Bloggable moments

Proverbs 17:22

A cheerful heart is good medicine,
but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.

Sunday Afternoon • 8 x 8 • WORK IN PROGRESS ...


I took a break from working on my online stores to work on this still life, and it’s almost finished, I think. The handle of the cup is not quite right, among other things, but it can be fixed!

One of the side effects of maintaining a blog is that you have a tendency to start seeing the little events in your daily life in terms of bloggable moments. A good thing about this is that otherwise annoying or inconvenient things can take on a more humorous aspect.

Like this bloggable moment, featuring good ol’ Henry.

Or these, featuring Ray.

Or this one, featuring our Redbone hound family.

Well, here’s another one: this afternoon during my painting, I was so in the zone for a good while that I didn’t even notice the creativity that was going on literally right at my feet. When I finally stopped and took a step back from the easel, I saw that Bailey had been busy creating a work of her own.



I thought her paper towel sculpture showed quite a bit of creativity and imagination. Or maybe she just thought I wasn’t sending near enough attention her way.

In any event, here’s the sculptress posing in front of her work. This is the one that will probably go on the front of the brochure for her gallery opening.




And while I was taking these publicity photos, Ray thought he would horn in on the action and snag a little artistic credit for himself.

Hm. Just goes to show you, some cats want all the glory

without doing any of the work.

I see daffodils ...

These were rescued from the yard yesterday afternoon, just as a freezing rain was setting in for the night. If it hadn’t been so cold, and getting dark, I’d have ventured out into the pasture and cut a few dozen more.

Hmmm ... I’m pretty sure I see daffodil paintings in my near future ...

Tweakin’, tweakin’, tweakin’

I’m starting a new painting of this guy today:


That strange squeaking sound you’ve been hearing is me tweaking my blogs and website this week. If you get the chance, please visit my website (you can’t miss the links to the right!) and let me know what you think.

1) Is it easy to read?

2) Is it easy to navigate your way around?

3) Is it easy on the eyes?

4) Do the pages show up fairly quickly on your screen?

5) Are there any typos? (Last night I found one on the published website on a page I had read about 40 times before ... yikes! I’m a professional, for pete’s sake!)

I’m in the process now of getting together the pricing information for my limited edition prints and re-organizing the categories in my eBay store. When I do that I’ll add links on my website for those prints.

And I’m getting my Café Press store ready to open. *whew!*

I’d better go freshen up my coffee!

The Last Pecans ... at last!

The Last Pecans ©2010 by Karen Mathison Schmidt
30 x 24 x 2 • acrylic on 2" cradled Gessobord
sides painted burnt umber • unframed
gloss varnish

SOLD

Here’s a large painting of my Dad walking back to the house after squeezing a couple more buckets full of pecans from the trees in the south pasture a few weeks ago.

I love working on larger boards, even though it takes a little longer. It’s easy to overwork a large painting, though. I keep having to remind myself to keep it loose!

This one has lots of color layers, especially in the foreground, where I used a combination of palette knife and brushes.

Here are some brushwork details:

More snow pics ...

You might recognize these pecan trees from my new painting, The Last Pecans.

Looking up into the oak tree in the front yard

.

The railroad in front of our house.

Kitty footprints on the front porch.

My favorite pecan tree, out in the south pasture.

Its strange shape is due to the fact that
it was split by lightning about 20 years ago.

Since then it has grown up nice and full again.

I call it the Phoenix tree.

Snow and dogs do mix!

Night before last, Andy (our Great Pyrenees cross) woke me up around 2:30 a.m. and wanted to go out, so I sleepily got up and let him out the back door and stood waiting for him to want to come back in. A few minutes went by and he didn't come back to the door, so I poked my head out and called him.
I could hear him running around, but he wouldn’t come in, and it was really cold, so I went back to bed.

I got up a few minutes later to call him in before I fell asleep again, but he still wouldn’t come when I called, so I went back to bed and Paul asked, “what is he doing?” and I said “I don’t know, he just doesn’t want to come in yet.” We went back to sleep. About a half hour later Andy woke us up barking to be let in, and in the morning I discovered what it was that was keeping him outside.


He had been running around in the snow.


The last time we really had any snow to speak of was two years ago, right around the time Andy was born, so this was his first experience with the stuff. In fact, Trixie is our only dog who has had snow experience. So I got dressed and took everyone out for some fun. Trixie and Andy ran right out into the yard, but Buster, Matilda, Blue and Sophie hung out on the back porch for a minute or two, not exactly sure if it was ok to step on the strange white substance on the back steps. After a while, though, everyone was running around having a blast.


I’m not exactly sure what this is, but I have the distinct feeling that this is what I was made for.

Ha!

Come back here, you!

I think I gave him the slip ...

YIKES!

That was a good one, man, I never saw you coming.

I’m cold ... I think I’m gonna head in.

Yeah, us, too ... a warm fire sounds good right now ...

Hey, wait ...

Where’d everybody go? It’s not that cold out here.

Hey, c’mon, you guys, let’s play some more ...
it’s at least 30° out here!