Tomato Done

"Tomato Cage" 12"x12" acrylic

I guess this is finished, finally. 

With my paintings, you never know. 

I'll deliver it to the gallery today. 

I wanted a painting with

 the rusty tomato cage wire in it

because I scratch myself on it 

every time I pick tomatoes. 

Ouch!

Cooking Disaster

Okay...what's up with this? 

I can't follow directions on a box? Pitiful! I was making corn bread muffins, but when I looked on the box to see how long to bake it, I was reading the time for the cornbread in a pan. It was 10 minutes longer than for the muffins.  So, I had a little batter left to make a small cornbread. I kept a close watch not to burn it.

Actually, those muffins weren't burnt. They were very crisp on the outside, but they were edible. Didn't taste burnt at all.

Looking Back - Missing Nugget

I came across these old photos of our son and his beloved cat, Nugget, and almost cried, they're so sweet.

A pregnant cat was dumped on our dead-end road. People do crap like this on a regular basis. We once found two black baby kittens, not even old enough to be weaned, that had been dumped. We tried our best to catch them, but they kept running off into the woods. What was their fate? DUH! They either starved to death or were supper for a hungry coyote. I HATE when people dispose of unwanted pets by dumping them along a country road to fend for themselves. 

I'm glad the expectant mama cat went to our neighbors instead of here. She had her kittens in their shed, and when they were weaned, our son got pick-of-the-litter of three adorable little mousers.

He carried little Nugget around everywhere he went, like he was a mother cat. That little fur ball really bonded with him. He was the best little kitty ever. He didn't even use a litter box. He went to the door and scratched on it to be let outside to do his business. What a smart and considerate little fellow he was. And unlike most other cats, this one loved to be picked up, held, petted, loved and carried around.

But Nuggie had skin problems which later developed into a rare form of cancer. Soon after this photo was taken (Jacob was around 12), we had to have him euthanized. We were all heartbroken. Memories here, of a little boy who grew up too fast and a special cat who died too young.

A View from the Old Home Place

Here's the next painting I did after taking that oil painting workshop back in the '80s (see post directly below). It hangs in my living room and will never be sold by me. It's the view across the Macoupin Creek Bottoms of the farm where my husband grew up.

"Crestview Oak" 12x16 oil, NFS

The view is looking east across the pasture where I loved to roam looking for Indian arrowheads. In the middle distance is a golden soybean field, almost ripe for harvest (the golden leaves turn gray when they're ready to combine); and in the far distance is a woods where we often mushroom hunted in the spring. In this view, I'm looking out the front window of our home on the hill to the west.

Even after almost 25 years, I still miss that farm. My husband was the only son in the family and he already had a good job with benefits (as opposed to the 24-7, 365 days a year gamble that farming had become), so turning it over to him when his dad retired was not an option, as badly as we wanted to hang on to the family farm.

I painted this scene and gave it to my husband's parents when they retired and sold the farm 25 years ago. It has hung in their living room all these years. Several years ago, Grandma went on a "giving-back" spree; making sure gifts were returned to the givers, so there would be no confusion about what belongs to whom when she dies. So that's how it happens to be hanging on our living room wall now.

Bathroom Scenery

I once had the opportunity to visit the home of one of my college professors. She and I and another student from our class were going on a "photo shoot" around Springfield. We were on a safari to stalk photo-ideas for paintings we would do later in the studio. The other student and I were both commuters, living a long drive from school, so our teacher/mentor did the driving and gave us a grand tour of the city of Springfield.

She didn't take us to any Lincoln Shrines, downtown to see the Old and New Capitols, to any museums or other tourist attractions. She took us to out-of-the-way nature places and we enjoyed a picnic in a beautiful park. The other student (another "non-traditional" student like me) and I felt really honored that she invited us on a very special day. 

I painted two watercolors from that expedition. I don't know where they are now, and it's nearly midnight, so I can't go ratting around, trying to find them. Neither have been photographed, and maybe they've been sold. I really regret not keeping track of who buys my paintings. But it's too late to start now.

"Pasture Pond" 9x12 oil on canvas

Okay, I told a long story to get to a short one. My professor lived in a beautiful home full of plants and pets. But one thing I noticed: there were none of her pictures on the walls. Just wall hangings and weavings and stuff like that. I was curious so I asked why not. She seemed shocked that I would suggest for her to hang her own paintings as part of the decor of the house! Like it was a tacky idea or something.

Are all artists that way? I put my paintings all over the walls of my house, just to have a place to store them. Above is a little oil painting I did years ago at a workshop. I love working in oil --- the sensuous pleasure of mixing colors right on the canvas. I wanted Hereford cattle grazing in the pasture, but didn't know how to draw them so tiny. The instructor suggested I just "suggest" them with little blobs of brown and white color. I still think they look like moldy raisins.

Another mistake I must point out. I forgot to put the reflections under the foreground clumps of grass in the water. Stupid! Someday, if I ever go back to oils, I guess I ought to fix that. In the meantime, this little 9x12 has been hanging in our bathroom for the past 24 years.

The Kindergarten Tree

This is the kindergarten tree. At 18 years old, I think it must be full-grown. Little Jacob got this blue spruce on Earth Day, in kindergarten. We planted the little twig, and just like our son, it grew up tall over the years. I couldn't say how tall it is; I really should get a picture with Jacob beside it, for a better idea of how tall it is.

This tree almost didn't make it. Years ago, Rich burned some leaves and sticks in a pile on the edge of the woods. He was too close to the back of the tree (then only about 6 feet tall), and he scorched it pretty badly. But it survived and looks good, from the front, anyway.

This snow was from our howling storm on New Year's Eve. I was fascinated to see a few icicles hanging from the tips of its branches. When I was a kid, we put plastic icicle decorations on our Christmas tree. But I've never actually noticed real icicles on an evergreen before. These icicles were slanting away from the wind as they formed.

Oh, Yeah, Happy New Year!

This is a picture of our New Year's Eve storm. Those Indian temple bells, or whatever they are, do not make very good windchimes. It takes a hurricane to get them to move. So I attached a wooden star to the bottom to catch the wind. They'll tinkle, but who wants to be out on the porch when the wind's blowing snow and sleet all over?

A Painting Chore

Ho hum...I'm out of paint palettes, so it's time to do the dishes.  I could just use coated paper plates for palettes and throw them away.  But I like to reuse & recycle, so I use plastic art palettes and cottage cheese container lids. 

I put the dirty palettes on the left of the sink and fill them with water. The paint becomes soft after a few minutes and you can easily peel the thicker paint chips off.  The residue of paint left behind on the palette is then scrubbed off --- I use my thumbnail.  Voila! Clean palettes: I stack them on the other side of the sink to dry. After the paint chips are dry, I place them in a ziplok bag, awaiting a strange, new painting that's simmering in my mind. 

Now, I'm ready to paint again.Time to finish that tomato cage painting.

A Walk in the Snowy Woods

Yesterday morning, even before I took the dog out for his walk, I sneaked out with my camera and had a nice time photographing what was left of our New Year's Eve snowstorm (4 inches). I wanted so bad to go out and take pictures when it was snowing, but I didn't have any way to keep my camera dry. Anyway, I found this log covered with fungus and snow which I thought was kind of cool.

WIP - Ripe Red

Here's today's work. When I say that, I don't mean I painted 8 hours. I might sit and look at it eight hours though. LOL. Actually I tend to paint about 3 hours at a time, take a break, go back later, when it's dry.

I'm working in acrylic, which dries faster than I like.  I love to blend on the canvas, while the paints are still wet.
I think I'm much better painting in oils, but I just can't stand how messy they are.

Next, I'll be working to finish the vines, leaves, and wires. I'm about 75-80% finished at this point. I don't know why I left those leafy things on the tomato so long at the top. I'll need to do some damage control up there. Also, the vines have tiny hairs sticking out all over. I don't know if I have a brush that small.

I like taking pictures of the different steps and putting them on my computer screen. It helps me identify places that need more work.