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!

My New Folder Kendall Expressions and You would download a Gorilla...

 I don't have a lot to say right now except that I am surprised at what some people put on Twitter.  The internet really can be a Trojan Horse.  I try to be careful and constantly on my guard against abusers and scammers.  I have artwork in 21 states, Germany, Canada, and Australia but if all those scams were real I would be in a lot more states and countries than that.  One person on Twitter sent me a vulgar question.  I'll be sure to drop him.

My painting keeps me going and I am very pleased with my new folder, Kendall Expressions, on my website kendall-kessler.artistwebsites.com.  I am letting my expressive side lead the way into colorful works that scintillate the canvas!  Love what I do!

As always, computers hang me up.  I need to sign my photographs that I uploaded and some paintings that I uploaded from slides that don't have signatures.  I have looked at several tutorials on how to do that on Aperture and, as usual, the instructions don't match.  I am thinking about Downloading Gimp which is a free software program like Photoshop.  My husband is much more leary of the internet than I am and he claims I would download a gorilla.  If that gorilla could help me sign my artwork online, you bet I would!

Be sure to check out my Limited Time Promotions on Fine Art America and The Mindy Project with my drawing in her office is on Mondays at 9:30pm.  The show has been renewed for a second season.  Don't miss it!

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!

My Expressive Side is Taking over and The No Bell prize

I have always considered my paintings to be an expressive form of Impressionism.  I am fascinated with the intricate colors of light and shade but I also strive to put my emotions into my artwork.  Right now I want to let my expressive side take over in a series of wildlife paintings.  I hope to achieve an expression that will grab the viewer into another world.  We will see how it goes.

My husband has come up with a great idea for a new prize for under achievers.  He is going to call it The No Bell award.  This award would be for all the people that don't really accomplish much.  I can think of a lot of people that would win the No Bell award or the Not Quite a Ding a Ling award.

The Mindy Project is on Mondays right now.  It has been renewed for another season!  It is fun to see my drawing in her office.  Check it out!



Also, be sure to check out my Limited Time Specials on Fine Art America!  I try to have three up at all times!

On the Wild Side and Maybe I need a sign....

I used to think that artists didn't really return to old paintings to re-work them.  I was wrong.  I have done that on a number of occasions and am doing that right now.  Pierre Bonnard, one of my heroes would work on three paintings at a time and turn them to the wall when he wasn't working on them.  I cover mine, too.  Paintings will drive you crazy if you let them.  I don't want to go crazy.  I like painting too much.  Anyway, years ago I did a painting of a tiger's head and didn't like it at all.  I put it away and when I was cleaning some things out I found it and decided to work on it again and it is coming right along!  Wild animals can be a a great experience in oil paint!  Colors and brushwork flying all over the place!

Tonight as I was making a right onto a gravel driveway in Montgomery County I slowed down so as not to mess up my car with ruts.  I still got off the main road in a reasonable amount of time but the car behind me screeched on the gas pedal to let me know what a jerk I was in his opinion.  I have to turn into this driveway every Friday so maybe I need a sign on my bumper  that says this driveway is full of ruts so I am turning slowly.  Give me a break all you creepy tailgators!

I have a large stencil with my Studio advertisement and phone number on the back windshield.  When we got home my husband answered the phone and all he heard was a loud, screetching whistle.  Maybe that was the guy that was behind me.  You think?

Don't forget about my Limited Time Promotions on Fine Art America!  40% off of large canvas prints of popular paintings!  Check it out!