COLOR!!!

This morning it was drippy, rainy, gray, cloudy, dismal....ech.  So I added COLOR, and it was a fabulous way to spend the morning!!

Today's Time Filler

Today I needed to get two propane tanks filled for our grill, and when I got there, there was a sign in the door indicating that the people were gone, and that they'd be back at 1:00.  Um.... it was 12:45.  So I drove over to a scenic hilltop nearby and sat and sketched.  First in pencil, then in ink.  I'll watercolor it sometime in the next week.

And where is this loveliness?  In the CEMETERY in Divide!!  It's up on the highest  point in Divide, and you can see forever in every direction.  So while the clouds built up higher and higher, I focused in on this delightful birdhouse in the middle of the aspen trees.  I call it "Summer Getaway". 

Playing

I went for a brief hike with a friend last week, and we sat down on the edge of this small... pond... lake... collection of water.  The sun couldn't figure out if it wanted to shine, and the wind couldn't figure out if it wanted to blow.  Despite the confusion in the weather, it was a delightful morning!!

This started off just pencil.  But a couple of days later I added the ink and watercolor from memory.  Which is why it says it's "my interpretation!"  Not going for accuracy here!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DELORIS!!!

I worked up this card this morning for a delightful lady in Minnesota who's TURNING 80!!  What a fabulous number!  The Lord has blessed her days.  Happy Birthday, Deloris!!

Just a Little Bit of Work

I received a small commission not long ago, and found myself surprised at how LONG it took me to complete!  What on earth?!  This is a tiny little painting, but it took FOREVER to find the right reference photo, and then I sketched... and re-sketched... and re-sketched.  Somewhere in my mind I still believe that all the other artists in the world just whip out their brushes and come up with a masterpiece without any effort at all.  IT'S NOT TRUE.  I gotta keep reminding myself of that!!

Anyhow, you see the final sketch, and now here's the finished product.  A fun little oil with fabulous colors.  I love the color choices God made when He put flowers together!

While Waiting....

It was kind of a long wait!!!  I inked this back in September... I was probably waiting then, too.  And today, I added the color.  I think it's a lovely way to spend some time.  I found a parking spot near the library in my small town, planted the car where I could face Pike's Peak, rolled down my windows, and got my watercolors out of my bag... yes, I carry my watercolors with me.

For those who  know me, I have this semi-huge tote that I carry around with me, with lots of little pockets.  One pocket has my tiny watercolor kit, along with watercolor brushes that have hollow handles for water.  They're fabulous for on-the-go painting!

Sorry about the fuzzy picture... sometimes the lighting just isn't great!

What To Do? What To Do?

What do you do with a big, old vault door that dominates a wall?  It's kinda hard to hide, isn't it?  Putting a couch in front of it won't do the trick.

So you paint around it instead!!!  And not just boring wall paint, but a mural!!  And what's best, is you actually incorporate the vault door into the  mural, by turning it into the entrance to an old mine.

Then, you go to the local lumber yard and pick out some rough timbers to wrap the door with.  This picture only shows the side pieces.  There will be a piece across the top too.

What's really spiffy, is our particular lumber yard has o-o-old  half-logs laying around, and you can get weathered looking wood with cool knots, like this one.

My dad told me that there's actually some historical precedence for putting a vault door over a mine.  Evidently the Cresson Mine in Cripple Creek was originally a poor producer, until the owner found a room size opening bursting with gold.  He immediately went and had a vault door installed at the entrance of the mine.  I went searching to see if this story was true, and found this on Wikipedia:

 On 24 Nov. 1914, Dick Roelofs was supervising the exploration of the mine to the 1300 level, when a large gold-filled vug was blasted open on the 1200 level. The next day, Roelof, a mine owner and an attorney explored the "cave of sparkling jewels". The vug measured 14 feet wide, 23 feet long, 36 feet high, which took a month to empty, and yielded 60,000 troy ounces of gold.^[10]:78-80

This particular vault door doesn't protect any gold.  It was already in the house when the current owners bought it.  In fact, I think perhaps the vault is now protecting cardboard boxes!!  Whatever's on the inside, this is the final result of what I painted on the outside!

Killing Time

There's a very odd truth in an artist's life that when you've got real work to do, it's like pulling teeth to get started.  I've got two small commissions waiting to be done.  I know what I'm going to paint.  I've even got the preliminary sketches done.  But can I get started?!  Can I wrangle myself into beginning?  Can I actually get the paint out of the tubes and on to the palette?  It's the strangest phenomenon.  I was just talking to an artist friend, and she's experiencing the same thing.  Bother this twaddling!!

In the in-between time, I hauled out this pencil sketch I did over a year ago and decided it needed ink and colored pencil added to it.  So why is it I can work on this little trifle, but I can't actually make progress on a bona fide job?!

It's a mystery.

Time For A Change

Nobody likes change.  I only like it when I get to gut and improve a really ugly house.  But when it comes to getting rid of the canvases at my church, nobody likes it... at least judging from the reactions I get!  The last set WAS beautiful.  And it WASN'T great fun painting over them.  But change is good.  And God keeps track, for what it's worth.

So the new set is done!  See if you're up on your geography:

I will say it again: the lighting in the worship center is not fabulous for taking color-accurate pictures, but you get the idea!  My favorite is this last one showing the whole globe.

One lovely trick that I just learned:  when you do your lettering on graph paper, then it's much easier to make sure it's level when projected!!  You just put your level against the lines of the graph paper!  No measuring over and over and over...  It's complicated to explain, so just rejoice with me, even if it makes no sense!!

So, how was your geography knowledge?  The map behind Acts 1:8 shows the streets in my small mountain town.   I wanted to show the people of my church that WE LIVE IN the remotest part of the earth, and WE ARE TO BE JESUS' WITNESSES WHERE WE LIVE!

Playing With Watercolors

Recently a friend asked me to ink these words for her as a memorial for some time she had spent with God.  I love giving ourselves reminders of God's work in our lives!

Having gotten out my watercolors, I had to do more!  So here are three greeting cards that I did today while I waited for our latest snow to melt:

I love those two.... but you take your mind off the task at hand for JUST A SECOND... and what happens?  Even with my Bible open to the appropriate passage (which is in Matthew, by the way), I wrote JOHN.  What?!  Really?!  That's just... ridiculous.

Tonight's Occupation

I've spent the last three days on a scaffold painting huge canvases.  With big sloppy brushes.  Hopping down to get a good look, climbing back up again to continue painting.  The scale of it gets almost mind-numbing after awhile...and definitely shoulder-aching.

So tonight I got out my sketch book and my colored pencils (and a blanket, and a glass of water, and an ice cream bar) and worked small.  And as I worked small, I reveled in COLOR!!  I don't think I'm exaggerating when I say that I thank the Lord for color at least every other day.  It is a constant source of joy to me.

So Teach Us To Number Our Days

This started out as a request for a crow.  Actually, let me back that up:  it started out as a request for an owl.  "Why an owl?"  Because the recipient loves them because they're so smart.  They also love crows.  I'd much rather paint a crow!

But wait.... that sketch is of a raven.  Or is it?  I went hunting, and frankly, I'm still not sure.  But in the process I found an image that I like better!

Along with this, there will be a verse (done in calligraphy by my sister-in-law) from Psalm 90.  "So teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom."  Funny how the details of life play themselves out (ahem.... insert here a grateful bowing to the sovereignty of God!):  I've loved that verse for years!

What better way to ponder the passing of our days, than to have this so-wise bird perched on a clock face?

The finished painting, leaving space for the calligraphy on the left.  I haven't worked with watercolors in YEARS.  It was definitely a challenge!  You HAVE to wait for the previous layers to dry!  I was reminded of that the hard way.  This thing got painted twice, partially for that reason!

Sometimes It's Just Plain Work

Two sketches.  Trying to figure out the layout of a piece I was working on.  I never actually used either of these, and so they hang out in my file.

For most of my life I thought that as an artist you just picked up a pencil, or a paintbrush, and started creating.  And then after a short period of time ... "voila!"... you had a lovely finished  piece.  Boy, was I wrong!!  It never ceases to amaze me how much time I spend in prep-work.  Sketching, and re-sketching, and searching for reference materials, and changing my mind, and sketching some more.  Add to that making mistakes and having to start over!!

That bit about "changing my mind"... that's the problematic part!!  I'm guessing the Lord didn't wrangle over creating like I wrangle over a painting!  Yes, He called it work.  And yes, He rested when He was done.  But I'm guessing He didn't have any self-doubt in the mix!  And I'm very thankful for that!  There's no fussing and second-guessing in my God!

What On Earth?!?

Yes, that's an eyeball.  No, wait.  It's a football.  No wait....

I should be used to it by now... people ask you to paint the oddest things!  And that's a good thing, because it was a LOT of fun!!

For those of you who just CAN'T  FATHOM  WHY someone would ask me to paint an eye on a football... it was a sermon illustration!!  If you want to hear it, you can listen here:  http://www.woodlandparkcommunitychurch.com/  .... it's the sermon from January 4th, 2015.