A Big UK Truck – 5″ x 7″ Watercolor, Inktense and Ink

“When we live in the present, joy arises for no reason. This is the happiness of consciousness that is not dependent on particular conditions. Children know this joy.”
–Jack Kornfield

 I like that! I’m going to be child-like today! 

Copyright Beth Parker Art 2012

A Big UK Truck – 5″ x 7″ Watercolor,  Inktense and Ink

I love this truck!  It really looked like that in Dominic’s photo on WetCanvas.  I only changed the message on the top.  It had some company name, I think.  I had a great time doing this one.

I am taking the day off today.  (I know!  Weird, huh?)  I have scheduled several appointments in Muskogee, like a long over due eye doctor visit.  If I’m going to drive that far, I’m going to use the whole day doing stuff I have been putting off.  When you work 6 days a week, procrastination just comes natural for all the personal stuff.

I’m even visiting the fabric store today.  (big grin)  I’m going to make my husband a shirt.  He’s not even scared!   He’s such a brave man.  I used to sew all my own school clothes when I was a teenager.  I got store bought jeans and shoes, but I made the rest.  It’s been a while, so I am really excited!  I can’t wait to dig in to that project.  I made some stuff in the 90′s with my old Singer, but I even have a new sewing machine to play with.  Yay!

Jack Kornfield is one of the leading Buddhist teachers in America. A practitioner for over 40 years, he is one of the key teachers to introduce mindfulness and vipassana meditation to the West. His approach emphasizes compassion, lovingkindness and the profound path of mindful presence, all offered in simple, accessible ways in his books, CD’s, classes and retreats.  His website is here.

Little Red Farm Truck

“A man can fail many times, but he isn’t a failure until he begins to blame someone else.”
– John Burroughs

Copyright Beth Parker Art 2012

Little Red Farm Truck – 5″ x 7″ Watercolor & Sharpie

This is another painting of the same truck, from the photo by Elainesq at WetCanvas.  It’s so fun to just make up what that old rusty truck could look like all cleaned up. 

John Burroughs was born on April 3, 1837 on his family’s farm in Roxbury. He spent his youth working on the farm and exploring Old Clump Mountain. His favorite place he called Boyhood Rock, where he would sit and study the ways of Nature around him.

He was a teacher, a journalist, a treasury clerk in Washington, DC (where he met and befriended Walt Whitman), and a bank examiner before returning to his beloved Catskills. In 1871, his first book Wake Robin was published. In 1874 he bought a small farm in Esopus, and devoted himself completely to his writing. Later, he would divide his time between “Slabsides“, his summer retreat at West Park, near Esopus, and “Woodchuck Lodge” in Roxbury.

Source:  Catskill Archive