Pleased to sell a large print of Mid-Spring on the New River and The Sixth Drip...

LATEST SALE!

I am so pleased to sell a large metal print of Mid-Spring on The New River!  This is one of my favorite oil pastel paintings.  I am especially pleased with all the nuances of green that emphasize this special time of the year in the New River Valley.  It isn't summer yet so a lot of the greens are not as bright as they will be.


BISSET PARK RADFORD VIRGINIA


This pastel was done from a photograph I took of the New River from Bisset Park in Radford, VA.  I have walked the trails at the park countless times with my family and on my own.  I love to watch the rapids and my naturalist husband, Clyde, is always on the look out for bird and butterfly populations.  I especially like to watch the many different colors of light filtering through the leaves and reflecting off of the water.

The New River is actually one of the world's oldest rivers and there are many fascinating stories about it.  It is a very dangerous river and legend has it the Native Americans call it the river of death.  Many years ago when I was teaching at Radford University, two boys swam across it near the Dedmon Center and drowned.  It looks so peaceful but the rapids and strong currents are not to be tangled with.


FUNNY STUFF
On a much lighter note, as usual, I decided to tease my husband.  Due to the very cold weather right now we are letting our faucets drip very slowly at night so the pipes won't freeze.  I almost always have to get up at night to go the bathroom and my husband often wakes up at that time.  I told him the faucets were leaking and he would have to get busy and fix them.  All five of them were dripping.

His reply was, don't you mean six?
Okay, I don't mean you, just the faucets.

I don't really think of my husband as a Drip.  Just like to goad him.

SOME FACTS ABOUT THE BEAUTIFUL NEW RIVER

The New River is between 10 and 360 Million years old. It is one of the world's oldest rivers and is the oldest river in The US.

It flows from south to north.  Only a few rivers in the world have this unique feature, including the Nile.

Mary Draper Ingles was an American pioneer and early settler of western Virginia. She was abducted by Indians and later escaped, making a harrowing trek over hundreds of miles of rough terrain to return home. She followed the Ohio and New River. She was born in 1732 and died in 1815.

The Long Way Home Drama ran from 1971-1999.  There is talk to bring back this wonderful outdoor historical play! 

The first commercial rafting trip took place in 1968.  The Dragan brothers started it when they founded Wildwater Unlimited.

The New River was designated a national river in 1978 and an American Heritage River in 1998.

DON'T FORGET ABOUT MY SPECIAL PROMOTIONS ON FINE ART AMERICA  40% OFF REGULAR PRICE OF LARGE CANVAS PRINT WITH 30 DAY MONEY BACK GUARANTEE - INCLUDING SHIPPING FEE!

Check out My Limited Time Promotions and You are Really Scraping the Bottom of the Freezer...

A Break in the Clouds

Prints on Paper or Canvas available at kendall-kessler.artistwebsites.com

I am excited about starting three large paintings and my new Limited Time Promotions on three of my most popular paintings.  I am pleased that I can offer 40"x50" canvas prints of Stepping Stones on the New River and Golden Farm Scene.  Also, 24"x36" canvas prints of A Break in the Clouds can be purchased for the next few days.  This is a great way to get beautiful canvas paintings at a greatly reduced price, approximately 40% off my regular price.  My new paintings will include another scene from Pawleys Island, Isle of Palms, and Rock Castle Gorge.  If my head is not in the mountains it is at the shore. 

As always, I like to try to include some humor in my blog and I have been really struggling for something this time.  My husband almost always comes up with something in our daily conversations but not much has been happening lately so tonight I tried goading him in to saying something funny.  My son's birthday is December 3rd and we didn't have any ice for his party that day so my husband went out and bought a big bag which is still in the freezer.  I keep forgetting about it and use the trays.  I asked him if ice goes bad and he said it goes so bad it eventually has to be arrested and jailed for being too slippery.  I told him I was going to use his comment in my blog and he said you are really scraping the bottom of the freezer if you are going to use that.  I love puns and it's all I have this time.  Maybe next time will be funnier.

Back to Closing the Door and Do you think it was because of Parents Weekend?

When my son was a toddler I would close the door of my studio so I could get some work done. He hung out with his Dad for an hour and then would come and knock on the door. An hour is better than nothing. My paintings have become so complicated that I have to cover them when I am not working on them so I am not bothered by what needs to be done. I need a lot of time to paint as I always work wet-in-wet. I have gone back to closing the door and I tell the family to stay away so I can work. They can handle that. There is never enough time for an artist.

My husband is a self-taught naturalist and he gets up at the crack of dawn to check out the wildlife, especially the birds. He rarely sees people at 5:00 in the morning but he had a story to tell Saturday. He was checking things out by the New River at Bisset Park when he saw something swimming in the middle of the river quite a distance from the shore. It was a young man swimming. The morning was cold enough that my husband had a jacket on so he was very surprised to see someone stand up and look over at him. We talked about a number of reasons for this incident and then I remembered this week-end was Parent's Week-end at Radford University. I jokingly told my husband that he was hiding from his parents because his grades were bad.

Sold Two More Prints and My Fat Missed Me

I can't complain about this week-end even though I worked almost every minute of it on art, housework, or taking care of a sick kid. I used to brag about my great feet that never hurt. Those days are over. Sold a print on Friday and one today so that sweetens up a mostly sour week-end. It is great to be appreciated.

I have had to watch my weight my whole life. I was never very overweight but there were times I did have some extra. Fortunately my mother could have founded Weight Watchers. She cooked meals that are just like what you see in Weight Watcher menus. None of us are overweight and I have managed to keep the extra pounds off since I left home many years ago. I have a number of friends that are still fighting the battle of the bulge and keep trying this diet or that. They want to insist I am just one of those people that doesn't have to worry but it isn't true. I tell them Weight Watchers is the group to join. One of my friends lost quite a bit of extra weight and then slowly put it on over a period of a couple of years. She told her husband, "My fat missed me".

Painting, More Painting, and When was the Last Time You saw a Green Heron?

I have been enjoying returning to some paintings that I haven't sold yet and working on them here and there. I rarely do this. Once I finish with a painting I move on to the next one and let the other one live. It is so easy to get too worked up over one. It is hard to return to a painting due to the fact that I am always changing my methods even though they always have my touch. I have to remember what it was that motivated me to do the painting in the first place and the particular approach I took then. My palette has lightened up over the years which is typical of many painters but recently I have returned to darker colors in current work. I go around in circles but they are all extensions of me. I love what I do!

My husband, Clyde Kessler, is a well-known naturalist in the New River Valley and has been asked to become part of a business venture to promote tourism and wildlife studies. He leads tours for a new group called Radbird and was an excellent guide this past week-end at Bike Virginia in Radford. What a wonderful float down the New River from River View Park to Bisset Park! This tour was called the Green Heron Tour as there are always a lot of Green Herons on this part of the river. We were all pleased to see many Green Herons, and a Great Blue Heron that showed up right on cue as did around 50 other species of birds. It is great have such a knowledgeable husband who dedicates so much of his time to educating the public about the wonders all around us. There are so many wonderful things to do that don't require batteries.