When life gives you lemons, draw them, 11 x 14 inches dry pastels, graphite on paper

"When life gives you lemons, draw them." (Nikki)

"Color! What a deep and mysterious language." (Paul Gauguin)

Texas

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City Streets

Friday, October 5th, 2007


 
Three Photos will be on exhibit and available for sale at the City Streets Exhibition at Studio 333, Sausalito, California  October 25 – December 6, 2007

Burnt Offerings - Dallas, TexasBurnt Offerings 01 – From Burnt Offerings the photographic series consisting of ten images of the devastating results after an explosion that rocked downtown Dallas on July 25, 2007, in an acetylene and propane warehouse. In the distance: the famous Reunion Tower.

Grey Phase - Dallas, TexasGrey Phase – Dallas, Texas. With a history and reputation for competing with Houston to attract visitors to stay in a beautiful, safe, and interesting downtown area, Dallas makes room for new buildings and upgrades existing ones. This photo: Demolition on the corner of Commerce and S. St. Paul Street, across from the infamous Dallas Grand Hotel which has been vacant and in a serious state of disrepair for many years, now planned to also receive extensive renovations.

True Colors 63 - San Antonio, MexicoTrue Colors 63 – An original photo of one of the digitally manipulated images in the True Colors website series.  A cow wanders the streets of San Antonio, Mexico. Nonchalantly meandering through the neighborhood, tether rope dragging on the road beside her, it’s as if this cow has simply left for a short walk and no one, even the owner, ought to worry about her finding her way home.

A tale of two drawings

Friday, September 21st, 2007


 

 Northern Delights 01, Banff, Alberta, Canada, 14 x 11 graphite, waterwash graphite, oil stick, colored pencils

Northern Delights 01, Banff, Alberta, Canada, 14H x 11W graphite, water-wash pencil, oil pastel, colored pencils on paper. 3-inch-wide white double mat and 26H x 22W inch white custom-built white wood frame with crackle finish.

and

Redbuds 03, Eastern Redbuds blooming on a foggy Spring morning in Coppell, Texas. 14H x 11W oil pastels, graphite, water-wash graphite, colored pencils, eraser on paper

Redbuds 02, misty morning in Coppell, TX, 14H x 11W inches oil pastels, graphite, watercolor pencils on paperBrowsing for pieces to enter in a juried exhibition, I came across two drawings started in March that have a lot in common. Both scenes are low-light situations that were achieved by lots and lots of layering, scraping, redrawing, and using the eraser over pastels for blending as well as erasing. Both are experimental re: oil pastels vs. paintable water-wash graphite pencil.

It’s the sky’s turn

Tuesday, September 11th, 2007


 
Sky detail, Dancing With Trees

It’s the sky’s turn to dance! White glaze will attach itself to the varnish I dripped on the other day.

Dancing With Trees 02 – progress

Monday, September 10th, 2007


 

Dancing With Trees - Sept. 10 details  Dancing With Trees - early details using drips of varnish  Dripping varnish, and painted upside down for about four hours

Dancing With Trees - Sept. 6(WIP Acrylics)  Dancing With Trees in progress: Sept. 4  Dancing With Trees, started August 30, 2007  Dancing With Trees started Aug.30, 2007

Dancing With Trees 02, started August 30th – 48H x 48W acrylics on canvas – progression details are combined into one post. The oil pastel with the same name, posted in March 2007, inspired the painting.

I’ve tried lots of new things with this one – am hoping to keep just the impression of branches. I don’t want too many details.  Using washes and glazes to help create the cedar branch texture I’ve dripped water, paint, glazes, and varnish across patches of color, splattered it on with a brush and also painting upside down.

Beauty

Friday, August 31st, 2007


 

Morning Moon    This morning’s sun

Beauty – the moon, the sun, and a routine of daily painting!

Peace by our back door

Thursday, August 30th, 2007


 

Dove Nesting in the wreath by the back door

This is the second time around for doves nesting in the wreath by our back door. I’m sure it’s the same pair who devotedly cared for two eggs, taking turns in shifts as they are now. The chick in the second thumbnail is from the first brood hatched in May. It mysteriously disappeared after two days and the other egg didn’t hatch. There was no trace of that chick anywhere..no body, bones, feathers..nothing. It was not old enough to fend for itself – could the parents have eaten it I wonder? Maybe there was something wrong with it, or the parents were first-timers. The lizards and salamanders around here are too small to eat a meal that size, and other birds would not have been brave enough to come so near to the door I don’t think.  Nature takes care of itself though, so no tears. Hopefully these ones will survive and we can watch them mature.

Dove eggs in May The first chick Dove in the wreath Nesting Mom and new chick

Dove chick growing and becoming more vocal Nest getting crowded You can't see me because I'm staring at the wall. Dove and 6 day old chick

The chick Sept. 7th - about a week old

Sept. 3rd: One of the chicks hatched! There were about six Starlings on the roof overlooking the evestrough, which is not usual for them – at our house anyway- so I’m thinking maybe they are interested in robbing the chick from it’s nest. Maybe they  were the egg-robbers from the first nest.

Sept. 4th: The chick appears to be so much larger today, and it’s the first time I’ve seen it so exposed. It seems so vulnerable on that small flimsy nest.

Sept. 5th: The chick has been left on its own a lot in the past 24 hours, also becoming quite vocal.  The other egg is unlikely to hatch.

Sept.9th: The nest is overcrowded. The chick ruffled its feathers and snapped its tiny beak at me when I took these photos – the instincts are strong – how sweet is that?!

Sept.9th - ruffling feathers and snapping it’s tiny beak at me!

Sept. 11th: When the parent sitting on the chick is up in the air above the nest, it’s time for little chicky to leave! That’s what I thought the day before the chick flew away, and sure enough it was time.   It’s so funny when the parent sits on top of the chick trying to hide it – there is hardly enough room for two in the nest, and she/he is not fooling anybody!

Sept. 12th: Fortunately I walked out just in time to see the chick fly from the ground to the fence nearby. There it remained for about 90 minutes then it was gone. That night I wondered where it would be sleeping, and if it was truly on its’ own now without parents, how it would survive. Less than a month before it was not even in the form of an egg!!

Sept 13th: didn’t expect to see it again, but while sitting outside at dusk, there they were, the mom (or dad) and chick. It was so pleasing to see them sitting on the fence together.

Sept 16th: I still see the little one come into the yard, much bigger now. It is smaller than an adult, and I’m sure that must be the same chick. Full circle!

Chick, first flight  Chick, first flight  Dove Chick and Parent

Crepe Myrtle

Wednesday, August 29th, 2007


 

Crepe Myrtle

7 a.m., spider webs on the Crepe Myrtle, Lewisville, Texas

City Mountains

Monday, August 27th, 2007


 

“City Mountains”, Irving Texas

Mountains of houses as far as the eye can see in Irving, Texas. There’s a hill in Irving that looks down onto numerous cities in the DFW metroplex, where you can see miles of grey-black rooftops.

Moonlight at Sunset

Friday, August 24th, 2007


 

Moonlight at Sunset

Moonlight, the sky at sunset last night

Garden Toad

Saturday, August 18th, 2007


 
Garden Toad

I was gardening today, and saw the brown-grey soil shape itself into a toad…it was like one of those “magic eye” pictures. This little toad has excellent camouflage!

I’ve done a lot of traveling this year, and now company arrives tomorrow. Too much hopping around means no painting! Photos will be the convenient art of choice, probably for the summer.

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