Blessings galore

Majesty  © Karen Mathison Schmidt

48 x 36 inches • acrylic & oil on cradled GessobordTM

Commission • Lafayette, Louisiana

A couple of weeks ago I enjoyed a wonderful drive down to Lafayette to deliver this commissioned painting to its new home. After weeks of emailing and texting it was fun finally meeting Annie in person.

She and her husband collect Louisiana artists, and it's an honor to have one of my paintings in their beautiful home. And a double honor that they had me to this painting on the occasion of the birth of their second son. So cool to think that growing up, he'll think of this lion as his very own painting.

To top it all off, Annie very kindly gave me some popcorn snacks and a huge bottle of water for my drive back home. Thanks, Annie!

(From the “You might be an artist if ... ” file: I’m sure all you artists out there already noticed how the Sea Salted Caramel is totally color coordinated with my notebook cover. And my charge cord.)

And then: the perfect ending to a wonderful day ...

Hallelujah.

Morning view ...

Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad;

let the sea resound, and all that is in it.

Let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them;

let all the trees of the forest sing for joy.

PSALM 96:11-12

In the Morning II  © Karen Mathison Schmidt

16 x 20 inches • acrylic on cradled GessobordTM

private collection • Shreveport, Louisiana

I love this view out toward our front gate, just as the morning sun clears the tree tops of the woods across the road.

I’ll be delivering this painting to its new home in Shreveport on Monday. The new owner says she was drawn to it because it reminds her of her childhood home, which, as it turns out, is just about ten miles up the road from us!

Small world.

Benediction

The sun be warm and kind

To you,

The darkest night, some star

Shine through,

The dullest morn

A radiance brew,

And when dusk comes –

God’s hand

To you.

by ELEANOR POWERS

published in Good Housekeeping magazine, 1932

SOLD

Benediction  ©2017 Karen Mathison Schmidt

12 x 12 x 1½ inches • acrylic on 1½" deep cradled Gessobord

After doing a little gardening first thing this morning, with Jo’s invaluable assistance ...

I spent a wonderfully quiet day at the easel finishing today’s painting, which was inspired by a photo I took at sunset on the first day of spring.

Mishaps before coffee

A cheerful heart is good medicine ...

PROVERBS 17:22a

My husband wanted spaghetti for breakfast today (I know; we’ve never had a very strict definition for the term “breakfast food”) and I started making it before my coffee. I picked up the almost-new three-pound box by the wrong end and the entire contents slid out onto the floor. 

I stood frozen for a split second, empty spaghetti box in hand, looking down at the resulting sculpture (which brought to mind a game of Pick Up Sticks with approximately four million sticks) and just couldn’t help busting out laughing. Demonstrating almost unbelievable presence of mind since I hadn’t had a drop of coffee yet, and before the dogs realized what they were missing, I quickly and gingerly scooped up the whole sculpture – which was surprisingly cohesive – out of their reach. 

Took a lot longer getting it back into the box than it did getting it out.

Back to the studio!

SOLD

Midwinter Hope II  © 2017 Karen Mathison Schmidt

12 x 12 inches • acrylic on deep cradled GessobordTM

private collection • Duaringa, Queensland, Australia

Experimenting with opaque and transparent colors, and simplified shapes in a craftsman style illustration. It was so cold in my studio today, with only a little space heater to boost the warmth seeping in from the living room. For a while I thought it would make things a little more fun if I imagined it was 1905 and I was working in my little Parisian garrett in the dead of winter. 

But then I started craving an éclair with café au lait, so I took a break and went next door to warm my hands by the fire for a bit, surrounded by snoring dogs.

Here's the reference photo that inspired this painting, a beautiful Christmas day sunset: