Blue Jay

“The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity.”
– Amelia Earhart

 

Blue Jay
5″ x 7″ Watercolor Greeting Card

I painted this little blue jay for my mother-in-law’s 85th birthday on Sunday.  I think she liked it, as she was planning to put it on her bulletin board.  My mother-in-law, Ruby, is a hoot!  She is a smart,  pretty lady with a wonderful sense of humor.  I really lucked out in that department.    Even though my husband just doesn’t “get” my normal goofy painting style, I bet she would love it.  I’m going to have to try it on her next time I see her.

About Amelia Earhart

Amelia Earhart, who was born in 1897 in Kansas, became the first person to fly solo across the Pacific Ocean and gained renown as a woman in a field dominated by men. Earhart worked as a nurse’s aide during World War I and learned to fly after moving to Los Angeles in 1919. She first became famous as one of a crew of three to fly across the Atlantic in 1928, but her best-known flight was her last. As she was attempting to fly around the world in 1937, her plane disappeared over the Pacific Ocean and was never found.

Dive

“We are, each of us, angels with only one wing, and we can only fly embracing each other.”
– Luciano Decrescenzo

 

Dive
4″ x 4″ x 1.5″ Acrylic on Gallery Wrap Canvas

Wooooo hooooo…… watch out below!  he he   This is my 3rd “word” depiction for the Art House Co-op Canvas Project 3.  I had so much fun with this one!  Have you ever noticed, the brighter the color… the more fun I have?  Here are some more views.



My words for the project are Dive, Oboe and Pineapple.  We are supposed to paint our version of the words we are given on 4″ x 4″ x 1.5″ canvases, provided by Art House Co-op.  You can see the other two entries here and here.

About Luciano Decrescenzo

Luciano Decrescenzo, the Italian writer, filmmaker, and intellectual, has published 28 books on subjects ranging from Greek philosophy to his own childhood in Naples. He was born in 1928 and worked as an engineer for IBM for several years before turning to philosophy and writing. He has also directed, written, and starred in a number of Italian language films and received honorary Athenian citizenship in 1994.

Party Pineapple

“Always do the things you fear the most. Courage is an acquired taste, like caviar.”
– Erica Jong

Try as I might, I have never acquired a taste for caviar!  …bleck! 


 

Party Pineapple
4″ x 4″ x 1.5″ Acrylic on Gallery Wrap Canvas

This little painting was fun!  This is the second of three for the Art House Co-op “The Canvas Project 3″.   I received 3 words to paint onto 3 canvases.  My words are Oboe, Pineapple and Dive.  I showed you my oboe here.

About Erica Jong

Erica Jong, the American author who made a splash with the sexual frankness of her first novel, Fear of Flying, has written several works of fiction as well as nonfiction books, including the autobiographical Fear of Fifty. She was born in New York in 1942 and now splits her time between New York City and Weston, Connecticut. She has been married four times and has one daughter.

Puma on Alert

“Don’t believe all you hear, spend all you have, or sleep all you want.”
#693 in The Complete – Life’s Little Instruction Book
– H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

 

Puma on Alert
5″ x 7″ Watercolor

I had a great time studying the form of this critter.    When I got this far, I couldn’t bring myself to put a background in, as nothing seemed quite right.  So I will call it a study and forget the rest, for now.
Yesterday afternoon, I had the opportunity to teach a one hour class as a volunteer artist for the Eufaula Area Art’s Council.  I had 5 students (ages 5-12) and we did vinyl collage, using materials from my sign company.  I gave them each a couple little pieces of coroplast (corrugated plastic) and plenty of vinyl in different colors.   They made some wonderful collages!  I took a picture with my phone, but I have not figured out how to get the pictures from my phone to my computer.  (I am NOT a big cell phone girl) 


Here are mine, which I scanned in when I returned to the sign shop.  We put sticks on the back and made them into fans.

 

H. Jackson Brown, Jr. 

Jackson Brown was born and still lives in Middle Tennessee. His numerous books are in 35 languages and read throughout the world claiming 158 weeks on the New York Times Bestseller list. It is sometimes noted that he graduated from a prestigious university and is the recipient of one of their most distinguished awards but, who knows? If you were to phone the administration office, they would probably deny that he ever attended. It seems hard feelings still linger regarding Mr. Brown’s insistence that the campus clock tower he pledged to help fund be in the shape of a 300-foot ukulele.

Currently, Mr. Brown writes in a remote log cabin high on Hatchet’s Ridge in the foothills of the Smoky Mountains. There he retreats to observe, ponder, resharpen No. 2 pencils and train his parrot to squawk, “One more step and I’ll shoot.” Should you want to visit, get an early start. Take the gravel road east out of Crowell Corners to the end. There it becomes a dirt road switch-backing up the ridges. A hand-lettered sign nailed to a hickory tree teasingly identifies these last fifteen miles as Broken Axle Trail. The cabin is not the first or second on this dusty corkscrew but the third. You’ll think you’re almost there, but you’re not. And count the creeks. You’ll cross two. The first on a tricky two-plank bridge. The second, unfortunately, offers no bridge at all. Now look for the weathered tin roof and the trellised front gate crowned with honeysuckle.  Pay no attention to the dogs Dan, Hoover and Hot Ticket asleep on the front porch couch; Hoover hasn’t bitten anyone in years. But be careful where you step. The copperheads, rattlesnakes, and wild hogs love this bit of heaven as much as Mr. Brown does.

P . S .   As Mr. Brown instructs in one of his books, “Don’t believe everything you read.”

What a bio! 

Eras in Bloom

“Nothing can add more power to your life than concentrating all of your energies on a limited set of targets."
–Nido Qubein

 

Eras in Bloom
5″ x 7″ Watercolor on Strathmore cold press

In the reference photo, this guy was actually a statue in front of McDonalds, somewhere in France.  Isn’t it fun that we can just do whatever we want, when we paint?  I gave an ancient mammoth a free place to roam.  If that statue could talk, he would probably be horrified to be standing in front of a fast food restaurant in a bustling metropolis! 

Nido Qubein


Since 1974, Nido Qubein has given more than 5,000 presentations, received every award in professional speaking and is represented by the best speaker bureaus. He is considered both a motivational speaker and a business speaker with a range of topics covering everything from time management to branding.

Nido Qubein has written more than a dozen books on leadership, sales, communication, and achievement; recorded scores of audio-visual learning systems; and hundreds of client-customized products.

more…

Peugot 202 1948

“Remember, no one can make you feel inferior without your consent.”
–Eleanor Roosevelt

 

Peugot 202  1948
5″ x 7″ Watercolor on Strathmore cold press paper

This painting is a venture into new frontier for me.  On Leslie White’s blog, I became fascinated by a technique she was using, creating a pathway of light by leaving that pathway white and painting into it.  It’s something she learned from Don Andrews, watching his DVDs.    Of course, I rushed right out and bought his book,  Interpreting the Landscape in Watercolor.

When I received the book, I was so excited.  I tried his suggestion and did a 10 minute value study first.  I have never actually done a value study, being a self taught watercolorist.    So here is my attempt to find a pathway of light.



He says that we, as the artist, can create the pathway that we like.  We don’t have to take the reference at face value.  The stuff I outlined is the places I wanted to use to create my path.

There was so much more, like painting wet and softening the edges of the colors and letting them blend into each other.  I played with some of that, too.  I am not patient, so I dove in before I read any further.  I can’t wait to see what else he teaches me, once I actually read the book. 


Eleanor Roosevelt

“Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home – so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world. Yet they are the world of the individual person; the neighborhood he lives in; the school or college he attends; the factory, farm, or office where he works. Such are the places where every man, woman, and child seeks equal justice, equal opportunity, equal dignity without discrimination. Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere. Without concerted citizen action to uphold them close to home, we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world.”

Eleanor Roosevelt

Read more about Mrs. Roosevelt here.

Football With A Face

“Rate the task above the prize; will not the mind be raised? Fight thine own faults, not the faults of others; will not evil be mended?”
– Confucius

 

Football With A Face
Baby Crowned Lemur
5″ x 7″  Watercolor on Strathmore cold press

Sorry, but after I painted this critter, all I could see is a football with a face.     Ryan (asmalltowndad) will be suggesting the straight-jacket again when he sees this baby.  he he

It is so hot in Oklahoma right now that perhaps my brain cells are getting a little toasty around the edges.  We’ve had a long streak of heat indexes around 108F.   I have a flying lesson tonight and when it’s this hot, there are thermals coming up from the ground that bounce the plane all over the place.  When I’m coming in for a landing and all of the sudden the plane pops 100 ft in to the air, it’s a little startling!  (sometimes a woohoo escapes my lips)  Oh, and I might mention that there is no air conditioning in my little trainer either.   The fun just never ends! 

I’m gonna close my eyes for a moment and pretend I’m in Idaho.

About Confucius

The ancient Chinese social philosopher Confucius founded the ethically based philosophical system which became known as Confucianism. Legend says that he was born in 551 B.C. to a 70-year-old father and a 15-year-old mother. At age 50, frustrated with politics, he left his job as Justice Minister and began a 12-year journey around China. Returning home, he taught a growing number of disciples “The Way” and wrote a set of books called the Five Classics. He died in 479 B.C.

Head in the Leaves

“Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear — not absence of fear.”
– Mark Twain

 

Head in the Leaves
7.5″ x 11″ Watercolor on Hot Press Paper

I didn’t paint enough new paintings this week, to post a fresh one each day, so I looked through my stash to find one I may not have shared with you.  That is such a fun experience, because there are so many experiments in that pile.  I picked this one, because I painted all the way to the edges.  It wouldn’t be suitable for framing, unless I did something else with it.

I can glue it to a large canvas and then come in with some mixed media to bring it to life, such as some acrylic leaves, that meander off of the painting, onto the canvas.  I can use it as the beginning to a collage, or possibly cut it up and do a weave with another painting, being careful to preserve that eye.  Hmmm….. what would you do? 


I have to tell you about an  exciting little project I’m working on.  I am taking Laura Bray’s Easy Ezine class.    We are learning all the nuts and bolts of doing a first class newsletter or ezine.  I am loving it so far!  I even increased my website’s subscriber list from 1 to 48.  Wee!   You can sign up here, if you want to receive the very first issue. 


I am planning to do a monthly newsletter that has some art, some how-to’s or something fun that I have learned, and of course, something positively “wiggle your butt” fun!      As a student pilot, I am anxious to share some of the new experiences I’m having in the wild blue yonder, too.

I am going to give away an original painting to one of my subscribers in the first newsletter and will continue to have some kind of monthly freebies.   This is key… you can un-subscribe at any time (if I put you to sleep), but I’m hoping that you’ll send the link to your friends, in stead.  Oh, and I will not share my list with anyone… period!

I am feeling like a little girl with a new party to go to.  If you have any suggestions on things you’d like to see in the newsletter, please leave a comment.  I value all I can learn from you, just as I do with my art.

Okay, just for fun…. let me pop that Sign-Up link in there one more time. 

About Mark Twain

Samuel Clemens, the iconic American humorist and writer, is better known by his pen name Mark Twain. He was born in 1835 in Missouri. He worked at several jobs, including steamboat pilot and miner. He wrote The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Prince and the Pauper, and other successful novels. His writing captured a very American vernacular and flavor, and helped create a distinctive American literature. He died in 1910.

Studio Window

“The highest reward for a person’s toil is not what they get for it, but what they become by it.”
– John Ruskin

 

Studio Window
2.4″ x 3.5″ Watercolor ATC

Except for the big green cactus, this is my studio window, looking out.    Well… okay… the wall paint is a little lighter and the curtains are actually burgundy.  Oh …. and there are more weeds.   Oh, and …. more rocks, and a bunch of thyme.  Thyme is the only ground cover I could get to grow on the steep slope in front of our house.  We had to grow something there, to keep the soil in place, after we built the house.   That whole hill is covered with thyme, weeds and rocks.  There really is a yucca there, though. 

About John Ruskin

John Ruskin was an English art critic who influenced the attitude of a whole generation toward art and architecture. He was born in 1819 in London. His career began with an essay defending his friend, artist J.M.W. Turner, from critics. His book Modern Painters made Turner popular and gave stature to the Pre-Raphaelite movement. He founded the Cambridge Scool of Art in 1858, now known as the Anglia Ruskin University. Leo Tolstoy called him one of those rare men who think with their heart. When Ruskin inherited wealth, he gave most of the money away. He died in 1900.

Squirrel Eats the Pigeon’s Lunch

“The golden opportunity you are seeking is in yourself. It is not in your environment, it is not in luck or chance, or the help of others; it is in yourself alone.”
– Orison Swett Marden

 

Squirrel Eats the Pigeon’s Lunch
4″ x 6″ Watercolor on Indian Village handmade paper

I loved this reference photo.  There really was a pigeon in it, watching the squirrel eat.  Of course, they we both kinda gray, so I had a little fun with them.  The background was a big tree trunk, so I sent them on an adventure in the country.  Isn’t art fun?  We can do anything our little hearts desire….. and get away with it! 




I just wanted to show you a little bit of history.  This Tastee Freez has been open in Eufaula, since 1956.  I just lettered the windows this morning and it got me wondering about the history, so  I called City Hall to get the date it opened.  Of course, in a couple weeks it will open up as Just ‘Wingin” It, but I am proud that nobody has had the nerve to remove the nostalgic Tastee Freez sign.  Our little town wouldn’t be the same without it.

About Orison Swett Marden

Orison Swett Marden, the American writer who is considered the forerunner of motivational authors, wrote an average of two books a year from 1894 to 1924. He was born on a New England farm in 1850. During college, he worked in hotel management. He then used his seed money to buy a resort in Rhode Island. Wanting to inspire people as he himself had been inspired by British author Samuel Smiles, he began writing books like You Can, But Will You? and founded Success Magazine. He died in 1924.

The Eyes Have It

“In this age, which believes that there is a short cut to everything, the greatest lesson to be learned is that the most difficult way is, in the long run, the easiest.”
– Henry Miller

I’m going to have to give that one some thought. 


 

The Eyes Have It
4″ x 6″ Watercolor on Indian Village handmade paper

Okay, I really didn’t make the eyes weirder than the photo.  This Lemur really did have these eyes.  They are a little unsettling, but it was fun to paint him.

About Henry Miller

The bohemian American novelist Henry Miller is best known for his sexually daring autobiographical novels, Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn, and for his love affair with benefactor Anaïs Nin. He was born in 1891 in New York. His writing blossomed after he moved to Paris in 1930 but was banned in the United States for its erotic content. Miller eventually won the right to publish in the U.S., becoming an icon of the sexual revolution. He died in 1980 in California.

Goose

“I have accepted fear as a part of life, specifically the fear of change, the fear of the unknown. I have gone ahead despite the pounding in the heart that says: Turn back, turn back; you’ll die if you venture too far.”
– Erica Jong

 

Goose
4″ x 6″ Watercolor on Indian Village handmade paper

This is a bit more realistic than I normally paint, but I enjoyed it a lot.  I left the white alone, without the aid of that icky masking fluid.  I like this way much better. 

About Erica Jong

Erica Jong, the American author who made a splash with the sexual frankness of her first novel, Fear of Flying, has written several works of fiction as well as nonfiction books, including the autobiographical Fear of Fifty. She was born in New York in 1942 and now splits her time between New York City and Weston, Connecticut. She has been married four times and has one daughter.

Golden Eagle Run

“You will be surprised to find you can always get more paint out of a tube.”
–Robert Genn

 
Golden Eagle Run Map

This weekend is the big Golden Eagle Poker Run on Lake Eufaula.  For a $175 (and up) entry fee, you have a shot at big money.  If they get 500 entries, first place is $19,250.00.  (Prize money is based on number of entries.)  This is the biggest fundraiser of the year for the Lake Eufaula Association.  We’ll have a full full lake again this weekend and a good time will be had by all.

LEA asked me to do their map this year, so that is what you are looking at.  But, if you want to see my regular art…..

 

Lazy Rooster
4″ x 6″ Watercolor

I really like Robert Genn’s quote.  I receive his Twice-Weekly letter in my in-box every week and it’s wonderful.  To fully appreciate the quote, read today’s letter here.   It’s very entertaining today.   You can subscribe to his newsletters here.

Chalk Artist Crop

“Vitality shows not only in the ability to persist, but in the ability to start over.”
– F. Scott Fitzgerald

 

Chalk Artist Crop
4″ x 6″ Watercolor Postcard

This is a little closeup of the artist I posted on Monday.  It’s a 30 minute quickie, playing with watercolor and that great hat!  I am trying to see things more in the form of shapes,  when I look at darks and lights.

I may want to change the way I describe myself  from self-taught to blog-taught.  I am learning so much from watching all the wonderful artists that so generously share their work.  I am happy that people like Leslie White not only post their work, but explain how or why they did what they did.

I have also learned a lot from the gang over at WetCanvas, where I have been painting since I picked up that first brush, in 2007, after a 30 year haitus.    The environment is so amazing for beginners, as the artists there are very supportive and generous with their time and their vast knowledge.

Today’s quote is so fitting, as I start over.

About F. Scott Fitzgerald

Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald, who wrote as F. Scott Fitzgerald, is best known for his novel The Great Gatsby. He was born in St. Paul in 1896. Fear of mortality spurred him to write the novel This Side of Paradise while in the Army. It was rejected twice by Scribner’s before they finally published it. His wife Zelda’s schizophrenia was the basis for his novel Tender Is the Night. After they separated, he moved to Los Angeles and wrote screenplays for studio films. He died in 1940.

Blue Eyed Cat

“When one door of happiness closes, another door opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us.”
–Helen Keller

 

Blue Eyed Cat
4″ x 6″ Watercolor Postcard

This was painted from the same reference photo as yesterday’s cat.  In fact, I painted it the same day.  I do seem to enjoy distorting animals.  Notice I did NOT say torturing animals.  Just wanted to be clear on that point. 

I am a real animal lover.  I think they have the most expressive eyes, even before I get to them.  To be able to paint expression is something that makes me happy.

The story of Helen Keller is the story of a child who, at the age of 19 months, suddenly lost her hearing and vision, and who, against overwhelming odds and with a great deal of persistence, grew into a highly intelligent and sensitive woman who wrote, spoke, and labored incessantly for the betterment of others. So powerful a symbol of triumph over adversity did she become that she has a definite place in the history of our time and of times to come.

More of her biography here.

In his eulogy, Senator Lister Hill of Alabama expressed the feelings of the whole world when he said of Helen Keller, “She will live on, one of the few, the immortal names not born to die. Her spirit will endure as long as man can read and stories can be told of the woman who showed the world there are no boundaries to courage and faith.”

Who Scared the Cat? & Monday's Chalk Artist

Sometimes our light goes out but is blown into flame by another human being.  Each of us owes deepest thanks to those who have rekindled this light.
–Albert Schweitzer


 

Who Scared the Cat?
6″ x 9″ Watercolor


I don’t know how I do this sometimes.  It was an ordinary little kitten.  I turned it into a freaked out kitten.  he he  It’s a good thing people don’t try to analyze me, based on the stuff I paint.  Hmmmm….. maybe they do? 


Albert Schweitzer


“Reverence for Life” says that the only thing we are really sure of is that we live and want to go on living. This is something that we share with everything else that lives, from elephants to blades of grass – and, of course, every human being. So we are brothers and sisters to all living things, and owe to all of them the same care and respect, that we wish for ourselves.

Schweitzer himself said that his hospital was “an improvisation”, and that the most important part of his legacy was his philosophy. Much of his thought has already spread throughout the world, in the form of ecological movements and the ethical considerations arising out of economic activity and scientific discovery. But the tough and realistic way in which he thought about life, and also lived his thought, is something that the world still sorely needs.

I was unable to post on Monday, due to the problems at blogger, so here is yesterday's post.

“Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.”
– T.S. Eliot

 

Chalk Artist
6″ x 9″ Watercolor

I have to say, that I am not a fan of masking fluid.  I had a plan, here, but some 2 year old masking fluid caused me a little grief.  When I tried to remove it, it turned to slime.  By the time I got it off, I had some soiling of the areas that I wanted to be white, so needless to say, there is no white.  I managed to add a little light blue and at least hide where it had some imperfections.

Here, it shows that I was trying to leave a white line, as  Leslie White demonstrated on her blog.  She has achieved such incredible results, leaving a white line meandering through her painting.  I am definitely going to try this again, but without the masking fluid. 

About T.S. Eliot

T.S. Eliot, the Nobel Prize–winning poet, is perhaps best known today for a light book of rhymes that became the Broadway hit Cats. He penned such weightier poems as “The Waste Land,” “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” and “Four Quartets.” His work is rich with deeply felt religious meditations, but he never wanted to be perceived as a religious poet. He was born in 1888 in St. Louis and made his adult home in England, where he worked as an editor at the publisher Faber & Faber. He died in 1965.

Oboe or so

“Difficult times have helped me to understand better than before how infinitely rich and beautiful life is in every way, and that so many things that one goes worrying about are of no importance whatsoever.”
– Isak Dinesen

This is so cool!  I have been having a morning where multiple things have gone wrong, so I needed this.  It’s going to be a great day!!!

 

Oboe or so
4″ x 4″ x 1.25″ Acrylic on Canvas

I painted this little canvas for the Art House Co-op’s  The Canvas Project 3.

Each person interprets the same word differently. Some factors include native language, geographic location, age, and general view of the word.

They’re creating a visual encyclopedia where each artist is asked to visually interpret three words that are assigned to them randomly and were submitted by the Art House community onto 4×4 inch canvases. A visual encyclopedia book will then be created that includes at least one canvas from each artist. An exhibition will be held at The Brooklyn Art Library on December 3rd, 2010.

The goal of this project is to create Volume 2 of the encyclopedia. The first volume was exhibited at the Hartsfeld-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta, GA from July to September of 2009 as well as turned into the first volume of the book.

I am in the first volume.  It was a cool project.  The one they picked for the book was Insolvent. My words this time are Oboe, Pineapple and Dive.  What I don’t know about oboes, is a lot!!  So I did what I could and it ended up being really fun!  Here’s another shot of my oboe. 

About Isak Dinesen

Isak Dinesen was the pen name of Karen Blixen, the Danish author famously portrayed by Meryl Streep in the film of her best-selling memoir, Out of Africa. She was born near Copenhagen in 1885. In 1914, she and her new husband moved to Kenya to run a coffee plantation. She stayed on after divorcing her husband ten years later, living an unusually independent life. Her book of stories, Seven Gothic Tales, sold well, but Out of Africa made her a worldwide success. She died in 1962.

Mushroom Village

“If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams and endeavors to live the life he has imagined, he will meet with success unexpected in common hours.”
–Henry David Thoreau

 

Mushroom Village
4″ x 6″ Watercolor and Art Pen

This is what I saw, when I looked at the photo of the mushrooms.  I can even imagine the teeny tiny little furniture inside.  One person who saw this painting was wondering where the Smurfs were.  he he he 

Henry David Thoreau

• Born: 12 July 1817
• Birthplace: Concord, Massachusetts
• Died: 6 May 1862 (tuberculosis)
• Best Known As: Author of Walden

A former schoolteacher, Henry David Thoreau spent two years in the 1840s living in a one-room hut beside Walden Pond in Massachusetts, where he studied nature and wrote peaceful essays and poems. His journal of these years became his most famous work: Walden, or a Life in the Woods (published 1854). Thoreau also wrote Civil Disobedience (1849), advocating non-violent resistance to unethical governments; the same notion was later advocated by Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. Always a hit with college readers, Thoreau became a pop icon for anti-war and pro-environment groups late in the 20th century.

Thoreau was christened David Henry Thoreau, but switched to calling himself Henry David after graduating from Harvard… He was a lifelong bachelor… His single-room cabin at Walden Pond was 10 feet wide by 15 feet long… Thoreau spent two days and a night in jail — July 23 and 24, 1846 — after he refused to pay his poll tax as an act of civil disobedience… Among his sayings was, “Beware of enterprises that require new clothes.”

Mushroom Fantasy

“Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions.  Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.”
–Mark Twain

Boy, isn’t that the truth!

 

Mushroom Fantasy
6″ x 9″ Watercolor on Yupo

This little painting reminds me of a fantasy.  Dreamy and a little distorted.  I had a piece of Yupo that I had previously played with.  Then I just had fun with color and a little imagination.
Here is the background, before I painted the mushrooms.  There is a little difference in color, due to the bad lighting when the photo was taken of the background.  I scanned the final painting.





Mark Twain

On Nov. 30, 1835, the small town of Florida, Mo. witnessed the birth of its most famous son. Samuel Langhorne Clemens was welcomed into the world as the sixth child of John Marshall and Jane Lampton Clemens. Little did John and Jane know, their son Samuel would one day be known as Mark Twain – America’s most famous literary icon.
Approximately four years after his birth, in 1839, the Clemens family moved 35 miles east to the town of Hannibal. A growing port city that lie along the banks of the Mississippi, Hannibal was a frequent stop for steam boats arriving by both day and night from St. Louis and New Orleans.
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Another great quote:

“Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”

–Mark Twain