My Artwork

Tulip Flow    24"x18" Original Acrylic Painting       $896

Prints on Paper or Canvas Available at    KENDALL KESSLER ART

This is my latest Kendall Expression painting!  I will be returning to my main style for a while to do some new shore scenes!

Osprey Evening   Original 8"x10' Oil Painting    $168

Prints on Paper or Canvas Available at   KENDALL KESSLER ART

This painting has been stumbling for days at Stumbleupon.com!  Check it out!Color Ripples over The Blue Ridge         Original Oil Painting has been Sold

Prints on Paper or Canvas Available at     KENDALL KESSLER ART

This beautiful mountain vista has also been stumbling since the middle of last week!

I came across a wonderful Cherokee legend about a witch in the Blue Ridge Mountains!  What a great tale!

A long time ago there was a witch that was like an ogre.  Her skin was like rock and could not be penetrated by any weapon  but she could magically appear as a nice old woman.  She ate human livers by putting her long stony sharp finger through a body and pull the liver out.  The victim did not feel any pain and oftentimes was unaware they were being attacked.  They would start to feel ill and waste away.

She would often fool little girls by offering to comb their hair and then cause them to fall asleep so she could steal their livers.

The council decided they must do something about this witch before she attacked everyone and destroyed the tribe.  They dug a deep ditch and placed branches and leaves over it so it could not be seen.  Then they set a fire to attract the witch.

She fell in but arrow after arrow just bounced off as she tried to get out.  A Chickadee bird flew into the pit and landed on her right hand.  The warriors aimed there and the arrow went into her heart that she kept clutched in that hand.

Cherokees believe the chickadee is a truth sayer and if one appears to someone on a journey they are sure to have a safe trip home!

I found this story on the online publication, First People, The Legends

Life with The Bird and Word Man - Clyde Kessler

I wanted to be sure to announce the next great Blue Ridge Discovery Center Event coming up soon!

Where	Mexican Restaurant in Independence, Va map
Calendar	BRDC Web Calendar
Created by	ecbaird@gmail.com
Description	For the next gathering I thought we'd meet around 5:00, June 19th at the Mexican restaurant in Independence. Please join us! Contact Eva Floyd with questions ecbaird@gmail.com 276.579.2464 The Beak of the Finch by Jonathan Weiner On a desert island in the heart of the Galapagos archipelago, where Darwin received his first inklings of the theory of evolution, two scientists, Peter and Rosemary Grant, have spent twenty years proving that Darwin did not know the strength of his own theory. For among the finches of Daphne Major, natural selection is neither rare nor slow: it is taking place by the hour, and we can watch. In this dramatic story of groundbreaking scientific research, Jonathan Weiner follows these scientists as they watch Darwin's finches and come up with a new understanding of life itself. The Beak of the Finch is an elegantly written and compelling masterpiece of theory and explication in the tradition of Stephen Jay Gould.

More Cheroke Animal Legends of the Blue Ridge Mountains near The Blue Ridge Parkway and Blue Ridge Discovery Event tomorrow!

My Artwork

For the last few days I have been blogging about Cherokee Animal Myths and Legends so I thought it would be a good idea to post some of my animal paintings from my folder Kendall Expressions.  

In these paintings I have let my expressive side take over!

Here is the link to this folder on my website      Kendall Expressions

Bear Beauty   Original 16"x20" Acrylic painting      $670

Prints on Paper or Canvas Available at   KENDALL KESSLER ART

Antler Swirl    Original 20"x16" Acrylic Painting     $670

Prints on Paper or Canvas Available at   KENDALL KESSLER ART

Galloping Red   Original 16"x20" Acrylic Painting      $670

Prints on Paper or Canvas Available at   KENDALL KESSLER ART

Yesterday I blogged about some of the Cherokee animal legends and thought it would be a good idea to add some more!    I like to learn!

Cherokee Animal Legends

Yesterday I wrote about the skunk legend.  The Cherokees believe the smell is a deterrent to disease.  There is more to it.  During the small pox epidemic of 1866 the animal was hung up and sometimes it was cooked and eaten.  The oil was rubbed on the sick person's body because they believed the smell would repel the disease spirit.

The beaver is invoked when children are getting their permanent teeth since it has amazing gnawing ability.  When  children lose a tooth they run with it around the house four times and ask the beaver to put a new tooth in their jaw.

The dog does not appear much in their myths but some say it is responsible for the Milky Way.

Another myth says the dog drives the wolf from the home and takes the comfortable place by the fire for himself.

The elephant which some Cherokees saw in shows is called The Great Butterfly because of its large flapping ears and long trunk which resemble the wings and proboscis of the insect.

I got this information from the online publication  First People The Legends

Life with The Bird and Word Man  -  Clyde Kessler

I wanted to again remind folks of the next Blue Ridge Discovery Center event this Friday!

BRDC at Independence Farmers Market

Fri, June 6, 9:30am – 12:30pm

Calendar	BRDC Web Calendar
Created by	scott@blueridgediscoverycenter.org
Description	More kid events.

Rhododenron at Black Rock Hill on The Blue Ridge Parkway and Clyde Kessler poem to be published in an Anthology...

My Artwork

 

I love flowers, especially wildflowers.  I am always amazed by the rhythm I see in natural settings which is why one of my paintings of wildflowers is called Natural Rhythm.  The colors seem to connect in beautiful patterns and form wonderful shapes and color accents in their surroundings.

This painting of Rhododendron at Black Rock Hill is a great example.  The flowing motion of this patch is beautifully accented by the surrounding trees and the colors sparkle.

I haven't done a painting of the Blue Ridge Mountains from this overlook but I am sure I will in the future.  I never tire of painting this wonderful region of Virginia.  I can't imagine living anywhere else and I am sure the Bird Man will continue to show me enchanting surroundings.

Rhododendron at Black Rock Hill      $2425.00

Prints on paper or canvas available at KENDALL KESSLER ART

540-257-3437

Here are two more Blue Ridge Wildflower paintings.  

Be sure to check out my floral folder on my website!  KENDALL KESSLER FLORALS  

Blue Ridge Jewels   Original painting has been sold

Prints on paper or canvas available at KENDALL KESSLER ART

Wildflowers by a Blue Ridge Sunset    Original painting has been sold

Prints on paper or canvas available at KENDALL KESSLER ART

Life with the Word and Bird Man - Clyde Kessler

 My husband recently found out that the poem he just had accepted in Contemporary Haibun Online has also been accepted in an Anthology. This is the ninth poem he has published in this magazine and now an anthology!

Fiddling in January is a special kind of poem.  A haibun seems more like prose to the average reader and is called prosimetric.  I  will post it on the next blog.

My Artwork on Just About Anything

In addition to originals and prints I have my work on Zazzle where patrons can get my paintings on computer, kitchen, and office accessories, clothing, and even toys!

The other day someone in Texas bought a bumper sticker with my painting, "Blue Tiger", on it!  Fun to think of my painting on the back of a car! 

Here is the link!  NEW RIVER ARTIST ON ZAZZLETiger Stare  20x16 acrylic on canvas            $670.00

540-257-3437

Prints on paper or canvas available at KENDALL KESSLER ART

A Dreaming Cat and Shouldn't he be back from Florida...

 I am pleased that I finished my latest Kendall Expression painting entitled Twine Dreams.  I am especially pleased with the complicated system of brushstrokes in this work.  The cat is awake but the look in the eyes suggests a dream state and the curving marks are surreal pieces of twine all around the cat. These paintings in my latest series are getting more and more colorful with great linear accents.

There are a lot of great Snowmen jokes are the internet right now.  My favorite is one with a conversation between two snowmen. Don't you find it strange that Bob never got back from Florida?

Don't forget about my Special Promotions on Fine Art America.  I have three very popular paintings up right now and below are some great facts about Cats!  I love to learn!


Cats have been used to deliver mail: In Belgium in 1879, 37 cats were used to deliver mail to villages. However they found that the cats were not disciplined enough to keep it up.

Cats see so well in the dark because their eyes actually reflect light. Light goes in their eyes, and is reflected back out. This means that their eyes actually work almost like built-in flashlights.

Each year Americans spend four billion dollars on cat food. That's one billion dollars more than they spend on baby food!

Cats are the only animal that purrs.

 Sir Isaac Newton, discoverer of the principles of gravity, also invented the cat door.

If your cat is near you, and her tail is quivering, this is the greatest expression of love your cat can give you.

A Cat can run at 30 miles per hour.

The heaviest cat on record was 46 pounds,15.2 ounces.  Probably ate more more lasagne than Garfield!

Garfield!

Painting, painting, painting, and Waiting for help...

I am still very excited about my new series, Kendall Expressions, and am looking forward to adding my next one!  The spacing in my new one is so captivating I can't imagine anyone walking by it without being drawn into the color and textural display.  In this one I am trying to get an even more complex system of colors and textures and dynamic motion.  I hope to have it up in a few days.

We have been practically without hot water for over a week now and the system is leaking constantly.  We have a cup under the leak but it fills up every few hours.  The repair man should be here soon and I will be so glad to get this fixed!  It takes more than one minute to wash my hair!  I took my shampoo to the Aquatic Center to wash it the other day.

Be sure to check out my Special Promotions on Fine Art America!  I almost always have three paintings up at 40% off the large canvas print size!  Fine Art America has a thirty day money back guarantee which includes the shipping price!  You can't lose!



Also, I have been adding a lot of artwork to my porfolio.  Click on images to see the latest or the folder marked artwork added 2011-2013.

Kendall Expressions Still Stumbling and Lead Foot...

Lion Explosion and Galloping Red are still stumbling on Stumpleupon.com.  Galloping Red is getting way more hits than Lion Explosion but the hits per day are increasing on Lion Explosion.  It is great to see my work looked at by so many people and it is especially pleasing that this is happening with two works from my new series, Kendall Expressions. 

 I see continual change in my approach to my own type of Expressionism with each new painting and I look forward to starting the next one the day after Christmas.  I am forcing myself to take a break and enjoy the Holiday but that does not mean I am taking a break from promoting my work online.  Workaholics are hopeless.  As my mother always said, some people are not happy unless they are miserable.  I prefer to think of my work as what keeps me going.

Be sure to check out my Special Features on Fine Art America!  All prints have a thirty day money back guarantee including shipping! 40% off regular price!

My husband has a new name for all the tail gators that drive him crazy to and from work.   He calls them Lead Foot Lame Brain drivers.  One of these days I swear one of them will just drive on and over my car and keep going.  Where is the fire?

Pleased to sell prints of Near Smithfield Plantation and What a Rat....

I am so pleased to sell prints in the form of greeting cards of Near Smithfield Plantation to a great Virginia patron on Zazzle!  This pastel painting is a special one for me.  It is one of my many award-winning works.  Famed pastelist Daniel Greene awarded me The American Artist Award for this colorful, exciting work.  This pastel took a long time and I put a lot of visual complexity in every square inch of it.  The color nuances never end and the expression is extremely intense.

I am also pleased that I added another painting to my Kendall Expressions folder and it is receiving a lot of hits as well as two other paintings in the same folder. Lion Explosion and Galloping Red have been stumbling for over a day and I hope they continue to make the rounds on Stumbleupon.com where I have a number of my paintings.

My wireless mouse has been irritating me to the point of distraction today.  No matter where I position it on the pad it keeps clicking off and I see the connection lost sign to slow me up again.  I have decided that mouse is too nice a word for this miserable rat!   It better shape up or it will be a flying rat out the window.

Sold another Original to a great Virginia patron and mega chips...

I am very pleased to sell one of my original hand-colored lithographs to a great Virginia patron!  Near the Cascades is a special scene for me.  I have lost track of the number of times I walked up to the Cascades in the Jefferson National Forest in Giles County, VA.  This is one of the views of the creek at the beginning of the two mile walk to the falls.  I have also been in the water which is very cold but it is so refreshing after the hike which is mostly up.

The original is gone but prints up to 48"x60"are available on paper or canvas, framed or un-framed and there are other versions of the same scene.  Be sure to check it out!

I am very exciting about my current painting and hope to upload it tomorrow afternoon.  I think it is the most exciting Kendall Expresssion so far! It is teeming with life and energy!

A fast food company has been advertising a mega chocolate chip cookie.  My husband's response to this is Mega Chocolate Chip equals Mega Hips.  I think he is right.  Too much emphasis on sugary, fattening carbs in this country.  We need to get out the fruit!

Sold Prints of Peaks of Otter, Rock Castle Gorge, Smith Mountain Lake and I don't eat nuts...

My work continues to get around the country!  This week three different paintings went out on a key chain, apron, and postcards to Nebraska, Florida and Virginia.  It is great to be able to sell originals, prints on paper or canvas, and paintings on just about anything imaginable!  Be sure to check out my work on Zazzle and if you don't see the painting you want on an item, let me know!

http://www.zazzle.com/newriverartist

I was rather frustrated this week with my current Kendall Expressions painting.  It took a number of turns and then nose dived into something completely different from the others in this series.  I like it but it wasn't what I wanted and I can't figure out what happened.  Oh well, happy accidents are part of painting so I am just going to go with it and use a different approach on the next one.

My family has been spending a lot more on groceries these days due to my husband's malady and my desire to eat organic.  I left off peanut butter years ago when I ate too much of it in college and got sick of it.  I decided that I need to add some nuts to my diet so now I am eating some organic peanut butter most days.

I never have liked nuts that much.  I told my husband I don't eat nuts - I am descended from them, marry them, and give birth to them.  Just joking!  I love all members of my family!

Don't forget about my drawing, "Reaching Out", on The Mindy Project!  It was visible in last week's episode entitled The Wedding Crushers.
Hilarious episode!

So Pleased to Sell Prints from My I Love the Beach Creative Photographs and Wind it back...

I am pleased that patrons are interested in my I Love the Beach photographs.  I am known for my award-winning paintings but I have always had a love of photography and most of my paintings are creative interpretations of my photographs.  I don't like to work plein air so my photos are my initial sketch.  This year I decided to add the medium of photography to my portfolio.

It is great to branch out into yet another medium and get positive feedback for it.  Two of my beach photographs stumbled for several weeks on Stumbleupon and then both of them were sold on Zazzle.  One on a mug and the other on coasters.  I mostly sell originals and prints but I also have some of my most popular works on Zazzle where people can buy my work on kitchen, office, phone, and computer accessories.

I know one home accessory my husband would like to do without and that is the alarm clock.  This past week-end I reminded him we needed to turn the clock back an hour.  His reponse was wind it back to the river and drown it!

Be sure to check out my Special Promotions on Fine Art America.  40% off regular price.  I almost always have three up.

Also keep checking on what's new in my Kendall Expressions folder!  Dream Horse stumbled for a week!

Glad to introduce another Kendall Expression and Cats all over the place...

My latest Kendall Expression painting, Sunflower Frenzy, is quite an exciting painting!  Sunflowers are of particular interest to artists.  The color, flowing motion, and beautiful leaf shapes draw us in to paint them the way they are, and, in this case, an intensely creative rendition that expresses our feelings about their beauty.  I am especially pleased with the brushwork and strong red/green contrast in this work.

I have been having so much trouble with our computer lately that I think there are cats all over the screen laughing at me and saying,  "We can take care of any mouse you have!"  We gobble up information and keep software from opening just to aggravate you and thumb our paws at your little mouse!"

Of course, a more reasonable explanation for my problems is that I have too much information on my computer and I need to take  much of it off.  Since that would take a lot of time I prefer the Cat Theory!

Beauty, Danger and The Blimpasaurus...

I just finished another acrylic painting in my new series, "Kendall Expressions", and am very pleased with the intense, vibrant color contrast in this one.  I wanted to combine the beauty of a wild animal, in this case the cougar, with the beauty of a wildflower field.  The title is one with several meanings.  To me, the animal is as beautiful as the wildflowers.  Both need our protection.  The danger is not really in the painting.  The danger is the lack of concern a lot of people have for both.

When I was a child I heard this saying all the time.  Nature will take care of itself.  I now know that is ridiculous and we have to be diligent to preserve our world.  If the honey bee goes, so does a great deal of our food.  I hope naturalists, like my husband, Clyde Kessler, can continue to educate people about environmental concerns.

My husband has a new joke about the Dinosaur Extinction Theory.  This is quite whacky but it is fun!  Instead of a meteor hitting the planet, maybe one dinosaur, the Blimposaurus, grew so big that it fell of a cliff and squished the others.  Not likely, but it does make for a comic image!

 
Be sure to check out my Special Promotions on Fine Art America!  Look for the clock icon under Shop!

So glad to sell a Canvas Print from Kendall Expressions and Look under the Hood...

Not very long ago I started a new folder entitled Kendall Expressions in my portfolio and am so pleased that I just sold a canvas print of Lion Explosion to a great patron In Zionsville, Indiana!  As I have said before my work has Impressionistic and Expressionistic components but in these works I am letting my expressive side take over and it is great to get a sale so soon after I uploaded these works.

I am also pleased that I am really getting into the acrylic medium in a way that is endearing me to a type of paint that is not real high on my lists of favorites.  The colors are great but the fast drying time and the way it adheres to the canvas has always bothered me.  Most of my new Kendall Expressions paintings are in acrylics and I am starting to figure out how to apply the paint in a way that says me!  I look forward to future paintings and am also considering some ideas for oil paintings as well.

My husband has come up with another funny for the blog.  I love to add humor here!  First, I have to explain that a Sensei is an oriental sage.

What did the Sensei say to the garage mechanic?  Look under the hood, greasehopper!

Working on a new Youtube and Ham for...

Hopefully tomorrow I will put up my eleventh Youtube on my new series, Kendall Expressions. I am enjoying working on paintings that are based on natural and manufactured things but these paintings are wonderful excursions into my subconscious.  My Dream Paintings folder on my websites are paintings based on paintings I see in my sleep.   In those work I tried to re-create paintings that I have already seen.  Kendall Expressions are creative leaps into my personal reactions to color and texture.  Please check them out!

 Having some difficult times lately so I can't think of much that is funny right now but I did see a slogan on PBS that made me laugh.  The Barter Theater in Abingdon Virginia is a great theater that I have been to.  It is a beautiful theater and the performance was great.  I didn't know until tonight that it was named Barter because during the Great Depression farmers were allowed to pay with farm products to see the plays.   So, of course, their slogan is Ham for Hamlet!  Love it!

I missed the first episode of the new season of The Mindy Project.  I hope my drawing was visible.  Be sure to check out the show and my drawing, Reaching Out!  I won't miss it next week.

My Favorite Kendall Expression so far and I Got Nothing...

Still working in acrylics and gaining more respect for the medium.  As I have said before, I haven't met the medium I don't like but acrylics is not high on the list.  It is great to just use water for the medium but I get bogged down in the mixing of the paint.  When I put a lot of different colors on my brush with oil paint, the colors come through in an exciting, vibrant way.  I don't mix acrylics nearly as much because the colors tend to dull. So why am I using acrylics now?  Oil paint dries so slowly and for these paintings I want to move faster. Anyway, I think Bear Beauty is my best so far in my new folder Kendall Expressions! Check it out!

Unless I can get some humor from my husband when he comes home, I got nothing.  Just can't think of anything funny right now.  I haven't even seen a good funny on Facebook so I can't get anything there.  On well!  Keep smiling and please check out my portfolio!

The Mindy Project's new season starts September 17th! James Franco guest stars on the first episode! Hope to see my drawing, Reaching Out, again!

If you are on Twitter, send me a follow request!  I now have well over 6000 followers!