Memories - Acrylic on Canvas

A potential client called Tuesday. 

She wanted a painting of a horse 

for a staff member that was moving?

(Her) Can you paint a horse?

(Me) Yes! What's your budget? 

Acrylic or watercolor?

Canvas or Paper? What size?

What color horse? The head only or

standing, running, rearing up, bucking,..?

You want it when?

Thursday? Sure!

(Her) Can you add a windmill and water tank?

(Me) Sure!

"Memories" 11"x14" Acrylic on gallery wrapped canvas

SOLD!

Better With Age

This is a commission I recently finished for a friend

of mine. It took him years to rebuild this beautiful '57

Chevy. It was a pile of junk when he bought it and now

"Wanda" is better than she was when she came of

the assembly line. Jimmy took a lot of care and great pride

in making her new again, restoring her.

God does the same thing with us. He searches for us,

finds us, sometimes neglected, abused, or left for dead,

Others might see us as not worth the effort but

He sees beyond the faults, beyond the wreckage,

and knows the potential and that we can be

"Better With Age"

If any man is in Christ, he is a new creation: 

old things are passed away and behold all things

are made new.

Search My Heart, Oh God

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

(20" X 28" acrylic on gallery wrapped canvas - sold)

The Mural is Completed

The room is finished.

What great fun it was to paint it! It brought back such wonderful memories.

When my sons were young we listened to the story

on an LP that was played on a child's record player.

We just about wore the grooves out.

Then we graduated to VHS when

Stephen came along and now DVD!

I love the story of good triumphing of evil.

As I painted the scenes I prayed for the children
who would stay in this room (which I am told may
evently have green shag carpet, hamocks, and a tent!!!
That would be too cool!). I prayed that the Lord would
protect their hearts and minds and deliver them from
the traps that the enemy sets for them. I could see
in the snake's eyes how he wants to entice and
lure our children away that he might
squeeze the very life out of them.

And the tiger was up to no good and wanted
to destroy the lad! He was a liar just like the
enemy of our soul. The panther was always
gently leading, guiding, and trying to protect the boy.
After a lot of monkeying around, a great battle
ensued between the tiger and the bear.
The bear fought valiantly and was willing to
lay down own his life to save the boy.
Greater love has no man than that heshould
lay down his life for another. How sad when we
thought that the bear was dead BUT NO!
He was ALIVE.
Now, I am not saying that this was a
gospel story but I love when my Lord
speaks to me thru the simpliest things.
The Love of Jesus is without a doubt
the bare necessity of life!!!

New Mural - WIP - A "Work In Progress"

My friend, Richard commissioned me to

paint a "Jungle" room for his grandkids.

This is great fun. I have loved the characters

of this story for a long time. There will be characters on each wall.

One of his grandsons came into the room while

I was painting. He loved it but had never seen

the movie so didn't know Baloo or Mowgli.

It is such a blessing to be allowed to work

on this kind of project.

I had been working for 2 days and transforming

the room. As I was leaving yesterday, I had a thought

I knew that the neighbors or those

just passing by had no idea about the

changes that were happening inside.

It is like that with us, too.
God does amazing changes on us.
So much of it is on the inside-changing
our heart, our attitudes, our beliefs...
Most of the time it is not real obvious to
the "neighbors" or those just passing by.
He takes such joy in working in and being
a part of our lives. We are a "work in progress".
"We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus
to do good works, which God prepared in
advance for us to do." Ephesians 2:10
Thanks for stopping by!

West Texas Sunset or Sunrise - Last Panel

Here's the last panel or canvas. Sometimes the
family room feels a bit empty with these gone
to their new home.

This last panel looks to Snyder's future.
The wind turbines have been a boost to the West Texas economy.
Even though the church is an older church located in Fluvana,
I put it with the wind turbines as a reminder that we need God.
He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

Thanks for stopping by! Have a blessed weekend!

West Texas Sunset or Sunrise - Middle Panel

The mural is a blending of the old and new.

So here's the old windmill. I took several

wonderful photos of old windmills. The wooden

ones are getting more dificult to find.

The barn is on Highway 84 here in Snyder.

I will be posting a little slide show with

instructions on painting the barn,

so check be sure and come back.

The cotton fields are so typical of Snyder.

When we first moved here there was a billboard

that said "Snyder, where the oil flows and the

cotton grows." Now they should add "and the

wind blows". The new economic boost is the

wind turbines. You will see those in the

distance on this panel.

Our horizon has completely changed.

Thanks for stopping by! See ya later!

West Texas Sunset or Sunrise - Continued

Okay, now back to the mural. The photos are

still showing it as a work in progress but,

in reality it is finished and delivered to it's new home.

This is the left panel. There are 3. There are

buffalo in the background and the the white spot

that you can see behind the pump jack is the

white buffalo that was killed in Scurry County.

It is part of this county's history. Then, there is

the country store and wooden oil derricks.

On one of my afternoon research trips I took
a little drive out the Clairemont Highway.
I found washed out spot that was kind of rugged.
I added it in front of the oil derricks.
One of the old historical photos I found had an
oil derrick with a gusher. My friend, Marianne Randals
was telling me that when she was young they
would take their chairs out to the oil fields
to watch as the wells came in. Snyder has
experienced oil booms and then oil busts.

"Under The Sycamore Tree" Back Drop

I am not sure exactly when or how that it happened.

For years I designed and painted thousands of

LITTLE buttons and earrings. Now, I keep getting large,

very large pieces to paint. Our community theatre

is "The Ritz". Their current production is

"Under The Sycamore Tree" Jim Drake is the director and he asked if I would paint

the background. It is supposed to be the interior of an

ant mound. He had some reference images

otherwise I would have been clueless.

Lots of orange and purple.

Selena painted the floor and the steps.
She did a wonderful job. Other volunteers
painted the orange base coat on the panels.
That made my job a whole lot easier.

It was fun listening to the rehersals as they
practiced under my feet. I spent most of my time
on a 20' ladder (see Jim's blog for May 15th).
The production starts Friday night.
Joe and I have tickets and will go
and check it out.

West Texas Sunset or Sunrise

I'm back. I painted most of the afternoon. I think I

might be to a stopping spot on the sky.

Here is a closer shot of the center canvas. I will

save the "scruffie"brush I made. I will use it

for foliage as the picture progresses.

This painting will contain images from

Snyder's history and steps of progress.

It has been a great opportunity to pray for our town.

As I paint the sunrise or sunset, I think about the

sun setting on the past, the close of the day,

and the gift of each new day.

When the sun set on the earthly life of

Jesus it was the dawn of the ministry

for His disciples and followers.

Comission in Progress- West Texas Sunset or Sunrise

I am working on a new commission.

It is 3 canvases 4' X 5'. This is easier for me

than having to go up and down a ladder.

The client is a photographer so I asked if he had a

sunset or sunrise image that would be used. He did!

OH MY! OH MY! I believe that God may have been

showing of the morning that he took the photo. After working on this for a long while I thought I just

might have to get out the white paint and a roller

and paint over it and start all over. I took several

breaks. I worked in the yard a little bit a

then came back to it.

I decided to move on to the center canvas and

work on the light source. The colors are so vibrant.

It's a real challenge! Mom called about the time

I was ready to start over. She was so encouraging

and she told me how to make a "scruffie" "puffy"

cloud brush. Break time (again)!!! Wal Mart here I come.

Got a brush! Used my razor knife!

HMMM!Well, that didn't work out too good.

I used some C clamps to put the canvases together

to make sure the clouds connect.

The client will be able to hang these side by side

or seperate them and hangin different locations.

And if, they decide to move then

the artwork can move too!

I worked on it some more this morning.

It's geting better but now I need to get ready for church!

Whitetail Deer Acrylic on Canvas Painting Demonstration

I just finished this commission for a young lady.
She will give to her husband as a wedding gift.
The most important part of the whole painting is
the shape of the antlers and the crook or bend
at the tip of one of the antlers

Psalm 42:1-2

As the deer pants for streams of water,
so my soul pants for you, O God.
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When can I go and meet with God?

Baroque Scroll Trompe L'oeil - Part 4

Jackie sent me pictures after she finished

decorating the room.

All the extra touches really and the WOW factor!

This was a wonderful painting experience.

Yards and yards of drapery, elegant pillows, plush fabrics!
Another friend Melissa said that it reminded her of the
"Secret Place", The Holy Place, and the corner scrolls
reminded her of the cheribum covering the ark.

Come back soon!

Baroque Scroll Trompe L'oeil - Part 3

It's President's Day and I got to finish the scroll!

A little more depth in the shadows, under the

tips, and under the scroll.Doing the right hand scroll was easy but doing the

left hand side I had to think in reverse. I had to

use the other side of my brain! That was tricky!

Right side - finished!

TA DA! This design has a very royal look.

I pray that as Chelsea looks at this

scroll design she will remember that

the ones that love her have prepared a

special place just for her and that

she is a precious "Daughter of the King"!

Baroque Scroll Trompe L'oeil - Part 2

I'm back with the next steps in the scroll work.

I added a metallic brown to deepen the shadows.

Next, burnt umber (not metallic) to add more depth.

I also added a little curl to the tips of the scroll.

I will come back later with the background color and

clean up my edges and seperate the areas where

I got too close. I will also add shadows behind the

scroll to lift it away from the wall.

Come back soon to see more of the scroll.

Baroque Scroll Trompe L'oeil

My friend, Jackie helped me hang some of my art

at my house. You would think that would not be a

difficult task but it was for me. In exchange, I am

painting this scroll in her daughter's bedroom.

The base coat is metallic taupe, a little bit of gold

and shaded with red copper. These are folk art colors.

This is the first step. I will come back in a day

or so and add more shadows and highlights.
The background looks brown but it is eggplant.

The bed is a beautiful aged copper 4 poster.

It was such a blessing to listen to Jackie and her

daughter chatting as I was painting: girl talk,

helping with homework, mother-daughter stuff,

lingering, putting off the trip back to college.

As I am writing this I think that is how God is with us

and how I want to be with Him, to linger in His

presence, to enjoy conversations with Him, not asking

for anything in particular, drawing from His wisdom

and knowledge, Father-daughter talk,

but mostly just being with Him.

Big Apple Deli Sign

A New York style deli has opened in Snyder.

It is called Big Apple Deli.

B.A.D. for fun. I was asked to paint the

sign for this very unique place.

It was a lot of up and down the ladder.

Or up and down several ladders.

My Granddad on my mom's side was a sign

painter and my dad is a sign painter. It's not

my favorite thing to paint. But, I do love to paint.

In another blog I will share about my art heritage

and then the promise that God gave me concerning

my talents and abilities.

Cute worm peeking out of the apple!

There it is! A friend of mine has a picture of the
front of the restuarant on her blog.
And the deli has wonderful food!

Cait and Her Horse - Finished (I think)

I am almost there!

Highlights in her hair.

Shadows on her neck.

Now the details on her hand and

her earring. Deeper shadow under

the brim of her hat.

Eyelashes on the horse.

Well, I think this is it! Maybe!
Anyway, I have put away the palette
for right now.

Here is the reference photo. I may need
to warm up her skin tone just a bit.
I worry about over working it.

W.I.P. Work In Progress. That is us in the
Father's hands. He loves us just the way
we are but He loves us way too much
to leave us the way we are.