A Happy Orange Alien

Every failure, obstacle, or hardship is an opportunity in disguise.  Success in many cases is failure turned inside out.  The greatest pollution problem we face today is negativity.  Eliminate the negative attitude and believe you can do anything.  Replace “if I can, I hope, maybe” with “I can, I will, I must.”
– Mary Kay Ash

Copyright Beth Parker Art 2013

Happy Alien – 4″ x 6″ Watercolor

I know… Bethville is a very strange place!  I can’t help the stuff that happens there. 

Mary Kay Ash

Mary Kay Ash earned a place in history when she stepped out in a man’s world to blaze a new path for women. Recognized today as America’s greatest woman entrepreneur, Mary Kay created new opportunities for women around the world. Her revolutionary move led to a multibillion-dollar success. In the process, she earned a place in the hearts of millions for her giving spirit, unwavering values and inspiring belief in the power and potential of women.   This site invites you to celebrate her remarkable story. It pays tribute to her life and her legacy, which continues to burn brightly through the countless lives she touched.

Fox at Cuban Ranch

Every failure, obstacle, or hardship is an opportunity in disguise.  Success in many cases is failure turned inside out.  The greatest pollution problem we face today is negativity.  Eliminate the negative attitude and believe you can do anything.  Replace “if I can, I hope, maybe” with “I can, I will, I must.”

Mary Kay Ash, founder and CEO of Mary Kay Cosmetics



Fox at Cuban Ranch – 4″ x 6″ Watercolor

I painted this from two references by Wendy (sundiver) at WetCanvas.  One was a fox and the other a Cuban ranch.  I had a great time painting this little guy.  Yesterday’s hats were also done from one of Wendy’s references.

Don’t you just love that quote?  It’s how I live my life today.   I haven’t always had this philosophy.   I used to worry about everything.  When my husband and I started dating, he taught me, through his own actions, that life is a great big adventure, just waiting for me to jump in and participate.  It’s amazing how much that knowledge (and my husband) has enhanced my life. 

Mary Kay Ash, born Mary Kathlyn Wagner in Hot Wells, Harris County, Texas, was the daughter of Edward Alexander and Lula Vember Hastings Wagner. She attended Reagan High School in Houston, and graduated in 1934.

Ash married Ben Rogers at age 17. While her husband served in World War II, she sold books door-to-door. After her husband’s return in 1938, they divorced. Ash went to work for Stanley Home Products. Frustrated when passed over for a promotion in favor of a man that she had trained, Ash retired in 1963 and intended to write a book to assist women in business. The book turned into a business plan for her ideal company, and in September 1963, Mary Kay Ash and her second husband began Mary Kay Cosmetics with a $5,000 investment. Before the company could open its original storefront operation in Dallas, her second husband died, and her son, Richard Rogers, took his place. The store opened in 1963, but grew rapidly, particularly after Ash was interviewed for CBS‘s 60 Minutes in 1979.  more…

Little Pink House

“We strain to renew our capacity for wonder, to shock ourselves into astonishment once again.”
– Shana Alexander

 

Little Pink House
8″ x 4″ Acrylic on Gallery Wrapped Canvas

This is painted from a WetCanvas WDE reference photo by Valri Ary.  It’s in Barbados and Valri and I went there together in September of 2008.    It was so wonderful and it’s hard to believe it’s already been two years ago.

I also live in a pink house.  (It was my husband’s idea.  hehehe)  It sits on a hill overlooking Lake Eufaula and has  become a landmark from the water.  “Go the the pink house and turn left to go to the dam or turn right to go to No. 9 Marina.”  Last weekend, someone told us they have been calling it the Mary Kay house.  We’ve been in it for 5 years and that’s the first time we have heard that one! 


Here are some other views of this little painting.

About Shan a Alexander

Shana Alexander, the pioneering American journalist who was the first female staff writer at Life magazine, was best known for her combative “Point-Counterpoint” segments with conservative James Kilpatrick on 60 Minutes, which became fodder for a long-running Saturday Night Live spoof. She was born in 1925 in New York City. Her first assignment as a journalist was to interview the stripper Gypsy Rose Lee. She wrote several nonfiction books, mostly true crime accounts. She died in 2005.