A dog in a million

 ... but then again, isn’t everyone’s?

SOLD

Ensconced III: Buster  © 2012 Karen Mathison Schmidt, artist

6 x 6 inches • acrylic on archival, museum-quality GessobordTM

private collection • Elk Grove Village, Illinois

Here’s Buster, ensconced in one of his approximately one dozen select napping places in and around our house. This one happens to be one of the shabby (not shabby chic, just shabby) antique chairs in the parlor, covered with comfy blankets and the colorful throw Paul’s parents gave us last Christmas.

This was so much FUN to paint, with Buster’s always-soulful (I wonder what he’s thinking) expression, the soft highlights from the indirect afternoon sunlight from the bay window on his coat, and the nubbly texture of the fringed multicolor throw draped over the arm and back of that comfy old chair.

Check back tomorrow for work-in-progress photos!

In progress ...

Ensconced III: Buster WORK-IN-PROGRESS

I’ve had a lot of irons in the fire this week, including a large Colorado landscape, but here’s where I am on this one today. I love painting our Redbones on an underpainting of deep blues and turquoises. I’m planning to get this one finished tomorrow, Lord willing and the creeks don’t rise!

Serious Artists

Ensconced III: Buster  •  WORK IN PROGRESS

Today while I was researching some art products for a friend whose nine-year-old daughter wants to start learning how to paint, I ran across a customer review for a line of paints on an art supply website in which the writer implied (none-too-subtly, I might add) that serious artists do not do paintings which are smaller than three feet in any direction, and they do not paint dogs.

Oh ... REALLY?

I had a hearty laugh, and then this afternoon, in defiance, I did this sketch for a new 6 x 6 (inches, not feet!) painting of Buster.

Our dog.

And I’m pretty serious about it, too. Well, serious AND joyful!

Summer road trip continues ...

I Love a Road Trip No. 2

Mountain Lavender  © 2012 Karen Mathison Schmidt, artist

12 x 12 x 7/8 inches • oil on archival, museum quality cradled GessobordTM

gloss varnish for UV protection • cradling allows for hanging flush against the wall

sides painted dark umber • can be beautifully displayed with or without a frame

CLICK HERE TO BID

auction ends August 19

Driving through northern New Mexico into southern Colorado, I kept seeing painting after painting flashing through my imagination. I love these picturesque clusters of ranch buildings looking so tiny in the distance, nestled in the foothills of the Rockies. This particular ranch was surrounded by miles of wild lavender and other flowers blooming at the height of summer.

And now, back to watching the Olympics with my husband, surrounded by various and sundry sleepy dogs. 

Later, taters!

Wild irises work-in-progress ...

I perhaps owe having become a painter to flowers.

CLAUDE MONET

I do not think I have ever seen anything more beautiful 

than the bluebell I have been looking at.  

I know the beauty of our Lord by it.

GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS

Not yet titled • 30 x 24 inches • WORK IN PROGRESS

I’ve been working on this intricate, wild bunch of irises today. (Where the word “bluebell” appears in the Gerard Manley Hopkins quote, I could insert “iris” ... or for that matter, just about any flower in creation!)

My favorite color of the moment is 

Old Holland New Masters “King’s Blue Deep.” 

So soft and pretty with the surrounding cool yellows.

Happy painting!

I love a road trip

I Love a Road Trip No. 1

Welcome to Colorado  © 2012 Karen Mathison Schmidt, artist

5 x 7 inches • oil on archival, museum quality GessobordTM

SOLD • private collection • Shreveport, Louisiana

Here’s the first of approximately 1,000 paintings in my new series, “I Love a Road Trip.”

There won’t really be 1,000 paintings in the series, I just wanted to see if you were paying attention. 

As I mentioned in a previous post, I actually did take over a thousand photos on our road trip to Leadville, Colorado a couple of weeks ago – it’s been fun browsing through them and choosing ones to paint ... I’m looking forward to doing more of these.

But don’t worry, all you cat, dog, and garden and Louisiana landscape fans ... I’ll still be sprinkling your favorites in between all these road trip paintings!

Home sweet home

SOLD

Sitting Pretty  © 2012 Karen Mathison Schmidt, artist

8 x 10 x 7/8 inches • acrylic on cradled GessobordTM

private collection • Whittier, California

Hey, everybody! A week and a half ago I was in Leadville, Colorado, for a family reunion ... enjoying a WONDERFUL getaway, beautiful surroundings, cooler temperatures, great food and fun time with siblings, nephews, cousins, aunts, uncles, mom & dad. A sweet, much-needed vacation, but glad to be back home now with husband, dogs and cats. (Paul was unable to go, because he can’t do high altitudes ... one of Leadville’s nicknames is The TWO-Mile-High City; it’s a tad over 10,000 feet.) It’s only taken me a week of being home again to get back into the swing of painting again!

On the trip I took ... are you ready for this? ... over 1,000 photos.

Yep.

A lot were of family at the reunion. And some were of the town of Leadville itself. But most of them were from the car as we zoomed along highways (and a few byways) through Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, and back again. I was traveling with my parents and my brother, so don’t worry, I only took photos when I wasn’t behind the wheel. I think I feel a series of  “On the Road” paintings coming on!

Here are all the first cousins who were at the reunion. What a colorful bunch! 

(That’s me in the pink jacket.)

Here we are right after the picture, making way for the next bunch ... you know those family reunion photos: “Now all the sisters ... now all the individual family groups ... now all the kids ... now all the cousins and spouses ... etc. etc. etc. ... now EVERYBODY! ” (I don’t have a copy of the EVERYBODY photo yet. My sister used the timer on her nifty Canon camera to take that one. I’ll be putting more family photos on Facebook for all you family members out there who might be reading this!

Rain on the horizon in New Mexico. Cool, huh?

Going through Colorado.

An old mountain schoolhouse.

It was overcast and chilly when we arrived in historic Leadville.

Some of us camped out in nearby Molly Brown Campground, the actual headquarters 

of the reunion. The rest of us stayed here at the Columbine Inn in Leadville. 

This is the entrance to our hotel lobby. Trés cute.

The view from the hotel parking lot. Not too shabby. 

I think that’s Turquoise Lake in the distance.

Driving home. I’m not sure what this is ... lavender, maybe? Love those colors!

The mountains are breathtaking, but I also think that

Somewhere-In-The-Middle-Of-Nowhere, Texas, 

on the way home, is just beautiful!