Acrylic Wallaby

We want the facts to fit the preconceptions. When they don’t, it is easier to ignore the facts than to change the preconceptions.

Jessamyn West

Acrylic Wallaby

2.5″ x 3.5″ Atelier Interactive Acrylic on Watercolor Paper

Wow, how weird…. Where’s the purple? he he

Mary Jessamyn West (July 18, 1902 – February 23, 1984) was an American Quaker who wrote numerous stories and novels, notably The Friendly Persuasion (1945).

West went to Whittier College in the 1920s. There she helped found the Palmer Society, in 1921.

Much of her work concerns Indiana Quakers. Although she was born in Vernon, Indiana she left the state at the age of six when her family moved to California. Asked about this in an interview, she said, “I write about [Indiana] because knowing little about it, I can create it.” Comparing herself to other authors that created fictional universes, she remarked:

“Roth wrote The Breast. Would you ask him how he could do this since he had never been a breast? Adams wrote Watership Down. Would you ask him how he could do this since he admitted his rabbit knowledge came from a book about rabbits? … And those hobbits!… I am a bigger risk-taker than these others. The Hoosiers can contradict me. No rabbit, hobbit, or breast has been known to speak up in reply to their exploiters.”

More….

Hazel - December 9, 2009

“Everything comes to him who hustles while he waits.”
– Thomas A. Edison

Hazel

Atelier Interactive Acrylic on 5″ x 5″ Panel

Hazel is my sister’s dog. I don’t know much about painting realistic animals, so this is a new experience for me. (Where’s all the purple? *grin*) Hopefully my sister will like it.

About Thomas A. Edison

Thomas Edison, the American inventor who made his early fortune with the stock ticker and the phonograph record, is credited with inventing the light bulb — although he simply improved upon the original idea by making the bulb burn longer. Edison was born in 1847 in Ohio. He was a dreamer in school; his teacher called him “addled,” and his mother taught him at home. He used the money from his inventions to set up a lab with a number of employees; he held a record 1,093 patents in his name. He died in 1931.

Float my Boat - November 11, 2009

"We either make ourselves miserable, or we make ourselves strong. The amount of work is the same."

– Carlos Castaneda

Float my Boat

5" x 7" Atelier Interactive Acrylic
on Black Gessoed Ampersand Aquabord Panel

This is my last post until the 18th. I am leaving to go to Port Townsend, Washington for Don Tiller's acrylic workshop. (I am so excited.) Then I'll take a ferry over to Whidbey Island, to spend a few days with my little sister. Have a good week and I'll see you when I get back. Happy Veteran's Day to all of our veterans!

About Carlos Castaneda

Carlos Castaneda, the Peruvian-born new age writer, is known for his book series about his apprenticeship with Don Juan Matus, the Toltec shaman, including A Separate Reality and Journey to Ixtlan. The books are about the nature of perception and include many hallucinatory experiences. It is unknown how much of his writing was factual. He wrote the first three books as an anthropology student at UCLA, and they quickly gained cult success. He was born in 1925 and died in 1998.

For the FCC: I do not receive anything from the manufacturers or suppliers of products mentioned in today's blog post. I just tell you what I like.

Father and Daughter - November 9, 2009

Opportunity may knock only once,
But temptation leans on the doorbell.
--Anonymous

Father & Daughter
Atelier Interactive Acrylic
on 4" x 4" Ampersand Aquabord Panel



First, I gave the Aquabord 2 coats of Daniel Smith black gesso. Then I used a pastel to draw the outlines. Then I filled in the sections with gouache, to sortof plan what I was going to do.






I filled it in with Atelier Interactive Acrylics. This is only the second painting I have done with these acrylics, but I really like them! Sorry about the glare, but I was having fun, so I got a little impatient.

After it dried, I wiped off the pastel lines. It was a little tricky because it wasn't all that dry (yeah... my impatience) and these acrylics are reactivated with water. It worked out anyway, because after I wiped off the lines, I saw some things I wanted to change. If you mist these acrylics with a slight spritz of water, you reactivate them and they can be worked some more. I like the way this turned out. It was a lot of fun!