Kitty Cat Easter Hat

“Neuroplasticity is our ability to change our mind,
to change ourselves and to change our perception of the
world around us; that is, our reality… we have to change
how the brain automatically and habitually works.
The ability to make our brain forgo its habitual internal
wiring and fire new patterns and combinations is
how neutoplasticity allows us to change.”
–Joe Dispenza, D.C.

Copyright Beth Parker Art 2012

Kitty Cat Easter Hat – Watercolor

I thought this little painting would put us in the Easter fashion mode.  I know there is more to Easter than eggs, bunnies and lovely pastel colors, but this is an art blog.  I get to giggle and play with the fun things the season has to offer.  One Easter weekend about fifteen years ago, I died all my white painter’s overalls different pastel colors.  It was fun!  Overalls used to be my sign shop trademark, but my husband does the laundry and he hates to listen to the clanging buckles in the dryer.  So… without hesitation, I gave them up. 

Have a wonderful Easter weekend!

Joe Dispenza, D.C.

Take Your First Step Toward True Evolution

Ever wonder why you repeat the same negative thoughts in your head? Why you keep coming back for more from hurtful family members, friends, or significant others? Why you keep falling into the same detrimental habits or limiting attitudes—even when you know that they are going to make you feel bad?

Dr. Joe Dispenza has spent decades studying the human mind—how it works, how it stores information, and why it perpetuates the same behavioral patterns over and over. In the acclaimed film What the Bleep Do We Know!? he began to explain how the brain evolves—by learning new skills, developing the ability to concentrate in the midst of chaos, and even healing the body and the psyche.

Evolve Your Brain presents this information in depth, while helping you take control of your mind, explaining how thoughts can create chemical reactions that keep you addicted to patterns and feelings—including ones that make you unhappy. And when you know how these bad habits are created, it’s possible to not only break these patterns, but also reprogram and evolve your brain, so that new, positive, and beneficial habits can take over.

This is something you can start to do right now. You and only you have the power to change your mind and evolve your brain for a better life—for good.

Pink Cat in the Hat

“It has been my philosophy of life that difficulties vanish when faced boldly.”
– Isaac Asimov



Pink Cat in the Hat – 4″ x 5″ Watercolor

This is another version of Sharrm’s cat, Keetah.  I painted her using a distorted graph here.  I have painted Keetah a few times over the last 4 years on WetCanvas.   Here’s another one that may be Keetah.   What a great cat.

It was a very wet weekend in Oklahoma.  I believe we got 5″ of rain in Eufaula.  We certainly needed the rain and it came all at once.  More expected over the next couple days.  I did a lot of studying, but also managed 3 new paintings to share this week.  YAY!!

About Isaac Asimov

Isaac Asimov, the American author known as one of the top writers of science fiction’s golden age, penned nearly 500 fiction and nonfiction books, including the Foundation trilogy and I, Robot. Born in 1920 in Russia, he moved to the US with his parents at age three. As a teen, he would read pulp magazines in his parents’ candy store and became inspired to write his own stories. His fiction frames interesting ideas in a bare-bones narrative. He died in 1992.

Colorful Cat in the Hat

“There is a sense of exhilaration that comes from facing head-on the hard truths and saying, ‘We will never give up. We will never capitulate. It might take a long time, but we will find a way to prevail.’”
– Jim Collins



Colorful Cat in the Hat – 4″ x 6″ Watercolor

I had a wonderful reference photo from Sharrm at WetCanvas of her cat Keeta, wearing this hat.  I decided to try something that Leslie White demonstrated on her blog.  I drew a 2×3 graph on the photo  then made a distorted 2×3 graph on my paper.  See how Leslie did it here.  I had a great time!  I wanna do that again!
I did 2 other little paintings over the weekend, so stay tuned. 

 

Boy, that’s a good quote by Jim Collins.  I was all set to do my long cross country solo Saturday, when on the way up there, my instructor called and said the winds were too high.  I continued to Muskogee to fly some maneuvers with my him, but the plane had some mechanical problems, so I came on home.  While I was there, I had him go over my flight plan anyway, so I feel pretty good about doing that part right.  Life is good and there’s plenty of time.  I’ll have another go at it.

About Jim Collins

American business guru Jim Collins has written or cowritten four books, including the instant classic Built to Last, which spent more than six years on the Business Week best-seller list, and Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap…and Others Don’t, which became a New York Times best seller. He was raised in Boulder, Colorado. After seven years teaching at Stanford University’s business school, he founded a research laboratory to examine companies and why they succeed.

Raccoon Tour Guide

“We are made to persist. That’s how we find out who we are.”
– Tobias Wolff

This is my 500th blog post!  Where did all the time go?   




Raccoon Tour Guide
4″ x 6″ Inktense Pencils on Watercolor Postcard

I know.  A raccoon is likely to steal a flowerdy hat, but he might not wear it.  Yeah, he’d never poke those holes in it for his ears first, either.  Unless….. he lived in Bethville, where anything is possible! 

Jakesgram from WetCanvas had the most adorable tour guide in a flowerdy hat and a cutie patootie raccoon in her references this weekend.  Her challenge was to see if we could paint in a way that was not realistic.  **grin**

Oh, a friend stopped by my shop on Friday to tell me that he likes my art.  He saw it on Facebook and he called me “Grandma Moses on speed”.   (Personally, I don’t see it, although I admire the artist and her tenacity.)

About Tobias Wolff

American author Tobias Wolff is best known for the memoir A Boy’s Life, about Wolff’s childhood with an itinerant mother and abusive stepfather. He was born in 1945 in Alabama and spent most of his childhood in the Pacific Northwest. His book In Pharaoh’s Army: Memories of the Lost War recounts his experiences as a young soldier in Vietnam. He is an acclaimed writing professor at Stanford University. He has three children.