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!

MELLO YELLOW

6x9 oil on canvas

September is all about cats on James Parker's fun blog. There were several photos I wanted to try and paint, but the month has zipped by so fast, I barely got this one in on time. My husband and I have a favorite coffee that we drink called Mello Joy, it is only sold in Louisiana and comes in a bright yellow package. We buy it by the case when we visit family and for the first time in several years, we have run out and have had to substitute another not so adequate brand of coffee. As I painted this fellow, I could not help but think of how much I miss my Mello Joy coffee and I wonder if I might look just like this after that first great sip of Mello Joy! Thank you for visiting and letting me ramble; take care.

TA, MY OTHER GRANDMOTHER

12x24 oil on canvas nfs

This was my grandmother, everyone called her Ta which is a nickname for, Letia (pronounced with a strong french accent Lee-Ta). She was a hard worker, loving, but firm...a no nonsense kind of person. I remember the "drop-in" company and how she loved visiting with her rural neighbors. Visiting with her friends and family on a daily basis took on significant importance in her later years. When I think of my summer visits, several things come to mind,  feeding the cows and chickens, picking eggs, and in the late afternoons, before I knew about plein air painting, taking my sketchbook out to draw and paint in the pastures.

BROWN & WHITE COW

9x12 oil on canvas

Photographed when the oils were still wet, the canvas has a slick look...kind of the same slick look on this old gal's face.

THE SMITH BOYS

Something completely different; another oil on canvas. I did this several years ago for Dad (he's the one holding the baby...Uncle Donald). Because the photo reference was so very small for this painting, it proved to be challenging. This photo was taken probably in the late 30's or early 40's, and is also the only known group photo of dad and his brothers.

BLACK ANGUS BULL

8x10 oil on canvas

from Mr. Lagneaux's livestock