Moo Cows

Spice of Life ©2009 Karen Mathison Schmidt
12 x 12 x 1 • acrylic on cradled Gessobord

SOLD • private collection, The Plains, Virginia

I love painting cows. Well, not painting the actual cows, but painting pictures of them.

Although now that I think of it, painting the actual cows might be kind of fun. With non-toxic paint of course.

This painting is a bit of a departure for me, color-wise. The day was lightly overcast, calling for a softer palette than I usually use. There’s always a wide variety of cow colors and shapes in Farmer Mike’s pasture across the road. I love these cows. The way they move around in different arrangements, always a pretty picture. Sometimes after watching them for a while I think that the way they keep rearranging themselves into different groupings seems almost choreographed. Like a big ballet of some kind.

A really, really slow, lumbering pasture ballet.

And here are some close-up details:

Praise the LORD, O my soul

a folk art painting from the archives ...


Rosy Morning ©2005 Karen Mathison Schmidt
10 x 10 • acrylic on wood
private collection • Malvern, Pennsylvania

This one that I painted and sold a few years ago has a particularly folk kind of feel to it. I thought the title was especially appropriate for today.

My husband came through his surgery this morning with flying colors, and is recovering well. He still has a few more days in the hospital, and I’m spending most of the time during the day there with him. I’m toying with the idea of bringing my paints tomorrow and working on my current painting there. We’ll see!

Praise the LORD, O my soul;
all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
Praise the LORD, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits-
who forgives all your sins
and heals all your diseases,
who redeems your life from the pit
and crowns you with love and compassion,
who satisfies your desires with good things
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.

PSALM 103:1-5

Sweet Memories

Translucence ©2009 Karen Mathison Schmidt
18 x 24 x 1 • acrylic on cradled Gessobord
SOLD • private collection, Puyallup, Washington

My favorite flowers. Next to my favorite little decorative tin container. In the bay window, one of my favorite spots. Sweet!

Back at the end of April I sold a little daffodil painting to one of my faithful collectors, who lives up north. She sent me a note saying that she propped up the little painting next to her computer to remind her that spring weather had to be just around the corner. Down here in the South I tend to forget how blessed we are to have daffodils in February!

And now that we're hurtling headlong into that withering season that has us shutting our windows and doors against the humidity (and the bugs!), pulling up a chair in front of the air conditioner with a tall glass of ice cold tea, and counting the days until October, here's a painting to remind us southerners of those cool, refreshing mornings of just a few weeks ago.

Ahhh, those sweet, bygone days of spring. *sigh*

Here are some close-up details. I used a lot of color glazes to add depth of color and enhance the effect of the light in the painting.

Another airplane painting

Daredevil ©2009 Karen Mathison Schmidt
6 x 6 • acrylic on Gessobord
SOLD • private collection, Point Richmond, California

Here's another painting of the yellow cropduster, only for this one I left off the spraying apparatus because I wanted a crisp clean look for the yellow plane against the jewel blue sky.

More work in progress ...

18 x 24 acrylic on gessobord
work in progress ...


Well, here’s where I had to stop yesterday ... and today seems to be a day full o’ errands, but hopefully I can squeeze in some time at the easel later this afternoon.

Gotta run!

A new brand of acrylics ...

Shadow Play ©2009 Karen Mathison Schmidt
6 x 6 • acrylic on Gessobord
SOLD • private collection, Jackson, Mississippi

I love it when the afternoon sun shines on the pecan trees at the end of our dirt driveway, and the shadows from the crepe myrtles in our yard stretch out toward the pecans and the road beyond. The shadows are awesomely beautiful.

I’ve been trying a new brand of acrylic paints – New Masters Acrylics from Old Holland. They’re slower drying than other brands, and Old Holland has done a really good job of coming up with a color range that is very similar to oil colors. And they brush on super creamy and smooth ... I love ’em!

Spring is poppin’ out all over!

Sunlit Poppies ©2009 Karen Mathison Schmidt
6 x 6 • acrylic on Gessobord
gloss varnish for protection and easy cleaning • sold unframed
SOLD • private collection, Jackson, Mississippi

Yesterday I received an engraved invitation in the mail. It was from these sunny poppies blooming in the beautiful sidewalk gardens behind Norton Art Gallery here in Shreveport. It said: Paint us. You know you want to.

And I have been wanting to. So I did.

Just kidding about the invitation part, by the way. Although they were whispering pretty loudly as I passed by that day at the garden.

I love my job.

Gracie work in progress ...


Yesterday I hitched up the mules to the wagon and headed to town to have lunch with my friend Mona at her place.

Not really. I hopped in the Camry and drove to town to have lunch with my friend Mona at her place. I took my camera with me, as I try to remember to do every time I go someplace, because you never know when that once-in-a-blue-moon photo op will present itself.

Well, as it so happened Mona’s friendly gray tabby Gracie was in rare form yesterday, and I got several wonderful photos of her. Mona has another not-so-friendly gray tabby Sadie, who hissed at me when I arrived and ran under the bed, where she spent the entire time I was there. Oh well. She won’t getting her portrait painted this week!

So here’s Gracie so far, ensconced in her favorite napping place on a wicker love seat amongst several comfy and colorful pillows. I plan to finish this one tomorrow and list it on Ebay. And I’ll post more work-in-progress photos as well.

And now I have a date with my husband. I’m meeting him on the sofa in about two minutes for popcorn and a movie.

Hasta mañana, amigos!

Slow and steady wins the race ...

Grateful Praise ©2009 Karen Mathison Schmidt
30 x 30 • acrylic on 2 inch cradled Gessobord
SOLD • private collection, San Francisco, California

If you think you’ve seen this painting before, you’re right. Kind of. I started it last fall – it’s been above the mantel in our TV room for months, so for weeks and weeks and weeks, whenever we’re in there watching TV or movies, I’ve been secretly studying the painting, working on it mentally, until finally I just HAD to make some changes to it, and NOW it’s finished.

This majestic pecan grows beside our dirt driveway, just this side of the wilder landscape beyond our yard. I never get tired of this beautiful view.

Back when I started this, I decided this subject called for a larger format than I normally choose, so I went with a 30x30. This painting has layers of color glazes – working with a palette knife as well as brushes has made for some interesting texture, and has helped me move closer to that evasive goal: a balance between carefully planned composition and spontaneity. Suitable for the subject, I think - a tree that is equally at home in our (somewhat) manicured yard or the not-so-manicured southern countryside beyond!

Here are some close-up details:

The Ballad of Buster and Matilda

Bayou Road on a February Aftenoon © 2009 Karen Mathison Schmidt
5 x 7 • acrylic on Gessobord
gloss varnish for protection and easy cleaning • sold unframed
SOLD • private collection, North Attleboro, Massachusetts

This painting shows the road which runs along a small bayou about a half mile from our house where we first met our redbone coonhounds, Buster and Matilda.



They were abandoned pups then (we figured a few months old), living down in the rushes beside the bayou. We and some neighbors up and down the road took turns feeding them; my husband and I offered to take them in if someone could help us catch them (no easy task, since they wouldn't let anyone come near at first).

Almost every day I would walk our doggie ambassadors, Trixie and Henry, down to the bayou to visit them, and gradually we became friends, although the pups still wouldn’t let us humans get too close. Trixie told them all about how wonderful it was living at our house – two squares a day, various treats and toys, warm, dry beds, occasional TV time, lots of petting, a huge yard, all the squirrels you can chase, fun and games, etc., but Buster and Matilda were hard sells. We dropped off a couple of brochures extolling the virtues of luxury canine living at Chez Schmidt, and they promised they would look them over. Finally, several months later (and with the assistance of Farmer Bob down the road) they arrived at our house and quickly became full-fledged members of the clan. Almost immediately after that Matilda surprised us with 3 more big puppies, one of which was adopted by our house painter, leaving us with a grand total of six beautiful happy hounds.


Well, technically, as Trixie would be quick to point out, five hounds and a border collie mix. Fortunately, we have lots of room and lots of love to give. And rest assured that we have ... um ... taken steps to make sure that we won’t be blessed with any more puppies.

Here are a few photos:


Here's Buster, lounging on the back steps on a sunny afternoon. I think he's planning to write his memoirs.



Matilda's forehead wrinkles make her look like she's really concentrating hard all the time. Like she's trying to calculate the number of seconds until suppertime.



Here's Buster inviting Blue to put his entire head in his mouth. It looks like Blue is about to pass out from Buster's breath. Or maybe he's trying to guess what Buster had for lunch.

NOTE: this picture was taken some time back. Nowadays Blue is almost twice as big as Buster. Well, maybe not twice as big, but pretty darn big. And still growing.



And here are Buster and ’Tilda playing with Blue and Sophie, while Trixie makes sure nobody wanders too far from the pack.

She loves her job.



And here's Buster trying to convince me that, no, I did not just give him a treat, and I should probably go ahead and give him one now.



We just got through watching the AKC/Eukanuba Dog Show, and now Matilda goes around practicing her show dog stance.



Here Buster and Mailda make sure the cows in the pasture don't get too close to OUR yard.

Anyway, today's painting is a picture of the old bayou, which Buster has said he doesn't miss at all, and ’Tilda says she would never wish to go back to.


Nope, not for all the chew bones in the world.

And to wind things up, here are some details of the painting: