Attentive Little Yellow Bird

“Live in such a way that you would not be ashamed to sell your parrot to the town gossip.”
– Will Rogers

Copyright Beth Parker Art 2013

Little Yellow Bird

Such attention!  He looks like he’s patiently listening to someone or something.  Maybe he’s listening to the town gossip!   

About Will Rogers

 

American humorist Will Rogers was considered the Mark Twain of his generation. He was born in 1879 in Oklahoma, of Cherokee descent, and left school early to become a cowboy. In South Africa his showy roping skills won him a job in a traveling Wild West show, and he quickly switched over to vaudeville and film acting roles. He wrote six books and 4,000 syndicated columns. An avid flier, he died in a plane crash in 1935.

Yellow Duck with No Shoes

“You don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great.”
–Zig Ziglar

Copyright Beth Parker Art 2013

A Shoeless Yellow Duck

Most people would probably look at that title and think I was nuts….. but we know that in Bethville, birds wear shoes! 

I wanted to take a moment to thank everyone who looks at this blog and to those who comment.  I have been unable to reply to the comments lately, but I love every single one!!!  The fact that you take the time to tell me something I painted made you smile…. priceless!

Zig Ziglar is a motivational teacher and trainer who has traveled the world over, delivering his messages of humor, hope, and encouragement. As a talented author and speaker, his international appeal has transcended every color, culture, and career. Recognized by his peers as the quintessential motivational genius of our times, Zig Ziglar’s unique delivery style and powerful messages have earned him many honors, and today he is considered one of the most versatile authorities on the science of human potential. Ten of his twenty-eight books have been on the best-seller lists, and his titles have been translated into more than thirty-eight languages and dialects. He is a committed family man, a dedicated patriot, and an active church member. Zig lives in Plano, Texas, with his wife, Jean.

The Yellow Car

“I, not events, have the power to make me happy or unhappy today. I can choose which it shall be.”

– Groucho Marx

Copyright Beth Parker Art 2013

The Yellow Car  – 6″ x 8″ Watercolor

I painted this from a photo by Crispur (Christine) at WetCanvas.  Christine lives in Australia, so that is why you might not recognize the store brands.   Wind is a cellular provider, but I have no idea what Camper is.    In the reference photo, the awnings were plain old black.  Bah humbug. 

About Groucho Marx

Julius Henry “Groucho” Marx was the wisecracking central figure of the Marx Brothers comedy team, waggling his eyebrows in movies like Duck Soup and A Night at the Opera. He was born in New York in 1890. His mother organized the family into a vaudeville act, which didn’t become successful until Groucho began ad-libbing jokes and insults. In the forties and fifties, he hosted the wildly successful radio and TV quiz show You Bet Your Life. He died in 1977.

Would you buy a used car from this alpaca?

“What soap is to the body, laughter is to the soul.”

–Yiddish Proverb

“Need a good cleanse on the inside?  Find a funny friend.  Have dinner with someone who makes you laugh out loud.  See a movie that makes you laugh ’til you cry.  You need a bath!  On the inside.”

–Vickie Hitzges, Author of Attitude is Everything

Copyright Beth Parker Art 2013

Herb the Alpaca – Are you Smiling Yet?

I painted this alpaca some time ago.  I call him Herb, because he looks like a Herb and a used car salesman.   (He also looks like he may have really bad breath!)  Would you buy a used car from this alpaca?  I don’t think so.  But I hope he brightened up your morning. 

The painting went to some folks who raise alpacas.

This morning, the clock and my daylight lamp in the studio both quit at the same time.  What are the chances of that happening.  Rather than see it as an omen that my day is going to be crummy, I see it as an opportunity to avoid things with electricity and batteries today.  I think I’ll get a lot done and have a really amazing day.  I hope you do, too!

Vicki Hitzges

Motivational Speaker, Former Television Host, & Corporate Publicist

Vicki Hitzges’s energy and humor encourage audiences to relax, laugh, and listen.  Vicki Hitzges is recognized as a CSP, Certified Speaking Professional, a title designated to less than 7% of the speakers who belong to the International Federation for Professional Speakers.  Vicki Hitzges polished her communication skills hosting television news and talk shows at Dallas TV affiliates for Fox, CBS, ABC, and the NBC affiliate in Corpus Christi, Texas, where she won a National Press Club Headliner Award for outstanding reporting ability.  Vicki Hitzges is represented for lectures by Leading Authorities, Inc., based in Washington, D.C.  More….

Paint Delivery to Bethville – 4″ x 6″ Watercolor and Ink

“Life is a process of becoming, a combination of states we have to go through.  Where people fail is that they wish to elect a state and remain in it.  This is a kind of death.”
–Anais Nin

Copyright Beth Parker Art 2012

Paint Delivery to Bethville – 4″ x 6″ Watercolor and Ink

I drew this picture  while I was at the car dealership, waiting for them to replace my defective headlights.  The truck was (very) loosely drawn from a Publisher’s Clearing House ad for a little metal truck.    Then I painted it last night.   Color is just so much fun!!

(Yes… I send those PCH entries in, so my future is set.)

Anaïs Nin (February 21, 1903 – January 14, 1977) was a French-born author who became famous for her published journals, which span more than 60 years, beginning when she was 11 years old and ending shortly before her death. Nin is also famous for her erotica, which not only proves sensual, but also acts as a study of sexuality in its perfection and flaws.  More…

Bouncing Down a Country Road – 5″ x 7″ Watercolor & Ink

“If we blindly accept someone else’s beliefs or opinions – taking them as our own – then we set ourselves up for disappointment and heartache. If we do not examine another’s viewpoint, in the light of our own experiences and abilities, we place the control of our happiness or sorrow in someone else’s hands.”
–Liane Cordes

Copyright Beth Parker Art 2012

Bouncing Down a Country Road – 5″ x 7″ Watercolor & Ink

Bounce is this week’s word for Illustration Friday.  As this truck bounces his way back home after a trip to the farmer’s market, the rocks on the bumpy road are causing his load of fresh fruit to nearly bounce completely out of the truck.  In afterthought, I should have painted a couple pieces of fruit laying on the side of the road.  Oh well… too late. 

Liane Cordes is the Author of Reflecting Ponds.  I could find no biographical information on Liane, but I found this about her book:

The Reflecting Pond is a collection of meditations that takes one subject at a time and covers it in depth. Whether we have a concern about self-acceptance, fear, friendship, or love, there is a chapter full of understanding thoughts. Used as an extra dose of support on specific issues, this book will help us think through day-to-day living problems.

A Happy Yellow House with a Chipper Red Roof

“Whether we have ten days or ten years or thirty years, now, here, in this moment, we are learning that life is precious.”
– Robert Raines

I like that!

Copyright Beth Parker Art 2012

A Happy Yellow House – 5″ x 7″ Watercolor & Sharpie

Yes… It’s another white house that got colorized in Bethville.  he he  The photo came from the Reference Image Library at WetCanvas.  I love architecture!  I wish I had realized that when I was younger.  I might have liked being an architect.  But, for now, I’ll be a house painter in stead. 

About Robert Raines

I manage corporate Internet marketing, content, strategy & social media at Chevron. Previously, I ran product management at E-Loan, led acquisition marketing at Pacific Bell Wireless, and brand-managed food brands at Quaker Oats. I’m a dad, husband, son, amateur photographer and videographer, folk music lover, 4-chord guitarist, and coffee geek, not in any particular order. This site represents my personal thoughts, opinions and ramblings.

Alpaca Party and a Proper Lipstick Shade

“Our real blessings often appear to us in the shape of pains, losses and disappointments, but let us have patience and we soon shall see them in their proper figures.”
– Joseph Addison

Copyright Beth Parker Art 2012

Alpaca Party – 4″ x 6″ Watercolor and Sharpie

While we’re on the subject of alpacas…. what shade of lipstick goes best on a pink and yellow alpaca?  Bright red, of course!  Nothing is off limits in art.  I can always find my inner goof-ball!  I have a very stressful, busy work life and art helps me not to take myself too seriously! 

About Joseph Addison

English politician and writer Joseph Addison is remembered as a cofounder, along with his friend Richard Steele, of The Spectator, one of the first magazines to cover literature and manners. He was born in 1672 in Wiltshire. He spent four years traveling in Europe, studying politics and writing poetry, and became a Commissioner of Appeals on his return to England. His shyness made public office difficult. His most famous work is the play Cato, a tragedy about ancient Rome. He died in 1719.

Congress Hotel goes Yellow

“The purpose of learning is growth, and our minds, unlike our bodies, can continue growing as we continue to live.”
–Mortimer Adler

Copyright Beth Parker Art 2012

 Congress Hotel – 5.5″ x 8.5″ Watercolor & Sharpie
Helen posted a photo of the Congress Hotel in South Beach, FL  on WetCanvas for us to paint from.  It is a grand, art deco style, white building.  But of course, I found a sale on yellow stucco and re-did the color for them.  I love the unique architecture of this hotel and it is happier in yellow.

Mortimer Adler, (born Dec. 28, 1902, New York, N.Y., U.S.died June 28, 2001, San Mateo, Calif.) U.S. philosopher, educator, and editor. He earned a doctorate in philosophy from Columbia University (1928) and taught philosophy of law from 1930 at the University of Chicago, where with Robert M. Hutchins he promoted the idea of liberal education through regular discussions of the great books. Together they edited the 54-volume Great Books of the Western World (1952); for Encyclopdia Britannica, Inc., they edited an annual, The Great Ideas Today (from 1961), and the 10-volume Gateway to the Great Books (1963). In 1969 Adler became director of planning for the 15th edition of Encyclopdia Britannica, published in 1974. His many books include How to Read a Book (1940), How to Think About God (1980), Six Great Ideas (1981), and Ten Philosophical Mistakes (1985).

Read more here.

Have You Seen The Yellow Bears at Yellowstone?

“The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths. Beautiful people do not just happen.”
– Elisabeth Kuber-Ross

Copyright Beth Parker Art 2011

Yellow Bears – 4″ x 6″ Watercolor & Sharpie

I painted this from a photo I took in August, when I went to Yellowstone Bear World near Rexburg, Idaho.  I had a great time there.  I took this when I was in the drive thru park.  I also spent time in the petting zoo and I fed the baby bears.  It was a great adventure that I found was NOT just for kids. 

I just realized that I painted the Yellowstone bears yellow.  It is pure coincidence, not cleverness on my part.  he he

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, M.D. (July 8, 1926 – August 24, 2004) was a Swiss American psychiatrist, a pioneer in Near-death studies and the author of the groundbreaking book On Death and Dying (1969), where she first discussed what is now known as the Kübler-Ross model.
She is a 2007 inductee into the American National Women’s Hall of Fame.   She was the recipient of twenty honorary degrees and by July 1982 had taught, in her estimation, 125,000 students in death and dying courses in colleges, seminaries, medical schools, hospitals, and social-work institutions.  In 1970, she delivered the The Ingersoll Lectures on Human Immortality at Harvard University, on the theme, On Death and Dying.
See the foundation here.

Patio Bathed in Yellow

“Face your deficiencies and acknowledge them; but do not let them master you. Let them teach you patience, sweetness, insight.”
– Helen Keller



Patio Bathed in Yellow – 4″ x 7″ Watercolor

Yes, another “P” painting.  I had a great time doing this painting!  I manipulated the photo a bit in Photoshop to bring out the shadows and exaggerated them somewhat.  So fun!  The photo was contributed to the WetCanvas RIL by Marie d.

About Helen Keller

American author and activist Helen Keller was born in Alabama in 1880; she became blind and deaf after a childhood fever. When Helen was seven, her teacher, Annie Sullivan, coaxed her out of her sullen, angry shell and taught her to communicate. From then on, Keller took on the world. She graduated from Radcliffe, traveled the world visiting sweatshops and speaking out for the powerless, helped to found the ACLU, and wrote 11 books. She died in 1968.

Yellow Day Lily

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.  Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking.  Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice.  And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.  They somehow already know what you truly want to become.  Everything else is secondary.”
–Steve Jobs, founder and CEO of Apple



Yellow Day Lily
Acrylic on Paper

In this challenge, we were to paint in Van Gogh’s style.  I hadn’t been holding a paint brush in my hand very long when I attempted this and I knew very little about Van Gogh.  Never the less, it has always been one of my favorites. 
 
Steven Paul Jobs (born February 24, 1955) is an American business magnate and inventor. He is the co-founder and chief executive officer of Apple Inc. Jobs also previously served as chief executive of Pixar Animation Studios; he became a member of the board of The Walt Disney Company in 2006, following the acquisition of Pixar by Disney.   MORE…….

Mellow Yellow Goose

“We cannot do everything at once but we can do something at once.”
– Calvin Coolidge



Mellow Yellow Goose

Watercolor & Sharpie

This is another little bird painting I did a couple weeks ago.    It’s so fun to paint birds.   You can add a ton of detail or keep it simple.  Just play.

Boy, that is a great quote.  I seem to have so much on my plate that the only way I can manage it, is to break it into chunks and attack one chunk at a time.  It was the same way in Atlanta.  AmericasMart has three huge buildings, with a total of 800,000 square feet.  Building 1 has 20 floors, building 2 has 18 floors and building 3 has 13.  Building 2 even has a west wing with 11 floors.  Each floor is really huge.  To give you an idea, the second floor of building 2 had 210 showrooms or booths!  It was a daunting task, to figure out where I wanted to go and who I wanted to see.  I did hours of planning before, and hours of note taking after the show each day.  If  I didn’t break it into chunks, I would have never been able to make the most of the experience.  I would still be trying to make my head stop spinning.

Mr. Coolidge had some great advice, didn’t he?  “We cannot do everything at once but we can do something at once.”

About Calvin Coolidge

John Calvin “Silent Cal” Coolidge was the thirtieth US president, ascending to the duty after the death of Warren Harding. He was born in Vermont on July 4, 1872. A woman once bet that she could get the tight-lipped Coolidge to say three words during dinner. His response: “You lose.” As president, he was a Federalist, believing in local self-rule, though he lowered taxes and reduced the national debt, inciting the growth of the Roaring Twenties. He died in 1933.

Yellow Shoelaces

“Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams die life is a broken winged bird that cannot fly.”
–Langston Hughes

 

Yellow Shoelaces
4″ x 4″ Acrylic on Ampersand Artist Panel

This was fun!  I did a series of 24 shoe ATCs in watercolor for an exchange once and it was really fun.  I painted this from looking at a closeup of a white shoe with white laces.  But of course, I had to add color!    I’m thinking of a new series in acrylic.  A girl’s just got to get her giggles, I say!

My second newsletter goes out today, so if you have already subscribed, be sure to watch your email.  If you haven’t signed up, look for the link in my blogroll.  I’ve been giving stuff away and you don’t want to miss that, do you? 


Today is my husband’s birthday and President Obama’s birthday.  I’m going to celebrate by taking a flying lesson.  One of these days, I’m going to get to solo.  I have 15 hours, but the lessons have been spread too far apart because my CFI is such a busy guy.  He’s promising to give me more time, now that summer is waning.  I hope he does.  When the lessons are closer together, my retention is better.

Langston Hughes

(February 1, 1902 – May 22, 1967)
Born in Joplin, Missouri, James Langston Hughes was a member of an abolitionist family. He was the great-great-grandson of Charles Henry Langston, brother of John Mercer Langston, who was the first Black American to be elected to public office, in 1855. Hughes attended Central High School in Cleveland, Ohio, but began writing poetry in the eighth grade, and was selected as Class Poet. His father didn’t think he would be able to make a living at writing, and encouraged him to pursue a more practical career. He paid his son’s tuition to Columbia University on the grounds he study engineering. After a short time, Langston dropped out of the program with a B+ average; all the while he continued writing poetry. His first published poem was also one of his most famous, “The Negro Speaks of Rivers”, and it appeared in Brownie’s Book. Later, his poems, short plays, essays and short stories appeared in the NAACP publication Crisis Magazine and in Opportunity Magazine and other publications.  Read more…