Cuckoo Clock Number 14

“Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence.”
– Helen Keller

Copyright Beth Parker Art 2014

Cuckoo Clock Number 14 – A Watercolor Sketch

I hope you can see the crown on the bird’s head.  When I resize these for the internet, it is harder to see some of the details.  This one was fun!

About Helen Keller

American author and activist Helen Keller was born in Alabama on June 27, 1880; she became blind and deaf after a childhood fever. When she was 7, Ann Sullivan famously coaxed her out of her sullen, angry shell and taught her to communicate. From then on, Keller took on the world. She graduated from Radcliffe, traveled the world visiting sweatshops and speaking out for the powerless, helped found the ACLU, and wrote eleven books. She died on June 1, 1968.

Eilean Donan Castle 5 in Fall Colors – 5″ x 9″ Watercolor & Prismacolor Pen

“He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.”
– Epictetus

Copyright Beth Parker Art 2012

Eilean Donan Castle 5  in Fall Colors – 5″ x 9″ Watercolor & Prismacolor Pen

I painted this from a photo taken in summer by Rick Brind.  The October challenge at paintmyphoto.com was to turn the summer photo to fall colors.  It was really fun!  I also submitted this painting to the fall art contest at Cheap Joe’s Art Stuff.

There are so many artists that will undoubtedly surpass me there, but for a $500 gift certificate at Cheap Joe’s, I’m willing to try.

Epictetus,  (born ad 55, probably at Hierapolis, Phrygia [now Pamukkale, Turkey]—died c. 135, Nicopolis, Epirus [Greece]), Greek philosopher associated with the Stoics, remembered for the religious tone of his teachings, which commended him to numerous early Christian thinkers.

His original name is not known; epiktētos is the Greek word meaning “acquired.” As a boy he was a slave but managed to attend lectures by the Stoic Musonius Rufus. He later became a freedman and lived his life lame and in ill health. In ad 90 he was expelled from Rome with other philosophers by the emperor Domitian, who was irritated by the favourable reception given by Stoics to opponents of his tyranny. The rest of his life Epictetus spent at Nicopolis.  More…

Princess Castle

“When patterns are broken, new worlds emerge.”
– Tuli Kupferberg




Princess Castle
4″ x 6″ Watercolor Postcard

I painted this little castle from a photo of Disney World, posted by RubyRedDog at WetCanvas.  I really had fun with all the detail on this itty bitty card.  I did the outlines with a Prismacolor fine liner pen.

Doesn’t every princess need a pink castle? 

About Tuli Kupferberg

Tuli Kupferberg, the American Beat poet and musician, was 42 when he cofounded the Fugs, a satirical, politically pointed rock band that became an integral part of the 60′s countercultural movement. He was born in 1923 in Brooklyn. Before forming the Fugs, he had no formal training in music; he had edited the underground magazines Birth and Yeah, and his poetry was featured in anthologies, including The Beat Scene. He died on July 12, 2010.

Scottish Castle

“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



Scottish Castle
4″ x 6″ Watercolor

The image for this painting came from agnesdale at WetCanvas.  She is currently living in Scotland.  I had fun with this painting.  I may not have gotten very close to the reference castle, but I had a great time! 

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.

Castle in the Sky - September 7, 2009

"I have always believed that whatever good or bad fortune may come our way we can always give it meaning and transform it into something of value."
– Hermann Hesse
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"Castle in the Sky"
4" x 6" Watercolor Postcard



This started out as a contour drawing of a part of a castle.
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Then, I had a challenge from WetCanvas, to do it in the style of a 17th or 18th century English artist. I chose William Blake. I found a painting of his with the clouds and stars and this is what happened.

I promise.... there was not funny stuff in my coffee, just William Blake in my head.

William Blake November 28, 1757 - December 12, 1827 was an English poet, artist and printmaker or "Author and Printer" as he signed many of his books.

WetCanvas is a wonderful site for artists. At this writing, there are 194,479 members.


About Hermann Hesse
Hermann Hesse, the Pulitzer Prize–winning German writer, became extremely popular in the 1960's and 1970's for his deeply spiritual novels spiked with Eastern philosophy. He is best known for the novels Siddhartha, The Glass Bead Game, and Steppenwolf. He was born in 1877 in Germany and immigrated to Switzerland in 1912. Hesse was exposed to Eastern thought from childhood: His grandfather taught Indian studies, and his mother had been born in India. He won the Noble Prize in Literature in 1946. He died in 1962.