My Pink House

“Sometimes when we are generous in small, barely detectable ways it can change someone else’s life forever.”
– Margaret Cho

Copyright Beth Parker Art 2013

My Pink House

This is a little corner of my house.  There is a cliff on the east side and a lake on the west side so it’s hard to photograph.  I took this photo standing on the cliff.  I’ll try to do another one, showing more of the house.

I finally have my computer back.  I do not have my vinyl cutter back.  I have an old plotter and may have to upgrade.  So the sign shop is still in a holding pattern… as it has been for two weeks.  It feels good to at least be able to get orders in the system and do the design work.  I can’t wait until this is all resolved and I’m functioning at 100% again. 

About Margaret Cho

 

Margaret Cho, the outspoken Korean-American comedian and actor, made television history as the first Asian-American with her own TV series, All American Girl. She was born in 1968 in San Francisco and has mined her life for extremely successful one-woman shows, including I’m the One That I Want and Notorious C.H.O., both of which spawned albums, movie versions, and books. When not touring with her comedy, Cho works now in Hollywood as both an actress and a director.

There’s Nothing Wrong With Living in a Pink House -6″ x 6″ Watercolor and Sharpie

“The golden opportunity you are seeking is in yourself. It is not in your environment, it is not in luck or chance, or the help of others; it is in yourself alone.”
– Orison Swett Marden

Copyright Beth Parker Art 2012

There’s Nothing Wrong With Living in a Pink House -6″ x 6″ Watercolor and Sharpie

I live in a pink house.  It’s actually this color, too.  Pink stucco with white trim.  It was my husband’s idea.  It didn’t used to be this pink.  While looking at it from the lake, by boat, the hubby said “It’s not pink enough.”  I’m serious!  He really did say that!  So…. when we had some hail damage a few years ago, he had them stucco it pinker.  It has become a bit of a landmark.  We’ve heard people say “Go to the pink house and turn right to go to No. 9 Marina” or “At the pink house, turn left to go to the dam”.   It has even been called the Mary Kay house… to our face!  How funny is that?

If you didn’t know that houses in Bethville were a little wonky, you’d think the people who built this one were drunk.  But, I assure you… in the photo from the WetCanvas Reference Image Library,  it’s all neat and straight and…. white!   (…and I wasn’t drunk!)  Be extra careful on those stairs.  

About Orison Swett Marden

Orison Swett Marden, the American writer who is considered the forerunner of motivational authors, wrote an average of two books a year from 1894 to 1924. He was born on a New England farm in 1850. During college, he worked in hotel management. He then used his seed money to buy a resort in Rhode Island. Wanting to inspire people as he himself had been inspired by British author Samuel Smiles, he began writing books like You Can, But Will You? and founded Success Magazine. He died in 1924.

Little Pink House II

“Just don’t give up on trying to do what you really want to do. Where there is love and inspiration, I don’t think you can go wrong.”
– Ella Fitzgerald



Little Pink House II
24″ x 48″ Acrylic on Gallery Wrapped Canvas

Well, I have started.  This is so huge for me.  I was intimidated by the large size, but once I started it, I was fine.  All I have here is the blocked-in base coat.  If you look close, you can see the original 4″ x 8″ painting at the top of the easel.  The reference photo by Valri Ary is at the bottom.



Here is how well it fits into my studio.  I think it’s going to be okay.  My studio is an odd shape and not very big, but the painting is right behind my desk, so I can use my wheely chair or stand comfortably.

Check out that jar of gray goop that the brushes are in.  That is a bar of Ivory soap and water.  I soak my brushes for a bit before I clean them at the end of a painting session, and they come out sparkly clean and baby soft.   I learned that on a blog somewhere and I wish I could remember who to thank.  *sigh*

The commission for this painting was withdrawn before I even got the deposit, due to a financial emergency in the buyer’s life.  I decided to paint it anyway and grow from the experience.  In fact, being the optimist I am, I bought a three pack of these large canvases.

**doing a happy-dance** 

About Ella Fitzgerald

With her three-octave range, a purity of tone, and a wonderfully expressive voice, singer Ella Fitzgerald has been called the voice of American jazz. She was born in 1917 in Virginia and began singing professionally at age 16. Her rendition of the nursery rhyme “A-Tisket, A-Tasket” launched her stardom. Her best known recordings include the Cole Porter and George Gershwin songbooks; she also toured with Duke Ellington’s band. She died in 1996.

Yupo Pasture

“To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe.”
– Anatole France



Yupo Pasture
10″ x 8″ Watercolor on Yupo

Those two acrylic paintings took so long to do that I am going to post an old painting today.  I usually manage 5 paintings a week, but not this week. 


I like the peacefulness of this scene.  In total contrast, I am literally ga ga!! I have been commissioned to do a 2′ x 4′ version of my Little Pink House painting!  I am so thrilled!  It’s going to Florida and I am “butt wiggling” happy!  (I finally shot a price to her and she was very happy with it, so now it is real.)

About Anatole France

Anatole France was the pen name of Nobel Prize–winning French author Jacques Anatole François Thibault. He was born in 1844 in Paris. His father was a book dealer, and France spent his life among books, including 14 years as assistant librarian to the French Senate. His novels, including the Contemporary History series and The Gods Are Athirst, often use allegory and religious symbolism as vehicles for moral questions. He died in 1924.

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.