Cuckoo Clock Number 6

“Forget past mistakes. Forget failures. Forget everything except what you’re going to do now and do it.”
– William C. Durant

Copyright Beth Parker Art 2014

Cuckoo Clock Number 6 – A Watercolor Sketch

I wasn’t too fond of this one until I added the color.  I love the colors!

About William C. Durant

William C. Durant, founder of General Motors, consolidated much of the fledgling American auto industry under one roof. He was born on December 8, 1861 in Boston and grew up in Flint, Michigan. His innovative business model was to buy out vendors and acquire competitors. Forced to resign from GM due to this management style, he founded a new company with his race-car driver, Louis Chevrolet. He later regained control of GM but lost everything in the Great Depression. He died on March 18, 1947.

Cuckoo Clock Number 5

“Life is not the way it’s supposed to be. It’s the way it is. The way you cope with it is what makes the difference.”
– Virginia Satir

Copyright Beth Parker Art 2014

Cuckoo Clock Number 5 – A Watercolor Sketch

This one is my Cuckoo at the Theater version.  I know… it’s very weird here in Bethville. 

About Virginia Satir

American psychotherapist Virginia Satir played a central role in shaping family therapy. She was born in Wisconsin on June 26, 1916. While working as a teacher, she became deeply involved in the lives of her students and their parents. This led to graduate school and a career change. She took on the mission of inspiring therapists to work with families. She cofounded the Mental Health Research Institute in California, where she held the first-ever family-therapy training program. She died on September 10, 1988.

Cuckoo Clock Number 4

“Simplicity is not the process of “dumbing down”; nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, when we embrace simplicity our lives, and bake it into our businesses, true genius is at work as the efforts to make the complex simple is an example of superior thinking.”
–Gary Ryan Blair

Copyright Beth Parker Art 2014

Cuckoo Clock Number 4 – A Watercolor Sketch

Fun to do, but not one of my favorites. I do like the bird, though. Looks like she’s gossiping with the bird on the other side of the street. 

Gary Ryan Blair helps business owners, corporate executives and sales professionals manage their time, set their priorities, and stay focused so they can achieve their goals, grow their business, enjoy more success and greater freedom.

Cuckoo Clock Number 3

“Excellence begins as a decision – one where you look at your life, business, and relationships and decide that everything you touch is going to better, that the example you set is going to be inspiring, that the performance bar is going to be raised higher, and that the legacy you leave will be memorable and long-lasting.”
–Gary Ryan Blair

Copyright Beth Parker Art 2014

Cuckoo Clock Number 3 – A Watercolor Sketch

I like the bird standing outside of the designated bird window.  A bit of a rebel, don’t you think?

Gary Ryan Blair helps business owners, corporate executives and sales professionals manage their time, set their priorities, and stay focused so they can achieve their goals, grow their business, enjoy more success and greater freedom.

Cuckoo Clock Number 2

“Striving for perfection is the greatest stopper there is.… It’s your excuse to yourself for not doing anything. Instead, strive for excellence, doing your best.”
– Sir Laurence Olivier

Copyright Beth Parker Art 2014

Cuckoo Clock Number 2 – A Watercolor Sketch

I like this one.  It just makes me happy. 

I love that quote today.  If I were to strive for perfection, I’d never be able to do little things like this.  The joy is in the creation, just for the sake of my love for art.

About Sir Laurence Olivier

The brilliant English actor Laurence Olivier, known for roles in such films as The Entertainer, Rebecca, and Wuthering Heights, was central in founding Britain’s National Theater, and was artistic director there for ten years. He was born on May 22, 1907 in Surrey. Not a Method actor, he used external attributes to create a character. He craved performance and was depressed between jobs. He was the first actor to direct his own Oscar-winning performance, in Hamlet. He died on July 11, 1989.

Cuckoo Clock Number One

“The primary cause of unhappiness is never the situation but thought about it. Be aware of the thoughts you are thinking.”
–Eckhart Tolle

Copyright Beth Parker Art 2014

Cuckoo Clock Number One – A Watercolor Sketch

Yesterday I mentioned that I was going to share some cuckoo clocks I sketched for a class I’m taking.  I’m sharing them on my blog just for for kicks and giggles.

Keep in mind… these are rough sketches to come up with creative little cuckoo clock ideas.  I only picked one to post to the class gallery.  This was NOT the one. 

Eckhart is a spiritual teacher and author who was born in Germany and educated at the Universities of London and Cambridge. At the age of 29, a profound inner transformation radically changed the course of his life. The next few years were devoted to understanding, integrating and deepening that transformation, which marked the beginning of an intense inward journey. Later, he began to work in London with individuals and small groups as a counselor and spiritual teacher. Since 1995 he has lived in Vancouver, Canada.

Eckhart Tolle is the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller The Power of Now (translated into 33 languages) and the highly acclaimed follow-up A New Earth, which are widely regarded as two of the most influential spiritual books of our time.   http://www.eckharttolletv.com/about/eckhart/

Hunn Funeral Home – 8″ x 10″ Watercolor & Ink

“Forgiveness is the economy of the heart.…forgiveness saves the expense of anger, the cost of hatred, the waste of spirits.”
– Hannah More

Copyright Beth Parker Art 2014

Hunn Funeral Home – 8″ x 10″ Watercolor & Ink

It’s been quite a while since I posted anything on my blog.  I seem to be doing a lot of art for my licensing portfolio and that’s stuff you just don’t show until it’s time.  So many issues with copyright and so on.

I am taking a MATS Bootcamp class for the next few months and I have decided to share some of that fun with you.  Starting tomorrow, I’ll be sharing a bunch of cuckoo clocks I came up with for the class.  They are mostly creative experiments and will never see the light of day, beyond this blog.  Some will be developed further.  We’ll see.  Until then….

Thanks for checking in. 

About Hannah More

English writer and philanthropist Hannah More, one of the most influential women of her time, is seen as a proto-feminist because she argued for true education for women. She was born near Bristol on February 2, 1745. When her long engagement to a local landowner ended badly, he gave her a yearly stipend in apology, which allowed her the freedom to move to London and write plays. She later shifted to philanthropic work and writing popular religious tracts. She died on September 7, 1833.

Merry Christmas from Lake Eufaula

“A man can do only what he can do. But if he does that each day he can sleep at night and do it again the next day.”
– Albert Schweitzer

Copyright Beth Parker Art 2013

Merry Christmas from Lake Eufaula - 4″ x 6″ Watercolor Postcard

Have a very Merry Christmas!

About Albert Schweitzer

Albert Schweitzer, the German medical missionary, won the 1952 Nobel Peace Prize for his humanitarian work at a hospital in French Equatorial Africa, where he treated and operated on thousands of people, including hundreds of people afflicted with leprosy. He was also an organist, famous for his interpretation of J.S. Bach’s music. Late in life, he worked with Albert Einstein and Bertrand Russell against nuclear proliferation. He was born in 1875 in Kaysersberg and died in 1965.

My Watercolor Christmas Postcard This Year

“It is the heart always that sees before the head can see.”
– Thomas Carlyle

Copyright Beth Parker Art 2013

My Christmas Postcard This Year

I painted this little card to send out this year.  I love the idea of Santa having a nice break at his vacation home after delivering all those presents.  And of course, he takes the elves along.  Mrs Claus is probably inside making the margaritas.

Have yourselves a very Merry Christmas!

About Thomas Carlyle

Scottish historian Thomas Carlyle is best known for his biographies of Frederick the Great and the German playwright Schiller. He was born in 1795. The first draft of his acclaimed two-volume work, The French Revolution, was accidentally burned by his friend John Stuart Mill’s maid; he rewrote it from scratch and imbued the rewrite with more passion and immediacy than was common at the time. This made his writing very popular in Victorian England. He died in 1881.

A House Portrait - My Big Brother’s Christmas Card

“The most successful people are often very intuitive. Consciously or unconsciously, they follow their gut feelings. Following intuition puts us in the flow – a very alive, productive, and desirable state.”
~ Shakti Gawain

copyright Beth Parker Art 2013

My Big Brother’s Christmas Card – His House Portrait

I was so excited to get my brother’s Christmas card yesterday.  I painted this portrait of his house as a surprise when I visited him in Idaho in August.  It brought tears to his eyes then… and to my eyes last night when I opened the card.  I really love what they did for their card.  It made my Christmas.  (Love you Dine & Cari!)

It sure has been a long time since I posted here.  Of course I’ve been busy at the sign shop, but I also have been preparing collections for art licensing and I’m saving the reveal of those until later.  I’m headed to Atlanta in a few weeks and am excited about my trip to AmericasMart Home & Gift show.  I was there a couple years ago, but got temporarily way-layed by that whole flying thing.  I am now excited and back to business!

I hope you are all having a wonderful holiday time and are avoiding all the stress that comes with it.  My hubby has recently had a hip replacement, so we are laying low and having a quiet Christmas.     No stress there. 

Shakti Gawain

Shakti is a pioneer in the field of personal development. For over twenty-five years, she has been a best-selling author and internationally renowned teacher of consciousness. Shakti has facilitated thousands of individuals in developing greater awareness, balance and wholeness in their lives.

Shakti has written numerous books considered classics in her field. Her distinguished publishing history includes best sellers Creative Visualization, Living in the Light, The Path of Transformation, Four Levels of Healing, Creating True Prosperity, and Developing Intuition. Her books have sold over 10 million copies and have been translated into more than thirty languages. She is the co-founder, with Marc Allen, of New World Library Publishing Company.

She has appeared on such nationally syndicated programs as The Oprah Winfrey Show, Good Morning America, Sonya Live, The Larry King Show, The Leeza Show, America’s Talking and New Dimensions Radio, and has been featured in New Woman, New Age Journal, and Time Magazine.

Through her seminars and her books, Shakti helps people heal and develop all levels of their being — spiritual, mental, emotional, physical — and access their intuitive inner wisdom. Sharing the ideas and practices that have helped her the most in her own life, she guides others on their path to living more consciously. She facilitates us in finding deeper meaning and purpose through developing our unique gifts and abilities.

Shakti is a passionate environmentalist, who believes that as we bring more awareness to our daily lives, we can learn to live in balance on our planet.

She and her husband Jim Burns, live in Mill Valley, California.