June Bug

“Fear defeats more people than any other one thing in the world.”
– Ralph Waldo Emerson

June Bug

2.5″ x 3.5″ Watercolor

This is another one done from a Just Chaos photo. She caught this bug in an oatmeal cup, outside Starbucks one morning, just so she could get a picture of it! You go Chaos!

I actually had fun painting him, even though it kinda creeped me out! I’m not sure I have been that intimate with a bug’s scary little legs before! eek! Emerson would have been pleased that I didn’t let my fear keep me from painting this one.

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.

Kitten Eyes

Have absolutely no sense of guilt about being happy and successful if you operate honestly and with a sense of social responsibility.

Norman Vincent Peale

Kitten Eyes

2.5″ x 3.5″ Watercolor

Imagine that! A kitten!

I hope you are not getting sick of my seemingly endless fascination with painting cats. This is a little kitten named Water. She is one of four foster kitties that Just Chaos took care of for a time. Of course, I had to have a little extra fun with her eyes.

I quote from Norman Vincent Peale often, so I looked to Wikipedia this morning, to find something new to tell you about him. He was such an interesting guy!

Concealed hypnosis

A second major accusation of Peale is that he attempts to conceal that his “techniques” are actually a scientifically well known form of hypnosis, and that Peale attempts to persuade his readers to follow his beliefs through a combination of self-hypnosis and false evidence. While his techniques are not debated by psychologists, Dr. Peale’s said his theological practice and strategy was directed more at self analysis, forgiveness, character development, and growth ^[17] much like the Jesuits of the Catholic Church.^[18]

Peale asserts that practicing his “techniques” will give the reader absolute self confidence and deliverance from suffering. The critics, in turn, assert that the repetitive “techniques” are actually a well known form of hypnosis (autosuggestion), hidden under a thin guise with the use of terms which may sound more benign from the reader’s point of view (“techniques”, “formulas,” “methods,” “prayers,” and “prescriptions.”). One author called Peale’s book “The Bible of American autohypnotism.” (Meyer, Donald. The Positive Thinkers. Pantheon Books, 1965, p. 264)

Andean Cock-of-the-Rock

“The art of living lies less in eliminating our troubles than in growing with them.”
– Bernard Baruch

Andean Cock-of-the-Rock

5″ x 7″ Watercolor

Photo is by Just Chaos from WetCanvas. This bird was at the San Diego Zoo.

I like the quote today and I think I would have liked the author, too.

About Bernard Baruch

The American financier and unofficial presidential adviser Bernard Baruch was known as the “Park Bench Statesman” for his penchant for taking meetings on park benches. He was born in 1870 in South Carolina. By the time he was 30, he had become a millionaire. During World War I, Woodrow Wilson asked Baruch’s advice on economic issues, which began a long-term relationship with the White House. He refused to become Treasury Secretary in FDR’s cabinet, preferring his unofficial role. He died in 1965.

Red Wolf

“To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom.”
– Bertrand Russell

Red Wolf

4″ x 10″ Watercolor

The color that appears black is Da Vinci Perylene Green, straight. I won 6 tubes in the WetCanvas T-shirt design contest & this is one of the colors I got. (I got to pick 6 colors). I love it! It is also the background color on yesterday’s bird.
This fellow was another from the photos of Just Chaos. Her favorite place to hang out is zoos, I think. Whenever she travels, she always hits the zoo.

About Bertrand Russell

British philosopher Bertrand Russell was greatly responsible for the shift toward logical analysis among philosophers; he introduced rigorous scientific methodology to the field and was best known for his books Principia Mathematica and The Principles of Mathematics. He was born in 1872 to an aristocratic English family but raised by a strict paternal grandmother after his parents died young. He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1950. Albert Einstein collaborated with him on a manifesto calling for nuclear disarmament. He died in 1970.

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.