Weird Cat

“All that is necessary to break the spell of inertia and frustration is this: Act as if it were impossible to fail.”
– Dorothea Brande



Weird Cat
4″ x 6″ Watercolor

Ha ha ha  Did I scare you?  Okay, so I took a photo (by ElleZee at WetCanvas) of a yawning cat and made it look like it’s  saying “aaaaah” at the dentist.    I just can’t help myself!   Have you not already figured out that I am strange? 


My third newsletter went out today.  If you are a subscriber, please open it up in your email and enjoy the read.  If not, you can click here.  It’s a big endeavor for me and I am always happy when people take the time to send me a comment and let me know what they think.

About Dorothea Brande

Dorothea Brande wrote the quintessential how-to-write book, Becoming a Writer, which was among the first to address every writer’s core problem: How to sit down and let the words flow. Her book, published in 1934, remains in print today. She was born in 1893 in Chicago. She worked as an editor on the Chicago Tribune and The American Review and married the latter journal’s owner. She also wrote Wake Up and Live, which was adapted into a movie in 1937. She died in 1948.

Curious Cat

“When you get the choice to sit it out or dance…
I hope you dance… I hope you dance.”
–Lee Ann Womack

 

Curious Cat
5″ x 7″ Gouache on Black Ampersand Clay Board
 

This painting was so much fun to do!  I started with the black clay board and used wet juicy brush loads of paint.  There are a lot of layers, in order to achieve the opacity over the black.    I wanted to leave a lot of the black and keep it pretty loose.  I had a great time!



Today is the day that I send out my very first monthly newsletter.  Why would I do that, you ask?  Well, I have owned my sign shop for 18 years.  I want some additional challenges in my life.  (Some good challenges are things I can do from a chair in my later years.)   Since nothing happens overnight, I am laying some of the ground work for some ideas I have.  To keep happy, I think we must constantly take a look at our lives and make room for revisions and opportunities.   Thank you for reading my blog and hopefully my newsletter.  I appreciate the friends I have made out there so very much! 


Lee Ann Womack (born August 19, 1966 in Jacksonville, Texas) is a country music artist whom may best be known for her 2000 crossover hit, I Hope You Dance.
Her 1997 self-titled debut album brought her onto the country music scene as a herald of a more traditional country music sound, in a genre that had begun to sound more pop-oriented with the likes of LeAnn Rimes, Faith Hill and Shania Twain topping the charts. The hits from that first album were “Never Again, Again”, “The Fool” and “You’ve Got To Talk To Me.”
Her second album, 1998′s Some Things I Know brought us “A Little Past Little Rock”, “(Now You See Me) Now You Don’t”, and “I’ll Think Of A Reason Later”, while her third and possibly most successful album to date, 2000′s I Hope You Dance featured, along with the award-winning aforementioned title cut (which Sons of the Desert supplied the backing vocals) also featured the hits “Why They Call It Falling” and “Does My Ring Burn Your Ringer” as well as covers of the 1980 Rodney Crowell hit “Ashes By Now”, and the Don Williams’ 1970s classic, “Lord I Hope This Day Is Good.”
Womack’s fourth album, Something Worth Leaving Behind, released in 2002, was seen by many as an attempt by her to cross-over to the very pop-sound that she was the antithesis of five years earlier. The title cut was the only track on the album to reach the Top 40.
Her most recent album, 2005′s There’s More Where That Came From features her current single, “I May Hate Myself In The Morning,” and is popularly viewed by many as a return to the traditional sound that brought her success in her earlier career.
Womack has two daughters; Aubrie (with ex-husband Jason Sellers) and Anna Lise (with current husband Frank Liddell). Both daughters appeared in the video for “I Hope You Dance”.

Head in the Leaves

“Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear — not absence of fear.”
– Mark Twain

 

Head in the Leaves
7.5″ x 11″ Watercolor on Hot Press Paper

I didn’t paint enough new paintings this week, to post a fresh one each day, so I looked through my stash to find one I may not have shared with you.  That is such a fun experience, because there are so many experiments in that pile.  I picked this one, because I painted all the way to the edges.  It wouldn’t be suitable for framing, unless I did something else with it.

I can glue it to a large canvas and then come in with some mixed media to bring it to life, such as some acrylic leaves, that meander off of the painting, onto the canvas.  I can use it as the beginning to a collage, or possibly cut it up and do a weave with another painting, being careful to preserve that eye.  Hmmm….. what would you do? 


I have to tell you about an  exciting little project I’m working on.  I am taking Laura Bray’s Easy Ezine class.    We are learning all the nuts and bolts of doing a first class newsletter or ezine.  I am loving it so far!  I even increased my website’s subscriber list from 1 to 48.  Wee!   You can sign up here, if you want to receive the very first issue. 


I am planning to do a monthly newsletter that has some art, some how-to’s or something fun that I have learned, and of course, something positively “wiggle your butt” fun!      As a student pilot, I am anxious to share some of the new experiences I’m having in the wild blue yonder, too.

I am going to give away an original painting to one of my subscribers in the first newsletter and will continue to have some kind of monthly freebies.   This is key… you can un-subscribe at any time (if I put you to sleep), but I’m hoping that you’ll send the link to your friends, in stead.  Oh, and I will not share my list with anyone… period!

I am feeling like a little girl with a new party to go to.  If you have any suggestions on things you’d like to see in the newsletter, please leave a comment.  I value all I can learn from you, just as I do with my art.

Okay, just for fun…. let me pop that Sign-Up link in there one more time. 

About Mark Twain

Samuel Clemens, the iconic American humorist and writer, is better known by his pen name Mark Twain. He was born in 1835 in Missouri. He worked at several jobs, including steamboat pilot and miner. He wrote The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Prince and the Pauper, and other successful novels. His writing captured a very American vernacular and flavor, and helped create a distinctive American literature. He died in 1910.