Happy 17th Blogiversary to ME

 I would like to admit, it's still here, I'm still here and it's still worthy of my attention - although sporadic.   Here are a few new paintings/works in progress. I have been busy taking online courses with Kara Bullock Art with Kimberly Santini, different artists who do faces and figures and a monthly with Tara Will.  Learning, always learning new stuff, techniques and methods. I am filled to the top with ideas.  I have several commissions and am involved in matting and displaying for the 'kids art' wall at the gallery for Sangres Art Guild every month.  

 Both are works in progress in acrylic paint on board

One that is finished - 'Shades of Kansas', in acrylic.

We are busy improving our property and home, since we aren't going to Alaska this year (that's been the situation for the past two years - traveling to Alaska for a good part of the summer.)

Living on the high desert - we have had NO trees - but it's time to plant some.  We rented a tractor/hole digger/skidder yesterday and are making holes for new trees we purchased and will be delivered as soon as we can schedule the delivery, all pines for now. Making some places for some bushes and shrubs, too.

I'm doing some gardening this summer - vegetables that seem to grow here without much fuss, 

even though it's at 8200 feet - like zukes, tomatoes, popcorn - maybe pumpkins.  Very short season.

Working inside with painting and organizing. 

Needing to build a new deck on the back of the house 

to replace the one that is very old and falling down.

Getting pumped up for a road trip to Missouri for the annual Gray Family Reunion around the 4th.

If you are still reading this blog - thanks.  As I said, it's here, I'm here and YOU must be here, too.

Copyright © Dust Off the Butterfly and Pattie Wall/All Rights Reserved

DAY 20 - Painting 30 Paintings in 30 Days (Arrangem)

"Rocky Mountain Arrangement"

acrylic on 6" x 6" canvasboard

Today it was forever....seemed like... 

painting along, not liking the outcome ~

too tight, too unreadable, so I decided to

take it a step further and make it JUST readable

and LET IT GO!

.

The brushes and paint started flying and

the end result was 'MUCH MO bettah'

then what was originally happening.

Too tight?

Just stand back and fling paint.

Love it! - DAY 20!!!

Painting 30 in 30 - Day 26/Hearts

"Let the Heart Remember"

10" x 10"

acrylic paint, tissue paper collage, paint pen

An Acrylic Painting of Eagles

"Tag Team"

12" x 12"

acrylic on wrapped canvas

This one's photo turned out too light on this blog - 

I am not going to change it, 

because how it looks

in PS 'is how it looks', but it
is a little darker.

Loved painting this one - I could hear the wind rustling through the tree

branches - of course the wind outside right now, kept that

sound fresh in my mind.

It is painted around the edges...no frame.

See last post for the story behind this painting.

An Acrylic Work in Progress

(iPad photo) There are many 'streaming' sites this spring with cameras aimed 

at mating pairs of eagles and their nests.

Pittsburgh, Berry College in Georgia, 

and Davenport/Alcoa, Iowa to name a few.  

I like to join in the viewing at the Decorah Eagles webcam in Iowa -

 they just had some hatchlings arrive.  You can view them HERE.

Today I started this acrylic painting of a pair of eagles tending to their nest

way up in the tree from several years ago.

Again, it has been in the to-do pile forever.

Finally found some inspiration - and know that - you too, can find

new inspiration just by changing your medium from time to time.

I usually find acrylics frustrating and I am not sure why because there

couldn't be any more vibrant color coming out of those tubes.  I have

recently dove into many books and blog pages of acrylic pros

and found a new way to look at it. Anyway, I am OK with acrylics, 

as long as it continues to work out.

I think my MUSE was with me today.

Check back in a few days for the finished painting,

and as always thanks for visiting!

Day 21 of 30 Paintings in 30 Days

"Dreams of Marrakesh"

9" x 12"

acrylic on masonite

Today was a BOMB.  

I started late, then had to leave for awhile...

only to return late afternoon

and run out of inspiration.

I had an idea on this one, it didn't work.

Chalk it up to PRACTICE!!

Today's toons:

Sheryl Crow

Coldplay

David Crosby

James Taylor (the 'other' J.T.)

Vertical Horizon

DAY 20 of 30 Paintings in 30 Days

"Glads II"

6" x 11" 

acrylic on 

black gessoed wood

Whew - I thought I would never come up with a painting resource for today.

Each one I came across didn't suit me.

Had to get out the photo CD's and surf some..

finally came up with this one. 

It's an 'inviting space'.

I have tried gladiolas before, not always happy with them.

They are really hard - because they have that great transparency to them.

I don't think I got them there, but I like it anyway.

I really crave the look of the bottom half of this painting.

It reminds me of a batik, 

which I would really like to dabble in someday ~ soon.

Hope tomorrow is easier..maybe need to spend this afternoon 

looking through some more and just choose ONE.

ON the tunes carousel today:

Phil Collins, Canned Heat, Sheryl Crow and Crosby and Nash.

DAY 15 of 30 Paintings in 30 Days

"Come Sit a Spell"

8" x 8"

acrylic on Arches oil paper

I borrowed a photo from the 'family' album.  It was from 

my family's yearly summer vacation when I was little - 

a black and white - obscure and dark photo - 

to say the least.

So I have imagined color...I had the value - 

dark under the trees

and light beyond to the driveway and the barn 'out yonder' 

and removed

the people from the chairs.

I always felt this 'scene' was an 'inviting space'.

Although, not shown in the circle that usually happened,

these old metal lawn chairs 

(and an occasional kitchen table chair) 

represent a placement of adults, usually the men,

situated under the canopy of several shade

trees..in the heat of the day in Southeast Missouri.

.

Many a story was told in this space.

Some I definitely remember, some have

been retold many times to me.

It is such a part of fond memories about 

visits to the farm where my grandparents lived.

I have a little more work to do on the gate it looks like.

It looks like a gate for giants..and chairs for lilliputians.

Oh well, it's practice.

Kittens were on my shoulders and in my face 

all painting time today - ugh!  

Some days we have a 'good fit' going on, and other days

not so much, this was one of those days - extra play time

necessary - and we had fun!

Their favorite thing to do, play 'chase the laser light'.

They are getting really good at catching it.

Makes for good hunters down the line!

HALFWAY THERE!!

BFF's - off the market...

"BFF's"

6" x 8"

acrylic on Ampersand gessobord

SOLD

An Acrylic Painting of Chickens in a Coop

"What Pecking Order?"

6" x 8"

acrylic on Raymar canvasboard

Another use of a photo from the Critter Farm, thanks Danni. The effect came out very 'wash' like - as in watercolor...

another watermedia I would like more time with.

People ask me if I named my chickens?  I answer,"Who doesn't?"  Danni can tell you the name of these chickens, better yet, you can go to her blog and find them if you like...

(click here) Critter Farm.

An Acrylic Painting of Goats

"Paired Association"

6" x 6"

acrylic on Raymar canvasboard

Pete and Reggie are a pair of goats that live in Oregon on the Critter Farm.

I think goats are such unique animals.  This pair is always up to something on the farm.  They dance down the road when their owner, Danni, takes them for a walk.  They share a wonderful place with other animals and seem to all get along smashingly (that's a goat word for certain...)!

A quick update on the chickens - aren't they growing??

Their official names are from left to right: Harlough, Chickenator and Queenie.

An Artist's Dilemma

A few more places to work on this one. This is Chester - from the Critter Farm - permission to use the photo was given by the owner.  I painted a larger painting of Chester and Beau here.  What I am writing about today is 'this' happens every once in awhile.  I have painted his mouth too close to the edge of the bottom of the panel.  My thought is to try one of those 'cradle' kind of frames, where you build a wooden frame the same outside dimensions as the panel and glue it to the back of the panel and paint it black.  Once I put it in a frame to see how it looked, that little 1/8" or 1/4" covers the bottom of his muzzle.  Measures 5" x 7" - done in acrylic on another claybord panel.  Lovin' it!
I found that painting with black acrylic on this surface does nothing to darken..so I have this great dark purple that I mix with the black and it comes out even darker than black. 

An Acrylic Painting on Claybord

BFF's

5" x 7"

acrylic on black Ampersand claybord

Working from a pile that is stacked to be filed in the studio, in my genre folders, these past several days.  Something about each of them spoke to me at that moment of sifting through them.  I LOVE the way the paint reacted on the surface of this painting. 

It was an experiment, but I think I will search for some more claybord and do some larger pieces on it.  I got this source photo from Morguefile - a website where you can use photos with permission by virtue of their posting. 

I moved these two closer together, loved the sunlight in their hair and on the edge of their skin.  So each of these last three paintings are considered 'daily paintings'. 

An Acrylic Painting of a Rooster for Today

Barnyard Sentinel

6" x 6"

acrylic on wrapped canvas

This is Roopert, who lives on the Critter Farm in Oregon. 

I think he is a Barred Rock or Plymouth I have been corrected - silver-laced Wyandotte! (I know nothing about chickens except I would like to know more and have some.)

I usually don't have this much fun with acrylic..it dries too fast and eventually I wish I had used oil paint instead...but not today! 

I appreciated the quick drying time.  (And a rockin' photo always inspires me.)  

This is the '3rd canvas' to come across the easel in several days and the '1st one' in three, to make it off the easel and in front of the camera lens. 

This guy is so handsome, he would make a great main character in a children's book.  Roosters often have an interesting life.  They manage the hens and strut around looking (and sometimes being) tough.  I think this guy is just as handsome as they get!

Acrylic Painting for Today

"Mustang Redux"

SOLD

6" x 8"

acrylic paint on canvasboard

One of my favorite subjects is horses.  I have drawn them since I was a little girl.  The inspiration from this one came from a photo off of Morguefile which I made a copy of in color and black and white for values.  Recently I purchased a lot of colors in acrylic paint at Utrecht in KC.  I used a lot of those new colors in this painting which is always fun.  The underpainting is Red Oxide - and it was not transparent but rather opaque when I started adding the subjects.  It works for me that you can see some of that color underneath and I like the effect.  When I have been away from my easel, I come back with a tight and detailed focus - so I needed to get away from that...the brushstrokes were fast and loose, the brush size was larger than I normally use and I took my eyeglasses off.

An Acrylic Painting for Today

"Black and Tan"

6" x 6"

acrylic on Raymar board

Just a quick painting this afternoon, to loosen up the brush hand and ways of seeing.  It feels real rusty - even though the job I had been doing used my hands alot with detailing and finetuning.  But...I started - got past that jumping off point and on the road again - hopefully.  It was interesting - having all the fans going and trying to keep the acrylic paint wet enough on the palette.  Hot here today, think I will finish off the night with a little mowing and then a movie on PPV. 

Maybe the mosquitoes won't be so relentless - wishful thinking. 

Acrylic Painting

“October Trees”

6” x 8” acrylic on canvas board
Email me if interested in purchasing this one.

Done from my own photo of trees in my woods.

Possibly painting with acrylics again, soon!

Working on some new ideas. 

Opened my “Artists” magazine today and read…”I placed less value on submissions that didn’t show much variance from what you’d get if you placed a photo on a photocopier, pressed the ‘copy’ button and then added a signature.”  Animal/Wildlife juror David N. Kitler

What are your thoughts on that quote?

New York Stock Exchange 'Challenge'

..and a challenge it was. This (2) week's Different Strokes from Different Folks photo was one of Karin's shots from inside the NYSE. I used acrylic paints on a 6" x 12" stretched canvas, and painted it really quickly. I don't like the final outcome, although as always - I learned something from doing it. Karin reminded us, it's just a 'glimpse' in time. I got sort of hung up on the background, and not so much on the foreground...which it's really supposed to be the reverse. I also know you shouldn't really rely so heavily on a photo, unless of course you using one for an extreme portrait likeness. The source photo itself was hard to enlarge. It went pixelated, so I couldn't see any detail. Knowing her a little, I guess that's the way she wanted it..."always remember to squint", well squint it was - once you tried to see details.
Click on "Different Strokes from Different Folks" site on the sidebar, although Karin is out of town right now, or supposed to be.

Just an FYI - I have painted or drawn the last 8 days in a row. It feels so good, just the way it should (ha ha)!

Look Alikes

When you have children, your first one usually looks like their father, not always, but often is my experience. They say it's natures way to tell the dad it's his, so he can bond with the baby right away. My daughter is a mixture both sides of her family. She has a little bit of me and a little bit of her dad and his sister. At times, she has looked a lot like me, I guess because of our 'big baby blues'. She also has a trademark expression. So much so, that my son-in-law, who is an artist, has done several paintings showing that famous scowl of hers. He is excellent at narrating expression with acrylic paint. My sister-in-law told me she had a photo of me with that same expression. I didn't believe it, however, today I received the evidence via email. You can be the judge. The photo is me eating an ice cream cone on a trip to Georgetown, in Colorado, many years ago.

Painting by James Burns, Brooklyn, N. Y.

The Need to Color

"CATCASSO" acrylic painting on Ray-Mar board, 6" x 8" For Sale at my Etsy shop.

I have been thinking of the activity of "coloring", as in 'coloring books'. My daughter and I have often sat together and used the big honkin' pack of crayolas and colored until we had several pages done. I haven't taken the time to locate my coloring books, know where my crayolas are, so I soothed my urge by this painting. It is from an original sketch I did when I was in H.S. Friends, that was a LOOOONG time ago. But I never throw anything away, anyone who knows me will tell you that!

I was really into Picasso at one time. This is inspired by that style and the fact that I had a cat, at the time. There is more to the drawing, but I simplified it, just so I could "color" it with paint. It was fun! It all took TWO coats of paint.

Hubster cleared the roads and walks this afternoon. It is really wet underneath the snow. More sunny this afternoon, than this morning!