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!!!)

MOOVING COWS - Part 2

Above - happy cows will be tasty cows! (We hope!)

Moving the cows involves moving the electric fence. This is something I vow never to do and the dog agrees with me, since he touched it once and now hides behind the gator until we move through the opened gate and then he knows it’s safe to go in. My husband, on the other hand, has touched it several times (you figure it out!)

There are many wire winders involved, along with many white plastic fence posts that are easily moved, along with some metal fence posts that hold the unspent coils of wire.
The lengths of wire are called “runs”. You need at least two “long runs” that will go the entire length of the pasture area. Between those you have the “short runs” which change on a daily basis – he takes one down for the cows to move into the next area and then closes off the area they just left.

Naturally, the coils of wire do not come on the wire winders - you have to do that yourself.
My husband’s method is to involve three dining room chairs – two to hold the coil of wire on a metal rod and one for him to sit in while he cranks it onto the wire winder. My job is to stand and supervise. (I’m very good at it!) Of course, now we have 2 chairs with marks from the metal rod; oh well, you can’t expect it to last forever!

However, I digress . . .

The long runs have the white plastic fence posts every so often and they will basically stay a long time, until that run is finished. The short runs get their fence posts moved frequently, so he puts just 2 or 3 posts there. (These posts are neat – they have a metal spike on the end - you just push the spike into the ground a little and then step on the part that sticks out at the bottom and, if the ground is soft, they go right in).
Then the coil of wire for that short run will hang onto the metal post and he hooks up a short red wire with what looks like a red clothespin on either end – like a jumper cable – and hooks one end to the electrified wire (very carefully!) and the other end to the run he just put in and it’s now electrified!
The cows don’t seem to have an inclination to come out of the fence; neither the dog nor I will go anywhere near it; but, shockingly(!) the husband is in and out all the time.

Above - putting in a new run - unwinding from the spool as he walks.Above - winding up the wire to open up a new area - you can see the "girls" mooving toward him - they know they will be getting more food.Above - the electric wire - the spool sitting on the metal rod - and a fence post on the right side.

Queen City Art Club Show Opening

Friday evening was the Queen City Art Club opening in Evendale. These photos don't represent the amount of people who came through - there were more! I just snapped when I had a chance so you could see some of the paintings. Obviously, more paintings were hung on the other sides of the room, as well as down the hallway.

In the top photo you can see the bookshelves where the smaller paintings were displayed, as well as some of the wood carvings. Other carvings were displayed around the room on platforms. We have 2 men who do wonderful carvings.

In the bottom photo you can see my large pink peony (how could you miss that!) and my agave just above the group of people.

Got to see some old friends and some new, and it made for a pleasant evening.

The show will hang at the Evendale Cultural Center until November 2 - hope you get a chance to stop by.

MOOVING COWS - Part 1

I’ll be putting up a series of posts about the cattle which will involve lots of photos so they will be very visual and thereby artistic! – and educational – and maybe even funny. But if you aren’t into cows, don’t give up on me! I’ve got too much going on right now to get much painting done and, also, just gotta keep the hubby happy, ya know! I promise more painting information will come soon!

Moving the cows involves a few steps. In this, Part 1, I will explain moving the “equipment”.

The equipment consists of the water trough onto which is attached the new shade roof and the water hose on a reel with the mineral feeder dragging behind - all of which is referred to as the “shademobile” - See Photo below:
First my husband has to open up a new area for the cows to be moved into (more about this in Part 2).
Then my husband backs either one of the tractors, the gator or the mower up to the hitch (sometimes this requires more than one backing up move, since he has to get it “just so” before it will hook up, and since we have nothing but hills, it’s not always an easy task). Then he hooks it all up and off he goes – slowly! He has to be careful about the angle of the hitch on those hills. Also, because of the hills, the trough is hung on metal rods that allow it to swing so it will remain relatively level. As you can see, the "girls" wait patiently for all of this!We have water lines buried and after so many moves he has to unhook the hose and re-hook it to a new water line. I even got to help do that (lucky me!) My job was to drive the gator to the next water hookup holding the end of the hose while he pulled the hose along farther away from me. That was not bad, I was on flat ground!

Below you can see a water hose in the foreground and Mike mooving the "shademobile" into the area he has just opened up. The "girls" already have their heads down munching on that new grass!The time before that I was simply driving the gator from one area to the next to pick him up and the hill I was driving toward didn’t look that steep so I didn’t have my seat belt on. However, it turned out to be so steep that I began sliding out the side - even though there is a tiny little piece of metal tubing that supposedly will keep you in. (That wasn’t going to hold in my less than tiny butt, I can tell you!) I began sliding left, hanging onto the steering wheel and shrieking before it dawned on me to hang onto the right seat, which I did - - but then it dawned on me that seat would fold down, so then I grabbed onto the other tiny little piece of metal tubing on the right side of the gator (are you getting this image in your head yet!) and drove to where my husband was - - - doubled over with laughter!

Turned out that part of the sliding problem was due to the fresh cow **** combined with the angle of the hill. But I made it! (Sadly – for you, not me – no one was around to take a photo!)