Sold a Dirty Dancing Setting print and I would not be doing that all day long...

So pleased to sell a print of my painting of the setting for  the popular movie, Dirty Dancing with Patrick Swayze!  The Mountain Lake resort in Giles County is a very special place for me.  I used to swim there with college friends and my husband, son, and I spent several holidays there.  It is such a beautiful place and I did two oil  paintings and three oil pastel paintings of  various sites.  Canoes, Mountain Lake is my favorite and the painting is owned by a great North Carolina patron.  The print that sold was from the small sketch for the painting.  I have both in my portfolio.

A few weeks ago I discovered something about myself that was a big surprise.  I get a lot of exercise to keep the  body going and I also do various stretching exercises.  I hadn't tried to touch my toes in many years so I tried and was shocked that I couldn't do it.  So I  decided to use a technique my  physical therapist showed me for a frozen shoulder to stretch the muscles out.  I am doing that exercise at least three times a day but it is easy to forget.

I  told my husband that I was going to do the exercise every time I ate something so that I wouldn't forget to do it. He said that would be all I would be doing every day.  That is ridiculous!  I only eat 8 to 10 times a day!  Still time for all the other things I do!



Be sure to check out my Limited Time Promotions  on Fine Art America!  I always have three selections on sale. Large canvas prints at 40% off!

The Mindy Project is on  Monday nights right now at 9:30 pm and the show has been renewed for another season!  Check out my best-selling print, "Reaching Out" across from her office desk!

Lot of additions to my Portfolio and I wish they would give up...

Working away as always.  I am pleased that I am keeping up my self-imposed schedule to upload three pieces of artwork a day to try to catch up on paintings and drawings that I haven't included. I am also adding my new work and photographs. This is a rather grueling task since I have to photograph the items outside with a tripod.  I creep around my equipment.  It is so easy to break cameras.  One gust of wind and it could be all over.  The last shoot was excellent!  My back hurt afterwards but all of the paintings came out great!  That usually doesn't happen.  Something always goes wrong.  Glad to have a good shoot!

The scammers are back on my trail again!  I wish people wouldn't fall for their shipping scam so they would quit contacting me.  Now I get texts that just ask if the painting is still available.  I answer that one since it could be a legitimate inquiry.  The next one says they want to buy it and they will send a check.  I then tell them Paypal only.  Their next one is, okay, what is your address so they can send me a check.  Either they are dumber than a sack of hammers or they don't read my texts.  I guess they just send out the same scammer lines to everybody.

My husband says they should be put in jail and handcuffed to a chair in front of a computer that only has scams.  Twenty-four hours a day of forced scams.  Nothing else. Of course we could never let that criminal get out of jail. He or she may have learned too much.

Be sure to check for my Limited Time Promotions on Fine Art America!  And don't forget about my best seller, "Reaching Out", on
The Mindy Project!  I have missed a few episodes but I did see it on the 2nd,4th,5th,8th, and 18th episodes.  It is across from her desk.

Working away on a Commission and Where is my onion?

 I am working away on my latest commission which brings me to the sad fact that I don't have my commission works online.  One in the long list of many things I need to do.  I am so busy with current work that it is hard to get up the energy to get caught up on things that should be done.  Oh well, I am glad that the first layer of the commission is done and the patron is very happy with the likeness of her father.  Now for all the other layers.

 Tonight as I was thinking about the evening meal I realized I only had a very small piece of onion to cook with the pork chops.  Earlier today My husband asked me if I needed anything since he was going to the store.  I went into the computer room and asked him where was the onion that I should have asked him for.  He replied that I didn't ask for one.  I said you would think after a million years of marriage you would be able to read my mind.  His reply was you would think after a million years of evolution I would be able to climb a tree but we both know that isn't going to happen.  I don't think I am going to get my onion unless I go to the store. Of course, I don't really expect my husband to read my mind but you would think after a million years of marriage...

 If you didn't see me on The Hour of Joy, be sure to check it out on her website.  http://www.thehourofjoy.com/
nature paintings



 Also, be sure to check out my Limited Time specials on Fine Art America!

So glad to sell another print of Natural Rhythm, three originals, and What kind of error do you want...

I am so pleased to sell another print of the popular painting, "Natural Rhythm", to a great patron in Louisiana!  Also, three of my small paintings went to a great patron in Arizona!  It is great to sell prints, but it is especially great to sell originals!  The three that were selected were vibrant pieces that I will miss - especially "Peachy Sunset".  The wonderful thing about these small works is I can scan them into the computer and buyers can get huge prints.  And to make my week even better, I am starting a portrait commission.  I like portrait commissions but they can be difficult.  So far, I have had no complaints.  I always have the patrons check the likeness in the early stages so they will be happy with the end product.

I hate to bother my husband about writing but he is a published writer and knows grammar better than I ever will.  If my life depended on my knowledge of the parts of speech I would be dead.  Grammar was hard for me.  Like a lot of artists I have trouble with words so sometimes I get my husband to proof-read things I write so there won't be any glaring errors.  His smart-alec response to my request is what kind of errors do you want? NO ERRORS, SMARTY PANTS!






Be sure to check out my Limited Time specials on Fine Art America!
Also look for my best selling print, "Reaching Out", on The Mindy Project and me on The Hour of Joy March 10th on FoxTV27 out of Roanoke!

Enjoyed the TV taping of The Hour of Joy and Should I put it on the floor?

I had a great day in Roanoke yesterday for the taping of my appearance on The Hour of Joy and I didn't trip or say anything particularly stupid!  The audience seemed to like my short talk and they especially liked the three large paintings I brought with me.  The crew put them up on easels and Joy commented that the one behind her made it look like she was outdoors!  The lighting was good and I put on my-I am not painfully shy and can do this act- that I did for twenty years at Radford University.  My back muscles were spasming big time afterwards.  People commented that I was perfectly composed and natural.  Maybe I should have gone into acting.  Anyway, it was great working with Joy and the crew.  Everyone was so nice!

The other day my husband was complaining that he couldn't reach the itchy spots with lotion on his back and I mentioned to him that there were other ways of getting the lotion on there. His reply was do you want me to squirt it on the floor and roll in it?  No, me, you could ask me to put it on, genius.

I put it on so now he isn't so miserable.

Check out my large canvas print specials on Fine Art America this week and "Reaching Out" on The Mindy Project.  So far there have been shots of it on the 2nd, 4th, 5th, and 8th episodes.  It is in her office across from her desk.

Here are the paintings that will be on The Hour of Joy on March 10th!

Pleased to Sell Another Print of Reaching Out and

I am pleased that my drawing, "Reaching Out", is reaching new places.  This time a framed print went to a great patron in Wexford, Pennsylvania.  It is great to see in on The Mindy Project in the main character's office.  I hope more patrons will get a print of my best seller!

Can't think of anything funny and my main source, my husband, said I am on my own this time.  My television appearance will be taped this Saturday.  It was supposed to be today but it was called due to weather.  I guess I can trip over my own feet next Saturday just as well as I would have today.  Now I can be uptight for another week.  My friend can't help me this Saturday, so my husband will be in the audience instead of her.  Not sure what I think of that.  He better not make any faces at me or I am doomed.

Anyway, check out my canvas print specials on Fine Art America and come April 3rd I will be on FoxTV out of Roanoke with Joy Sutton.  They have easels for my work and I am going to give away one of my small gem paintings.  Should be fun but my nervous stomach tells me otherwise.  Looking forward to the taping and looking forward to it being over!

Pleased to sell another original painting and An apple a day...

I am so pleased to sell another original painting!  This one was a favorite floral called "Color Flow".  A very nice young man drove down from Washington and Lee University to buy it for his girlfriend for Christmas.  They are both about to graduate and plan to be corporate lawyers.  I wish them well!  Paintings can be the greatest gift.  They only go up in value and it is a gift from the heart and soul of someone who lives to paint.  I only wish I didn't always have dirty dishes in my future.  Not to mention dirty laundry and dirty house.  I still get to paint because I am nothing if not organized.  I have my faults, but I am determined to paint and nothing stops me.

The other day I mentioned to my fructose intolerant husband that I usually eat an apple a day so I guess I keep the doctor away.  His response was if he ate an apple a day the doctor would be here all the time taking all his money.  What kind of crazy diet asks people to give up most vegetable and fruits?  Fructose intolerance is a mean trip.



Be sure to look for my best-selling print, "Reaching Out", on The Mindy Project.  I am looking forward to being on TV myself this spring on The Hour of Joy.  Joy Sutton is quite an interesting lady and I agree with her that we need a program of good news.



Check out my Limited Time Promotions on Fine Art America this week!

Sold another Print and This time I will be on TV...

 So glad to sell another print to a great patron in Riner, VA.  This sale was of a cabin at Clayor Lake in Dublin, VA.  Beautiful place!

I am pleased that my drawing,"Reaching Out" is beautifully displayed on Fox's The Mindy Project but now I am very excited  that I will be on My19 out of Roanoke, VA.  Joy Sutton contacted me to ask me to be on her show, The Hour of Joy, which has been renewed for another season.  My appearance will be taped January 26th and the tentative air date is April 3rd.  They are going to set up some of my paintings on easels.  I hope I don't trip!

I was looking at some old photos online of girl in the 40's and thought they looked great!  They didn't look like they hadn't eaten in a week like a lot of models do these days.  Slender is fine but I think we have taken it to extremes.  My husband said if one of those models saw a potato chip in a room they would run out screaming!  I think girls should be allowed to eat just like guys.

Be sure to check out my canvas print sales this week on Fine Art America!

That turned out all right and You will see how well he blocks...

I finished a painting that I thought I had finished a long time ago.  I am pleased that I was able to remember the methods I used then and completed it without making into a different painting.  That is always a very tricky thing to do.  I have completely re-done a few old paintings and was glad I did.  They just needed one more layer for success.  This one just needed a few modifications in a few areas.  Now I am happy with it and will not work on it again - I think.

I think I have mentioned this one about football players before but I am not about to go through all my blogs to find out so bear with me, because I know I have a different punch line.  I'm not much for sports and I can't get into football.  I have the greatest respect for all the effort that goes into games but I would rather do something else.  Last year I was invited to a friend's house to watch the Superbowl and it was the first time I really looked closely at the players.  I was amazed to see that some of the players were overweight with big guts.  I thought the only athletes that were allowed to be fat were suma wrestlers.

Recently I made that comment again to my husband about a player that had quite a protuding gut and was wondering how he could play so well with the extra weight. He said get between him and a cheeseburger and you will see how well he blocks.



Be sure to check out my YouTube videos.  I am especially proud of the one I did on my florals except for the grammar error when I said this paintings instead of these paintings.  I get nervous when I record my voice and make goofy mistakes.  Just put my name in the search!

Sold Another Original and You Married Me...

 I am pleased to sell another original Blue Ridge Mountain oil painting of Clover Hollow in Giles County to a great patron in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.  I am especially pleased with the brushwork of this painting and the warm/cool color contrast.



 I am really enjoying my excursion into non-objective or non-figurative art for a while.  I am doing some oils and some acrylics and the process is absorbing and intricate.  Even though I am, and have always been a representational artist, I find it next door to impossible to convince people that all levels of abstraction are the same to me in regards to how the painting is done.  I may base a painting on a scene from nature but I am not a slave to it and my decisions regarding spacing, line, color,  texture, and brushwork  are pretty much the same regardless of the level of abstraction. The painting takes on a life of its own.

I was glad that my drawing, "Reaching Out", was visible on the second episode of The Mindy Project which I thought was the best of the three that have been shown.  Hope to see it again on the next episode.  I wish they had placed it on the wall with all the diplomas.  It is on the wall opposite that one and they seem to concentrate on Mindy's desk and the wall across from her.

My husband is still feeling pretty awful from a viral infection so my comedy writer has been off for a while.  I haven't thought of anything myself but I am going to repeat something I saw on Facebook.  A woman says her husband thinks she is crazy but she isn't the one that married her.  Something to think about!

How to Get an Artist out of the Studio and Could be Baboon Butt

As I have said many times, I live to paint.  The more time I have to paint, the more time I spend painting.  It is difficult to tear myself away and sometimes I think I am too obsessed with my work.  I have a friend with a boat who lives on a lake and she likes to have a swimming buddy.  I hadn't heard from her since she was sick with some sort of stomach problem so I wrote on her Facebook wall and said I hoped we could get together soon.  Some one has to to get me out of the studio before I asphyxiate myself with mineral spirits.  Got a call right away and now I am taking breaks on the lake!  Now that's the way I like it!

My husband and I were discussing hot dogs tonight.  I haven't had a hot dog in many years.  In fact I can't remember the last time I had one.  They don't agree with me and I have always been concerned about what is in them.  I'm not real big into health food but I try to stick to eating things that haven't been tampered with.  I told my husband that when I bought them I bought chicken hot dogs because I figured they were better for you.  He asked how do you know they are really made with chicken?  For all you know, after they monkey around with them they could be made with baboon butt.  I seriously doubt that but it makes for a good joke!  No offense to all you hot dog lovers!

Be sure to check out my Limited Time Promotions on Fine Art America and be sure to like my page.  I will have three large canvas prints listed tomorrow.

http://kendall-kessler.fineartamerica.com/


Also, check out my sale on Small Gem paintings on Etsy!
http://www.etsy.com/shop/towheehillstudio

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.

Definitely Jealous and Small Smiles...

Congratulations to Michael on Fine Art America  for his 340 print sale today!  I am quite jealous and sure wish Groupon had selected my work for this great print deal.  I can't image what it would be like to find out I had 340 sales.  I am certainly going to work harder and harder at promoting my work to generate more sales.  I really don't like living in front of a computer but I can see that is what it takes these days.  This is the first day in a long time that my myafacial pain is hardly there so I can work more!  Yea!!!!!  Hope to continue to see improvement as I resemble a pretzel doing the stretching exercises.

We are getting sick and tired of a dental commercial called Small Smiles.  So many commercials that are aimed at the young tend to be on the sappy side.  Of course the message is that this great organization is genuinely concerned about children's dental care but my husband can't resist saying Small Smiles, Big Money.  No offense to the Dental profession!  I'm so glad there are people that are willing to work inside of people's mouths and I don't begrudge them the money.

I am Going to Dominate This and Power Lunches

As we all know languages change or they die out like Latin.  There have been a lot of language changes among the young that I had a hard time getting used to but now seem normal.  When I was a kid no one said awesome to mean anything but big.  Now it is such a catch all word for anything exciting or astounding.  It has been around so long I am completely used to that change.  When someone has a serious illness they are attempting to fight kids say they will dominate it.  I like that one.  I am not seriously ill but I do have to cope with some sort of strange pain in my leg and hip.  I have decided I am going to dominate it and stretch every time it starts to hurt even a little.  I am starting to spend a lot of the day looking like a pretzel. Tomorrow, without fail, I am going to get started on three large paintings, with or without leg pain.  I WILL DOMINATE IT!

My husband and I often discuss the economic problems in the USA and how some of the problems could be solved.  Mostly, we are joking, as we don't really know how to solve these problems, but there are some obvious changes that may help.  Corporations and wealthy citizens could pay their fair share of taxes like the rest of us and that would provide our government with more funds to work with.  I'm sure there is a lot of pork that could be cut out of both corporations and government.  My husband suggested that they do away with power lunches.  I asked him if he gets a power lunch at work and he said he doesn't even get a power biscuit. No pork there!