Loving the Magic Hour and That one is Kryptonite

I am really into the magic hour which, as photographers all know, is the hour or so after sunrise or before sunset when shadows are long and cool colors are easier to see.  So many of my paintings have variations of this beautiful light in the mountains and shore scenes.  I do not work plein air because my work is not meant to hang outdoors and a painting done outdoors is completely different indoors.  I mostly work from photographs I take and modify them according to what I have internalized over the years.  I also put my feelings into the work through visual language which is extremely hard to explain.  I love what I do.

My husband and I will be celebrating our 35th wedding anniversary in late June.  Of course, you can tell by our pictures that we got married when we were both twelve.  Anyway, we are still together and have been very happy.  We have one son, Alan, who drives us crazy, but he is a great guy and we are proud of him.  The 35th is certainly a milestone.   I am reminded of what the character Howard said on The Red Green Show which we miss very much since we can't get a signal due to the digital takeover.  He was going over the different anniversaries, silver for 25th, Gold for 50th, Diamond for 75th, and then he said the 100th is Kryptonite!   I don't think we will make it to that one!

Be sure to check out my specials on large canvas prints of three of my most popular paintings on Fine Art America!

Technology is Getting me Down and It is not Going to be Pretty

Yesterday morning I spilled coffee all over my off white rug.  I should have gotten back into bed at that point.  The next thing that went wrong was my DVD box remote.  I don't watch much TV but I like to watch small sections of movies for breaks during the day.  The remote wouldn't work and I don't have time to sit down and watch the whole thing so that was the end of that.  Then the real fiasco that matters big time.  I was working on correcting a photograph of a painting on Aperture and a small light came on and the computer froze.  Now I can't import anything or crop anything that I have on there.  This is a big problem for me as I am one of the artists on FAA that occasionally has image problems that need to be corrected before the print can be sold.  I hope someone can help me tomorrow.

TECHNOLOGY IS REALLY GETTING ME DOWN!!!  If they ever computerize closets and bathrooms there will probably be a naked old woman looking for a bush and at my age that won't be pretty.  The image certainly won't be like the girls in my Beautiful Nudes folder.  I just hope the computer geeks lay off the bathroom and the closets.

On a brighter note my paintings are coming along and I think I have achieved more complex surfaces than ever before. The colors are like jewels and the experience of working on them is wonderful.

Now They are Coming to the Door and the Big Three are Coming Along

As I mentioned in another blog my husband and I are two of about five people in the world that don't have cable and are still holding out against the continual barrage of advertisements.  My husband says the other three are in the Antarctica photographing penguins.  Every week we get four or five offers in the mail for cable, satellite, dish, etc.  I am forever tearing up these letters.  This last week they got tough.  We have had two cable guys actually come to our door.  This has never happened before.  It is interesting to me that this new effort coincides with my digital TV problems that would be cured by cable.  When it is hot I can't get Judge Judy or Big Bang reruns which is about all I watch.  We lost PBS with digital but I can find the programs I watched on DVDs in the library.  We are not giving in!  I am a movie buff and I can live without TV and I refuse to pay to watch it.  ARE YOU CABLE GUYS LISTENING!  GIVE UP!  WE WILL NOT SURRENDER!

My three large paintings are coming along and I am definitely changing my approach as always.  Painting, like my hair, is a new experience every day!  I never know what to expect as I try to boss them around and instead they boss me around until I give in and just enjoy the ride.  Two of them are shore scenes and one is another field near Rocky Knob where my husband should have a mail box.  I think there should be a marker where he sits during hawk migration.  Any way it is great to have more time to paint and I will be pleased to add them to my portfolio on the web.

Be sure to check out my special canvas print offers of A Break in the Clouds, Reaching Out, and Cheers.  The offer starts tomorrow.

Great to See Jackie Gleason Again and If Stupidity Were...

I don't have a lot to say about my paintings today except that I am surprised I'm not covering them up this time.  I had gotten to the point that It was too difficult to do anything else if I could see my current paintings so I covered them after my sessions.  This time I am checking them out through the day without grabbing a paint brush and turning on the exhaust fan.  Art is a weird but fascinating experience.

One of my all time favorite programs is the Honey Mooners with the late, great Jackie Gleason. Roanoke has started a station called MeTV with the programs of the sixties.  Jackie Gleason was an incredible entertainer and it is wonderful to see him and his terrific cast again.  No one could turn dancing into comedy the way he did.  What fun!

My husband is always coming home with stories about drivers that practically hit him while they are on the cell phone, tailgators that practically climb into the trunk, and speeders that almost run him over.  He has decided that if stupidity were gasoline there would be no shortage anywhere.  We would have an endless supply.

Be sure to check out my specials which are on page two of the Limited Time on Fine Art America!

Impasto Variations and More Ant Fun

I have been painting for more years than I care to admit to and it is always a new experience.  It is amazing how paintings like to push the artist around instead of the artist controlling the work.  As I have said before, it is a balancing act between control and accident.  I can't imagine using any kind of formula.  I know some artists do and all I can say is "to each their own" but it is not for me.  I sort of know what I am doing, but I always allow for things to happen that I didn't plan which makes for a perpetually exciting experience.  Right now I am modifying the impasto method I have been using for years so that the elevation of the painting is barely there.  At one time I was practically putting it on with a spoon but I am now using  a subtle impasto effect and incorporating many different warm and cool colors with each brushstroke.  Keeps me going!  Dancers have a saying that they must dance or die well I must paint or die.  I hope I have a paint brush in my hand when I go.  If I have mentioned that before it is because it is the truth.

On the home front the ants are back in the kitchen.  We are still seeing a few in the bathrooms but now there are quite a lot in the kitchen.  Time to get more ant traps and try to keep them out of things.  There weren't too many this evening.  I usually put the pudding away and my husband gets it out again.  Tonight I got mine and told him he had better hurry before the ants get it.  He said he got there just as they were hitching their wagon to the bowl!  He got it away from them just in the nick of time!  The war is on for the warm weather.

Be sure to check out my specials for the week!  Just click on Limited Time on Fine Art America.  I will have three starting Thursday morning.  Mine are usually on the first or second page.

Copyright Disappointment and Judge Judy Terrorists

A while back I decided I had better research copyright issues in the internet age and was quite surprised by what I found.  Like many art students I was taught that if a photograph was changed by 10% an artist could use it in an interpretive work of art.  Not so anymore.  If it can be proven that an artist used someone's photograph the artist can be sued.  If an artist wants to make a portrait of a celebrity then the artist needs permission from the photographer and the celebrity to make a portrait.  I decided I wanted to make a portrait of David Garrett so I contacted the photographer for permission and David Garrett's estate for permission.  I figured I wouldn't be able to sell the portrait or sell prints and I stipulated that in the request.  After I finished the portrait I found several artists selling prints of David Garrett so I contacted the estate again for permission and was turned down.  I guess all those artists that are selling prints of celebrities either have permission or they don't think they will be taken to court.  I'm way too chicken to try to sell the prints so I have the portrait on my page as an example of my portrait ability.  Oh well.  I don't think I will make any more portraits of celebrities unless the celebrity contacts me for one.  That would be nice!

My husband and I are probably one of five or so people in the world that don't have cable and don't want cable but I think digital TV was started as a conspiracy against the few hold outs that refuse to have a cable bill.  If there is any kind of strong weather the TV reception starts and stops which is really irritating but we don't watch that much TV so it isn't that big a problem.  I do like to watch Judge Judy when I am fixing dinner.  I like watching her rant and rave and some of the idiots on the show are great entertainment.  The other day the weather was fine but the show wouldn't come in.  My husband thought it was probably Judge Judy terrorists that couldn't take hearing her say one more time, "That is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard!"  They took her out.  Actually, the show came on the next day so he was wrong.  We still don't have cable and I think we can hold out forever in spite of all the fancy offers on TV.

It is Great to Talk to New Patrons and You have heard of the Hound of the Baskervilles...

The internet has made us all next door to each other which is great when you are selling artwork.  I really enjoy communicating with people I have never met and probably wouldn't have met without my website.  A patron from Sterling VA recently contacted me about purchasing some of my prints for his office and I have enjoyed our emails.  He bought one large canvas print and is considering buying more.  Coincidentally, my younger sister lives in Sterling and I'm sure she will drop buy to see the painting.  I have several paintings of her in my portfolio. The world truly can be a small place.

I am going to sound like a broken record but I can't believe how noisy the miniature doberman dogs next door are.  I don't want any one to think I hate dogs because I certainly don't.  We have a great little labrador mix but she is so old she hardly makes any noise at all these days.  The people that own the five screeching dogs were told a number of years ago that they could not have any more dogs due to negligence.  Social Services has since got them to clean up their act and I am not about to alert animal control and have their kid's dogs taken away. But why five?  I can understand two so they can keep each other company but five yappers is hard on the rest of us.  You have heard of the Hound of the Baskervilles.  Well, these dogs are the Howling Runts of Radford.  Sometimes the noise is so loud it sounds like they are all squeaking.  My husband said that maybe we could oil them.  How I wish we could!

So Glad to Sell Another Canvas Print of A Break in the Clouds and I Think I am one of Those People...

I'm so pleased to sell another large canvas print of one of my two most popular pieces of artwork on Fine Art America.  A Break in the Clouds and Reaching Out have sold more than any of my other paintings or drawings.  It is exciting to see my work so high in the search results.  If you put Mountains Paintings in the search, A Break in the Clouds is #3 out of 10,000+.  If you put Mountains oil  paintings in the search it is #1 out of 1790.  It is also #3 out of 6304 Nature Oil paintings.  I work hard at promoting my artwork and am pleased to see increased sales. 

On Facebook today there was a joke with Daffy Duck about stupid people.  The gist was that a day without stupid people would be... I don't know.  I'll let you know if it ever happens.  I decided to share the joke with my 1265 friends and a lot of people liked it.  A while after I shared it occurred to me that I couldn't really agree with Daffy Duck because I can be pretty stupid myself so I added that as a comment.  I added that I do some real stupid things but I don't think I am stupid 24/7.  I hope there aren't any people I know that would disagree.  I think we are all smart and stupid at times.  The trick is to be more smart than stupid.  Live and learn or is it live and learn too late?

Be sure to check out my weekly specials.  Starting tomorrow you can get 40% off of large canvas prints of A Break in the Clouds, Poppy Twirl, and Stepping Stones on the New River.

Back to Chasing Mineral Spirits Out and Ants Do Not have Teeth

I like pastels but now that I have finished my portrait of renowned violinist David Garrett, I am glad to be putting up with a noisy exhaust fan so I can paint in oils.  I read somewhere that visually oriented people have trouble with distracting sounds which is probably why I have to force myself to turn the exhaust fan on.  I also have a hard time with vacuum cleaners and I always cover my ears when the jets go over.  I like all mediums but oil paint is what I love the most.  Happy to be back, especially after a vacation with more aggravation then fun.

As soon as the weather gets warm we have trouble with ants.  This year is much better than past years.  My husband cut back a tree that was scraping the roof and found a number of ants nests near the house.  We hardly have any in the kitchen but we have a good number in the bathroom on the other end of the house.  I jokingly asked my husband if they wanted to brush their teeth.  He asked me what I would want to do if I spent my time crawling around in the dirt.  But, of course, ants don't have teeth.  They have a mandible.  My husband countered with how do you know?  Have you ever really looked that close at one?

I think that as time goes on we are turning into George Burns and Gracie Allen. We certainly are not anywhere as near talented as them, but our humor does resemble their style . I'm not sure which of us is which.