Showing posts with label ampersand clayboard. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ampersand clayboard. Show all posts

Monday, July 26, 2010

Innocent Cat

“Nothing will ever be attempted if all possible objections must first be overcome.”
– Samuel Johnson

 

Innocent Cat
4″ x 4″ Acrylic on Ampersand Clayboard

I promise, it started off innocent enough.



Really…. it did.

Do you ever wonder what makes an artist take the turns they take in a painting?  Well, I think you know better than to try to figure out where my head is, but I think this is a perfect example of an innocent beginning gone crazy.

Did I have fun?  You bet! :D



About Samuel Johnson

Samuel Johnson, the sharp-witted British essayist, wrote the first English language dictionary; his definitions still form the backbone of current dictionaries. He was born in Staffordshire in 1709. Johnson married a widow 20 years his senior and lived in poverty before achieving success with his essays when he was in his forties. Later in life, he befriended the young James Boswell, whose Life of Johnson became the quintessential English biography. Johnson died in 1784.

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Curious Cat

“When you get the choice to sit it out or dance…
I hope you dance… I hope you dance.”
–Lee Ann Womack

 

Curious Cat
5″ x 7″ Gouache on Black Ampersand Clay Board
 

This painting was so much fun to do!  I started with the black clay board and used wet juicy brush loads of paint.  There are a lot of layers, in order to achieve the opacity over the black.    I wanted to leave a lot of the black and keep it pretty loose.  I had a great time!



Today is the day that I send out my very first monthly newsletter.  Why would I do that, you ask?  Well, I have owned my sign shop for 18 years.  I want some additional challenges in my life.  (Some good challenges are things I can do from a chair in my later years.)   Since nothing happens overnight, I am laying some of the ground work for some ideas I have.  To keep happy, I think we must constantly take a look at our lives and make room for revisions and opportunities.   Thank you for reading my blog and hopefully my newsletter.  I appreciate the friends I have made out there so very much!  :)


Lee Ann Womack (born August 19, 1966 in Jacksonville, Texas) is a country music artist whom may best be known for her 2000 crossover hit, I Hope You Dance.
Her 1997 self-titled debut album brought her onto the country music scene as a herald of a more traditional country music sound, in a genre that had begun to sound more pop-oriented with the likes of LeAnn Rimes, Faith Hill and Shania Twain topping the charts. The hits from that first album were “Never Again, Again”, “The Fool” and “You’ve Got To Talk To Me.”
Her second album, 1998′s Some Things I Know brought us “A Little Past Little Rock”, “(Now You See Me) Now You Don’t”, and “I’ll Think Of A Reason Later”, while her third and possibly most successful album to date, 2000′s I Hope You Dance featured, along with the award-winning aforementioned title cut (which Sons of the Desert supplied the backing vocals) also featured the hits “Why They Call It Falling” and “Does My Ring Burn Your Ringer” as well as covers of the 1980 Rodney Crowell hit “Ashes By Now”, and the Don Williams’ 1970s classic, “Lord I Hope This Day Is Good.”
Womack’s fourth album, Something Worth Leaving Behind, released in 2002, was seen by many as an attempt by her to cross-over to the very pop-sound that she was the antithesis of five years earlier. The title cut was the only track on the album to reach the Top 40.
Her most recent album, 2005′s There’s More Where That Came From features her current single, “I May Hate Myself In The Morning,” and is popularly viewed by many as a return to the traditional sound that brought her success in her earlier career.
Womack has two daughters; Aubrie (with ex-husband Jason Sellers) and Anna Lise (with current husband Frank Liddell). Both daughters appeared in the video for “I Hope You Dance”.

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Sleeping Kitty

“Do not be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment.”
– Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

Sleeping Kitty
5″ x 7″ Watercolor on Ampersand Clayboard

I painted this little slumbering cat on clayboard, then scratched the hair into it.  I really enjoyed this!  The watercolor floats wonderfully on the surface for a bit, giving you a chance to blend and play.  :)

The cat in the reference was actually sleeping on a pad of newsprint in an artist’s studio.  That gives a new meaning to studio assistant.

About Ralph Waldo Emerson

Ralph Waldo Emerson helped spark the transcendentalist movement with the essay Nature, which described his belief in the spiritual essence of humanity and the natural world. He was born in Boston in 1803. He was a Unitarian minister until he resigned in 1832 to become a philosopher and writer. He suffered the untimely deaths of many of his loved ones: three brothers, his first wife at age 20, and his eldest son at age five. Emerson died in 1882.