GOURDS - FINISHED AT LAST?

Here is the gourd painting - after several more hours of "fiddling" - finished I think.
I've tried to put these in proper order so you can see the progression.

The beginning - miskit poured, then yellows.

The second pour.

Then more miskit applied and more pours. The miskit removed and beginning to pull out the gourds.

Almost done!And finally - finished at last??????

AND THE HOLIDAY GIVEAWAY WINNER IS . . .

As promised - on Christmas Day the names of everyone who left a comment on my blog were jumbled up and one was picked to receive the Holiday Giveaway.
The lucky winner is . . . . . CHRIS BECK!
So, Chris, please contact me with your home address so I can send it to you.
Oh, I didn't mention what it is, did I? Well - it will be a surprise until Chris receives it!
I really appreciate everyone who takes time to stop by and comment.
Thanks to you all!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Going to my daughter's tonight for dinner and exchange a few small gifts. Will probably take our dog, Stray, since her dog, Charlie, and Stray get along well. Then a quiet (and boring) Christmas Day, just the two of us. But don't feel sorry for us old fogies - I've done my "time" in years past! And besides - I "get" to have New Year's Day dinner!

Hope you all have a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!

RECONNECTING

This past month I've been fortunate to reconnect with a couple of old friends. I consider this a wonderful Christmas present!
Through the wonders of the internet I contacted someone from my past who in turn contacted me - we chatted last weekend as though we had just seen each other the day before, rather than almost 20 years ago! Here's hoping we can keep in touch for many years to come.
Then I received a Christmas card from another old friend and I intend to get in touch with her just after the New Year.
If there is someone you have lost touch with and "wonder whatever happened to . . . " try to find them and reconnect - give yourself your own special Christmas present!

OCULAR MIGRAINE

Periodically I get something called an ocular migraine – had one today. I know it’s coming when my vision blurs right in the center. The first time this happened to me I was freaked out, didn’t know if I was going blind or having a stroke. A call to my ophthalmologist calmed me down. Now, I can’t say I’m used to having them, but at least they don’t freak me out (as much!).
As I said, it begins with a blur in the center of my vision. This turns into something like a cross between a prism and a kaleidoscope - jagged edges. This image gradually widens and spirals outward – so after a few minutes I can read – but with this image blurred and gradually moving away at the outer edges of my sight. (Think of looking at a TV screen or a book page with a kaleidoscope superimposed over it, moving outward).
I now know that the whole process takes about a half hour to dissipate. Since I will see this image whether my eyes are open or closed, depending on how busy I am, I either: sit quietly with my eyes closed and let the process go – just watching the pretty images spread slowly and enjoy the show; or wait a few minutes until it has moved far enough that I can read, etc.
I usually don’t have any problems afterward although on occasion I get a slight, dull headache for a little while.
And now I have “floaters” in my left eye. Very annoying.
Just thought I’d share.
(Between the vertigo, floaters and migraines, guess there’s a doctor visit in my future).

GOURDS 3

After more "fiddling", I feel like it's done, but what do you think?
Maybe crop the bottom a bit, just below the white one?
I think I'll let it sit a while and study it.
All comments and suggestions welcome.

GOURDS 2

I then miskited the areas I wanted to keep light and then poured hooker green and thalo blue, followed by more miskiting.
Some more random pours to either add darks or to emphasize some of the colors.
Then all of the miskit was removed.
I should add that this painting is on Fabriano Artistico 140 and was not taped down - I let it drape and fall to make the colors move.

Then the painting sat a few days since I was way too busy to get back to it.
However, I left it on the piano and glanced at it as I went by, so it was in my mind in a peripheral way – seeing it and making assessments, but not really cognizant of doing that. (I sometimes think that’s how I go through life now – just randomly seeing and doing things but not totally cognizant! I’m blaming my age on the fact that I have the attention span of a gnat!)

GOURDS

This painting began with a photo from a local farm house. Every fall they have pumpkins, gourds, squash and Indian corn galore spread across the front yard and porch. This year they had wagons and boxes and wooden crates full! I guess it was an especially bountiful year due to the excellent rain and growing season we had here in southern Indiana.
They have a list of prices and a box for money sitting on the porch – it’s on the honor system – and I’m sure they wouldn’t do it if people didn’t pay. I just love these unexpected surprises of country life that still crop up now and then!
I don’t go by this place very often any more, but fortunately I had my camera with me that day (I do try to remember to take it with me whenever I take a drive). The day I stopped it was overcast, but that didn’t stop me from taking a lot of photos. It was mid-fall and leaves were down but there were still plenty on the trees, so I also managed to get some beautiful fall foliage photos.
Anyway – these gourds were in a wooden crate and maple leaves had fallen randomly throughout. In this painting I’m attempting to capture the beauty of this quintessential fall scene.
I began by pouring miskit and let that dry. I then poured Daniel Smith quin. gold and quin. burnt orange and (I think) some vermillion hue, and let that dry.

SUNFLOWERS - AGAIN!

Once again I’ve done a sunflower, this one for a class project. It’s the same flower as before, even the colors used are the same, but the effect is quite different.

I think I like this one better than the first; I think it shows a bit more maturity in the style, and the colors aren’t so “in your face”.

The technique was exactly the same as before:
Miskit was poured
Paint was poured, yellows first, in two or three pours
The miskit was removed and more paint poured
Then the drawing was transferred to the paper and adjustments were made for the leaves and stem
I then separated the petals with a bit of Daniel Smith vermillion hue and some yellow (forget what I used!)
I then laid in some darks in the center and began to firm up the leaves and stem
Negative painting around the leaves, stem and some petals finished the painting

At least, I think it’s finished – all suggestions and critiques are welcome!

Sunflower, Fabriano Artistico 140

PAINTING GIVEAWAY!

In the spirit of the season - here is another painting giveaway!

The rules are the same as before:
1 - You must leave a comment on my blog – don’t worry – I have the comment moderation active so if you don’t want the world to see it, just me, that’s fine; just mention that in the comment and I won’t post it.

2 - Each comment you leave will equal 1 chance to win – (so vote early and vote often – ha, ha). I will pick a winner on (wait for it - December 25 - big surprise!) by putting slips with your name in a “hat” and drawing the winner (i.e. if you leave 5 comments on my blog between now and then, there will be 5 slips with your name that could be potential winners!)

Good luck!

MIGRAINES

A couple of days ago Rhonda mentioned having another migraine - she seems to get those a lot, and I certainly can sympathize since I used to get them horribly. It seems to be the Type A personality, I think, which I USED to be! - took on too much and wouldn't accept help; always pushing myself and wanting perfection.
However, I'm now about a Type Z! I really try not to let stuff bother me and have become quite the procrastinator - a total 180 degree switch from my early years! Now I periodically get vertigo - had that over the weekend, but it didn't las too long, thank God - or occular migraines.
This getting old stuff is for the birds!
As far as the migraines - my best (or worst) migraine story happened just before my wedding. This one was so bad I insisted that my fiance (now husband) get out his gun and shoot me; instead he took me to the emergency room (and now I know that sometimes he regrets that decision!)
Anyway - there I was just wanting someone to put me out of my misery, but instead I had the nurse from Hell assigned to me. No matter how many times I told her how bad I felt and that I needed something for the pain and nausea, she ignored me - until I finally puked all over her, from the top of her shirt to the bottom of her nurse-y shoes. THEN she FINALLY gave me a shot of something (for all I know at that point she was trying to euthanize me!) but I didn't care since then I was no longer in pain.

IT RUNS!

Here’s another old Chevy – a “woody”.
For those of you “young-uns” now scratching your heads about that term, let me explain. A “woody” was a station wagon with wood (REAL wood!) on the sides. (You may be familiar with some of the new PT Cruisers that have the fake wood trim on their sides, which is a nod to the old “woodies”).
If you happened to be traveling and saw one of these cars, it was mandatory that you punch your traveling companion in the arm and scream “Woody” at the same time. Have no idea who thought up that one, but it must have been a boy!
Anyway, I saw this one on another trip to North Carolina and just had to take a photo.
And this painting will conclude my car series of paintings - hope you enjoyed them!

JUST LIKE GRANDPA'S

This is an old Chev (don’t know the year) that made me think of my grandfather. He had a green one a few years older than this one.
I added the garage behind it and don’t think it turned out too bad!

MY AGE, BUT IN BETTER SHAPE

For a few years I was in a gallery in Rising Sun, IN, about a 50 minute drive from my house. One day while I was in my “car painting mode” I saw this old Ford truck in Aurora, IN, so I stopped and took a photo and later painted it.
One day I opened an art magazine and was dumbfounded – for a moment I thought it was my painting! When I showed it to my husband, he thought the same thing!
The artist who is in the magazine lives in Pennsylvania and paints in oil, but it really looks like the same truck – even the angle of the photo is the same!
(My photo and painting are on the left side above)
“My Age, But in Better Shape”

PRETTY IN PINK - MODEL A

My husband and I were on a trip and were somewhere in the North Carolina mountains when he hit the brakes and asked me if he should turn around (a miracle, since his car never seems able to make a U-turn!). He had spotted an old Ford in the weeds beside an old run down shack.
This old truck had probably been brown in its early days, but had faded out to a rosy pink. I think it made for a great painting, thanks to my husband!

FLYIN' DOWN THE HIGHWAY

Yep, it does look like it’s flying! Could it be my lack of painting expertise at that time????
This was the car that caught my attention before the farmer drove out his yellow classic! (See my previous post “Bill’s Beauty” on November 4).

VIEWPOINT 2009 - GCWS PARTICIPANTS!

Here are some of the Greater Cincinnati Watercolor Artists whose paintings were in the ViewPoint 2009 show. (Carolyn Hibbard, from my prior posting, is also a GCWS member).

First we have Rhonda Carpenter - who we all know and love! Rhonda is just below her beautiful watercolor painting of a macro hydrangea blossom "Am I Blue".

Next is Joan Miley by her watercolor painting "Veggie Copia".

Then we have Wynne Bittlinger by her watercolor painting "Guilty" - the lower painting of the dog.

And last, but certainly not least! - is Susan Grogan with her watercolor batik "Schwan" - the lower painting.

Not shown here are Bob Nowicki who won an award with his painting "Crossroads", an acrylic collage.

Kay Worz entered a watercolor "Guarded Moment", painted in her signature style.

And as mentioned - Carolyn Hibbard entered her watercolor "Bloomin' Beauties".

VIEWPOINT 2009

Well, the ViewPoint 2009 show has finally opened and will be open to the public the next two weekends - November 14-15 and November 21-22 from 2-5 p.m. at the Cincinnati Art Club.

The photo above shows a friend of mine, Carolyn Hibbard, receiving her award! A list of all of the awards can be found on the Cincinnati Art Club website - (just click here or on the link to the right side of my blog - then click on ViewPoint on the left side when you get to the website). That's me on the right with the paisley top - not too bad of a photo for a change! The person handing out the awards is Donnita Geary who was an unbelievable help throughout this process.

In case you are interested, I've also got a few photos of some of the process "behind the scenes" at a national art show!

Here we have my husband helping bring in the shipped works. Finally, a photo of him from behind - payback for all these years of him taking my photo from the back!

Then we have the crated works which were shipped - the farthest from Petersburg, Alaska, although one may have travelled more miles. That painting was mistakenly shipped to IDAHO before it made it's way to Cincinnati!

And I picked up a painting from UPS that turned out to be the 2nd place award winner!

The following photos show all of the works after they had been uncrated and all of the hand delivered paintings dropped off. Thank goodness I didn't have to hang them! That was the work of Sharon Saluga, Dave Klocke and Judy Clubb! And they did a marvelous job!

The opening on Friday night was well attended, and several of my friends won awards!

I'll have a short rest period now, and then have the whole procedure for next year!

This process proved to be alternately nerve wracking, exciting, frustrating and fun - and I got to meet many helpful, kind, interesting and talented people. Hopefully all will go well next year!

LOOKIN' AT A '31 CHRYSLER

This is the front only of the same car as “Bill’s Beauty”. (See my previous post “Bill’s Beauty”).
Sadly, I was not as organized then as I am now (???) - thanks to digital camera and computer - makes it a lot harder for me to actually loose things - and I would be hard-pressed to locate my old photos. But, if I do find them some day, I think I may repaint some of these old cars and see if I can do a better job now.

BILL

“Bill’s Beauty” is an old Chrysler.
One day, I was driving down the local highway past an old (1800’s) and beautiful home that I always admire. On that particular day the sun was shining and it glinted off the windshield of an old car for sale, so I pulled into the drive and looked around. Seeing no one, I started to take some photos of the car. Just then a man came out from behind the barn and I introduced myself and told him why I was trespassing (!) and taking photos. He wasn’t upset at all, and asked me if I’d like to see another car.
Well, he took me around to a building behind the barn where it was clear he liked to restore old cars! He proceeded to pull a tarp off of a lump and there was a beautifully restored old Chrysler. He asked if I’d be interested in some photos of it, and when I said “yes” he proceeded to fire it up (what a “purr” that engine had!) and drive it out onto the front lawn where I took several photos.
The first painting painted from those photos sold before I could get a picture of it! However, I still have this one in my “collection”!

I painted an old, red VW which is titled “Dead Bug”.
Seems like anyone who ever owned an old bug takes a liking to this painting, but it also seems like they all had a different color bug! I did paint a yellow bug for someone who saw the red one and wanted a gift for a friend who used to have, of course, a yellow bug.
People will ask me “Do you have it in green (blue, yellow, etc.)” as though the painting is like a sweater in a store. Unbelievable!

I'll be pretty busy the next week and a half or so finalizing the ViewPoint show, so I thought I would put up some of my older work, starting with my series of old cars. (Sadly, I began painting the cars prior to obtaining my digital camera and so don’t have a photo of all of them).

* * * * *

It all began with an old Buick.
My friend saw it parked at an herb farm we were visiting and she came running for me to take a photo.
There it stood, in all its glory, with a water bag hanging from the front fender. But just as I took my photo the owners approached, so I left, not sure if they would be upset that I was taking photos of their car. However, the photos turned out so well that I eventually painted a few paintings of that car.
About a year later my car paintings were being displayed in a gallery in Rising Sun, IN during the local car show. To my utter disbelief, the owners of the old Buick walked into the gallery, having seen the painting of their car in the window. (Small world!) Well, they didn’t purchase that painting, but they did later purchase a smaller one of just the front of the car, as well as ask me to make name tags for their annual car club get together using the painting of their car.
“Day Trip” ‘37 Buick, Watercolor

Color Galore - Cabin Arts Quilt Shop

This past week I was invited to visit a local legend - the quilt store in Burlington, KY. http://www.cabinarts.com/ I had heard about this place for years but never had the opportunity to go.

The store is a mecca for quilters from a wide area - and well worth the trip, believe me! There are bolts of fabric EVERYWHERE!

As you can see from the photos - it is an amazing place filled with color and fabric and patterns and thread and COLOR!!!!! I got to "help" my friends select fabric for a quilt and while they made the final purchase I wandered around and enjoyed the riot of COLOR! Hope you enjoy it also!

SIAG Art Show

Another show - last weekend! (This is my first chance to blog all week! - better late than never!) Those are my pears to the right of Steve in the photo above.

This is the Southeastern Indiana Art Guild show at the Lawrenceburg, IN library. The work is very good, overall, with a lot of mediums represented. This group has several shows a year and the local library always purchases at least one painting at each show. Unfortunately not mine!

If you live in the area get down to see this show - it is spread out on both levels of the library and will run through next Friday. And as a bonus - you can get a cup of "joe" at Hava Java coffee shop on the first level. Enjoy!

*Note - my work will only be there until sometime Wednesday - I have to take it down earlyTaking a rest - Sharon, Carolyn and friend (?) - 2 paintings behind chairs - Sharon's watercolor on left and Cindy's oil seascape on right.Paintings on main floor and 2nd floor - you can barely make out my trains upstairs!

Meeting a Fellow Blogger

Last Tuesday morning I met Ginny Stiles and her husband, Greg, for breakfast in Harrison, OH. They were on their way from northern Wisconsin to Florida and were passing through the area.

This is the second time I've met another fellow blogger in person (other than those I already know!) The first time was at an art show in the area when a friend was going to take my photo with my painting and a woman was standing in front of my painting. When we approached she just said "Hello Deb". Well, I had no idea who she was, and then she introduced herself as someone who followed my blog! We chatted a while, and now I have re-met her at our GCWS meetings in the summer and we sometimes email back and forth.

So - even though we do sometimes live far apart, and I'm sure we all figure we will never meet - never say never!

The photo above is of Ginny - full of oatmeal!!!! - standing in front of our local Cracker Barrel. Sounds like she and her husband are having a pleasant trip, visiting their way home.

Perhaps we will meet again some day!

p.s. In the event that Ginny posts a photo on her blog of "someone" who she claims to be me - unless that person is tall, blond, thin, young and gorgeous - it is an imposter!!!

A Blogging Award

Cindi has sent me a Kreative Blogger award.

Here are 7 things to know about me:
1. I am an only child.
2. I have 2 grown children, no grandchildren - unless you count the granddog and grandcalf!
3. I can drive large trucks and equipment - not well, but I can make them go forwards and backwards and up and down!
4. When I was young (very young!) I rode horses!
5. Now that I'm not so young (not very young at all!) I have severe acrophobia.
6. I have been on one cruise, to the Caribbean.
7. I used to be thin!!! but don't think that will happen again!

Here are 7 bloggers to pass this onto - and this one is hard since I seem to only correspond with a few of you -
Ginny Stiles - who I have met in person - very energetic and enthusiastic about watercolor - and likes oatmeal!
Gaylynn - who I have met in person - doesn't have a lot of time to paint or blog, but she does a great job at both when she has the time!
Ricky Holtman - an inspiration for all of us.
Vicki Greene - I love her giveaways - even though I never win!
Chris Beck - a fantastic and giving artist.
Gary Keimig - another fantastic artist - unbelievable wildlife and western art - and I hope he's healing quick!
Annelein Beukenkamp - I admire the looseness and spontaniety of her work.

Rhonda, would have sent it to you but know you already have received it more than once!

Cincinnati Art Club Related Events

Been too busy to keep up with the blogs - what with classes here and there and all of the ViewPoint related activities - and fear it won't be getting any better until after the first week in November.
Just hang in there - I promise I'll have more art related posts soon!
However, I do have some good news to share - I'm now a signature member of the Cincinnati Art Club!

FEEDING THOSE COWS

Cows gotta eat! And eat, and eat!
These cows are pretty tame – as you can see by the above photos.
After Mike opens up the electric fence to the new area the cows immediately move into it, you don’t have to ask them twice! And they sink their heads into that new lush grass and chow down! The calf was so short he could walk under the fence and Mike has now lifted it a bit so he still can, but it seems he has also learned not to touch it! Apparently it’s good for the calf to go out ahead of the herd and eat the tastiest grass! (My theory is that, since he will turn into a bull, he most likely will always get the tastiest grass!)

The cows are moved daily to new squares of pasture and, believe this, there is NOT much “cow smell”!
My great uncle ran cows and they were usually in the barn when we went and “peeeyewweeee” did they stink. When you drive in the country and come across cows you usually find them huddled into a corral with a hay bale in the middle surrounded by brown “stuff” that ain’t dirt and they smell. Well, that’s not the natural way to do things.
As I said, our cows are moved daily and in a week (or less) you won’t even know they were there – the “poo” is disintegrated and the grass is beginning to grow up again. Unless you are standing right by their area you won’t smell anything! - and what you do smell isn’t bad.
Mike goes into the enclosure on a daily basis, obviously, to move them, but now he goes in some days to feed them alfalfa tablets. He wanted a way to get them to come to him but not use corn – our cows will be cornless their whole lives, except for eating the husks of the corn on the cob we have.
You can see how tame they are, a couple of them finally letting him pat them on the head. Now as soon as they see that bucket they are all over him! He’s even gotten bitten a couple times! Again, this is something I have no intention of trying – cows are BIG. (Once again, the dog agrees with me!)

So now you know as much about cow wrangling as I do!
(Well, not really – since I know all about getting them into the corral and running them through the squeeze chute and artificial insemination – and trust me, you REALLY don’t want to know about that!!!)