The Peaks of Otter on The Blue Ridge Parkway and Totally...

One of my favorite Inspirations on the Blue Ridge Parkway

I have been painting in oils since I was twelve and my first painting was a wooded landscape.  It is no wonder that I have been working from the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains and the wonderful Blue Ridge Parkway my adult life.  There is nothing like this gorgeous mountain region that inspires a lot of my work.

One of my favorite subjects is the Peaks of Otter in Bedford County.  My family and I have been there many times and stayed at the peaceful lodge that does not have televisions in the rooms.  The deer are so used to people that they are like dogs roaming the grounds.

My husband, son, and I took the bus up to Sharp Top one time and then walked down!  What a hike!  It was so beautiful and I took a number of photographs that I based several oil paintings on.  I almost always work from my own photographs for a reference but it is not my intention to reproduce the photograph.

The photograph is a starting point for my own unique expression which is both Impressionistic and Expressionistic.

On the way down we were behind a young woman carrying a baby on her back.  I was amazed that she would take such a long hike carrying an infant.  I don't think I could have handled that.  Too much trouble with my back in those days.

Life with the Bird and Word Man

I like to include something about my unusual husband, Clyde Kessler, who is a self-taught naturalist and published poet.  He is also very funny and I like to include the funny things he says at times.
He works closely with the Blue Ridge Discovery Group to promote enjoyment and conservation of his beautiful home which is the mountains of Southwest Virginia.

He is originally from Ferrum Va and his great-great uncle George Kessler is one of three founders of Ferrum College.

The main purpose of the Blue Ridge Discovery Group is to get kids outside to explore and appreciate their fantastic mountain home.
He is publishing quite a lot of poetry lately which can be found online.

A few days ago I asked him if he remembers when people didn't use the word awesome very much.  His reply was totally!

 

 

 

Another Kendall Expression Cat and How to get a call through...

Not feeling too well today so I am not going to gab for long.  I am pleased to introduce another Kendall Expression painting.  This time I did another cat painting.  It is an intense study of eyes with constant modulation of contrasting colors and textures.  I think the color accents are especially pleasing in this one.  Not sure if I can find some more unusual cat facts but I am going to try.

My husband and I always get a laugh out of the commercials regarding drugs.  Ask your doctor if this is right for you.  Sometimes the commercials regarding legal action on those drugs and how to get compensation for their detrimental effects follow the commercials advertising the drugs.

We especially like the one that advises people to call a lawyer if they experienced any illnesses as a result of the drugs, even death.  We are told we may be entitled to compensation.

Even death?  My husband's comment was do we have a hot line in the casket?



MORE CAT FACTS



A cat can jump up to five times its height in a single bound.



A cat's brain is more like a human's brain than a dog's brain.  The region for emotions is identical.



About 40,000 people are bitten by cats annually in the U.S.



When cats are happy, they squeeze their eyes shut.



Cats can make over 100 different sounds while dogs can only make 10

Cat Painting coming along and I need a match

I have started another cat painting and it is coming along nicely.  Not sure how many cat paintings I will do but I have always loved the look in their eyes, especially the domestic ones.  They seem to live with us and apart from us.  At one vet visit I was fascinated by the way one resident cat kept looking at us and then jumping down from the desk only to jump back up a few minutes later.  Always on the prowl.  They are a great subject for expressionistic work.

It has been so cold lately that my husband said he saw a thermometer outside ask for a match!  I guess that would be the only way of getting the mercury to rise.  Of course, our system has sprung a leak when the news is full of stories about extremely overworked plumbers.  The part we have been waiting for is here but no plumber.  We are emptying buckets around the clock.  Oh well!  We still have heat so we can't complain too much.

Be sure to check out my Special Promotions on Fine Art America!  If you would like to order one of my paintings on canvas at 40% off the regular price then check it out!  Patrons have a thirty day money back guarantee, including shipping! As we all know, plumbers are expensive!

MORE CAT FACTS

Cats can drink sea water to re-hydrate themselves

Cats sleep  for 70% of their lives

Cats instinctually imitate the hiss of snakes.


A cat’s whiskers are normally as long as the cat is wide, helping it determine if it can fit into certain spaces!

A genetic study concluded that every domesticated cat in existence could be traced back to a group of only five African Wildcats from the Middle East, circa 8000 BC!

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!

New Blog Approach and I hope I don't have to run away...

I like to write about my painting but it is so difficult to come up with words that describe the experience that I think I just want to repeat myself all the time.  I decided to take a different approach to my blog and write about the subjects themselves.  I taught for twenty years so I like to learn and look things up.

I am going to start with horses since I have been getting a lot of attention for my paintings of horses.  My new Kendall Expressions horses stumbled for a long time on Stumbleupon and Blue Ridge Pasture Horses got so many hits on Etsy one day  that the administrators sent me an email to congratulate me.

Here are a few interesting myths and facts about these beautiful animals that have accumulated over the centuries.

Sitting backwards on a donkey - cure for snakebites and toothache

A pregnant woman seeing a donkey - the child will grow wise and well behaved

If you see a white dog you should be silent until you see a white horse.

In Wales a gray horse is considered to be a death omen.

In England and Germany dreaming of a white horse is considered a death omen.

It was thought that warts could be cured by circling them in horse hair.

If a woman is pregnant and the heart beat of her baby sounds like a

horse it is said to be a girl, however if it sounds like a train it is said to be a boy.

The Przewalski's horse is the only truly wild horse still in existence.  It is found in Mongolia.

Horses have better senses of smell and hearing then humans.

Equine assisted therapy is a growing field where horses help people with a wide range of mental health issues.

I could go on and on but I thought these were the more interesting facts and myths about horses.

I am hoping that I won't be facing major surgery soon but I think it is inevitable.  Whenever I think of surgery I think of my mother.  Years ago she made a decision to have surgery that she was advised to have.  She had such a hard time recovering that she told me the next time they wouldn't catch her!

I wonder if I can run away...

HAPPY NEW YEARS EVERYONE!!!!!

Hijacked Painting , Pleased to sell another print and I will hold it up to the screen...

The internet is a dangerous place and I am very unhappy to announce that my second best-selling print was hijacked from a site and put on another site where people can download it for free.  So far, there have been 290 downloads and I am one outraged artist!  I sent a cease and desist email and it was returned to me so I am looking into other avenues of action.  I live to paint but I do not work for free.

On a lighter note I am pleased to sell prints as postcards of Sweet Pea in The Morning to a great Nebraska  patron.  This is one of my favorite Blue Ridge Parkway paintings of a scene at Rock Castle Gorge.  I used to tease my naturalist husband, Clyde Kessler, that he should have a mail box at this sight.  This is one of his main birding and butterfly locations and he has led many hawk watches there.

A few weeks ago we discovered that we had a mouse in the kitchen leaving lots of calling cards on the counters and drawers.  My husband decided to order a Have a Heart mousetrap so he could take it somewhere else rather than killing it.

He called me up about all the options.  After a long list I asked him if he would like me to see if I could find the mouse, hold it up to the computer screen, and see which one it liked best.  His reply was to ask the mouse if it could do a better job than our wireless one and we would hire it.  A little mouse humor to brighten an artist with a serious copyright infringement to contend with.



Don't forget about my Special Promotions on Fine Art America! 40% off popular paintings with a 30 day money back guarantee, including shipping!  You can't lose!

Also, look for my drawing Reaching Out on The Mindy Project.  It was visible on a hilarious episode called The Wedding Crushers!

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!

Sold Two Original Paintings to Two Great Virginia patrons and a Hen Party...

Sunday I was very pleased to sell two original oil paintings to two great Roanoke, VA patrons! A family drove down from Roanoke for a lovely studio visit.  A daughter was intending to buy a painting for her mother for Christmas and the mother decided to buy another one for herself!  I greatly enjoy opening my home and studio to art and it was a lot of fun discussing my artwork with the mother and her two daughters.  They are considering future sales so I am sure I will see them again sometime.

Also, a postcard with one of my more popular paintings, "Other Pears", was sold on Zazzle Sunday to a great patron in Frederic Wisconsin!  My artwork gets around!  I have many paintings on just about everything on Zazzle - including puzzles!

My writer husband, Clyde Kessler, is always playing around with words and I love all his jokes.  His most recent funny is a name he came up with for a Hen party that went wrong.  Fowl Ball.  He really will punnel me to death one day!



Be sure to check out my special promotions on Fine Art America and my work on home, computer, office, and phone accessories on Zazzle.  Here is the link.  Christmas is coming!  Artwork makes for a great gift!    newriverartist's Store at Zazzle

Sold Three More Best Sellers and L.D...

I am so pleased to sell prints of favorite paintings over and over again!  A few days ago another print of A Break in the Clouds, Blue Ridge Jewels, and Wildflower Current went to a great patron in Alexandria, VA!  Wildflower Current is the only painting of the three that is still available and I hope someone decides to buy the original.  It is a stunning painting with exquisite color contrast and flowing motion.  I'm sure I will sell many more prints of it in the future.

Just finished another Kendall Expression and uploaded one of my favorites, Lion Explosion, to Zazzle.  Galloping Red is a wonderful swirl of energy and it has been uploaded to Fine Art America and Zazzle.  As I have mentioned before,  I love to work with red/green contrast and this is an excellent example of my preference.  The galloping motion of the horse is echoed throughout the painting with intense, expressive brushwork.

A few days ago I was talking to my husband about my personal way of learning.  I have a photographic memory but there were times in school when I thought I was taking longer than most of the other students to understand a concept.  Once I fully understood something I had it cold.  Since this is typical of students with one form of learning disability I told my husband I may be a little L.D.  He said, you mean Luscious Dreamboat?  Now that's a smart husband!  He's a keeper!

Be sure to check out my Special Promotions on Fine Art America! 40% off regular price of prints of popular paintings!

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!

Never a Still Life and Swim off the Plate...

I am very excited about my current still life of an old purse in an intensely expressive style.  I am really getting into my own brand of Expressionism!  It is great to just react to the paint as feeling in these works.  The subject matter is secondary to the message about art that I am trying to convey. I pride myself on the amount of "life" I put in a still life.  They are anything but still- these are scintallating paintings!  I think the Kendall Expressions folder on my website is going to be a huge one.

My husband hates fish.  For years we hardly ever had it due to his dislike.  My son has no problem with it.  He eats any kind of fish or seafood.  My husband hates it all but he wants to eat it for health benefits.

His solution is to cover it with mustard.  The other night I mentioned to him the fish was swimming in mustard.  My husband's reply was he hoped it would swim off the plate and keep going!

Be sure to check out my 40% off Special Features on Fine Art America!

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!

So pleased to sell a HUGE canvas print of Blue Ridge Jewels and Take the Belt Buckle Challenge...

I have sold a lot of large originals and large prints of my work but I was so pleased to sell my first huge(40"x50") canvas print of Blue Ridge Jewels!  This painting is one of my most colorful evening views of the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia.  The painting is owned by a great California patron who gave me fantastic feedback for it and will be buying more in the future for her new home.  I have 61 images  in my Mega View folder in my portfolio and I hope more people will take advantage of a large vista landscape, still life, or portrait for their home.

 I love carrot cake but my husband can't eat wheat and my son doesn't like it.  I offered to try to make it with rice flour but that idea went over like a lead balloon.  Finally I decided to make it and freeze half so I could get the rest later.  I can't eat a lot of it at a time since I have a tendency to gain weight.  The Battle of the Bulge has been my theme song since I was a kid.

I told my husband what I planned to do and he said I should make the whole cake.  Take the belt buckle challenge!  Keep eating the cake until you need to go to the next notch!

WISE GUY!  Half of the cake is in the frig and the other half is in the freezer.  I am winning the Battle of the Bulge and I'm not giving up now!

Be sure to check out my Limited Time Promotions on Fine Art America!  I put up three favorites every week.

Again, looking forward to the return of The Mindy Project September 17th!  Hope they have more shots of Reaching Out!

Loading Away and It is always a good day...

Still working away at uploading artwork.  The slides are not too much of a problem as long as I have ink in my printer but the ones I have to take outside are quite a pain.  Right now I am taking pictures of flat ware so I am taping them to the wall which is much easier then dragging my easel outside.  Still having a great time with my Kendall Expressions folder.  These paintings are my personal take on Expressionism which has always been a favorite style of art for me.  I like to switch mediums every now and then so it is great to be in Acrylics again.

We were at a friend's house in Childress and noticed the chickens that were walking around their yard.  They don't have chickens, but their neighbors do.  They looked like they were having a great day pecking everything in sight so I mentioned that to my husband.  He replied that it is always a good day when you are not on the menu.  He certainly has a point there.

Be sure to check out new work in Kendall Expressions!  I am working on a new one right now and hope to have it up soon!

Also, don't forget my Limited Time Promotions on Fine Art America.  I always have three up!.  Forty percent off the regular price!

The second season of The Mindy Project will air September 17th and I am looking forward to seeing my best seller on the set.  I hope they have more scenes in her office where it is located.

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!

Completed Commission, and Am I going to Have to Research all my Dumb Ideas?

I finished my latest portrait commission of a Father and Daughter painting and up-loaded it yesterday.  This really is a charming portrait.  The patron lost her father to MS when she was young and this painting is a celebration of his life.  I will always remember his courage to keep working, even when he was in a wheel chair.  The daughter, who was a Daddy's girl, is trying to coax a smile out of her father.  She is delighted with the painting.

Still having a great time letting my expressive side take over and I now have the first one in my portfolio!  Check out the energy of this work!

I depend on my husband for some humor for the blog and last week he came up with The No Bell prize for underachievers.  As always, I thought that was hilarious but he decided to see if some one else had already come up with that quip.  Sure enough, he found a number of people that came up with that joke, including a Rapper.  So now he is wondering if he is going to have to research all his dumb ideas.  Oh well, my addition that I know a lot of people that could win the Not Quite a Ding a Ling Award is a first as far as he knows.

Be sure to check out my specials in The Limited Time section of Fine Art America and The Mindy Project is on Mondays right now. Look for Reaching Out in her office. I am pleased that the show has been renewed for another season!