Stung!

Bayou Road on a Spring Morning
©2008 Karen Mathison Schmidt
5 x 7 • acrylic on Gessobord
gloss varnish for protection and ease of cleaning
sold • private collection, Lafayette, Colorado

Work in progress photos:


This afternoon when my husband arrived home from running a few errands, I put my arms around him to give him a welcome home kiss and, eeeyow!!, a wasp that had stowed away on his shirt stung me on the inside of my left arm about halfway between my elbow and wrist. We only know it was a wasp because as I was dancing around the kitchen crying, "I’ve been stung, I’ve been stung,” Paul saw the wasp crawling away under the sink cabinet. It got away before we could smush it. Fortunately I’m not allergic to bees or wasps, so we didn’t have to go to the emergency room or anything, but boyhowdy did it HURT! Like the DICKENS! I ran lukewarm water on it and that helped a little. The stung spot started welling up a little, kind of like a mosquito bite, and Paul suggested ice to make it stop hurting, but that was a big mistake. As soon as the dishtowel-wrapped ice touched the sting, intense pain started radiating all the way up to my elbow and down to my wrist. It hurt so much I was crying real tears. I was definitely not a brave little soldier. So we ditched that idea. After a while the swelling went back down and now the only evidence of the sting is a little bitty red spot on my arm. It’s still really sore and achy, kind of like a pulled muscle, but nowhere near as bad as those first ten minutes.

Anyway, in spite of this traumatic experience, it was a great afternoon for painting ... I finished this one and started another one of the pups sleeping, which I think I’ll be able to finish tomorrow. If my arm doesn’t fall off during the night, that is. Oh well, as Pollyanna would say, at least it’s my left arm!

Here’s a detail of today’s painting:

Coffee Break Jam

This week is a very intense, deadline-laden week for me on my graphic design job (I telecommute for a large west coast paper distribution company, for those of you who might be wondering) and I’ve been working today since 6:30 am. But I’m taking a coffee break now and thought I would take the opportunity to sign in to post this photo from a recent morning walk with the dogs. Notice the green, green wheat in the distance. In a couple of months and then through the summer it’ll be waves of golden yellow. I love this seasonal life.

Right now Paul is in the next room improvising some bluesy guitar music. And sitting here listening to him play and sipping a fresh cup of coffee with - ok everyone, all together now: - French vanilla creamer - I’m feeling very energized ... so, back to work!

More paintings soon, I promise!

Also coming soon, exciting news (to us, at least!) concerning our house restoration project ...

Country Roads

1 Thessalonians 5:16 (from The Message translation)

Be cheerful no matter what; pray all the time; thank God no matter what happens. This is the way God wants you who belong to Christ Jesus to live.

Bayou Country Road work in progress.
5 x 7 acrylic on Gessobord

Today is a very busy day in the middle of a very busy week, but I wanted to take just a minute for a coffee break to show this little one I started yesterday.

I love country roads. Winding ones through the forest, curvy, scary ones in the mountains, meandering ones through pastures,
straight-as-an-arrow ones through the desert. Like the one that I posted in my blog entry when I was blog-tagged last May.

I'm having to work extra hard to carve out painting time this week, and I only had a few minutes for it yesterday, but I made a good start on this one, I think. This is just about a mile down from our house, on a little dirt road that branches off from our main road. Another beautiful spring morning. Can't wait to get back to it!

And now I have to dive back into my busy day ... cheerio, all!

Just around the corner ...

Spring Morning © 2008 Karen Mathison Schmidt
7 x 5 • acrylic on Gessobord
gloss varnish for protection and easy cleaning
SOLD

This color palette is a bit of a departure for me, but it’s time to break out the spring colors! This is from my morning walk with the dogs toeday ... after the rain of the last couple of days, suddenly the bare trees are starting to show signs of new life, and the drab gray yellow of the wintertime pasture has changed overnight is seems, and now is a most vivid spring green (just in time for Saint Patrick’s Day!)

Look at My Yard!

Hard to believe that one week ago today it was snowing!












And now I want to share one of my readings this week from Daily Strength for Daily Needs

Numbers 6:24-26

The LORD bless you, and keep you;
The LORD make His face shine on you,
And be gracious to you;
The LORD lift up His countenance on you,
And give you peace.

"There is a faith in God, and a clear perception of His will and designs, and providence, and glory, which gives to its possessor a confidence and patience and sweet composure, under every varied and troubling aspect of events, such as no man can realize who has not felt its influences in his own heart. There is a communion with God, in which the soul feels the presence of the unseen One, in the profound depths of its being, with a vivid distinctness and a holy reverence, such as no words can describe. There is a state of union with God, I do not say often reached, yet it has been attained in this world, in which all the past and present and future seem reconciled, and eternity is won and enjoyed; and God and man, earth and heaven, with all their mysteries, are apprehended in truth as they lie in the mind of the Infinite."

- Samuel D. Robbins

March Surprise!

It’s snowing, it’s snowing!

I know those of you who live in parts north are thinking, "yeah? big deal." But here in the deep south? on March 7th? Pretty big deal. Snow days are few far between around here. I wouldn’t be nearly as excited about it if I had to drive to work in it but I don’t, so I am. Of course the ground is much too warm for it to stick, but it sure is beautiful falling.

It’s snowing on the daffodils:


It’s snowing on the snowdrops:


It’s snowing on the girls next door, who got to stay home from school today because the weatherman said it was going to snow:


In a post-photo interview, I found out that
a) This is only the second time in her entire life the 11-year-old has seen it snow.
b) This is the very first time 6-year-old has seen snow in person. Pretty big deal. And I was there.

It’s snowing on my favorite pecan tree:


It’s snowing on that pretty little tree that I don’t know what kind it is but it was just starting to sprout pink blossoms:


And it’s snowing on the septic tank, discreetly tucked away deep beneath the oak tree around the side of the house:


It’s snowing!

Wild Beauty

Late Winter Glow © 2008 Karen Mathison Schmidt
18 x 24 • acrylic on 1" cradled Gessobord
gloss varnish for protection and easy cleaning
SOLD

Just a quick post to show this one finished. That is, I think it’s finished. I wanted to show work-in-progress on this but blogger is being a bit reluctant to upload more images at the moment, so I’ll try again later.

This is a bayou about a mile from our house ... in the late afternoon a few weeks ago, just as the sun was dipping below the tree line. Everything was in shadow except for an occasional spot where the rays of the sun were reaching through to lend a glow to the tops of the water grasses or the side of a tree trunk. It was so still and peaceful, but with a touch of wildness.

The foreground on this has a lot of texture and layered color glazes ... Here are some details:






Later, taters!

Hey!

February Dusk ©2008 Karen Mathison Schmidt
5 x 7 • acrylic on Gessobord
SOLD

OK gang, after almost ... um ... 3 weeks ... I’m back! The satellite is back up to full speed and so back to daily blogging.

I finished this little painting yesterday, and I'll list it tonight on eBay.

One major thing has happened while I was absent from the blogosphere. Our family has expanded by 2 new pups, rescues from down the road a piece. More on their story tomorrow ... meanwhile, here are their pics:


Here are Buster B and Tilda (short for Matilda).




Hasta mañana, mates!