Unexpected treasure

SOLD

At Evening Time There Shall Be Light  © 2013 Karen Mathison Schmidt, artist

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

private collection • Shreveport, Louisiana

My reference for this is a photo I took last January out in the south pasture. The day had been chilly and overcast, and late in the afternoon I was walking with Roadie (and my trusty camera!) out amongst the blooming paperwhites and a few early daffodils when, just as we had decided to head back to the house (and by “we” I mean “I” -- Roadie didn’t have much input in the decision), the setting sun broke through the low hanging clouds and shone a shaft of glorious golden light on the pond and the distant tree line. 

It was one of those moments that make you: A. gasp involuntarily in awe, and B. make you extremely grateful that as you were heading out the door you grabbed your camera which just happened to be lying there on the kitchen counter.

While I was working on this several ideas for a title came to mind at various times, then, just as I was adding the final touches, the phrase I used came into my mind. 

Years ago I was one of the members of the seven-woman ensemble cast of a local production of Quilters, the Tony-nominated play with music based on The Quilters: Women and Domestic Art, an Oral History by Patricia Cooper and Norma Bradley Allen. One of the really cool things about it is that it’s based on real-life accounts of Texas and New Mexico pioneer women at the turn of the twentieth century. I hadn’t even thought about it in years, but while I was painting, a line from one of my favorite songs in the show came into my head, “at evening time there shall be light.” As soon as I thought of it, I knew I wanted that to be the title.

Then, I did a search of the phrase just for fun, and I found this poem. Just perfect.

At Evening Time There Shall Be Light

The day was wild with wind and rain,

One grey wrapped sky and sea and shore,

It seemed our marsh would never again

Wear the rich robes that once it wore.

The scattered farms looked sad and chill,

Their sheltering trees writhed all awry,

And waves of mist broke on the hill

Where once the great sea thundered by.

Then  God remembered this His land,

This little land that is our own,

He caught the rain up in His hand,

He hid the winds behind His throne,

He soothed the fretful waves to rest,

He called the clouds to come away,

And, by blue pathways, to the west,

They went, like children tired of play.

And then God bade our marsh put on

Its holy vestment of fine gold;

From marge to marge the glory shone

On lichened farm and fence and fold;

In the gold sky that walled the west,

In each transfigured stone and tree,

The glory of God was manifest,

Plain for a little child to see!

EDITH NESBIT (1858-1924)

He’s done!

 Raffles  © 2013 by Karen Mathison Schmidt, artist

9 x 12 inches • oil on cradled GessobordTM

COMMISSION • El Paso, Texas

Here’s the finished painting of Raffles the Ragdoll cat, or as he is called by friends and family, “Ol’ Blue Eyes.” He’s 13 years old, lives out west, loves tuna (yeah, well, you know, who doesn’t?) and, according to his mom, is extremely helpful no matter what the project. In this portrait he’s assisting by keeping her fabric from sliding to the floor. Whether it’s laundry, computer tasks, a craft project, or whatever, Raffles is right there at her side making himself useful. What a wonderful personal assistant! 

I love the painting! So glad I found you. I’m thrilled with your work on the furful Raffles. What I really, really like is how well you've captured his personality. Thank you so very much.

– Pam in El Paso

Happy Birthday to Raffles! ... and Happy 4th, everyone!

Raffles • 9 x 12 oil on GessobordTM • WORK-IN-PROGRESS

Here’s where I am on this portrait of Raffles the Ragdoll cat, aka “Ol’ Blue Eyes.” He shares his birthday with our country, so his mom told me he was getting an extra special treat today, in honor of his 13th  ... REAL TUNA!

And here’s another work in progress: a row of little trees out in the pasture, with the late afternoon light glistening on the pond and the trees in the distance. For this one I started with a solid black/burnt umber underpainting, and a very loose sketch done with a wash of titanium white. Keeping it quick and loose, letting the dark surface show through to create an outline in varying thickness. It’s giving me a kind of a stained glass vibe. 

I hope everyone is having a wonderful and safe Fourth of July celebration ... 

be careful with those fireworks and have fun!

Oh, what a beautiful morning

All the windows are open in my upstairs work space, a light breeze passing through ... earlier this morning was downright chilly (almost unheard of for July in the Ark-La-Tex) and now, perfect, on our way to an 85-degree afternoon. 

Kick-started my work day with a sketch of the view out my studio window ... snapped a few quick photos of the view inside the window (this one went right into the folder on my Mac labeled “painting ideas”  cross-reference cats, cross-reference still life) ...

... caught a few of Jo napping in her favorite pretty box on my work table. You can tell by her ear that she’s just pretending to be asleep until I go away. What she doesn’t quite get yet is that I have a lifetime of cute pet stalking experience behind me. I don’t give up easily. And I don’t go away until I get what I came for.

Fine! Take your silly picture!

Silly paparazza ...

Cat painting work-in-progress

Raffles (close-up detail of larger painting) • Commission WORK-IN-PROGRESS 

Meet Raffles, who lives in El Paso -- personal assistant extraordinaire and one gorgeous cat. What a joy he is to paint! More photos to come as his portrait continues ...

Quiet places

When Roadie first came to join our family a couple of years ago, he was still busy being a puppy. 

It wasn’t long before things started disappearing from the house and re-appearing disheveled, disassembled and/or shredded to pieces in the back yard. Things like books and plants and headphones and sofa cushions and pillows and DVD covers and socks and potato chip bags out of the recycling bin and flowers and pillows. Did I already mention pillows? Especially pillows. Roadie was really good at reminding us that the things of this world are only temporary.

Because all of our dogs are inside-outside pets, we wanted Roadie to learn how to behave in the house. So we went around the house gathering up and putting away anything we didn’t want utterly destroyed during this “training and maturing” phase, which in a large breed mix containing Catahoula, Lab and Great Dane could last up to 3 years or so. This meant that almost every single pretty thing in the sunporch and parlor had to be put up for a while. Gone were the books, the magazines, the throw pillows, the flowers, the candles, the little pictures and cute little boxes and vases. Tables and shelves became empty. Except for a very few shabby things we didn’t really mind getting torn up, left out for training purposes so Roadie could learn the difference between his toys and our things-not-to-be-touched, my quiet places became pretty sparse ...

*sigh*

But I knew that deep down Roadie really had the potential to be a GREAT dog, and that one day I would be able to get all those accessories back out of closets and cupboards and cute up my quiet places again. 

Well, here we are two years and 60 pounds later, Roadie is going to be three years old October-November-ish, and he is a great dog. 

Pretty much. 

He’s still very exuberant when company comes, or when the girls next door come out to play, but for the most part he’s calmed way down. WAY down. He has successfully completed the home-schooling course, “How To Tell The Difference Between A Dog Toy And That-Which-Is-To-Be-Left-Alone.” He has his certificate, and now it’s time to see if he can apply this academic knowledge to Real World Situations.

Soooo ... holding my breath and trying to act casual, little by little over the last week or so, I’ve been re-introducing a few accessories into my quiet places.

Here’s one of the doors leading from the parlor out to the sun porch. As far as Roadie’s behavior with all the newly re-introduced flowers and accessories, so far so good. He’s been ignoring them just fine. Only once did I have to stop him with a stern, “Hold it right there, Mister!” when in a bout of after-dinner playfulness he grabbed a pillow off a chair and started out the door with it. Instead of looking at me with a “catch me if you can” glint in his eye and racing out into the yard for an impromptu game of keep away, he immediately dropped the pillow and came over to me with a silly sheepish grin on his face. Progress!

On a side note, I just noticed that there is mud on the door frame, and I want you to know I could have Photoshopped it out or cleaned it and taken the photo again, but I left it here for all to see. 

After I post this I’ll go down and clean it up. 

But for now, it’s evidence that “Here there be dogs.”

This is my favorite room right now. And of course no quiet place would be complete without a few dogs and/or cats lying around. Here’s Blue lounging on the settee.

This is Andy’s favorite place these days, right in the middle of the doorway.

Here’s my little reading desk, an old enameled metal kitchen table which was retrieved from the attic. This is really a doorway out to the side of the house from the sunporch, temporarily sealed closed until we can replace the exterior door which blew off. It’s a good place to hang this painting I love from UK artist Gill Barron, fairly famous Painter of Everything. Don’t worry, there are big trees all around, so the room stays shady all day. No direct sun hits this beautiful painting!

I’m planning a decorative painting project on one of the walls in the parlor, so I’ve been leafing through my favorite visual home décor references, English Home and Casual Cottage Style, for inspiration. 

And now it’s time to get back to work ... can hardly wait to show you the paintings I’ve been doing, but that will have to wait just a bit as they are surprises for the recipients.

Meanwhile, make yourself your own quiet place, or “cute up” the one you have, and enjoy a few moments of quiet solitude before jumping back into your work with both feet!

Roadie Schmidt, aka One Great Dog

Flash auction!

SOLD

Lavender Sweater  © 2013 Karen Mathison Schmidt, artist

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

private collection • Seattle, Washington

You would think that it’s Christmas time and not the middle of summer (well, okay, technically the beginning of summer) because I’ve been working on several top secret commissions that I can’t show yet because they're going to be surprise gifts. One of them, involving three paintings, is pushing me way out of my comfort zone, but I’m loving it and very excited to be able to show it when the “Top Secret” designation is lifted. 

Anyway, I haven’t had time to work on any new paintings for auction, so I’m putting this one of Ray up for a “Flash Auction” ... only three days, so be sure to get your bid in if you would like to have this original cat painting!

Also, prints are now available for this one that sold literally right off the easel. Just email me at karen_schmidt@mac.com if you would like to purchase a signed and numbered Limited Edition (available in three sizes):

Quietness and Confidence  © 2013 Karen Mathison Schmidt

And Happy Father’s Day to all you dads!