We Do Use Torture!

We Do Torture!

Yes, in the United States we do torture.

But we call it "sending your computer our for repairs".

My, less than a year old laptop was having some serious hiccups,

so I called the company to find out what to do.

The torture began with that call.

I mean no disrespect here, but, 

you know they weren't in this country,

didn't have the Kentucky twang I understand and love,

Nope they had a different twang, that I didn't love and couldn't understand.

Finally after several tests, it was decided, yes there is a problem 

and 

it was still under warranty, so it went back to the manufacturer.

They didn't tell me to back everything up, but I did, because I have lots of photos of my art and reference material for my art,

not to mention tax info,

so I spent one evening backing it up before it went on its long journey.

Torture.

OK, it only went to Louisville for repairs,

but it could have been a long journey.

They also didn't tell me to take off any sensitive information,

but I did after backing it up.

Torture!

A pretty nifty box came to ship my broken computer in.

So after all the backing up, erasing, deleting and checking,

I put my life into the box and sent it off.

More Torture!

I didn't realize how many times a day I sat down with my electronic friend to work, to visit, to talk to my kids,

Double Torture!

After a week it magically showed up again.

Well sort of.

It had a new:

lid,

keyboard,

motherboard,

cord 

and charging unit.

So, really a whole new computer was delivered to my door.

Now the real torture began.

Glad I made that spreadsheet with all my passwords.

There was nothing left of my life on my new best friend.

No pictures, no art, no tax info, no seminary lessons,

no facebook,

no ebay,

no pinterest,

no microsoft office,

no printer!

I love making art, writing and blogging about art,

making spread sheets to keep track of my art,

But I hate installing programs!

It turns me into,

well, a very unpleasant person.

So, not only was I tortured trying to do all this, with my limited computer savvy,

but now the torture began for my whole family.

So sorry family!

So, never let it be said that the United States is above torture!

Cause we're not!

We just call it electronic repair!

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River Lizard

Who Invited You?

So I woke up this morning ready to plein air paint, again.

And everything was going very well.

I found some great places to photograph in the county,

and got a lot of reference material.

Then I found a place, not in the park,

but in the Two Rivers Campground,

the brand new campground in Carrollton.

They have a great pier that hangs above the Kentucky River, 

just yards away from where it joins the Ohio River.

It was a beautiful sight, beautiful fall day,

unbelievably warm for this time of year,

and then,

after I'd done my block in,

guess who showed up.

Yep!

The doubt lizard. 

You've probably met him.

You've definitely met him if you've ever done anything creative

and had doubts.

Where is this painting going?

Is this going anywhere?

Is this any good?

What is wrong with this?

What is wrong with me?

Well nothing much.

(If you don't count my chocolate addiction)

But somedays I have those doubts.

Can I really do this?

Who am I kidding?

This painting was a wreck for most of its life and on into adulthood.

Looking at this, no wonder the doubt lizard reared his ugly head.

Adding some color into the water for the reflections.

Still not happy, but something is evolving

a little brighter colors made a huge difference.

Finally, something I was sort of happy with.

That tree sort of look like the loch ness monster.

Shut up lizard.

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Visitors in the Park

These three cuties stopped by with their grandpa in General Butler State Park as I was finishing up for the day.  

They are Caroline, Jacob and Ryan and they are from Crestwood, KY.

They came to the park to play tennis and stopped to ask some questions and look at my work.

It was so fun to have someone stop by and ask about what I was doing.

Jacob, Ryan and Caroline

looking at a nearly finished, (at least for today)

painting of a huge pine tree at the back entrance of Butler.

This is what I was looking at as I began painting this morning. 

Got the trunk and branches and some highlights in.

Looks kind of scary at this point.

I put in the leaves that were blowing all over the park today and had gathered beneath the tree.  Then I began to put in the shadows under the tree and made one pass of the pine boughs.

The with just a slight turn, I had this beauty of a tree to look at.

I started here and then the fun began.

again scary trunk and branches.

Then for the highlights and shadows and it begins to look more like a tree.

This is the bottom of the tree.  

I need to go back to the studio and put the benches in.

Come back tomorrow and I'll have both paintings finished and ready for you and

Caroline, Jacob and Ryan to see.

Thanks for stopping by today guys.

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Computer Problems

My husband bought me a new laptop a while back when my other one crashed and burned.

Literally.

And now my new one, still under warranty, thank goodness,

is having some issues with charging.

Not like a bull charging,

but plugged in an not charging kind of charging.

So I have now deleted everything I needed to delete for safety sake,

and copied everything I needed copied for posterity sake,

and its ready to put in the box sent me

and send this baby out for a massage and a mani/pedi,

or computer speak for 

Please Fix Me!

I know how you love pics, so I'm throwing this one if for entertainment purposes only.

I have a super friend who made this fab frame out of real barn wood,

so I made something for him to go in the real barn wood frame.

Time to say goodbye to laptop and hello to desktop for a while.  

Not that great on my iPad yet.

Have a great day and prayers requested for a quick healing on my. . . 

well, you know what I mean.

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Progression of the Fall Aspen Grove

Progression of Today's Painting

or Experiment.

This is what I started with. 

It's from a technique I read about on someone's blog (sorry, but I don't remember his name).

While I was painting other paintings, I would clean out my brush by scrubbing it on another canvas.  This is what I ended up with when it was finished.

I had a photo I had taken several years ago near Bear Lake in Utah of a grove of aspen trees during the fall.

I knew that would be the subject of this painting.

I started by blocking in the background of the most distant trees,

Next I added the trunk of the most distant trees and their branches.

I love painting tree branches and this was just fun, even though it looks weird.

I added grasses, the white bark on the trunks and then the leaves.

There are three different fields of trees and I did the same thing with each successive layer.

I made the trunks lighter as they came forward with more detail 

and the grass and the leaves had more variation and got lighter as they came closer.

This is the finished painting.

I've painted from this photograph before,

but the paintings look nothing alike.

Does anyone have a suggestion for a name?

I'll post it again in a few days once it has been framed.

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New Garden Stones

Had entirely tooooo much fun painting these new garden stones.

Blue Hydrangeas

Echinaceas

Fall Fence Row

Fraternal Twin Hydrangeas

Group Hug

Here's a group photo

Happy Daisies

Pumpkin Patch 1

Pumpkin Patch 2

Snow Covered Pines

Triple Threat of Hydrangeas

Contact me if you're interested in any of these.

I'm going to a show at Camp Ernst Middle School in Burlington, KY.

Great Christmas gifts.

Garden Stone Types

Option 1Triple Hydrangea w/ Welcome on Top Option 2 Echinacea Option 3 Daisies Option 4 Fall Tree w/Fence Option 5 Double Hydrangea Option 6Triple Hydrangea w/Welcome on side Option 7 Pumpkins w/Welcome on Top Option 8 Pumpkins w/Welcome on side Option 9 Snow covered Pine Trees Option 10 Fall Tree w/Path

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Getting Ready for Camp Ernst Middle School

New Walls -  New Show

This Saturday I'm heading to Camp Ernst Middle School 

for a one day art and craft show.

It's from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. 

6515 Camp Ernst Rd.

Burlington, KY  41005

Hope to see some of you there.

My husband Jim built me some new display walls and I set them up in the basement to see how they would work and how things would look.

So what do you think?

These 2 walls have barn and landscape paintings on them.

This wall has my hand painted home decor on it.

This is the first time I've been able to display it so well.

I'm pretty excited about it.

Except for the cupcake, 

this wall has paintings with water on it.  

Jim made four walls for me and they come apart and I can carry them

and put them together by myself.  

I downloaded plans off the internet and Jim made them.

It didn't go exactly as the plans said, but he made it work.

They are beautiful.

Here is the finished and framed newest painting using a new technique.

Sunset Bay

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When is art not art?

I have a question for you and hope you will leave a comment on your thoughts on this topic.

I subscribe to The Artist Magazine and was reading my November issue and in the letters to the editor there was a letter with multiple writers who were offended at some particularly graphic nude art in the July/August issue.  The women all said they were artists and were not offended at tasteful nudes but these were either grotesque or too graphic.  The magazine responded with a statement along the lines of just because it makes you uncomfortable doesn’t mean the artist didn’t work hard on the pieces and they were still art and should be seen.

My thought on this particular subject were, they may be art to the artist and to others, but they aren’t anything I would buy or want hanging in my home or office.  So then the question becomes, do I want to subscribe to a magazine that publishes material like that expecting me to believe it is art.

If someone says something is art is it art?  Is it art because I say it is and if not, what makes something art?

I’m not sure I know the answer to this question. 

I remember the Maplethorpe Exhibition that was seen in Cincinnati years ago and the uprising it caused.  Is it art just because I say it is?

To me, art like great music should be uplifting, stirring and inspiring.  To me, it should bring out the best in me, not the most base emotions.  I don’t know what you call something that brings out the worst in someone, but for me, it isn’t art.

Is there another category for art, that to me, isn’t art? 

Just a little bit of calm quiet art from me.

Please comment and let me know what you think.

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