:) Custom House Ornament

What goes on your Christmas tree?

We started a tradition when we were first married of buying one special Christmas ornament each year to represent our year.  We have:
First Christmas Together
Baby Girl's First Christmas
Baby Boy's First Christmas
A Disney ornament
A cruise ship ornament
One from Mount Rushmore
One from Yellowstone
Another from Yosemite
... and one for all of our 27 Christmases as a family.

But this year with our son's return from Tibet and my daughter's move to Maryland, we just didn't take a trip or vacation... We just enjoyed home... So, as the end of the year approached, we didn't have an ornament.
... Until now...
This fantastic little Custom House Ornament represents our year perfectly.  The artist, (who just happens to be the mother of my "Blow on It!" girl and my "Hello, Butterfly!" boy) used a photograph of our own house to create this tiny little work of art.  Visit her Etsy shop at Inspired Traditions and enjoy seeing her Jesse Tree ornaments, Easter Resurrection ornaments, or purchase your own little house ornament. 

Candy Corn

 Which holiday has the best candy?

• Christmas has candy canes.
• Easter has marshmallow peeps.
• Valentine's Day has chocolate hearts.
• Halloween has nearly everything.
• And Thanksgiving, really the whole season of Autumn has... candy corn!  Yum!  (Do you think it can count as part of the daily required vegetable group since it is corn?)

I made a confession about my embarrassing habit when I get a heart-shaped box of  Valentine chocolates in the post of a painting called Love and Kisses Reflected. 

Now I have another confession...it's about candy corn, and I love candy corn... up til now only my family has known this... I only eat the orange and yellow parts and toss the white tip away, or even worse... I toss the white tip back in the bag!  

Why?  Well, my kids say it just because I'm weird that way.  Somehow I got the message when I was a little kid that the white tip is just pure sugar... Yeah... I know... so is the yellow and orange part...  Hmmm.... Maybe candy corn therapy is in order for me.

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How Now, Brown Cow?

What Next?

According to the Urban Dictionary, that's what How Now Brown Cow means...  Well, it's one of the meanings listed.  It has taken on several meanings:

• getting turned downed down flat by the opposite sex... "You got how now brown cowed by her!"
• a really pretty girl... "Look at that how now brown cow coming!"
• another way to ask what's up... "Hey, how now brown cow, dude!"
• there's no more beer... During Prohibition, the wooden keg was called a brown cow.  When it was empty they asked what they should do next... "How now brown cow?

Those are the silliest things I've ever heard!  I thought it was just a phrase to teach the open ow vowel sound, and of course, the appropriate greeting when meeting a brown cow.

This little brown cow lives on the land that belonged to my family when I was a kid.  When I went home for my 30-year class reunion, we went to have a look at our old house, field, and pond.  This cow was just as interested in me as I was in her;  She even stopped chewing her lunch to stare for a minute.

Enjoy an Etsy treasury (collection of related art pieces and vintage items) called How Now Brown Cow - just click!

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Pair of Pears

How does the last harvest of the year make you feel?

The freezer is full.  There are no more empty jars on the shelves.  School has started, and the busy fall schedule returns.  It's a little sad to put the garden to bed for the winter, but it's kind of a relief too.  

Our last harvest this year came from the little pear tree.  What a great surprise!  Every branch was loaded, and thanks to Dad's lye soap spray, they were all bug free. 

I'm not sure how to save pears - I don't like pear preserves; I don't think you can freeze them, make pies out of them, or can them - But, they're delicious! Sooooo... I've had fresh pears... no... really... lots of fresh pears... every... single... day... 

Remind me in January of the fresh pears that had a perfect combination of sweet/tart and crunchy/soft.  

Remind me next week to appreciate that I have a few left and that I need to enjoy them.

My sweet Momma loves to come sit on the porch to watch when we go out to harvest.  She always gets the first bite of whatever we pick.

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Hey, Hey... Hay! Again?

 Do you like reruns?

There's just something comforting about watching certain movies again, reading special books again, or going to the same favorite spot again.

If we catch When Harry Met Sally, Apollo 13, or It's a Wonderful Life on television, the channel flicking stops.  We just have to stop what we're doing and watch it again.  

One of the best parts of being a teacher is getting to read some fantastic books again and again every year.  Books like Dear Mr. Henshaw, Number the Stars, and Where the Red Fern Grows never get old!

So... What does that have to do with this little painting?  Well, I just love this little heifer!  It makes me smile to see her hanging on my wall, but she keeps selling!  I guess it's my fault for listing her for sale, but she's kind of fun to paint anyway.




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:) Jesse Tree Tree

What's your favorite Christmas ornament?

I answered that a while back when I said it was a Nativity Scene that my own little ones made for me in their 4-year-old Sunday school class many years ago.  I can't change that answer, but now I have a new favorite Christmas tree and ornaments!

First I got these gorgeous hand crafted Jesse Tree ornaments as a gift from my niece - each one is a work of art in itself.  Then, of course, I needed the perfect way to display them.  So, I put a bug in my brother's ear about a little wooden tree that would be perfect, but seemed to be awfully complicated to make.  Well, that was just the challenge he needed to get some wood, screws, wooden balls, and paint to make it happen. (I was counting on that!)

Here's my brother and dad drawing up the plan.

You can purchase both these ornaments and a little wooden  tree to hang them on at Inspired Traditions.

Red Barn at Harvest Time

Who wouldn't want to go to a party here?

We could pick a pumpkin for the jack-o-lantern carving... There might be a wheelbarrow race down the path... Maybe there's a haunted house in the loft... And, I bet there's a tub of apples for bobbing inside...

Yeah, I know the barn's probably a little too red, the pumpkins are a little too orange, and the sky's just too yellow... But, I love it.  I want to go there!

Super Hero Symbols

What's the difference between oils and acrylics?

This was only the second time I'd used acrylics and the first time I'd really spent time trying to learn to use them.
     Here's what I liked:
          The paint tubes were cheaper.
          The paint dried quickly so I could put another color right over the first.
          The flat one dimensional color was just right for this project.
          The clean up was just with water and some soap.
     Here's what I didn't like:
          The smell of the paint.
          The paint dried quickly, so I had to keep adding water to keep it moving on the canvas.
          The paint went on one color then dried a different shade.
          I felt like I wasted paint as I kept adding to try to mix the colors.
          I didn't feel like the paint and the brush worked together - if that makes sense.

These will decorate the wall of a little guy who'll be arriving soon.  I hope that he likes them.

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Meyer Creek

Do you have cousin memories... memories that you share only with your cousins?

I get goose bumps and shiver when I just think about stepping into that freezing green water...

I am number 20 in a family of 21 cousins on my mom's side.  Although we have a big range in ages, I know that this place holds similar memories for all of us.

After waiting the necessary hour after eating, a group of cousins would grab towels and head down the dirt road to this perfect spot. (Several decades later, I'm wondering about how important it was to wait that hour.  I don't think anyone would sink since this was about 2 feet deep in its deepest spot.)

I didn't paint him there, but I'm certain there's at least one big water moccasin sunning himself on one of those big rocks in the back.  As we arrived it was the job of the little cousins to make lots of noise and splash the water.  The big boy cousins had to throw rocks at the snakes so that they'd slither off the rocks and away into the water. That would ensure our safety from them. (Again, looking back, maybe we'd have been better off letting the snakes stay on the rocks where we could keep an eye on them!)

No one but us knows how much cousin labor it took to drag those rocks into the right place to slow the water enough to form that little pool.  There would already be some of the dam left over from the last family get-together, but it would take the majority of our time to line up those rocks and build the barrier that would give us a swimming pool.  It was important to remember to lift the rocks first on the side away from you so that anything hiding under could make an escape.  (I'm pretty sure, my cousin Matt and I used our "we're the littlest" excuse to let the others do most of that work.)

The rocks were so slick on the down-river side of the dam and the water was faster, so it was really hard to stand up there.  Plus there was always the fear of being washed away under the low-water bridge where the spiders lived. (Now that I think about that, that might nave been a big cousin trick to keep the little cousins on the pool side.)

The best place to lay out (catch all those grand rays that would fry our skin before anyone knew that wasn't a good idea) was on the bridge.  It was nice and flat and sunny.  The only bothersome thing was having to jump up and pick up your towel when someone yelled, "Car's comin'!" (Yeah, I'm looking back on that plan as not such a good idea either.)

What good times... 
I wonder if my cousins have any other memories of Meyer Creek that I've forgotten?

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Woo Pig... Sooie!

How do you call those Hogs?

Woooooooooo...... Pig... Soooie...
Woooooooooo...... Pig... Soooie...
Woooooooooo...... Pig... Soooie... Razorbacks!!!

Now, if you're not from Arkansas or at least a college football fan, then you can't imagine what on earth that is all about.  But, for those of us who live anywhere near the University of Arkansas, it's a very familiar cheer.  Click "Call Those Hogs" to hear it done by 70,000 fans in Razorback Stadium.

And, THIS... is an Arkansas Razorback... 

He's a pretty big departure from the paintings I usually do, but I absolutely loved working on him.  He's got lots of... hmmm... siblings... too.

These are the lovely ladies I teach with every day!  What a fun before-school-starts evening we had together.  

We met at Painting with a Twist, for an evening of art, music, laughter, and fun!  What a great concept.  Every person has a station ready with prepared canvas, pallet of paint ready, brushes, water, paper towel laid out, and a teacher who guided us through every step, color, and swirl.
Every body left with a finished painting and feeling like a real-live artist!

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Little Curt

Isn't it hard to paint a face?

That's a question I get asked all the time.  The answer is "no" and it's "yes."  The first thing I learned about painting a face is that I have to stop seeing a face, a mouth, an eye, an ear, a nose. It's just shapes and colors, darks and lights.  If I think of an eye as an eye, I make it too round or to almond shaped and exactly like the other one; if I think a mouth is a mouth, I make it too red, too crescent shaped. 
My portrait paintings are just like every other painting... they go through an ugly stage.  I'm never comfortable letting someone see a portrait that's not finished.  I can see in their face... "ummm... yeah..." while they wonder what to say.  In the first stage of my portraits, they look very creepy, kind of like the zombies from Thriller, while I'm getting the darkest darks blocked in. The second stage happens pretty quickly, and I have a lovely portrait of some little child - just not really the one I'm supposed to have.  The most tedious part is what follows.  What tiny  brush stroke will it take to make these lips, his lips?  What's wrong with the shapes of that eye? Where is that nostril supposed to be?
Finally, there's the, "Oh, there you are!" moment followed by a big "Whew!"  because the stress level is usually high by then.
So, my answer is no, it is not hard to paint a face.  But, if you want a specific face... well, yeah, it's hard!

In general, I don't enjoy painting portraits. My love is painting a story - a toddler doing something cute or sweet.  My thought is that if you want an exact picture of someone's likeness, then put a frame on a photo; however, sometimes there's a good reason.

My sister-in-law's father carried a photo of her and her brother in his wallet when he went to serve in the Korean War.  While there, he had someone paint those pictures.  Now, she has that portrait.  She asked me if I could paint a portrait of my brother, her husband, as a toddler and turn it into a color painting to be placed with hers.  She gave me an old black and white photo of him, a color photo of their daughter in a similar pose, and that was the challenge.

Isn't he a sweetie and a cutie!!  (Both 50 years ago and now!)

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Basket of Peaches

Does this image remind you of something?

Does it make your mouth water for the taste of peach?
Does it remind you of when you got to pick fruit with your grandpa?
Does it cause you to want to stop by the farmers' market?
Does it remind you of another painting you once saw?

I hope so... That's my goal... I want my paintings to provoke an idea, a thought, an emotion, a reaction...

My dad and I picked these peaches from two little trees beside his house in Tontitown, Arkansas.... pick, wash, peel, slice, eat!

I've got to give credit for my inspiration here.  "Basket of Peaches" done by Joseph Decker in 1885 is my favorite painting in Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art.  Mine may be worth about a million dollars less than his, but I love it just as much!

And, I better give a little credit to the peach trees and the farmer who takes care of them. (Thanks, Dad!)

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Apple of My Eye

Where did that phrase come from?

Here's your figurative language lesson for the day... "The apple of my eye" is an old phrase - used by Shakespeare in Midsummer Night's Dream and in the Old Testament of the Bible.  The apple was the most widely common spherical shape.  It was used as a symbol to refer to the pupil of the eye which was important yet vulnerable and in need of protection, the eyelid.  It is thought that the object or person would would be looked upon with such love and devotion that the entire pupil would be filled with the image so that there was no room to see anything else.  

"Apple of My Eye" - definition - Exceedingly precious .... I believe that's a pretty good phrase to describe this little one.  

One day maybe we'll put a hat on this sweetie and paint her again like her momma in Vacation Hat or her gramma in Wedding Hat.

One of my favorite books is Dictionary of Word Origins: A History of the Words, Expressions, and Cliches We Use by Jordan Almond.  Yeah... I know, I'm kind of weird, but I think learning the history and origins of figurative language is pretty interesting to learn about... :)

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:) Making Grape Juice

What do you do with all those ripe grapes?


The grapes grown in Northwest Arkansas aren't the same as those you get in the grocery store.  They are full of flavor, but they're also full of seeds and have a tough skin.  I can only eat a few of them.  

They're delicious...just not worth the work - squish the inside out of the skin, suck the skin, toss it, work to separate out the many little seeds, spit them out, finally chew up the good insides. 
Thanks to my sister-in-law, we learned how to make juice!   It's supposed to take a couple of weeks, but we had a sample.  It was delicious!

• Pick a big bucket of grapes.
• Wash, rinse, wash, rinse, wash, rinse, dry.
• Remove grapes from stems.
• Wash jars and rings in dishwasher.
• Bring canning bath to boil.
• Boil another pot of water. Boil sealing lids.

• Put 2 cups of grapes into hot jars.
• Add 1/2 cup sugar.
• Fill jars with boiling water.
• Top with hot lid and ring.
• Turn over once to mix sugar.

• Boil in canning bath for 10 minutes.
• Remove from water.
• Listen for the little "Pop!" so you'll know they're sealed.
• After two weeks, pour through a strainer and enjoy!

What a lot of fun (ok and a lot of hard, hot work) this was!  I can hardly wait to try it! 

Hmmmm.... I wonder if I should avoid driving after my first drink of this stuff... just in case it doesn't turn out to be just plain old grape juice!  :)

Just Peachy

Do they look good enough to eat?

They are... they were!

I hope this is the first in series of peachy still lifes.  

I've written about and often painted about our family garden.  Gardening is one thing my family knows and lives in the summer.  And, this year has provided a bountiful harvest that just keeps coming. 

Spring came early with no late freeze, so every branch on the peach trees was loaded.  What fun to fill a 5 gallon bucket of gorgeous, perfect peaches within 10 minutes!  
(FYI - that's my dad.)

Next comes the washing... sorry, but organic isn't a word that can be used to describe our garden... we have to wash off the same stuff that keeps the bugs off and the worms out.
Then comes the peeling, sprinkling with Fruit Fresh, and freezing.  Peel... peel... cut... cut... take a bite... peel... peel... cut... cut... take a bite...

Oh, but there was another step this year.  Set up some still life pictures to capture these peaches!  I'm fortunate to live in Northwest Arkansas were we have the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art.  Of all the famous, beautiful, huge, priceless paintings there, my favorite is one called "Basket of Peaches" done by Joseph Decker in 1885.  It's fairly small and not showy.  The first time I saw it, I knew I wanted to do my own basket of peaches.  I like to imagine that not long after the Civil War, Mr. Decker saw the knocked over basket, stopped whatever important job he was doing and captured that simple image.  I realize that his is worth about a million dollars more than mine... but I love them both!

"Basket of Peaches"

Thomas Decker 1885

Visit a lovely, yummy Etsy treasury (collection of related art pieces and vintage items) celebrating Peach Harvest.

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Beach Bliss

What does this image say to you?

On first glance... it's a big, fat man lying on the beach.  Yep, that pretty much sums it up... right?

Oh, just loosen up a little bit and look again...  Anybody and everybody can enjoy the beach... No fancy umbrellas or chaise lounges... A less-than-magazine-perfect body... Last year's blue trunks... Favorite ball cap over the face...The picture doesn't show it, but you know the sun is shining, the temperature is warm, and the water is cool... job and responsibilities a hundred miles away...

... complete relaxation... if only for a little while... peace... bliss... beach bliss...

This painting is special to me for a couple of reasons.  One is that I loved how my own thoughts about it evolved as I worked on it.  I went from that first-glance thought to the really liking what this guy symbolizes.  The lady who asked me to paint this for her explained why she loved it, and it made complete sense.  You see, this painting is not an original.  She already had a similar work that she'd found years ago at some flea market or craft fair.  But, that piece was destroyed along with her beach house in a hurricane several years ago.  She had a photo of the wall where it used to hang.  I hope this replacement reproduction gives her family the same feeling that the guy on the canvas has!

Another reason that this painting is special to me is that it is my 200th painting!  That's quite a milestone! 200 paintings since that first attempt called Summer Trees that I did on February 22, 2007.  What a lot I've learned about color and shapes and shadows and lights and texture and composition and well... just art in general in these five years!

I am so thankful to my friend and art mentor for showing me how to see things differently then faithfully guiding me through the learning processes every Monday night for 3 years.

To celebrate painting #200, I took my parents to Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art today.  We are so fortunate to have this amazing place just 30 minutes away from us!  I'd been with my husband a couple of times and with my 4th grade students before, but it was quite a different treat to take my 86 year old parents.  It's more than just looking at art... it's an event... an adventure... an amazing experience.  If you ever get the chance, go!  It's free!  It's beautiful!

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Annabelle & Her Kitty

What do you suppose they're looking at?

I love it when an in image leads me to wonder, ask a question, then use my imagination... 
However you choose to make the story go, it begins with a little girl and her kitty watching... watching...

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Holstein, the Dairy Queen

Do I look fat in these spots?

I think that is what this cow is saying.

I grew up on a beef cattle farm, so I really didn't "know" any Holsteins.  But, when I was working on the funny little tuft of hair on this gal's head, it triggered a memory of a trip my family made through Wisconsin when I was a kid.  There was a town there having a Harvest Milk Days festival.  They put those three words together to name their giant black and white cow that was in the center of the town.  Her name was Har-mil-da!  Oh, what a perfect name  I may have to paint another Holstein just to get to use that name!

I met this particular cow at a dairy beside an antique store near Eureka Springs, Arkansas.  I didn't buy any antiques, but I did take lots of pictures of the cows!  I particularly loved this one because it looks like she's talking.

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Beauty and the Beach

Why did I choose this photo to paint?

I've painted my son twice (in In the Tree and in My Boys), but I'd only painted my daughter once (in Flower Girl and Her Kitty).  I guess I was waiting for the right  photograph, and I knew this was it as soon as I saw it.  
I love the simplicity of the landscape and horizon.  
I love the off-center composition.  
I love the pop of red that makes her the center of attention even though she's near the edge.
I love the way the scarf is billowing which tells me it was a windy day.
I love the relaxed tone that's conveyed with her bare feet and pony tail. 
I love that her husband must have thought she looked beautiful so he snapped the picture.

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!"

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