A Wild Pink Flamingo Painting

“Do not be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment.”
– Ralph Waldo Emerson

Copyright Beth Parker Art 2013

Whoooop!  A  Wild Flamingo Painting

This is an acrylic painting, painted over a failed effort.   The whole thing is pretty weird, if you ask me, but as I share these archives, I am sharing the odd ones, too. 

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.

Art Bowl for Kansas City Show

“Passion, though a bad regulator, is a powerful spring.”
– Ralph Waldo Emerson

Copyright Beth Parker Art 2013

Art Bowl for Kansas City Show

They are having a soup bowl auction during the KC show, to benefit their soup kitchen.  It was optional for the artists, but of course I wanted to donate one.  For the local artists, they can go do a ceramic bowl and fire it, etc., but not being local, I did my own thing.  It’s all done in Zentangle and since you can’t do a pencil sketch on a bowl, it’s straight ink to bowl… winging it. 

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 on May 25, 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 on April 27, 1882.

Eufaula – Main & Selmon Facing South – 8″ x 10″ Watercolor & Ink

“None of us will ever accomplish anything excellent or commanding except when he listens to this whisper which is heard by him alone.”
– Ralph Waldo Emerson

Copyright Beth Parker Art 2012

Eufaula – Main & Selmon Facing South – 8″ x 10″ Watercolor & Ink

If you turn left right here, my sign shop is about 3/4 of a block on the right.   Funny thing about this painting… I took it over to the gallery (Our Favorite Place)  on Friday and before I even left… it sold!  Yay!!!!  And a couple more small paintings and a few postcards…. before I even left the gallery!  Love it!

In this painting, Our Favorite Place is the 4th building down on the right.  It’s a quick 2 minute walk from my shop.  I’m taking two more paintings over there today.  Of course I have to have a caramel latte while I’m there.  

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.

Bahama House Revamp – 4″ x 6″ Watercolor and Sharpie

“What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.”
– Ralph Waldo Emerson

Copyright Beth Parker Art 2012

Bahama House Revamp – 4″ x 6″ Watercolor and Sharpie


It’s not that I didn’t like the house as it appeared in the photo by Lisilk at WetCanvas.  I did.  It was white (of course) and had green shutters, Christmas lights, and a lot of stuff in the yard.  First, I took down the lights and cleaned up the yard.  Then (and this is where I seem to have veered of the Bahamian path) I decided to play with my Yarka St. Petersburg Watercolors.   The set I have is very Cape Cod colored, if that makes any sense.  So the colors kinda went awry, but it was still very fun!!    Oh, the grass is not painted from that set, so it has a different hue. 

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Emerson was born in Boston, Massachusetts on May 25, 1803, son of Ruth Haskins and the Rev. William Emerson, a Unitarian minister. He was named after his mother’s brother Ralph and the father’s great-grandmother Rebecca Waldo. Ralph Waldo was the second of five sons who survived into adulthood; the others were William, Edward, Robert Bulkeley, and Charles. Three other children—Phebe, John Clarke, and Mary Caroline–died in childhood.

The young Ralph Waldo Emerson’s father died from stomach cancer on May 12, 1811, less than two weeks before Emerson’s eighth birthday. Emerson was raised by his mother, with the help of the other women in the family; his aunt Mary Moody Emerson in particular had a profound effect on Emerson. She lived with the family off and on, and maintained a constant correspondence with Emerson until her death in 1863.  More…

You’ve never seen a blue turkey in a straw hat, playing the fiddle?

“Place yourself in the middle of the stream of power and wisdom, which flows through your life. Then, without effort, you are impelled to truth and to perfect contentment.”
–Ralph Waldo Emerson

Copyright Beth Parker Art 2012

What?  You’ve never seen a blue turkey in a straw hat, playing the fiddle?

Rummaging through the archives again.  I imagine people sometimes wonder what kind of drugs I do.  Just coffee, I promise! 

Ralph Waldo Emerson

(born May 25, 1803, Boston, Mass., U.S.died April 27, 1882, Concord) U.S. poet, essayist, and lecturer. Emerson graduated from Harvard University and was ordained a Unitarian minister in 1829. His questioning of traditional doctrine led him to resign the ministry three years later. He formulated his philosophy in Nature (1836); the book helped initiate New England Transcendentalism, a movement of which he soon became the leading exponent. In 1834 he moved to Concord, Mass., the home of his friend Henry David Thoreau. His lectures on the proper role of the scholar and the waning of the Christian tradition caused considerable controversy. In 1840, with Margaret Fuller, he helped launch The Dial, a journal that provided an outlet for Transcendentalist ideas. He became internationally famous with his Essays (1841, 1844), including Self-Reliance. Representative Men (1850) consists of biographies of historical figures. The Conduct of Life (1860), his most mature work, reveals a developed humanism and a full awareness of human limitations. His Poems (1847) and May-Day(1867) established his reputation as a major poet.

Read more: http://www.answers.com/topic/ralph-waldo-emerson#ixzz1rvO4bLQ5

The Blue Horse

“To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.”
–Ralph Waldo Emerson

Copyright Beth Parker Art 2012

The Blue Horse – 3″ x 5″ Watercolor

Lin (oldrockchick) hosted the WDE at WetCanvas last weekend.  She posted a challenge, to paint one of her reference is monochrome.  This was my response and I had a great time doing it.  Here is what Lin had to say about this wonderful horse reference…

“Max the one-eyed shire horse. One of a rare breed of heavy horses bred at Eglwswrw Shire Horse Farm in Pembrokeshire,Wales. Max lost an eye when he got a thorn in it and it got infected and sadly he had to retire when they couldn’t save it. He was still pulling the visitor trailor round the farm field 2 years ago when we went but they were arranging to retire him as soon as his friend Jackson the ex-drey horse was trained to pull it more slowly. He is a people lover.”



Emerson believed in individualism, non-conformity, and the need for harmony between man and nature. He was a proponent of abolition, and spoke out about the cruel treatment of Native Americans. Influenced by the Eastern philosophy of unity and a divine whole, emphasizing God Immanent, to be found in everyone and everything, Emerson sowed the seeds of the American Transcendentalist movement. He realised the importance of the spiritual inner self over the material external self through studying Kantianism, Confucianism, Neo-Platonism, Romanticism, and dialectical metaphysics and reading the works of Saint Augustine, Sir Francis Bacon, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and William Shakespeare among many others. During his lifetime and since Emerson has had a profound influence on some of the 19th and 20th century’s most prominent figures in the arts, religion, education, and politics.

More information can be found at http://www.online-literature.com/emerson/

Gold Coast Australia

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

Copyright Beth Parker Art 2011

Gold Coast Australia – 4″ x 6″ Watercolor & Sharpie

This was painted from a photo of the Gold Coast in Australia by Christine (Crispur2005) at WetCanvas.  As I was working on this, I kept thinking of the old Jetsons cartoon.  Funny thing is that when Christine saw this, she also thought of the Jetsons with no hint from me.  I used to love that cartoon when I was a kid. 

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.

Climbing Ivy

“Do not be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment.”
– Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

Climbing Ivy – 5″ x 7″ Watercolor

This is the finished painting that I started a week ago and finished Saturday morning.  The photo I used for a reference is compliments of Dominic at WetCanvas.  Here are the steps I took…

First, I wet a piece of watercolor paper and dropped some color onto it.  Then, I added rock salt and rice.



After it dried, it looked like this…

Then, I negative painted the bricks and mortar into it.  Just for fun, I then splattered a little watercolor over it.

Here is what it looks like without the tape, before I cropped it for the blog.

I had a great time!!! 

Click on any photo to see it larger.

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.

Lily Pond

“Passion, though a bad regulator, is a powerful spring.”
– Ralph Waldo Emerson



Lily Pond – Watercolor and Gouache on 2.5″ x 3.5″ ATC

My friend Robert  from WetCanvas  liked this little painting so much that we did a trade for it.  That is one of the wonderful things about being involved in an art community.  I have traded paintings for a lot of art that I fell in love with.  I have some cool art that I probably couldn’t afford to buy.  It makes it even better, knowing that they were painted by someone I like. 

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.

Speckles - Frog Painting

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



Speckles
2.5″ x 3.5″ Watercolor and Gouache ATC

I painted this little dude on Art Spectrum Colourfix paper, which is usually used for pastels.  I use my gouache kinda thick and it feels wonderful on the paper.  It takes more coats to obtain the opaqueness on the dark paper, and I mix watercolor pigment in with the gouache for the colors I want.  It’s fun!

Have a great weekend! 

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.

Mr. & Mrs. Parker

“Artists must be sacrificed to their art. Like bees, they must put their lives into the sting they give.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson





Mr & Mrs Parker
Ambergris Caye, Belize
September 17, 2002

What a beautiful day that was, on the day I married Mr. Right.  I just wanted to take a moment to be grateful for all I have been blessed with.   




Have a great weekend!

Ralph Waldo Emerson
 
Born: 25 May 1803

• Birthplace: Boston, Massachusetts
• Died: 27 April 1882
• Best Known As: A founder of Transcendentalism

Ralph Waldo Emerson’s father was the seventh in an unbroken line of ministers dating back to Puritan days, and after attending Harvard Emerson himself became a Unitarian minister. After the death of his young wife and two elder brothers, Emerson began to doubt his faith and in 1832 resigned his ministry. Eventually he settled in Concord, Massachusetts, where he lived most of the rest of his life thinking, writing and speaking. Emerson remains important in American history as a founder of the school of thought known as Transcendentalism. Its chief features were a reliance on intuition over cold scientific reason, a belief that the natural world held spiritual truths, and an optimistic view of the human spirit. Emerson was known as a stirring speaker, eventually earning the sobriquet “the Sage of Concord.”

White Sands Cove Resort
Ambergris Caye, Belize

Fairy Door

“A man is what he thinks about all day long.”
–Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

Fairy Door
6″ x 10″ Acrylic on Raw Wood Fairy Door

This was a fun little project.  The elements were there already, so all I had to do was paint it and add a few embellishments, like the flip flops, flowers and sun.  I made it for a girlfriend who loves all the little outdoor fun things.  It is coated with polyurethane to weather proof it.    I hope she likes it.

Ralph Waldo Emerson is truly the center of the American transcendental movement, setting out most of its ideas and values in a little book, Nature, published in 1836, that represented at least ten years of intense study in philosophy, religion, and literature, and in his First Series of essays.

Born in 1803 to a conservative Unitarian minister, from a long line of ministers, and a quietly devout mother, Waldo–who dropped the “Ralph” in college–was a middle son of whom relatively little was expected. His father died when he was eight, the first of many premature deaths which would shape his life–all three brothers, his first wife at 20, and his older son at 5. Perhaps the most powerful personal influence on him for years was his intellectual, eccentric, and death-obsessed Puritanical aunt, Mary Moody Emerson. Yet Emerson often confessed to an innate optimism, even occasional “silliness.”  more….

Sleeping Kitty

“Do not be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment.”
– Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

Sleeping Kitty
5″ x 7″ Watercolor on Ampersand Clayboard

I painted this little slumbering cat on clayboard, then scratched the hair into it.  I really enjoyed this!  The watercolor floats wonderfully on the surface for a bit, giving you a chance to blend and play. 

The cat in the reference was actually sleeping on a pad of newsprint in an artist’s studio.  That gives a new meaning to studio assistant.

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.

Chocolate Drizzled Delights

“Passion, though a bad regulator, is a powerful spring.”
– Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

Chocolate Drizzled Delights
5″ x 7″ Watercolor

I enjoyed painting these yummy treats, even though I’m not a big donut eater.  They taste good, but an hour later I’ll feel bad.     Not unlike some passions, I guess. 

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.

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.

The Wooden Lady - December 1, 2009

"None of us will ever accomplish anything excellent or commanding except when he listens to this whisper which is heard by him alone."

– Ralph Waldo Emerson

The Wooden Lady

3" x 9" Watercolor

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.

The Blushing Donkey - July 7, 2009

"Do not be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment."


– Ralph Waldo Emerson


.

The Blushing Donkey
4" x 6"
Watercolor on Illustration Board