POP JOHN

6x9 oil on canvas

A lot has happened since I last posted a painting on my blog. My father has been in the hospital for almost 7 weeks now, recovering from 3 open heart surgeries. After visiting him for a week, I returned home to learn my husband was critically ill; he spent a week in the hospital and is now home recovering, but will be facing a 2nd surgery in several weeks. I completely missed the last 2 weeks of school, but summer is now here and as I take care of my husband, it is my time to paint!

Facebook has allowed me to connect with distant relatives, a few I knew from my childhood, but most I do not know. We have been sharing old family photos and I have enjoyed learning about these long ago family members. This is Pop John, my grandfather's brother. My mother fondly remembers him as the uncle who always had a pipe in his mouth, and always sat backwards in a straight back chair. As I explore painting from old black and white photos, I hope to share more paintings and stories from long ago.

DOWN TIME

8x8 oil on canvas panel

Daily Paintworks assignment this week is to paint a figure "lying down". It was fun painting the light and rumpled bedding, but I am looking forward to trying this one again with a more relaxed hand.

DOG DAY AFTERNOON

8x8 oil on canvas panel

As I continue to explore no sketching on a canvas, I find I prefer this method so much more, I also like the bare canvas peeking through.

Today, Good Friday, is my last school holiday until summer vacation; I will enjoy my day painting away in the studio ~ Happy Easter!

BELLE

5x7 oil on canvas panel

Week before last was Spring Break, it was a most enjoyable week of painting. The folks over at Some Texas Artists Like to Paint chose "paint with your other hand" for this month's challenge. I'm right handed so I painted this little portrait study of my parent's dog, Belle with my left hand. Because it was such a difficult exercise, I had to sit on my right hand the entire time I painted. So much fun, I would encourage all of you to try it. I began with a blank canvas, quickly estimated a few reference points with my left hand, then just went for it. Mom, I promise, one of these days you will get a real portrait of Belle.

KITTY CAT

8x10 oil on canvas sold

Kitty Cat lives on the family ranch in Corsicana and is the final commission I completed for the family of Aneta and Mambo. Like Mambo, Kitty Cat wandered up to the ranch one day and soon became family. When her family is at the ranch, which is every week, Kitty Cat roams freely wherever she would like. When her family is at home in Dallas, Kitty Cat lives outside on the ranch, amongst cattle, donkeys, and critters of all sort. And when Mambo and Aneta visit the ranch, Kitty Cat holds court in the bedroom.

ANETA

12x24 oil on canvas, sold

Aneta is the companion commission for Mambo's painting, posted right below. Aneta (pronounced On-Cha) has a very interesting story. If you recall Mambo wandered up one day and adopted this young family, but Aneta was researched extensively and found to be the perfect dog...perfect Service Dog for this young family!

Aneta was born, raised, and trained for two years in the Czech Republic, then had an additional 6 months of training in Kansas. Because Aneta was trained in the Czech Republic, she responds to Czech only, which means her parents had to learn Czech commands, as well. Aneta is with her owner everyday and has a most important job of alerting him if his blood sugar becomes dangerously low. In addition to her important job, she's also Mambo's best friend. And because of Aneta, Mambo is able to respond to Aneta's Czech commands, but knows the commands are only for him, if his name is spoken before the command is given and likewise for Aneta. I guess that makes both dogs bilingual!

MAMBO

12x24 oil on canvas, sold

Now that Christmas is past, I can share what I was busy with before the end of the year. Mambo's painting was one of two paintings commissioned by a friend's husband. I love how husbands call me a couple of weeks prior to their special events...actually, I love how husbands think of paintings for special events! :)

On the day after Christmas in 2006, celebrating the holidays in Corsicana, Tx at the family's ranch, Mambo wandered up with a stick in his mouth. The young couple did the obvious; they threw the stick. He was elated. That first game of fetch lasted over an hour, and by the end Mambo had taken his hold on their hearts. After an exhaustive search for the prior owners, Mambo was adopted. Fetch remains his all time favorite activity!

I can attest to Mambo's love of fetch; Cowgirl and Mambo have had a couple of play dates, as long as there is nothing to fetch, Mambo will happily play with Cowgirl. I'll post the companion to this painting in my next posting.

MUDBUGS

The so very talented, Jean Townsend selected detritus as the theme for her Texas Moleskine. I struggled quite a bit with the subject matter. I wanted to be original, but did not have a clue what to paint until I thought of painting crawfish. Hailing from SW Louisiana, I know a thing or two about the ever popular crawfish boil...served on a heaping pile of newspapers and with the crawfish and vegetable remnants left behind you have the perfect pile of detritus. I usually begin with a sketch, but since I did not know where to begin with this tangled mess of legs and tails, I "drew" a few lines with my brush and then just jumped in. It was cropped "rough" so that you could see my own detritus in the making. Thanks, Jean...this was fun!

Thank you so very much for following my blog, despite my absent postings, your e-mails, comments, and encouragement mean a lot to me. Here's to painting and posting more in the upcoming year; Happy New Year!