Rock Castle Gorge on The Beautiful Blue Ridge Parkway and More Poems Published by Clyde Kessler...

My Art

I am pleased that more and more of my prints are being bought by the public!  My main medium is oil paint but I am extremely versatile and even have a photography folder that I am very proud of.

Yesterday two small prints from my I Love the Beach folder went to a great patron in Veneta, Oregon.

Morning Light at Isle of Palms      Prints on paper or canvas and greeting cards available at kendall-kessler.artistwebsites.com

My Feet in the Sand at Isle of Palms     Prints on paper or canvas and greeting cards available at kendall-kessler.artistwebsites.com

                                                                                  

Also, a print of Ridgeland Winter Beauty on a t-shirt went to a great patron in  Thousand Oaks California.

Much of my work can be bought on just about anything on Zazzle!  Here is the address.  www.zazzle/newriverartist

Ridgeland Winter Beauty 8"x10"    original painting price - $170.00

Prints on paper or canvas and greeting cards available at kendall-kessler.artistwebsites.com

  

Life with the Bird and Word Man

Yesterday my husband, Clyde Kessler, found out he published  "Fiddling in a January Thaw" in Contemporary Haibun Online.  It will be published sometime in March.      This is the ninth poem he has published in this magazine.  Yeah Word Man!

Nothing funny out of his mouth today.  Maybe tomorrow!                                 .

Rock Castle Gorge

If I had to pick a favorite locale on the great Blue Ridge Parkway it would be Rock Castle Gorge.  I have done many paintings of this area and my husband has spent so much of his time there that I told him he should have a mail box on Rocky Knob.

Many years ago the chestnut was the basis of the economy in Rock Castle Gorge but a chestnut blight in 1914 ravaged the trees in the United States and by 1919 the American chestnut trees died out in the Rock Castle Community.

At one time there were 30 families but by 1930 there were only 10.

The Blue Ridge Parkway was created through President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal. Those living in the Rock Castle community had to sell their homes. 

Young men from the community found a steady paycheck working for the Civilian Conservation Corps(CCC) helping to construct the parkway.

Some of my husband's ancestors lived in Rock Castle Gorge before the establishment of the parkway.

Every fall he leads Hawk Migration studies and has spent countless hours studying birds and butterflies there.

I gained this information about Rock Castle Gorge from my husband, Clyde Kessler, and from Hike Back in Time at Rock Castle by Eliza Winston.

Sold Another Print of Reaching Out and New National Holiday!

Just sold another print of "Reaching Out" to a great patron in Universal City, CA.  This is now my number one best seller.  "A Break in the Clouds" is second.

I am pleased to add the last of my three new large paintings.  I love the shore and wish I were there right now.  This painting was based on a morning photograph I took under unusual atmospheric conditions that I enhanced in the painting.  This painting is a celebration of color and brushwork that has a mesmerizing quality about it.  The light is moving in and out of a hazy morning and the warm/cool color relationships are like jewels shimmering on the surface. The painting has a visual energy that seems to burn from with-in.  As I mentioned before I have been told by many artists and patrons that my work is like that of Van Gogh's work because of the burning intensity in the colors.  I do greatly admire the effect he got with his impasto layers.  It is stunning.

There are so many political campaign commercials on right now that it is becoming extremely tedious.  My husband and I are so tired of them.  We can hardly get to the mute button fast enough.  We have decided that this country can add another Holiday and call it National Hot Air Day.  It can be celebrated with fog horns the day before the election and the day after.



Be sure to check my Limited Time promotions on Fine Art America.  Three landscapes this week.  Two Blue Ridge Mountains prints and one Pawleys Island print.

Check out my Best so Far! and If a Small Dog can do it...

Out of the three large paintings I just completed, "Isle of Palms Sunset" is my favorite.  More than ever before I have brought nature indoors.  This is an extremely intense vista of the canal side of the beach where the water was lit up with the sunset.  My exuberance is in every brushstroke and every color nuance.

Lately on TV there is an advertisement for some sort of mesh to attach to doors so people won't let the bugs in while they go in and out of the house.  It is done with magnets and the manufacturers proudly show a small dog going through the mesh and then it closes back.  My husband said if a puny little dog can open that mesh then I bet three mosquitoes could hold it open while a whole hoard flew in the house.  Don't think so but he sure did paint a funny picture for me with those words.  Who is the artist in this family anyway?  Writers sure can do amazing things with words.

Be sure to check out my large canvas print specials in the Limited Time section on Fine Art America!

Bringing the Shore Inside and The Mute Button

As I have mentioned before I have spent a lot of time at the beach and I am mesmerized by the ocean and the beautiful shore atmosphere.  Two of the paintings I am working on are shore scenes from the Isle of Palms.  One of them is the shore and the other is of the canal area that circles around to the sea.  I am pleased with both of them but the one with the shore holds my attention the most.  I feel like I brought the ocean into my home and I just want to walk into the picture.  I guess that is why I am a representational artist.  I love nature and I want it in my house and eventually placed in other homes.  I am in nineteen states, Washington D.C., Canada, Germany, and Australia.  I want to greatly increase the number of locales where people can feel what I feel. Hopefully, next week I will be posting these new paintings.

There is a commercial on TV that has been running forever regarding back problems.  I ruptured a disc when my son was two so I know how painful a back injury can be.  A back problem is nothing unless you have one.  This commercial has been shown so many times it has become quite aggravating.  The first line is I have so much trouble getting out of bed in the morning.  When my husband hears that he says I have so much trouble getting to the mute button fast enough!  So glad there is a mute button.  It is my favorite button on the remote.

Be sure to check out my Limited Time Promotions on Fine Art American and follow me on Pinterest!

You can click on these paintings to go to my portfolio.

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!

Back off Murphy and Do Not Put a Speedometer on Me

I think the famous Murphy of Murphy's Law which states that if anything can go wrong it will, loves to stalk people on vacation.  Every year we go to South Carolina with friends for a week on the beach.  We have had our share of mishaps in  the past but this one out did all the others.  The first day my  husband woke up with some pain in a leg muscle so  he thought the thing to do would be to take a long walk and stretch it out.  Wrong!  He made it much worse and could hardly walk for most of the vacation.  One of our friends was driving and was approaching a draw bridge.  He turned his head for a second and hadn't noticed the bridge was up and the traffic was stopped.  He TOTALED his car.  Fortunately, he and his girl friend were not hurt and no one was hurt in the car he rear ended.  We hit the one week this spring that the beach was not in the 80's or 90's so I was only able to swim the first day and the last day.  It was just too cold.  Oh  well.  We still had fun with our friends in spite of Murphy.

My husband is  becoming increasingly concerned  with his health  problems.  Between his stomach and the horrible muscle problem he just had he is wondering  if he is going to make it to the golden years. I told him he has to keep going and he said just don't put a speedometer on him because it  may not register anything.

Beach Time is Coming and Getting Rid of Them May be the real Art

It is no wonder I have a number of beach scenes in my portfolio. I have been going to the beach almost every summer of my life and it won't be long before we are there again! Even if I didn't like to body surf I would still love the beach. I just like staring at the water and the house we rent is on a canal with dolphins! I wish we could stay longer than a week but it is better than no beach time. Got to get my salt water fix! I have relatives that hate the beach. They don't like the sand. They say it would be a great place with out the sand. I love the sand and I especially love walking in it along the breakers.
I am still having trouble with my leg at times but that will not stop me.

Last night we were watching a I Love Lucy re-run and Lucy explained to Ethel that catching men is like riding a bike. Once you learn, you never forget. My husband added that for some women the real talent is not catching them but getting rid of them. I think he may have something there. Can't say I want to get rid of mine though.

Hope everyone that celebrates Easter has a great time!