New Moleskin -5th edition

I finished my 4th journal and ordered a new, larger moleskin with good watercolor paper. This is my first page and I had lots of fun trying to paint the different frogs and learning about each frog's characteristics. Steve Emery at Color Sweet Tooth has always inspired me with his beautiful watercolors and he has an orange frog painting that I love to re-visit in his gallery. Someday, I hope to paint a large painting of a frog, or maybe a collage of some type.

Speaking of frogs, or rather, little tad-poles, this little value sketch is roughly translated from a favorite photograph of my grandsons. There was pure joy on their faces as they "acted" like they were going to run over me in the golf cart. I wish I could have done the picture justice (the younger child is much cuter in the photo)but it was just very difficult for me to control the ink pen. But I had a great time trying.

Thanks to all of you for your encouraging words. I'm beginning to gain some ground, slowly but surely, and many of you have stayed with me as I've slowly progressed. Your comments mean more than you can know for someone in a little town with few friends or acquaintances that enjoy sketchbooks or painting. I think you all should know that you are a real part of my progress.

New Paintings, New Ideas

Some of you have seen a small version of this painting that I did in my journal. I like to draw things at workshops that I have drawn before so I don't waste time on the drawing, and so I can spend more time on the painting. The instructor, Ken Hosmer, started out my critique by saying, "Peggy has her own color sense as you can see". (What was that suppose to mean???) But truly, I kind of lost my color sense at the workshop because I couldn't really handle Pthalo Green and Quinidone Rose because they were new to me. But I made it through and I learned about lights!! And Darks!! Things I should have learned a year ago but couldn't get through my thick head.

This was my second painting. Again, I drew something I was familiar with drawing. After the classes on Friday, I came home and went over the background and added the red and blue to cover up too much rose. I like it much better and maybe he wouldn't have been so hard on me color-wise if he had seen this correction.

You can imagine that now my mind is exploding with new ideas! I rush to get my chores done so that I can paint these days.

Rocking My World with Color

I just got back from Cloudcroft and my week long art class with Ken Hosmer. This was a painting I did the day after the classes, which I think is more of a true representation of what the class taught me. Obviously, color, color, and more color - he gave us so much information about color. He also taught us to do value sketches. Value sketches were small sketches done with a tombo pen ( an ink pen that will produce black to various shades of gray to light)wherein you add your lights/whites, medium values and darks only. Once your values are determined, you can use any color as long as you stay within your value structure when you do your large painting. He simplifies difficult concepts so well that things began to click for me that I had struggled with previously.

Cloudcroft had its own beauty to share with sixty to seventy degree days and just a little rain every day. The air is crisp and pure up there, and I would have as many as 9 different species of birds on my deck at different feeders most of the day. We counted 8 deer in the yard yesterday evening!

I had several friends stay with me and each brought her own healthy recipes and foods, and we did yoga in the mornings and walks in the evenings. Sweet Farmer came up for the weekend and he even walked with me every day while he was there! HUGE!

It was a wonderful week all in all. I'll be sharing more paintings done in the class in days to come.

Mind over Matter

Modigliani called my name again last night. His photograph had been haunting me. Or as some would say, he was channeling me (OMG, the good Christian girl in me didn't say that, did she!).

He was such a bad boy, but such a wonderful, driven artist that produced a tremendous amount of work even under the stress of war and chronic illness. His fame came at the last year of his life and has increased to the present day.

I tried to paint this portrait in a (don't laugh) in a more "painterly fashion". I'm pleased with that result for the most part but I don't think I achieved capturing the restlessness in his face, the wildness in his eyes...... (Now I get it, he reminds me of my son and the look in his eyes). But, I loved painting Modigliani, as I added minute little details, it was such a pleasure, - one of those kind of pleasures that's like traveling to an exotic place you've never seen before and exploring the island with all the curiosity and passion of a child looking for a treasure to carry home. ANYONE can draw, and when you learn to draw, you can paint, and when you paint, your mind has the most wonderful playground to steal away to in the midst of any chaos or worries. I know Modigliani's life-time of work in the midst of his personal struggles represents that truth.

Evening Entertainment

You wanna know how Sweet Farmer and Odd Chick entertain themselves? Well, besides the obvious, one of the things we like to do is sit out on our front porch in the evenings. I make Cherry Chiltons (that's a salted glass with lemon juice, fresh cherry juice from Cloudcroft, a little vodka sometimes, and diet 7-up). We sit on a wooden bench that Sweet Farmer gave me for Mother's Day eons ago, and watch our new little kitten. She's named Obie (short for Obie Juan Kinnobie). Her favorite thing is to try to sneak up on the pigeons who are sneaking up on the porch to steal dog food.

We laugh and urge her on to be a brave, strong kitty. But she forgets what she's doing if a moth flies by or she sees her tail or a leaf dances across her peripheral vision, and the pigeon wins again.

And then Odd Chick has to draw and watercolor a pigeon after we go in.

That pretty much sums up a great evening for us, except of course, the obvious.

(Okay, the rest of the story... Sweet Farmer and I had to go bale and rake hay at 8:45 p.m. until 3:00 a.m. because the moisture came in at that time).

I told the kitty "bye" and the moral to the story is: sweet moments don't grow on trees, somebody has to pay for the cat food.

Paintings passed the test

Two of the three paintings I submitted for the art show got juried in. This one "Hope Unfolding".

And this one: "Mr. Mantis Praying"

And this one "Looking For Answers" didn't make it in. I wonder if it was because of its religious connotations or because the palette is more muted.

They will show in early August at the Roswell Museum. Thanks for all the well wishes. I was pleased to get two in this year. I'll let you know about the final results.

Next week is when I take Ken Hosmer's class. Can't wait to bring some new stuff home.

Anxiety Attacks

I've been playing with Modigliani images again. When I can't seem to create, he is always available to inspire me.

It seems everywhere I turn someone else has fallen into anxiety attacks. Nearly every friend I know is on Prozac or some other anti-anxiety medication. I keep waiting for it to hit me like you would a bad flu that's going around. What is happening? Even little kids are having problems now. It makes me so sad. Is it our diet? Our environment? Our relationships? I wish we could figure out what is going on because I know that people are suffering with this and it seems epidemic. Out of a group of 10 close friends or family - are you seeing most of them on anti-depressants or anti-anxiety drugs? I'm just curious. Maybe it's just my locale or the friends I'm attracted to...... Why is it so much more prevalent than it use to be, like 10 years ago?

I refuse to be anxious about anything. I hate the feeling and refuse to let it dock in the harbour of my mind. My mantra is: if you can do something about it - you don't have to worry. If you can't do something about it - you don't have to worry. But apparently mind over matter is not enough because I know others hate being anxious and would avoid it if possible. I would love to hear your comments about this subject.

A Little Red Sports Car?????

I drive a big old honkin suburban and I've dreamed of having a little red sports car to zip around in. Well, Sweet Farmer has been bored. It has rained a lot, you see, and when it rains on a hay farmer, there's not much he can do but wait. Waiting is hard during farming season. So the man just needed a diversion. So he bought a little red sports car. He spent $400.

He had to work on it an hour to get it to start.

Not exactly what I had pictured.

But I hear it is getting a make-over in the shop as we speak. All it needed was a new fuse to run like new. They are cutting the top off, putting new tires on, recovering the seats, a lift-kit possibly, a hydraulic system that will raise the bed in the back. What bed? Oh, yeah, they will fashion a bed to go on the back. And WALL-AH!! A fancy little farm vehicle that will haul things and zip around. A perfect car to teach my grandsons to drive. A fun wagon that Sweet Farmer will run by and pick me up to check on pecan orchards and turn our pivots off and on, and check our crops, and take Sunday snoop drives around other's farms..... A car I can spit sunflower seeds out the window and prop my feet on the dash.

Funny, I guess it was exactly what I pictured after all.

Peaceful and Painting

Things are very peaceful around here. It has rained several inches on our beautiful corn fields, and our pecan orchards look like state parks. God is good. Sometimes I feel like my heart will burst for all the blessings that surround me.

It's that time of year when we have our yearly art show at the museum in Roswell. I have submitted 3 paintings to be juried. Keep your fingers crossed for me. Last year, I submitted one painting very timidly, and got in. I didn't win anything but my goal was only to get in. Now, I want to win something so I submitted more chances. I should know something next week.

I also will soon be going to an art class in Cloudcroft and the instructor will be Ken Hosmer. I am really excited. If anyone knows anything about this artist, good or bad, I would be interested in hearing your comments.

Art is that consistent companion that adds icing to my strawberry cake of life.

This is my journal entry. The above is what happened after I played with it in Flickr.

Back from Blogging Vacation

I took a vacation from blogging in case you didn't notice to spend some time with Sweet Farmer, to care for my Mom after an emergency operation and.... just because.... well, I got out of the habit and I'm a creature of habit. I've missed my blogging friends and staying in touch. I hope you all haven't dropped me from your blogging roles and that I can hear from you again.

We lost our other little Australian Shepherd, Allie at the end of June to cancer.

She was really Sweet Farmer's dog, and Annie was mine but now we have no inside dogs for the first time since we were married. I painted this little sketch of Sweet Farmer and Scottie, a starving stray we nurtured back to health because I know that I mustn't take their friendship for granted. We must enjoy them while we can because they are each one a very unique creature and a gift and privilege to know and care for.

Just as caring for my Mom after an emergency surgery on a perforated bowel was my pleasure and a unique time to share with her. I will always treasure the time we spent together during her recovery.

So that's what I did through the month of June, basically.

I have missed you and hope I haven't been away too long and that you'll come back to visit me as I get myself back into the habit of blogging again.