Art Career Blast Off - May 29, 2009

Alyson B. Stanfield's Summer Blast Off Class begins Wednesday, June 3rd.

I was fortunate enough to have taken one of Alyson's workshops this month in Estes Park, Colorado. I learned so much! She has a wonderful way of teaching you in her special "no excuse" manner. I promise you'll come away from her seminar with a head full of ideas and a plan.

Just click on the picture to learn what it's all about.


Tell her I said hello from Eufaula.

Main & Selmon 2 - May 29, 2009

"Without change, something sleeps inside us, and seldom awakens. The sleeper must awaken." – Frank Herbert
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Main & Selmon 2

8" x 10" Acrylic on Canvas

Main & Selmon 1 - May 28, 2009

I didn't know "it couldn't be done" so I did it.

-Kordelia Kudel
"Main & Selmon 1"

Acrylic on Canvas

8" x 10"

My Driveway - May 27, 2009

"A day of worry is more exhausting than a week of work." – John Lubbock

"My Driveway"

16" x 20" Acrylic on Canvas

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It really is the top of my driveway. Of course, you wouldn't know it if you asked my husband. haha He looks at this and raises his eyebrows in a quizzical way, while trying not to offend. I just love him to death!

Edward Hopper - May 26, 2009

"Start by doing what's necessary; then do what's possible, and suddenly you are doing the impossible." – St. Francis of Assisi

A watercolor & gouache Masters study

crop from Room in New York

Edward Hopper

2.5" x 3.5"

Kordelia's Poppies - May 22, 2009

Welcome the unexpected! Opportunities rarely come in neat, predictable packages.

From - Life's little Instruction Book
H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

Have a great day & a terrifc Memorial Day weekend!

8" x 10" watercolor

"Kordelia's Poppies"

Van Gogh - May 21, 2009

"We must dare to think "unthinkable" thoughts. We must learn to explore all the options and possibilities that confront us in a complex and rapidly changing world."

– James William Fulbright

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On exploring options.... I heard a snippet of Ellen Degeneres' commencement speech to some graduating college students. She told them to live their lives with integrity and don't give in to peer pressure. She said "always follow your own path, unless you're lost in the woods, and you see a path, then by all means follow that path." I loved that! Gotta love Ellen!

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2.5" x 3.5" Masters Study

Van Gogh Self Portrait

Gouache on Art Spectrum Colourfix

I See You - May 20, 2009

Be thankful for the opportunity to make a difference in your life today, whether it is simply by sharing love through a smile, facing a controversy with kindness, physically helping someone, or holding others in your positive thoughts.

--Richard Carlson, Ph.D.

I painted this little fron on a flight to Barbados.

2.5" x 3.5" watercolor and ink

"I See You"

Happiness is a State of Mind - May 19, 2009

Choose to be cheerful, and try to lift the spirit of every situation you're in. Bringing this bright energy into the world is an act of kindness.

--Richard Carlson, Ph.D.
The Don't Sweat Affirmations

Today's painting is a beautiful little ATC I received from my friend, Doloris Kechnie. Doloris is doing the most wonderful little inspirational paintings for an ATC exchange we're in on WetCanvas. I've been enjoying these delightful little ATCs very much!

Doloris says this blog is her inspiration, and that is the greatest compliment I could possibly receive.

Thanks, Doloris!

Freddy the Frog - May 18, 2009

"If we wait for the moment when everything is ready, we shall never begin." – Ivan Turgenev


This is Freddy the frog. He's a funny little fellow, because I used spackle under the paint to give him lumps and bumps. When I scanned it into the computer, all the lumps became recesses. He is still quite a character.

2.5" x 3.5" watercolor, spackle and gouache

Maggie - May 15, 2009

"The real art of conversation is not only to say the right thing at the right place, but to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment."

– Lady Dorothy Nevill

This is a little scratchboard I did of Maggie.

It's 4" x 6"

Eufaula Yacht Club - May 14, 2009

"Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one's definition of your life; define yourself."

– Harvey Fierstein

I like that. it could be.... Accept no one's definition of your art; define your art, yourself. Yeah!!

This is a logo I designed for the Eufaula Yacht Club. I loved being able to use some whimsey in a logo. This is mainly for T-shirts and such. The boat in the second version belongs to my friend, George. I am really glad I did this, because he no longer has that boat, but he will always have this logo.

Edward Hopper - May 13, 2009

"Only a man who knows what it is like to be defeated can reach down to the bottom of his soul and come up with the extra ounce of power it takes to win when the match is even."

– Muhammad Ali

My ATC Masters study of

Light house at Two Lights 1929

by one of my favorite artists, Edward Hopper

Watercolor 2.5" x 3.5"

Two Dancers Resting - May 13, 2009

"I always wondered why somebody doesn't do something about that. Then I realized I was somebody."– Lily Tomlin

"Motivation puts the fire within you - the fire that gets the inner power going." --Norman Vincent Peale

2.5" x 3.5" my little crop from Degas' Two Dancers Resting

Oil

La La Landscape - May 11, 2009

"Don't carry a grudge. While you're carrying a grudge, the other guy's out dancing."

– Buddy Hackett

9" x 12" Acrylic - "La La Landscape" photo reference by Jeanne Grant

I really enjoyed painting this one. I rarely work in Acrylics, but I am planning a Lake Eufaula series, for a Eufaula Area Arts Council show at the Main Street Gallery. It's a members only show and I think a series like this will be a fun one to do.

American Flamingo - May 8, 2009

I participated in a Masters ATC swap on WetCanvas last year. This was one of the ATCs I did. It is my version of "American Flamingo" 1838 by John Audubon. Watercolor & Gouache 2.5" x 3.5"

Having no formal art education, I really enjoyed doing these. I was amazed that these paintings were so much more complicated than they looked. It was a great learning experience.

Art Now For Autism - May 7, 2009

If you want to participate in a neat event, read the message below. I participated last year nad my items sold. I am donating art again this year.

Art Now for Autism 2009 is an online exhibit and fundraiser for autism awareness and research.
October 1-10, 2009 - Deadline for submissions is September 1, 2009.



Details on donating art are at http://www.artnowfo%20rautism.com/%20donate_art.%20html



Preview of exhibit is October 1 - 4, 2009



Art exhibit will be open online at http://www.artnowforautism/ .com. All work will be viewable but not on sale. Reverse Auction - October 5 - 10, 2009 Everything starts at the same price with price cuts every two days. It is an auction in reverse!



Day 1 & 2 - All art is $90.


Day 3 & 4 - All art is $60.


Day 5 & 6 - All art is $30.







6" x 8: watercolor

Downtown Eufaula - May 7, 2009

It is not fair to ask of others what you, are not willing to do yourself.
-- Eleanor Roosevelt



Downtown Eufaula - 2.5" x 3.5" Watercolor


Equality is a state of mind. When we value our own self-worth, we are comfortable with the achievements and the well-being of our friends and associates. The symptoms of a punctured ego occur when we criticize others and make demands we don't want to fulfill ourselves.



Most of us experience wavering self-confidence on occasion. It may haunt us when a big task faces us. Or it may visit us when we least expect it. It's a facet of the human condition to sometimes lack self-assurance. At times we need to remember that life is purposeful, and the events involving us are by design.



Almost daily we'll face situations we fear are more than we can handle, and we'll hope to pass the task off to another. It's well for us to remember that we're never given a task for which we're not prepared. Nor should we pass on to others those activities we need to experience personally if our growth is to be complete.



I must do my own growing today. If I ask others to do what I should do, I'll not fulfill my part of life's bargain.

--Karen Casey

Freckles - May 6, 2009

"A mistake is simply another way of doing things."– Katharine Graham

Freckles - 2.5" x 3.5" watercolor

I remember the first time I heard an artist talk about a happy accident. (I bought the painting, by the way.) She made what some would have thought was a mistake and turned it into a painting that I have always been happy that I own. It's a wonderful little burst of color that became the most amazing light in her little cabin painting. I'll take a mistake like that anytime.

Irena Sendler - May 5, 2009

"Love what you do. Believe in your instincts. And you'd better be able to pick yourself up and brush yourself off every day. While life is not always fair, it is manageable. It's a matter of attitude and confidence."

Mario Andretti

4" x 6" watercolor, attached to 5" x 7" canvas

Irena Sendler

There recently was a death of a 98 year-old lady named Irena. During WWII, Irena, got permission to work in the WarsawGhetto, as a Plumbing/Sewer specialist. She had an ' ulterior motive ' ... She KNEW what the Nazi's plans were for the Jews, (being German.)

Irena smuggled infants out in the bottom of the tool box she carried and she carried in the back of her truck a burlap sack, (for larger kids.) She also had a dog in the back that she trained to bark when the Nazi soldiers let her in and out of the ghetto. The soldiers of course wanted nothing to do with the dog and the barking covered the kids/infants noises.

During her time of doing this, she managed to smuggle out and save 2500 kids/infants. She was caught, and the Nazi ' s broke both her legs, arms and beat her severely.

Irena kept a record of the names of all the kids she smuggled out and kept them in a glass jar, buried under a tree in her back yard. After the war, she tried to locate any parents that may have survived it and reunited the family. Most of course had been gassed. Those kids she helped were placed into foster family homes or adopted.

Last year Irena was up for the Nobel Peace Prize ... She was not selected. * Al Gore won, for a slide show on Global Warming.

May she rest in Peace.

Daily Differences - May 4, 2009

"We must not, in trying to think about how we can make a big difference, ignore the small daily differences we can make which, over time, add up to big differences that we often cannot foresee."

– Marian Wright Edelman

That really rings a bell today. I just returned from Alyson B. Stanfield's Art Marketing workshop in Estes Park, CO. One of the things that she kept telling up, is you just never know where people will find you or your art. All the twittering, blogging and social media postings are really just small, wonderful parts of the big picture. Okay, I over-simplified it, but it was good advice. Alyson had a lot of good advice. It was a wonderful workshop in a beautiful place.