A dog, four guppies and a mean-spirited goose

Wow, I didn’t mean to be away so long ... I guess time flies when the weather is beautiful and spring projects beckon me away from the computer!

I have tons of photos yet to download from my camera, some of which show how my Dad has restored our 140-year-old front door (I’ll try to have those ready for tomorrow), but for now I just have to share this conversation I had today with five-year-old Nora, whom I was spending some time with while her mom was attending a Bible study.

Nora lives out in the country with her Mom and Dad and three-year-old little brother, who, the last time I talked with him back when he was two-and-a-half, said he didn’t want the rest of the sausage stick from his packed lunch because it was “too feisty.” (I tasted it, and sure enough, it was a little feisty.)

Anyway, today Nora and I were sitting together on the floor, drawing with crayons. I drew a picture of our dog, Matilda, and she drew a picture of her dog, Isi (pronounced “I see”). Then we started drawing various flowers to make a garden.

Me:  Are you the one who feeds Isi?

Nora:  Yep. That’s my job. Wyatt’s job is to take out the trash. The LITTLE trash. My dad takes out the BIG trash.

(She pauses to study her flowers, chooses another crayon and continues her coloring.)

Nora:  I love drawing.

Me:  Me, too. Do you have any other pets?

Nora:  Yes, four guppies. They’re in my room. It’s my job to feed them, too.

Me:  What else?

Nora:  Ummm ... we have some geese.

Me:  Geese! How many?

Nora:  Four.

Me:  Cool.

Nora:  Yeah.

(a few seconds of silence while we color our flowers)

Nora:  One of them bit me.

Me:  One of the geese?

Nora:  Yep.

Me:  Where?

Nora:  On my thumb.

(She holds up her thumb and we both inspect it closely. It looks perfectly fine.)

Me:  Hm.

Nora (going back to coloring):  God healed it.

Me:  Oh. (going back to my coloring) It’s pretty amazing how He loves us.

Nora:  Yep.

(A long silence as we each concentrate on our artistic endeavors.)

Nora:  (without looking up from her coloring) Now it’s Mom’s job to feed the geese.

Me:  (secretly congratulating myself on keeping a straight face) Mmm-hm.

Comfy Cozy Ray Painting finished!

SOLD

A Rainy Morning  © 2013 by Karen Mathison Schmidt, artist

12 x 12 x 1 inches • oil on cradled GessobordTM

private collection • Leonding, Austria

Thank you for all your title suggestions ... they were all great! As I was looking at the finished painting last night I wanted to go with something that would emphasize the feeling of comfy coziness, and what better way to evoke that feeling than to know that while Ray is indulging in a morning snooze in his favorite chair, the rain is pattering on the roof and streaming down the window panes.

One note: I had initially intended for the back of the chair to be a creamy white with the little embroidered flowers, but then I thought that might make the overall look too light, and take away from the feeling of coziness, so I decided instead to emphasize that luscious red underpainting, and I ended up loving it. Now I wish I actually had a luxuriously red chair here in my studio! For now I’ll have to be content  with tossing a red quilt over the back.  :)

One in five million

Why do cats sleep so much? Perhaps they’ve been entrusted with some major cosmic task, an essential law of physics – such as: if there are less than five million cats sleeping at any one time the world will stop spinning. So that when you look at them and think, “what a lazy, good-for-nothing animal,” they are, in fact, working very, very hard.

QUOTE FROM KATE ATKINSON

As Yet Untitled WORK-IN-PROGRESS • 12 x 12 inches • oil on cradled Gessobord

I’m trying to come up with a title for this work-in-progress of Ray ... any suggestions?

A new Louisiana landscape painting

SOLD

Misty Morning  © 2013 by Karen Mathison Schmidt, artist

16 x 20 inches • oil on 3/4" cradled GessobordTM

private collection • Richardson, Texas

This bayou is just down the road from us, about half a mile away. I love the way the morning fog makes the distant trees look all soft and hazy.

With this one I was going for a balance between simplifying the shapes and keeping the feeling of wildness. I’ve been studying Susan Sarback’s beautiful paintings and her use of color ... I would love to take one of her workshops. She teaches not too far from where my husband’s parents live in northern California, so maybe one day I’ll get the chance!

Happy painting!

Woo-hoo! Our electricity has been restored!

 ... and Ray is SUPER excited about it.

"Auntie Em! Auntie Em!"

Yesterday morning we had a bad thunderstorm with a tornado that came really close to our house. We are all okay, thankfully, and only very minor damage: the glass panes in the French door leading to the back porch were all broken, all the upstairs doors out onto the front balcony blew open and the wind blew things around upstairs a bit but nothing broken, and a table and some potted plants blew off the front porch, along with a wicker love seat which flew sixty feet or so and landed upside down out by the fence. It lost its back in the fall, so now it's a love bench!

Our neighbors had a piece of roofing tin about the size of a door crash through their dining room window but nobody was hurt.

We are still without power so I'm posting this from my phone. Hopefully we will be back up today and I can post painting progress photos tonight.

Happy Monday!

Sunday’s Here!

He has risen!

He has risen, indeed!

Joyful, joyful, we adore Thee, God of glory, Lord of love;

Hearts unfold like flowers before Thee, opening to the sun above.

Melt the clouds of sin and sadness; drive the dark of doubt away;

Giver of immortal gladness, fill us with the light of day!

All Thy works with joy surround Thee, earth and heaven reflect Thy rays,

Stars and angels sing around Thee, center of unbroken praise.

Field and forest, vale and mountain, flowery meadow, flashing sea,

Singing bird and flowing fountain call us to rejoice in Thee.

Thou art giving and forgiving, ever blessing, ever blessed,

Wellspring of the joy of living, ocean depth of happy rest!

Thou our Father, Christ our Brother, all who live in love are Thine;

Teach us how to love each other, lift us to the joy divine.

Mortals, join the happy chorus, which the morning stars began;

Father love is reigning o’er us, brother love binds man to man.

Ever singing, march we onward, victors in the midst of strife,

Joyful music leads us Sunward in the triumph song of life.

– HENRY J. VAN DYKE