While Waiting for Another Monday to Pass..

When needing a pillow…sometimes you have to improvise!

That is one wiener dog who could stand to lose some weight, but in the meantime…

Where I Stand Sunday

Today I gave the dogs a bath.  They were excited about getting in the tub as soon as the water was run!                              

This is peepers he would be 2 years old today if he is still out there.

Where I Stand Sunday

My three dogs rely on us for so much. During the last two days, they all got a bath and their bedding was laundered. They all looked so relieved..silly me - not realizing how good it would make them feel. The big dog loves his "pluffies" all cleaned. He couldn't stay out of his little nighttime cage after I had washed and dried all the covers in there. He had a big smile on his face.

It seems like I am out of commission on doing art these days, believe me, I would rather be doing that right now. I have been working so diligently on our webpage for NCKAA. Some of it is done...you can go there and check it out. I am using an older version of Front Page to publish it to the web. We needed to get ourselves out there to the world, ASAP I felt, so I took on the task and it has been a huge learning experience. I am such a perfectionist though, it tears me up when it doesn't go 100% like it should And there are some glitches. So, check back from time to time to see the progress. North Central Kansas Association of Artists - NCKAA! Let me know what you think?!!

http://artcentralks.com/

Where I Stand Sunday is an ongoing photo essay examining the different places I spend my life standing.
Too often we take for granted the everyday places we spend our lives walking on.
The ground we tread on has its own stories to tell.

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggedy Jig...

It's amazing what photos you can take at a stop light. This one is of a sculpture grouping in a park in Kansas City on Main and 27th, near PennValley. It was so cool, yet, no place to really pull over and explore it out a better window, so this is as good as it gets. The metal rod/poles were tied together with wires and they were mounted on a cement pedestal, I thought they looked like trees...so a little research must be done. I will let you know what I find out.

Saw the awesome "Painting Missouri" show at the Library and went to the MAPS meeting. Connected with a new (for me) place to buy picture frame moulding called New West. They rock! And most of all had a fun and enjoyable time with my family there.

Watching the weather reports. Watching what's happening back in good ol' Colorado. Wonder what we will get? Always wonder....lots of wind right now.

Where I Stand Sunday

We wait - all through the dark and graying season

for the secrets kept within the earth

to spring forth from their chilled abode.

Color splashes across the landscape.

Brown to mustard to green.

With the help of the warmer breezes -

the adamant gaze of the sun

creates a world's worth of source material

for the eye's enjoyment.

I've been taking a break lately (self-imposed Spring Break, ha), as there is so much to do on a farmstead in the springtime. Also, I am visiting family in Kansas City for this week. In addition to visiting, I will be attending the monthly Mid-America Pastel Society meeting and going to the exhibit at the Kansas City Public Library titled "Painting Missouri: The Counties in Plein Air" by Billyo O'Donnell. If you scroll down that webpage, you can see a slideshow of some of the works. Amazing! I plan to get a good look at these great landscapes! There is a painting for each of the 114 counties in Missouri painted in different kinds of weather from hot sun to cold wind...should be motivating! On the way home, I plan to stop and get some great photo shots of the awakening countryside in Kansas. There is beauty here, if you look.

Where I Stand Sunday is an ongoing photo essay examining the different places I spend my life standing.

Too often we take for granted the everyday places we spend our lives walking on.

The ground we tread on has its own stories to tell.

Where I Stand Sunday

No, it's not a rabbit hole, nor a gopher hole, nor a post hole. It is a "badger den". These holes are made willy-nilly - all over the landscape in this part of the U.S., especially right here on the side of the road. Badgers are a part of the environment. Here's a story an acquaintance shared with me recently.

She lives on some acreage and was walking out to see where her husband was working. She commented to him, "Did you see the dead badger by the mailbox?" He said, "What dead badger???" Now you have to know, this farmer knows every tire track or footprint on his property and told her they would go back by there, just to be sure there was NO dead badger there. Sure enough, they walked back by within a short time of where it was last seen and the badger was gone. So beware of badgers that look like they are dead - because perhaps...

Where I Stand Sunday is an ongoing photo essay examining the different places I spend my life standing.
Too often we take for granted the everyday places we spend our lives walking on.
The ground we tread on has its own stories to tell.

Elevator (work in progress) and Attack of the Redbird

This is where I started today. Having difficulty with the greys I got out my "grayscale" and value finder and was able to get a grip on the 4 - 5 values of the gray.



Don't know how much detail I will include...there are so many pieces of scaffolding and braces behind the structure. I want it to read right, but I don't think I will 'noodle' it.
That's not the point of the painting.

On another note, during the past several days, we have been under attack from a redbird.
He sits in the evergreen tree on the corner of our house and pecks insistently at his reflection on the windowpane in the spare bedroom. I put up newspaper inside the window, to distract his reflection, but he is still at it in a frenzy. It's a 'territorial male thing'. I want him to stay - and I want him to not kill himself. What's a mother to do?

A Portrait and a WIP

"Louis and Rosa Mae"

11" x 14" frame - original pastel and charcoal pencil on Canson

These are my paternal grandparents. They lived in the southeast Missouri town of Sikeston. I have many fond memories of visiting them when I was younger. They ran a farm for many years where my cousins and I had lots of fun - getting into everything and learning lots!

Here is my current work in progress on the easel. It is the grain elevators along the railroad tracks at Bellaire, which is just across the highway from me.

(Thanks for your encouragement awhile back, Mark.)

It started with a toning of red oxide acrylic paint.

Then I sketched in the outline of the silos and building.

I layered in the sky and worked darkest darks out to the light on the sunny side of the shapes.

I have a dilemma as the photo was taken from the parking lot in front of the co-op building and I caught just the top of the building...I had included it in the painting, but if you don't know about the configuration of where you stand to look at the monsterous towers from below, you won't know what that funny edge is on the bottom of the painting. It's interesting to me, I feel the need to leave it there, but to a viewer, who doesn't have the experience of "where I stood" it will be confusing. Therefore, today's challenge is taking that part out and continuing the elevators down to the bottom of the painting.

Where I Stand Sunday and Biology 202, At It's Best

Playing with pure "circadian" rhythms here. When Daylight Savings time occurs, we humans have a lot to adjust to, especially if we work or need to do something everyday, first thing - in a time constraint. On the other hand, animals, and babies too, only operate on that biological sense of it's time to wake up - it's time to eat. Our dog's internal clocks are set to wake at approximately 7 AM EVERY day. This is where the fun begins. Fun now, but not so much fun in the fall. Bailey, was just getting his evening clock set about right. We feed them in the evening at 5:30. He made it yesterday until about 5:15, before he started nudging and pacing. It has taken him that many months to almost make his 'preset rhythm' adjust to the real time. Is he going to be surprised when supper comes early!

Too bad we are such 'clock worshippers'.

(Ya, and I'm the one making my animals conform to it all. Tsk...)

Where I Stand Sunday is an ongoing photo essay examining the different places I spend my life standing.

Too often we take for granted the everyday places we spend our lives walking on.

The ground we tread on has its own stories to tell.

Pastel Portrait of Kayce

"Kayce"

haven't measured it, it's about 12" x 16" or so

pastel on Canson paper

My relatives know that they are fair target for portrait practice. This is my cousin, Kayce. She is one of those people who make it through adolescence without blemishes. Her skin tone is so china-like and I was thrilled when my cousin Debbie posted a photo of her on Facebook that I, in turn, used tonight for a pastel. What a lovely face she has!

One of those, you can't wait to do her portrait

and portraits are my ABSOLUTE favorite thing to do!

The Little Depot That Could...

"Simpson, Kansas Train Depot"

6" x 8" original oil on Raymar board

You may remember, I visited this town a few weeks back and took photos of this depot.

SOLD - collection in Michigan, thanks!

Where I Stood

This is the entry to Prairie Winds Art Center in Grand Island, Ne. The building is so cool. The interior is not redone, it is original and the fixtures for display and the selling counter are all old antique cabinets. There is a first floor, a mezanine and what they call the third floor, where they hold classes. There is also a basement, complete with limestone block foundation walls. It has been here since about the 1890's. At one time, it was "Gorman's Men's Wear". This is the little alcove that you walk under up to the front door. All very heartwarming to me.

We took down the "photography show" yesterday and are getting ready to hang a solo show for one of the artists, Deb Gengler-Copple. There was some interesting people who stopped by to check it all out.