So, I am not standing this morning, I am running. Ha!

Tiger Swallowtail

"Tiger Swallowtail" - matted size 16" x 20", pastel on Strathmore pastel paper


I must say - doing these last two - butterflies - has been a lot of fun! I love the colors and the shapes I find in their wings. The translucent appearance is also tricky.
This pastel paper is so thin. I will have to store it very soon in the file I created for thin paper pieces of art, to keep them from buckling once it turns humid. I am thinking of using spray adhesive and mounting it to a board. (I never have a lot of luck with that, but keep trying.) And gee...if the wind would ever stop, I could probably do "just that" outside. They say it has been about 25 - 35 MPH, but I think some gusts are about 50 mph. Of all the weather we have, this is the one I just loathe. Don't mean to complain...but give us a break!
Oh ya, the credit for the photo goes to my friend, once again!
$150.00, unframed
Free shipping and handling

A Painting for Today

"Great Mormon Butterfly (male)" - 8" x 10" pastel on pastelbord.

SOLD

Today is less windy than other days.
Now we have a mole or some critter 'digging in' close to the dog enclosure and the wiener dogs are going nuts! I have never seen such digging by dogs. They almost have the basement door dug up! LOL.
I finished the above pastel butterfly today. My friend gave me the OK to use his photo that he shot at the Denver Butterfly Pavilion. It has taken me about a half a day to find it's identity on the internet, but by golly, I think I found it! (If any butterfly experts out there can correct the name, please do.) I was attracted to it's beauty! It's done on that great pastelbord (that's the spelling) by Ampersand. I found out though, it only takes so much pastel, before it becomes unforgiving. There are many layers of pastel on this one.

A Painting for Today

"Calves, West of Oak Creek" - image size 4" x 7", matted size 9" x 12", pastel on Wallis sanded paper
$90.00, unframed
Free shipping and handling

Here I go again - 2 blog postings in one day. I really enjoy doing animals. I spent my early career almost being exclusive to animals, wild and otherwise. Watching the cows across the road is always interesting. They are very different animals. True, they are skiddish and know when the feed truck is coming, but I watch them at other times, and I think they aren't as dumb as they say, at least that's what I like to believe.

BTW, my friend Jan, is a strong believer in decorating your own house in your paintings. I often leave them out in the studio, there are so many lately, but yesterday, I framed a bunch and made an arrangement of them to 'appreciate' when you walk in the back door.

Where I Stand Sunday

I checked my calendar/journal from last year - WiShFuL thinking
The temps in April were freezing - WiShFuL thinking
The snow flew near Easter time - WiShFuL thinking
The strong wind whips my mind right out of my head - WiShFuL thinking
The grass greens and grows - the tree buds are but tiny pimples on branches - WiShFuL thinking
Mice invade the studio and traps are set to stop their advance - WiShFuL thinking
What's that? The wind is not blowing a gale this morning?
I can wear my flipflops today?? - WiShFuL thinking......

"Where I Stand Sunday" is posted weekly. It helps chronicle the "journey". Too often we take for granted where we stand and where we are involved. If you would like to join in on your blog, please leave a comment below with your blog address and we will note it in our sidebar! Thanks for looking!

A Look Down Ticky Road

When we moved in, I just had to give names to certain areas of our property so we could know what area we were referring to. Each time we went down this road/path we would get "ticks" on us. It was "tick" season. It's inevitable! Ticky Road looks wonderful in the fall, right now, it leaves a little for the imagination - since it is still in "dead" mode for the trees here, so I got out a photo and did a pastel of it.

The Last Lecture

Don't know if you watched this special the other night, but it was very thought provoking. It was called "The Last Lecture" and was about Randy Pausch who is a Carnegie Mellon University professor who has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He gave a "last speech" and has written a book with the question, "What wisdom would you impart to the world if you knew it was your last chance?"
I am going to mention his umbrella topics and suggestions here:
1.) "Always have fun."
2.) "Dream big."
3.) "Ask for what you want."
4.) "Dare to take a risk."
5.) "Look for the best in everybody."
6.) "Make time for what matters."
7.) "Let kids be themselves."
I am thinking of posting these somewhere near to my easel and thinking about them daily. Can you imagine what a better place this world would be if each of us believed in and practiced some of his suggestions?

As a retired educator, I especially focus on the last one. I remember many, many parents who had extreme dreams for their children, so extreme that I could see that their lives were driven by these expectations. Some wanted 'such good' to happen and many would "live their own lives - through their kids successes". As Pausch says, "My job is to help my kids foster a joy for life and develop the tools to fulfill their own wishes." Don't forget that - it creates a better pathway for your children! Anyway, it was a moving Diane Sawyer special.

I am working on a landscape in pastel. Gotta get out to the studio. The wind may blow me away on my way there...

Soon to be Gallery

Within this year, we will be opening the gallery portion of "Studio 165" in Lebanon, Kansas - barring any unforeseen difficulties. Our little house - in the small farming community needs a purpose. We bought it in 2005. We began to make it into a liveable house, then got our wish on the farmstead, so now, we will be finishing it to be a showplace for art...a place to further "self promote".

Just more work to be done, but it is needed. It's just sitting there. Cute? Isn't it? It was built in the turn the century (that's 1904) and was once a Methodist parsonage. The house design is called an American Four Square. We are making plans for it's revival as I write.
BTW - it's one block off the main drag.

The Gentlemen's Club

"The Gentlemen's Club" - pastel on Strathmore, 11" x 14" matted

See, I took those great animal photos yesterday and just had to play around a little with a few of the roosters. Gentlemen? They aren't!
It is a quick one, done in pastel on Strathmore. I am getting so I don't enjoy using pastel papers with "tooth". I am just too accustomed to Wallis sanded pastel paper.

Where I Stand Sunday

Today I stand in the "south acres". The ground has been freshly "disked". We are prepping the ground for a 'rockin' cornfield this year. Gonna find ways to keep the deer out and we have an idea for some recycled irrigation. I also went to see a badger hole that hubster had filled in that was right at the corner of our field. It has stayed covered for two days now, so it could have been the badger's backdoor. We think we know where he lives. Our dachshund Hasty Herman, found his den once before. It is in the side of a hill under some tree roots. We don't let him go there anymore. That would be devastating.

Then, I walked around our property. It's nice to be able to step off the path and walk into the woods or the 'wild' without mud or snow or "ticks". I am sure the latter will arrive soon, it's getting warmer every day.
Here is an old oil can I drug out of the "pushed over" farm items from the people who farmsteaded this place.

It's very cool. There are several other interesting things underneath the fallen trees that spark my interest.
Then I went to my neighbors and photographed some of the farm animals. I love watching them. The roosters are now kept out of the hen house. They are too mean.

Four Roosters - on the outside looking in!

The cows are all out to pasture so couldn't photo them right now and the horse was eating breakfast.

Doc - the horse.

But Jasmine's little calico cat friend was there. He is such a little cutie. Then I saw some feral cats that I hadn't seen before. There will be kittens soon according to one's very plump tummy. I have so many photos on my disk, I better clear it off onto a CD today. I want things to green up so the photos won't be so drab. Come on Spring! We're waiting, but not as patiently as before.

"Where I Stand Sunday" is posted weekly. It helps chronicle the "journey". Too often we take for granted where we stand and where we are involved. Used as a "vehicle" for journaling and a glance at "human geography", I; along with several others; note this day, in this way. I invite you to check "them" out, their blog addresses are in the sidebar to the right, to compare and contrast the human events of Sunday in different parts of the country and maybe the globe! If you would like to join in please leave a comment below with your blog address and we will note it in our sidebar! Thanks for looking!

"Gimme Shelter"

"Gimme Shelter" - 8" x 10" oil on canvasboard
See this one at Etsy.
There! I think I did 5 paintings this week...all 'still life's' in the shadowbox. This one came out a little more realistic than the rest. It may have something to do with the new tunes I can listen to?
I want to go with something bigger now, but what did I do? Toned a new "little" canvas. These small ones are habit forming. 'A painting a day' is a piece of cake at this size.
Tomorrow a couple of us in NCKAA are working on new 'title' cards for our organization, to list particulars about our artwork in shows. So a trip to Dispatch, then Downs with Jan to Gary's studio, then Jan and I are having lunch in Downs! Yippee! I hardly ever get out, can you tell?

"The Leader of the Pack"

"The Leader of the Pack" - 6" x 8" oil on canvasboard
If interested in purchasing this painting - go to Etsy.

Finished this one yesterday. It was fun! The problem with painting some food, is that it wilts before your eyes. These three are being used in one more painting, don't know if they will look much like fresh strawberries today. I'll have to see what I can do.
Cold and foggy this morning. There was a frost on the picnic table. Brr...

"It Takes Two to Tangelo"

"It Takes Two to Tangelo" - 12" x 12" oil on stretched canvas


Very rainy and windy here today. I should name my blog "A Painting Every Day and a Half". That seems to be the time I spend on my work lately. Having a lot of fun with "food" still lifes in the shadowbox. Start them in the afternoon, come in for supper, think about it, sleep on it and finish the next morning. My goal is to continue these until next week and then move on to some larger, more serious work.
Getting ready to hit the Big Apple in a few weeks.
We got the satellite TV hooked up in the studio. Woo hoo! Listening to XM in stereo, is the way to go!

I Say Tomato, You Say Tomahto

"I Say Tomato, You Say Tomahto" - oil on canvasboard 8" x 10"


Busy day today. Hubster broke down in the Vanagon on the highway. We had to use the "come along" to put it up on the trailer and bring it back home. Timing belt fell off. More work to be done.
I finished this painting. It almost got wiped off the canvas this morning. It was really looking more like apples. After much careful work and thought about the shapes and colors, it came out tomatoes.
I loved picking these out at the store, especially when they are still connected with the vine.
I had started my next painting. I was on a roll, then the van needed my help. Oh well, momma said....(love that song)