A Donkey Named Carlos

I always love the challenge of painting what someone asks me to do.

"Can you paint my mom's donkey?"

"Can you put him in the view from her window?"

"Can you finish before Mother's Day?"

 

These are the photos I had to work with for this piece.  I didn't have a very good photo of Carlos, but was told he spent many hours with his head over the fence waiting for a treat. 

Wait... Fence? What fence?  Ooohhhh.... there is a wire fence in front... Yikes! How to do that... 

Challenge 1 - Find a better photo of a donkey and make it be Carlos.
Challenge 2 - Use the edge of a credit card to make the fine straight fence lines.

I hope their mother will be surprised and pleased. 

Original Oil Painting on 12"x 16" Wrapped Canvas
[SOLD]

A Donkey Named Turquoise

I keep looking at this colorful little painting and asking, "Did I do that?"

It's not my style... or is it?... or could it be?... maybe?

I've always admired artists who could just throw in unexpected colors and make it seem like they belonged there.

I found a YouTube artist, Lauren Elizabeth, who made it seem easy.

Just for the record, it wasn't easy... for me anyway. For one thing using acrylics is so different from oils! For another thing I was putting colors where they didn't belong... on purpose!  

What a challenge! What fun!

First attempt following along
the YouTube Lesson.

Second try in my art journal using
my dad's donkey, LeRoy, as a model.

It's not LeRoy's first time on canvas!
(2018)

My weekly-ish painting challenge was "Unexpected Turquoise."

I was not planning to paint a donkey.

I was not planning to paint in a whole new style.

But... *Serendipity* 

When I wasn't even looking for it, I happened across a video that sparked an idea!

Original Acrylic Painting on 8"x 10" Canvas Board

[SOLD]

Little Gray Donkey (a.k.a. Lee Roy)

My parents moved to Northwest Arkansas when they were in their 80s.  Although they no longer had 160 acres of land, my dad managed turn their new 5 acres into a complete little farm.  It had almost everything a farm could need.

• There was a big workshop for tools and equipment.
• We all enjoyed their huge garden with tomatoes, corn, and row of sunflowers.
• He planted an entire orchard of fruit trees and pecan trees.
• He started with a four-wheeler but traded that in for a golf cart that he and Mom used to take rides around the place every day.

Even with all that, something was still missing... until Lee Roy showed up.  Lee Roy was the funniest little donkey who brayed and hee-hawed and insisted on being heard.  He didn't really have a farm purpose, but Dad loved scratching him and feeding him.  He was well trained to run to the fence whenever anyone came outside because he knew he'd get a treat or at least a scratch on the head.  

Eventually, Dad got him a friend, Margarite.  She was never quite as much of a pet as Lee Roy. But, on the morning of my mom's 85th birthday, she walked outside to find a wide-eyed surprise baby donkey standing in the field beside Margarite. 

I've painted Lee Roy a few times. As a matter of fact, the only one of my paintings that my dad kept to hang on the wall in his apartment was a painting of Ole' Lee Roy.  

I wish I'd taken more photos of him, but as soon as I'd walk anywhere near the fence with a camera, he'd be right there begging for a treat and refusing to pose for a picture.

A friend asked me if I'd paint a donkey to donate for a fundraiser.  I did; however, when I finished, I liked it so much that I decided to paint another one to enjoy on my own wall for a while. Maybe one should be Lee Roy and the other one Margarite.

Original Oil Paintings on 6"x 12" Wrapped Canvas

[SOLD] & [SOLD]

Little Gray Donkey (a.k.a. Hee Haw)

How about that funny little fuzzy face!
His/her winter coat made him/her look pretty scruffy.

One day when my daughter was about three years old, we were coloring, and she said, "Mom, I know how to tell if it's a girl or a boy."  
I'm sure my heart raced and my eyes widened. I wondered what had she learned at preschool and asked, "Oh, how's that?" 
" Well, you just look at their eyelashes."
Ha ha ha ha...
Well, this one sure does have pretty eyelashes!

The day after Christmas, we went for a drive into the country.  I had my camera ready, and we were on the lookout for old barns, curious cows hanging out near their fences, or anything that I might turn into a painting.  But... that didn't work out. About the time we got onto rural roads, the fog came down.  We saw white... a lot of white... for a long time... 

Ron wanted to take me to a little breakfast cafe he discovered on his last motorcycle trip.

You just never know where you'll find a place worth driving back to.  

If you ever find yourself hungry in the middle of nowhere Northwest Arkansas,  maybe you'll come to the Oark General Store and Cafe.  


Delicious!
Fabulous country breakfast of bacon, eggs, biscuits, and gravy!

Oh, and on the way home, we did find this little gray donkey that didn't mind letting me take a few pictures of him/her.



Original Oil Painting on 11"x 14" Canvas
[SOLD]

Little Gray Donkey (a.k.a. Don Quixote)

ME: What should I call this new donkey?
RON: How about Don Quixote?
ME: (caught off guard with that response and dying laughing) 
RON: How would you spell that? Donkey Hoatey!!! 
ME: (still laughing)
ME: I've never read that, have you?  Google it. Make sure it's not some awful character.
ME: (a day later... still laughing)

I know... I know... he looks just like that other one I did a couple of months ago (A Little Gray Donkey - a.k.a. Clip Clop).  My 91 year old dad loved Clip Clop and took him to hang in his apartment where he refers to him as Ole' LeRoy!
I've got a different place to hang this guy while he waits for his forever home.

Original Oil Painting on 16"x 12" Wrapped Canvas
[SOLD]

A Little Gray Donkey (a.k.a. Clip Clop)

Doesn't he just look ornery! I bet the farmer who feeds him is either aggravated or laughing at him all the time.
His name is Clip Clop.

When my daughter was about three, her little choir at church sang a song about the donkey that Joseph led as he and Mary made their way to Bethlehem.  Each little one had a pair of rhythm sticks to tap together as they sang.
     
     Little gray donkey,
     Clip clop, clip clop,
     On the way to Bethlehem. 

     Little gray donkey,
     Clip clop, clip clop,
     On the way to Bethlehem. 

     Little gray donkey,
     Clip clop, clip clop,
     On the way to Bethlehem. 

Maybe there were more words, but I think they just sang those three lines over and over until they finished.  It was so cute.  
I think this little donkey is pretty cute, so I've named him Clip Clop in honor of the song.

Original Oil Painting on 16"x 12" Wrapped Canvas
[SOLD]

Little Brown Donkey

On the last day of school last year, Ron picked me up as soon as I said goodbye to the kids, and we took a road trip.

What a great idea!  We drove to Custer State Park in South Dakota.  Let me just say, that going to a major tourist destination during the days before Memorial Day is the best.  We practically had the whole place to ourselves.

The weather was perfect.  We had no agenda, no real time table.   This little tourist trap sold peanuts to feed the prairie dogs.   There were hundreds of them, and they were pretty fat and pretty demanding.  But so cute!

Next stop... The Badlands!  What an amazing place.  We took the kids to The Badlands when they were about 9 and 12.  I remember telling the kids, "It's going to be kind of like a zoo... only for rocks instead of animals."  As you can imagine, that did not get them excited.  We've laughed about that description for years.  15 years later, it's still beautiful.

Bea... u... ti... ful!!!  

And we basically had The Needles Highway to ourselves.  

 





So relaxed... so weird that 24 hours earlier I was finishing the last day of school. 





One thing I was anxious to see again was the Chief Crazy Horse Monument.  They work on it every day, so I was thinking that there would be a noticeable change since I'd seen it 15 years before.
Hmmm... no...  not much changed.  Still huge... still working... still a long way from finished.  Still the story behind the family who works on it intrigues me.
It rained on us at Mount Rushmore, but that was okay.
We have a funny (well funny now) story about the last time we visited Rushmore.  We purposefully went on July 4 so we could see the fireworks show they do from the Presidents' heads.  Hmmm... Guess that was before Google when we could check schedules... The fireworks are done on July 3... Missed it...

The most memorable afternoon was when we hiked around Sylvan Lake.  There are certain places on earth that are so gorgeous that they don't seem real.  When you get to be in one of those places,  you just stop and appreciate the privilege of being there.  Like I said, we were there the days prior to Memorial day so we didn't have to share the trails or views.  On this particular hike, we met only one other couple.

So... what does all this have to do with the painting?

These funny little red donkeys came to greet us on the road.  I'm pretty sure they were begging for treats.  They were pretty persistent.. a.k.a. annoying.. but awfully cute.

Hee Haw!!!

Original Oil Painting on 11"x 14"

[SOLD]

Little Gray Donkey

Who's that next door?

Meet LeRoy.  
LeRoy lives next door to my parents.  He's a scruffy little thing - on that fine line between adorable and ugly.  He's very friendly though.  It was hard to get a photo of him because he kept trying to walk right up to me.  I'd scoot back; he'd follow.  Finally he got distracted by something long enough for me to snap his picture.  

As I was painting him, I kept thinking of stories I might write about.... Then I put the three tiny white highlight dots in his big ole' black eyes... I just sat back and said, "Well, hello there!"  It amazes me when that moment comes for the painting to become real!

It made me think, not of one of the donkeys I've known, but of a donkey song.

When my daughter was about three (two decades ago), her little choir sang a song for the church Christmas program.  There were about a dozen little ones all dressed up and holding a pair of rhythm sticks.  They sang:

     Little gray donkey,

          Clip-clop, clip-clop,

               On the way to Bethlehem...

     Little gray donkey,

          Clip-clop, clip-clop,

               On the way to Bethlehem...

I don't think there were any other lyrics to this song, but it was so cute.  Just picture those little ones clacking their sticks together - some in rhythm, some not... some singing, some not... 

Maybe this painting should be titled, "Clip-Clop!"

[SOLD]