A Bethville Version of a Nuneaton Building – 3″ x 5″ Watercolor & Ink

“A life of reaction is a life of slavery, intellectually and spiritually. One must fight for a life of action, not reaction.”
– Rita Mae Brown

Copyright Beth Parker Art 2012

A Bethville Version of a Nuneaton Building – 3″ x 5″ Watercolor & Ink

As you may have guessed,  this building is black and white in real life.  Old Rock Chick (Lin) from WetCanvas posted the photo in her WDE last weekend.  I do have to admit that I probably have 3 hours in this one.  The lamp post came from another of Lin’s photos.  I love that lamp post!  Lin lives in the UK and they have very ornate architecture there.  So fun to paint!!

About Rita Mae Brown

American author Rita Mae Brown became a pioneer of lesbian-themed fiction with the publication of her first novel, the best-selling Rubyfruit Jungle. She was born in 1944 in Pennsylvania and ultimately settled in Virginia, where most of her novels take place. After she lost a college scholarship due to her political activism, she briefly lived in an abandoned car with a friend and a cat named Baby Jesus. Her many novels include a mystery series “co-written” with her cat, Sneaky Pie.

Lovely Old International Tractor – 5″ x 7″ Watercolor and Ink

“All that is necessary to break the spell of inertia and frustration is this: Act as if it were impossible to fail.”
– Dorothea Brande

Copyright Beth Parker Art 2012

Lovely Old International Tractor – 5″ x 7″ Watercolor and Ink

Lin (Old Rock Chick) from WetCanvas posted a wonderful photo of a International Tractor last weekend.   I had a great time painting it.  Lin took this picture in Abercastle.  I love the instructions on how to get there from the website I just linked to…

How to find Abercastle

• Satnav: SA62 5HJ
• Bus, The Strumble Shuttle from St Davids or Fishguard
• Abercastle is on the All Wales Coast Path

They have such neat names for places on the other side of the pond.  Lin lives in the UK and she loves to travel and explore her surroundings.  I like that because she shares her wonderful photos with her WetCanvas friends. 

About Dorothea Brande

Dorothea Brande wrote the quintessential how-to-write book, Becoming a Writer, which was among the first to address every writer’s core problem: How to sit down and let the words flow. Her book, published in 1934, remains in print today. She was born in 1893 in Chicago. She worked as an editor on the Chicago Tribune and The American Review and married the latter journal’s owner. She also wrote Wake Up and Live, which was adapted into a movie in 1937. She died in 1948.

Saundersfoot Cottage – 4″ x 6″ Watercolor & Prismacolor Pen

“I can’t give you a sure-fire formula for success, but I can give you a formula for failure: Try to please everybody all the time.”
– Herbert Bayard Swope

Isn’t that the truth!

Copyright Beth Parker Art 2012

Saundersfoot Cottage – 4″ x 6″ Watercolor & Prismacolor Pen

I painted this from a photo by Lin (Old Rock Chick) at WetCanvas.   It’s a cottage that Lin just had to stop and take a photo of to share with her WetCanvas friends.   The pretty, seaside town of Saundersfoot, is one of Pembrokeshire’s finest holiday resorts, in the United Kingdom, where Lin lives.

I did have to explain to my dear hubby that there are no brown roofs in Betheville and we will never run out of pink paint. 

About Herbert Bayard Swope

Herbert Bayard Swope, the colorful, hard-driving American journalist who became famous as a war correspondent and editor of The New York World, was the first writer to win a Pulitzer Prize for reporting. He was born in St. Louis in 1882. He coined the phrase “cold war” as a speechwriter for statesman Bernard Baruch. In his leisure time, he was a brilliant gambler at the track, at cards, and at stocks, and threw lavish parties. He died in 1958.

A Big UK Truck – 5″ x 7″ Watercolor, Inktense and Ink

“When we live in the present, joy arises for no reason. This is the happiness of consciousness that is not dependent on particular conditions. Children know this joy.”
–Jack Kornfield

 I like that! I’m going to be child-like today! 

Copyright Beth Parker Art 2012

A Big UK Truck – 5″ x 7″ Watercolor,  Inktense and Ink

I love this truck!  It really looked like that in Dominic’s photo on WetCanvas.  I only changed the message on the top.  It had some company name, I think.  I had a great time doing this one.

I am taking the day off today.  (I know!  Weird, huh?)  I have scheduled several appointments in Muskogee, like a long over due eye doctor visit.  If I’m going to drive that far, I’m going to use the whole day doing stuff I have been putting off.  When you work 6 days a week, procrastination just comes natural for all the personal stuff.

I’m even visiting the fabric store today.  (big grin)  I’m going to make my husband a shirt.  He’s not even scared!   He’s such a brave man.  I used to sew all my own school clothes when I was a teenager.  I got store bought jeans and shoes, but I made the rest.  It’s been a while, so I am really excited!  I can’t wait to dig in to that project.  I made some stuff in the 90′s with my old Singer, but I even have a new sewing machine to play with.  Yay!

Jack Kornfield is one of the leading Buddhist teachers in America. A practitioner for over 40 years, he is one of the key teachers to introduce mindfulness and vipassana meditation to the West. His approach emphasizes compassion, lovingkindness and the profound path of mindful presence, all offered in simple, accessible ways in his books, CD’s, classes and retreats.  His website is here.

Town Hall – Carlisle, UK – 4″ x 6″ Watercolor & Ink

“Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.”
– Theodore Seuss Giesel

Copyright Beth Parker Art 2012

Town Hall – Carlisle, UK – 4″ x 6″ Watercolor & Ink

Dominic hosted last weekend’s WDE at WetCanvas and he lives in Carlisle, UK.  I loved painting this building, as soon as I used my magic to remove all the tourists mulling about.  Something about lots of people in paintings that I just can’t do.  I suppose I should practice painting people…. but not today. 

About Theodore Seuss Giesel

Theodor Seuss Geisel, the beloved Dr. Seuss, is renowned to generations of children as the author of Green Eggs and Ham and other deliciously absurd picture books. He was born in 1904 in Springfield, Massachusetts. His first book, And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street, was rejected 27 times. He wrote The Cat in the Hat after Houghton Mifflin asked him to write a children’s primer using fewer than 250 easy-reader words. He died in 1991.

Wow… rejected 27 times!  See… if at first you fail, try, try again.  Thank goodness he didn’t give up.  We would not have had all those wonderful books to grow up with.