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.

Lonely Grasshopper on my Windshield

“Because of our mindfulness, we see our desire, and our aggression, our jealousy an our ignorance. We don’t act on them; we just see them. Without mindfulness, we don’t see them and they proliferate.”
–Pema Chodron

Copyright Beth Parker Art 2012

Lonely Grasshopper – 5″ x 7″ Watercolor, Inktense and Sharpie

Lonely is the word this week for Illustration Friday.  I painted this from a photo I took Saturday morning of a grasshopper on the windshield of my jeep.  Now you know he had to be feeling pretty lonely at that moment. 

This may prove that artists think differently than non artists.  Grabbing your camera may not be your first instinct when you see a bug on your windshield.  *giggle*

Pema Chodron is a leading exponent of teachings on meditation and how they apply to everyday life.
She is widely known for her charming and down-to-earth interpretation of Tibetan Buddhism for Western audiences. Pema is the resident teacher at Gampo Abbey, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, the first Tibetan monastery for Westerners and has authored several books, including:

Always Maintain a Joyful Mind (lojong teachings)
Practicing Peace in Times of War
No Time to Lose
The Pema Chodron Collection (audio)
Getting Unstuck:Breaking Your Habitual
Patterns & Encountering Naked Reality (audio)
The Places that Scare You
When Things Fall Apart
Start Where You Are

Secret? A little birdie told me - Illustration Friday

What is defeat?. . . Nothing but the first step to something better.
–Wendell Phillips

Copyright Beth Parker Art 2012

Secret? A little birdie told me.
6″ x 6″ Watercolor, Inktense and Sharpie

Secret is the word for Illustration Friday.   The painting is from three separate photo references from Jlloren at WetCanvas.  I had so much fun doing this!  I was in the zone and loving every minute.

Wendell Phillips was born in Boston on 29th November, 1811. Educated at the Harvard Law School, he open a law office in Boston in 1834.

Phillips was converted to the abolition of slavery cause when he heard William Lloyd Garrison speak at the Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society in 1835. Phillips was particularly impressed by the bravery of these people and during the meeting a white mob attempted to lynch Garrison. Phillips was so outraged by what he saw that he decided to give up law and devote himself to obtaining the freedom of all slaves.  More….

The Last Goofy Bookmark... for now

“I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. And I will not let what I cannot do interfere with what I can do.”
–Edward Everett Hale

Copyright Beth Parker Art 2012

Bookmark 6 – Mine – Watercolor, Inktense & Sharpie

I don’t know if you’ll be able to see how much cooler it looks when laminated, but I’ll show you anyway.

Copyright Beth Parker Art 2012

This is the ends of all the other 5 bookmarks, since I painted them on a solid sheet of watercolor paper and cut them apart after they were finished. 

This weekend is the Lake Eufaula Association’s Golden Eagle Poker Run.  This is what the McAlester News-Capital  had to say about it:

EUFAULA — The Golden Eagle Poker Run is set June 9 at South Point Pavilion in Eufaula Cove, hosted by the Lake Eufaula Association. The annual fundraising event will offer more than $40,000 in cash prizes (based on 500 entries.)

All card stops are on the water, but the event is open to those in boats, cars and on bikes. The run course will include No. 9 Marina, Evergreen Marina, Belle Starr Marina, Eufaula Cove Marina and the host site, South Point Pavilion, also known as Peter’s Point.

All pre-entrants can pick up packets and first card June 8 from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the LEA office, 701 S. Main, Eufaula.

For more information call 918-689-7751 or email info@VisitLakeEufaula.com.

For more on this story, see the print or electronic editions of the McAlester News-Capital. Click here for print edition home delivery or click here to see the Smart Edition for your computer, tablet, e-reader or smart phone.

The Lake Eufaula Association works very hard to promote our lake.  Come out and support them if you are within driving distance.

The American author Edward Everett Hale was born in Boston on the 3rd of April 1822, son of Nathan Hale (1784-1863), proprietor and editor of the Boston Daily Advertiser, nephew of Edward Everett, the orator and statesman, and grandnephew of Nathan Hale, the martyr spy of the American Revolution. He graduated from Harvard in 1839; was pastor of the church of the Unity, Worcester, Massachusetts, in 1846-56, and of the South Congregational (Unitarian) church, Boston, in 1856-99; and in 1903 became chaplain of the United States Senate. He died at Roxbury, Massachusetts, on the 10th of June 1909. His forceful personality, organizing genius, and liberal practical theology, together with his deep interest in the anti-slavery movement (especially in Kansas), popular education (especially Chautauqua work), and the working-man’s home, were active in raising the tone of American life for half a century. He was a constant and voluminous contributor to the newspapers and magazines. He was an assistant editor of the Boston Daily Advertiser, and edited the Christian Examiner, Old and New (which he assisted in founding in 1869; in 1875 it was merged into Scribner’s Magazine), Lend a Hand (founded by him in 1886 and merged in the Charities Review in 1897), and the Lend a Hand Record; and he was the author or editor of more than sixty books — fiction, travel, sermons, biography and history.
More

Bookmark 5 - A Doodle-A-Thon

“Vitality shows not only in the ability to persist, but in the ability to start over.”
– F. Scott Fitzgerald

Copyright Beth Parker Art 2012

Bookmark 5 – Watercolor, Inktense and Sharpie

Are you sick of the bookmarks yet?  They are so fun and full of color.  The colors really came out bright, when I laminated them.  There is one more, which is the ends of all the other 4.  I kept that one! 

About F. Scott Fitzgerald

Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald, who wrote as F. Scott Fitzgerald, is best known for his novel The Great Gatsby. He was born in St. Paul in 1896. Fear of mortality spurred him to write the novel This Side of Paradise while in the Army. It was rejected twice by Scribner’s before they finally published it. His wife Zelda’s schizophrenia was the basis for his novel Tender Is the Night. After they separated, he moved to Los Angeles and wrote screenplays for studio films. He died in 1940.

Obi the Ceramic Dog and Little Bit of Mexico

“You will do foolish things, but do them with enthusiasm.”
– Colette

How fun is that?  My hubby would say… just look cool doing it.   

Copyright Beth Parker Art 2012

Obi the Ceramic Dog – 7″ x 10″ Inktense and Sharpie

This is a portrait of our dog Obi, who just happens to be ceramic.  We named him Obi because he obediently sits at the window and watches the lake all day.   He is around 3 feet tall and we got him at our favorite little store in Van Buren, Arkansas, Little Bit of Mexico.  We have bought a lot of ceramic pots and metal art there.  It’s just a wonderful place to shop and the proprietors, Dave and Barb Little, are terrific, too.

The last time we went there, we were in my hubby’s little retro T-Bird.  Nothing we bought would fit in the car so Barb and Dave delivered it to us in Eufaula the next day.  Seriously, if you want a great little road trip, head to Van Buren and tell Barb and Dave we sent you.

Derwent Inktense pencils are so fun to do art with.  Check out that link.  They can be purchased anywhere you buy your fine art supplies.  (I am not being compensated for this, I just love the pencils.)

About Colette

Colette was the pen name of Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette, the French author acclaimed for her intimate, lyrical novels, including Chéri and The Vagabond. Born in Burgundy in 1873, she moved to Paris in 1893 when she married Henri “Willy” Gauthier-Villars, who locked her in a room and demanded that she write. After their divorce, she became a music-hall performer and continued to write. During World War I, she converted her second husband’s estate into a hospital for the wounded. She died in 1954.

Smiling is Infectious and a Bookmark

“Smiling is infectious; you can catch it like the flu. Someone smiled at me today, and I started smiling too.”
Author Unknown

Good one!  It has already happened to me today.  I smiled at someone and they smiled back!  Love it!

Copyright Beth Parker Art 2012

Bookmark 3 – Watercolor, Inktense and Sharpie

This is the darkest of the bookmarks.  To lighten it up some, I added the little white dots and x-s with white gouache.  I think it helped.  Did I tell you that these 5 little bookmarks are going to be someone’s Christmas gifts?  Talk about planning ahead.  I was asked to do 5 of them and the person I did them for is going to give them to her girlfriends in a book  (like I gave to her).  Nice!

I looked up “Author Unknown” on the internet and I found a site called cybernation.com, dedicated to the betterment of humanity.  They have a bunch of quotes by Author Unknown. 

Have a safe and fun Memorial Day weekend.  I’d like to give a huge thanks to the brave men and women serving in our armed forces, as well!  THANKS!

Bookmark 2 - Another Doodle-a-thon!

“Happiness always looks small while you hold it in your hands, but let it go, and you learn at once how big and precious it is.”
– Aleksei Peshkov

Copyright Beth Parker Art 2012

Bookmark 2 – Watercolor, Inktense and Sharpie

So much fun!  I used a green sharpie to do the mesh in the background.  I put shadows behind everything to give it some depth, but it doesn’t show up well in the scan.  Only 2 more work days until a 3 day weekend!  Yay!  I haven’t taken many days off this month.  I’m not sure I’m going to know how to act. 


About Aleksei Peshkov
Russian social realist author Aleksei Peshkov, known as Maxim Gorky, was so esteemed that his birthplace, Nizhny Novgorod, was renamed Gorky in his honor. He was born in 1868. His parents died when he was young, and he left his home at age 12. He was arrested in the late 1880′s as a revolutionary. His writing, including his best-known novel, The Mother, portrayed a decadent society and immense poverty. He became disillusioned after the Russian Revolution, feeling Lenin’s Communism was little better. He died in 1936.

My Goofy Little Bookmarks

“Within us all there are wells of thought and dynamos of energy which are not suspected until emergencies arise.”
– Thomas J. Watson



My Goofy Little Bookmarks – Progress Photo

I don’t know if it’s obvious or not, but these bookmarks are all on one sheet of paper now, and I’ll cut them apart when they are done.  They are fun to look at all together, I think.  I woke up a little before 5 this morning and worked on them for an hour, before I got ready for work.  It’s really hard to stop, as I see the progression.  Fun! 

About Thomas J. Watson

American businessman Thomas J. Watson built IBM into a Fortune 500 company. He was born in rural New York in 1874. He sold sewing machines, musical instruments, and cash registers before becoming president of the Computing-Tabulating-Recording company, which merged with IBM in 1924. His paternalistic business style was a model for later Japanese management, and his motto, “THINK,” became his company’s slogan. Under his leadership, IBM funded the first computers. He died in 1956.

It’s so Hot at these Heights! – 3″ x 4″ Inktense and Sharpie

There are many ways of breaking a heart. Stories were full of hearts broken by love, but what really broke a heart was taking away its dream – whatever that dream might be.
–Pearl S. Buck

Copyright Beth Parker Art 2012

It’s so Hot at these Heights!  – 3″ x 4″ Inktense and Sharpie

The word of the week at Illustration Friday is Heights.  Susan (Surob) at WetCanvas posted a photo of a squirrel, all sprawled out trying to cool off on a hot day.  I thought it was perfect for this week’s theme.  Check back tomorrow for another one.

Are you wondering what Inktense is?  Inktense pencils are like watercolor pencils, except the color is very intense and after it is dry, it’s permanent, like ink.  Here is a photo with part of the sky still in the pencil form.

Copyright Beth Parker Art 2012

Today is the 20th anniversary of Signs by Beth, LLC!  I can’t believe I’ve had my sign shop for 20 years.  I should be celebrating somehow.  Can’t celebrate with the hubby because he has been wanting me to retire for the last 10 years.  My business is the thing that keeps me away from him.  I can see what he means, but it’s still something to be proud of.  WoooHooo!  There!  Celebrated. 

Heights - Illustration Friday

I had to post the photo again, because when Facebook picks this up, sometimes it posts the last photo and I didn’t want the half done sky to show up on Facebook. 

Pearl Comfort Sydenstricker was born on June 26, 1892, in Hillsboro, West Virginia. Her parents, Absalom and Caroline Sydenstricker, were Southern Presbyterian missionaries, stationed in China. Pearl was the fourth of seven children (and one of only three who would survive to adulthood). She was born when her parents were near the end of a furlough in the United States; when she was three months old, she was taken back to China, where she spent most of the first forty years of her life.

In 1910, Pearl enrolled in Randolph-Macon Woman’s College, in Lynchburg, Virginia, from which she graduated in 1914. Although she had intended to remain in the US, she returned to China shortly after graduation when she received word that her mother was gravely ill. In 1915, she met a young Cornell graduate, an agricultural economist named John Lossing Buck. They married in 1917, and immediately moved to Nanhsuchou (Nanxuzhou) in rural Anhwei (Anhui) province. In this impoverished community, Pearl Buck gathered the material that she would later use in The Good Earth and other stories of China.
More on Pearl S. Buck can be found here.

Red Tulips

“I could not, at any age, be content to take my place in a corner by the fireside and simply look on.”
– Eleanor Roosevelt

That quote reminds me of my late mother-in-law. When her husband died, we brought her down to the lake for a few days. After about a day, she said “I cannot sit here and look at this lake one more minute. Take me back to the city.” She was a hoot!  Absolutely a city girl. 

Copyright Beth Parker Art 2012

Red Tulips – 5″ x 7″ Inktense Pencils

My hubby went outside with the chainsaw to cut a few trees.  I didn’t want to take my eyes off him for long with that tool because he is not exactly steady on his feet.  I sat at the window and did this little painting while I was watching him work.  Hey… it was cold out there. 

Eleanor Roosevelt

“Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home – so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world. Yet they are the world of the individual person; the neighborhood he lives in; the school or college he attends; the factory, farm, or office where he works. Such are the places where every man, woman, and child seeks equal justice, equal opportunity, equal dignity without discrimination. Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere. Without concerted citizen action to uphold them close to home, we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world.”
Eleanor Roosevelt

More on Ms Roosevelt here.

Fantasy Fish IV

“We each need to let our intuition guide us, and then be willing to follow that guidance directly and fearlessly.”
– Shakti Gawain

Fantasy Fish IV

Watercolor, Inktense & Ink

I’m still going to be off-line today.  Long story on the computer, but survivable.  Have a wonderful day!

About Shakti Gawain

American New Age author Shakti Gawain was born in 1948. Raised by atheists who taught her to question everything, she went through an existential crisis after a romantic breakup, which led her on a pilgrimage to India. Her experiences inspired the book Creative Visualization, which became an international best seller. She has been featured in Time magazine and has appeared on such shows as Oprah, Good Morning Americav andThe Larry King Show. She currently lives in California with her husband Jim Burns.

Fantasy Fish III

Don’t let other people tell you what you want.”
– Pat Riley

Fantasy Fish III

Watercolor, Inktense & Ink

This is the third in my series of four.  They were so fun.   I see more of these in my future, only different.

My work computer grabbed it’s throat, coughed, spun around and died yesterday.  I am hoping it is just electrical and can be saved.  The computer doc is coming this morning.  Please have good thoughts for the patient, as I am not ready to deal with lost data.  Until then, I’ll be off-line during the day.  (I’m sending this from home this morning.)  :)

About Pat Riley

Legendary American sports coach Pat Riley, the three-time NBA Coach of the Year, was drafted by both NBA and NFL teamswhen he graduated from college. He was born in 1945 in New York. He played with the LA Lakers on their championship-winning 1972 team and retired in 1976, becoming an assistant coach to the same team in 1980. The 1981–82 season began badly, so management fired his boss and promoted Riley, who took the Lakers to the first of their four championships under his guidance. In 1995, Riley resigned from the Knicks and became the head coach of the Miami Heat, advancing the team to the finals for the first time in francise history. He stepped down as head coach in 2008, but still serves as President of the team.

Fantasy Fish II

“Most people are so busy knocking themselves out trying to do everything they think they should do, they never get around to what they want to do.”
–Kathleen Winsor



Fantasy Fish II
Watercolor, Inktense & Ink

This is the second fish in my series.  To appreciate the intensity, I must confess that the whole image is only about 8″ x 10″.   The little egret is quite happy to be enjoying the sunny day in a Fantasy Fish.  he he

We’re going to enjoy a day in the upper 60′s here today.  YAY!!

Kathleen Winsor, author of the bestselling Forever Amber, has died aged 83. Her 1944 novel, which was made into a high-profile film directed by Otto Preminger, was a thousand-page fictional romp through Restoration fashion, politics, bedrooms and public disasters, among them the plague and the Great Fire of London. It was a love letter to a London she had read about in Defoe and Pepys, but had never seen.

Forever Amber was published in New York by Macmillan, the firm that had sold 4m copies of Margaret Mitchell’s Gone With The Wind in 1936. Alert to the possibilities of Winsor’s manuscript, which ran to 2,500 pages, their editors set about carving something commercially viable from the sprawling story.  More…

Coastal Fantasy Fish I

“When I do things without any explanation, but just with spontaneity…I can be sure that I am right.”
– Federico Fellini



Coastal Fantasy Fish I
Watercolor, Inktense & Ink

This is the first fish I did for a new coastal series I am working on.  I am having so much fun working on this new collection!

Whenever I share something new, I have copyright in the back of my mind.  Stealing art on the internet has become so blatant that it is a huge concern for anyone who creates art for a living.  I am new to art licensing, but it is still art that I do with the intent to license.   It’s a shame we have to be afraid.

There is a new group, started by Phyllis Dobbs,  on LinkedIn that addresses these issues.   Copyright – Artist’s Rights. I am very interested to learn how we can work together to protect our art.  If it concerns you, too, join us at LinkedIn.

About Federico Fellini

Famed Italian director Federico Fellini is known for the dreamlike logic and rich symbolism in Oscar- winning films like La Strada, La Dolce Vita, 8 ½, and Amarcord. His films often featured his wife, actress Giulietta Masina, and his onscreen alter-ego, actor Marcello Mastroiann. He was born in 1920 in Rimini. After he’d begun his film career, he opened a store named the Funny Face Shop, where he sold his drawings and artwork from other filmmakers. His 1993 funeral was attended by thousands of fans.

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.

Shoebill Heron

“Man can only become what he is able to consciously imagine.”
– Dane Rudhyar

Shoebill Heron

5″ x 7″Inktense & Watercolor

I had the best time this weekend. Our WetCanvas All Media Art Events (AMAE) Weekend Drawing Event (WDE) was hosted by Just Chaos. Chaos is a truely gifted photographer. The set of photos we painted from can be found on her Flickr page. Unless otherwise noted, Chaos’ photos on Flickr are covered by creative commons. You can read more about that here.

This guy is a mean, three and a half foot Shoebill Heron. I made him a little less threatening and had a wonderful time. I started by drawing him with Derwent Inktense pencils. I used them because the colors are great and because once you wet them, they become very intense (if you lay it down thick) and once dry, they become permanent. Unlike typical watercolor or watercolor pencils, the paint cannot be lifted or blended, once it is dry. No danger of mud when you add other colors on top. The original layer stays put.

I used a little white watercolor on my brush when I wet the Inktense, so the colors became creamy and rich, but once dry, the color would not be disturbed. You can add color on top of it or around it, without disturbing the original blend. Does that make sense? Fun!

He was the first of six paintings I did from Chaos’ photos, and I have two more saved to paint.

About Dane Rudhyar

Dane Rudhyar was a respected modernist composer as well as a pioneering modern psychological astrologer. He was born in Paris in 1895 as Daniel Chennevière and immigrated to the United States in the early 1900’s. His music utilizes dissonant harmony; he claimed to be inspired by the cadence of speech. His work influenced a group of composers known as the ultramodernists. He also wrote a number of astrology books, including the seminal Astrology of Personality. He died in 1985.

Inktense Kitty - September 9, 2009

“Laughter is the closest distance between two people.”

– Victor Borge

Inktense Kitty

Inktense on 4″ x 6″ postcard

Derwent Inktense soluble ink pencils are a lot of fun. They have an intense pigment and can create a vivid result, depending on how heavy you apply them.

Inktense is activated with water, then once dry, the color cannot be lifted with a wet brush, like normal watercolor. It gives you time to blend while still wet, if you want, but not if you don’t. It just depends on how you use them. I put all the colors down at the same time, for this kitty, so I could do some blending.

Here he is with the inktense and some masking. I’m not experienced with masking fluid, so I did use some additional watercolor to smooth out the areas I used mask on.

Jerry’s Artarama carries Inktense pencils. Just click on their banner on this page if you want to try them.

About Victor Borge

Danish pianist Victor Borge was affectionately known as the Clown Prince of Denmark. Born as Børge Rosenbaum in 1909 to musician parents, he began playing piano at age three. After a stint as a classical pianist, he began combining music and jokes. His anti-Nazi jokes landed him on Hitler’s enemies list. In 1942, he was named Best New Radio Performer by the American press. His Comedy in Music show on Broadway was the longest running one-man show in the 1950’s. He died in 2000.