Little Pink Bird

“The highest reward for a person’s toil is not what they get for it, but what they become by it.”
– John Ruskin

Copyright Beth Parker Art 2012

Little Pink Bird – 2.5″ x 3.5″ Watercolor

You guessed it… This bird was black in the photo reference from Ruby Red Dog at WetCanvas.  I just can’t leave well enough alone. 

About John Ruskin

John Ruskin was an English art critic who influenced the attitude of a whole generation toward art and architecture. He was born in 1819 in London. His career began with an essay defending his friend, artist J.M.W. Turner, from critics. His book Modern Painters made Turner popular and gave stature to the Pre-Raphaelite movement. He founded the Cambridge Scool of Art in 1858, now known as the Anglia Ruskin University. Leo Tolstoy called him one of those rare men who think with their heart. When Ruskin inherited wealth, he gave most of the money away. He died in 1900.

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.

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.

All the mice are safe today! Kitty has something shiney!

“I have accepted fear as a part of life, specifically the fear of change, the fear of the unknown. I have gone ahead despite the pounding in the heart that says: Turn back, turn back; you’ll die if you venture too far.”
– Erica Jong

Copyright Beth Parker Art 2012

Shiny for Illustration Friday – 4″ x 6″ Postcard

All the mice  are safe today.   Kitty has something shiny, which is Illustration Friday’s word of the week.  This is Jock and was painted from a photo by Rozzi at WetCanvas.  Jock is a special needs cat who loves to sit like this.  In the photo, there was no toy.  I had to give him something shiny to ponder.

It’s painted on a handmade paper postcard by Indian Village.  I got a bunch of these real cheap a couple years ago.  I’m almost out and I can no longer find them.  Bummer.

About Erica Jong

Erica Jong, the American author who made a splash with the sexual frankness of her first novel, Fear of Flying, has written several works of fiction as well as nonfiction books, including the autobiographical Fear of Fifty. She was born in New York in 1942 and now splits her time between New York City and Weston, Connecticut. She has been married four times and has one daughter.

The Last Goofy Bookmark... for now

“I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. And I will not let what I cannot do interfere with what I can do.”
–Edward Everett Hale

Copyright Beth Parker Art 2012

Bookmark 6 – Mine – Watercolor, Inktense & Sharpie

I don’t know if you’ll be able to see how much cooler it looks when laminated, but I’ll show you anyway.

Copyright Beth Parker Art 2012

This is the ends of all the other 5 bookmarks, since I painted them on a solid sheet of watercolor paper and cut them apart after they were finished. 

This weekend is the Lake Eufaula Association’s Golden Eagle Poker Run.  This is what the McAlester News-Capital  had to say about it:

EUFAULA — The Golden Eagle Poker Run is set June 9 at South Point Pavilion in Eufaula Cove, hosted by the Lake Eufaula Association. The annual fundraising event will offer more than $40,000 in cash prizes (based on 500 entries.)

All card stops are on the water, but the event is open to those in boats, cars and on bikes. The run course will include No. 9 Marina, Evergreen Marina, Belle Starr Marina, Eufaula Cove Marina and the host site, South Point Pavilion, also known as Peter’s Point.

All pre-entrants can pick up packets and first card June 8 from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the LEA office, 701 S. Main, Eufaula.

For more information call 918-689-7751 or email info@VisitLakeEufaula.com.

For more on this story, see the print or electronic editions of the McAlester News-Capital. Click here for print edition home delivery or click here to see the Smart Edition for your computer, tablet, e-reader or smart phone.

The Lake Eufaula Association works very hard to promote our lake.  Come out and support them if you are within driving distance.

The American author Edward Everett Hale was born in Boston on the 3rd of April 1822, son of Nathan Hale (1784-1863), proprietor and editor of the Boston Daily Advertiser, nephew of Edward Everett, the orator and statesman, and grandnephew of Nathan Hale, the martyr spy of the American Revolution. He graduated from Harvard in 1839; was pastor of the church of the Unity, Worcester, Massachusetts, in 1846-56, and of the South Congregational (Unitarian) church, Boston, in 1856-99; and in 1903 became chaplain of the United States Senate. He died at Roxbury, Massachusetts, on the 10th of June 1909. His forceful personality, organizing genius, and liberal practical theology, together with his deep interest in the anti-slavery movement (especially in Kansas), popular education (especially Chautauqua work), and the working-man’s home, were active in raising the tone of American life for half a century. He was a constant and voluminous contributor to the newspapers and magazines. He was an assistant editor of the Boston Daily Advertiser, and edited the Christian Examiner, Old and New (which he assisted in founding in 1869; in 1875 it was merged into Scribner’s Magazine), Lend a Hand (founded by him in 1886 and merged in the Charities Review in 1897), and the Lend a Hand Record; and he was the author or editor of more than sixty books — fiction, travel, sermons, biography and history.
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Bookmark 5 - A Doodle-A-Thon

“Vitality shows not only in the ability to persist, but in the ability to start over.”
– F. Scott Fitzgerald

Copyright Beth Parker Art 2012

Bookmark 5 – Watercolor, Inktense and Sharpie

Are you sick of the bookmarks yet?  They are so fun and full of color.  The colors really came out bright, when I laminated them.  There is one more, which is the ends of all the other 4.  I kept that one! 

About F. Scott Fitzgerald

Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald, who wrote as F. Scott Fitzgerald, is best known for his novel The Great Gatsby. He was born in St. Paul in 1896. Fear of mortality spurred him to write the novel This Side of Paradise while in the Army. It was rejected twice by Scribner’s before they finally published it. His wife Zelda’s schizophrenia was the basis for his novel Tender Is the Night. After they separated, he moved to Los Angeles and wrote screenplays for studio films. He died in 1940.

Obi the Ceramic Dog and Little Bit of Mexico

“You will do foolish things, but do them with enthusiasm.”
– Colette

How fun is that?  My hubby would say… just look cool doing it.   

Copyright Beth Parker Art 2012

Obi the Ceramic Dog – 7″ x 10″ Inktense and Sharpie

This is a portrait of our dog Obi, who just happens to be ceramic.  We named him Obi because he obediently sits at the window and watches the lake all day.   He is around 3 feet tall and we got him at our favorite little store in Van Buren, Arkansas, Little Bit of Mexico.  We have bought a lot of ceramic pots and metal art there.  It’s just a wonderful place to shop and the proprietors, Dave and Barb Little, are terrific, too.

The last time we went there, we were in my hubby’s little retro T-Bird.  Nothing we bought would fit in the car so Barb and Dave delivered it to us in Eufaula the next day.  Seriously, if you want a great little road trip, head to Van Buren and tell Barb and Dave we sent you.

Derwent Inktense pencils are so fun to do art with.  Check out that link.  They can be purchased anywhere you buy your fine art supplies.  (I am not being compensated for this, I just love the pencils.)

About Colette

Colette was the pen name of Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette, the French author acclaimed for her intimate, lyrical novels, including Chéri and The Vagabond. Born in Burgundy in 1873, she moved to Paris in 1893 when she married Henri “Willy” Gauthier-Villars, who locked her in a room and demanded that she write. After their divorce, she became a music-hall performer and continued to write. During World War I, she converted her second husband’s estate into a hospital for the wounded. She died in 1954.

Sock Monkey and the Stuffed Olive

“This I conceive to be the chemical function of humor: to change the character of our thought.”
– Lin Yutang

This must be why I often say “I needed that!” after a good belly laugh. 

Copyright Beth Parker Art 2012

Stuffed Olive Postcard – 8″ x 10″ Watercolor

The owner of this restaurant, Debbie Gibbens,  has the best set of marketing skills!  She is always doing something original and quirky to promote her businesses.  (Besides this restaurant in Eufaula, she has 3 locations of Libby’s, a wonderful clothing store; in Eufaula, Tulsa and St. Louis.)  Debbie commissioned this postcard.  She wanted the restaurant, a VW bug and a sock monkey.  The trailer was my idea and she liked it.  I also did their sign when they first opened.  The olive is a carved, dimensional olive.
Here are some of the practice steps I took on the way to the final painting…

Copyright Beth Parker Art 2012

Copyright Beth Parker Art 2012

About Lin Yutang

Chinese author Lin Yutang wrote more than 35 books in English and Chinese, including My Country and My People and The Importance of Living, which brought him international fame. He was born in 1895 in the Fujian province in China. He created a Chinese-American dictionary, an indexing system for Chinese letters, and translated many classic Chinese texts. Written in a humorous, accessible style, his books bridged European and Chinese cultures. He died in 1976.

Hurry Home – 6″ x 6″ Watercolor and a wee bit of Sharpie

“Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.”
– T.S. Eliot


Hurry Home – 6″ x 6″ Watercolor and a wee bit of Sharpie

This is my contribution to Illustration Friday, where the word is Hurry.  If you have pets, you know this could be:

“Hurry home, Mom. I miss you when you’re gone!”
“Hurry!  I gotta peeeeeeee!”
“Hurry with that food, please.  I’m hungry!”
“Hurry!  Throw the ball!  Throw the ball!”
“Hurry and get situated.  I neeeeed to sit on your lap.”
“Hurry!  Get the leash already!  I wanna go for a walk!”
“Hurry!  I need a doggie biscuit…  right now!”
“Hurry, would you?  You walk too slow!”

I could go on.  Everything seems to have a sense of urgency when they have to communicate with their expressions.    I painted it from a photo by Valri Ary at WetCanvas.

About T.S. Eliot

T.S. Eliot, the Nobel Prize–winning poet, is perhaps best known today for a light book of rhymes that became the Broadway hit Cats. He penned such weightier poems as “The Waste Land,” “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” and “Four Quartets.” His work is rich with deeply felt religious meditations, but he never wanted to be perceived as a religious poet. He was born in 1888 in St. Louis and made his adult home in England, where he worked as an editor at the publisher Faber & Faber. He died in 1965.

Am I a Llama or an Alpaca?

“Difficult times have helped me to understand better than before how infinitely rich and beautiful life is in every way, and that so many things that one goes worrying about are of no importance whatsoever.”
– Isak Dinesen

Copyright Beth Parker Art 2012

Am I a Llama or an Alpaca?  – 4″ x 6″ Watercolor

I can’t tell the difference between Llamas and Alpacas.  I’m guessing alpaca, but I really don’t know.

Our Favorite Place is having their Grand Opening tomorrow (Saturday, June 2).  I’m so excited!  They have only been open a few weeks and they have already sold one of my paintings!  Yay!  Here’s a link to what’s happening at the Grand Opening.  I’ll be there from the ribbon cutting (at 9:55 am) until around noon.  Many of the artists and Made in Oklahoma product people will be there.   If you’re within driving distance of Eufaula, OK, it’ll be worth a visit.  Hope to see you there!

About Isak Dinesen

Isak Dinesen was the pen name of Karen Blixen, the Danish author famously portrayed by Meryl Streep in the film of her best-selling memoir, Out of Africa. She was born near Copenhagen in 1885. In 1914, she and her new husband moved to Kenya to run a coffee plantation. She stayed on after divorcing her husband ten years later, living an unusually independent life. Her book of stories, Seven Gothic Tales, sold well, but Out of Africa made her a worldwide success. She died in 1962.