It's the Small Things in Life!

Sometimes I like the containment and the compactness of working on a small painting. Like this one. It is a tiny 4" x 6" which was inspired by a photo of Key Largo. Then, I get a desire to free up my wings and do something more expansive. So I think I now wanna do more of my sunny sunflowers. I need to think spring. I must feel spring. This wintery weather is taking its toll. Sigh. I can't wait until I can pack up my watercolors and get outside to paint. I guess if I really, really wanted to, I could do that now. But it might be just a tad nippy.

Van gogh was the first of course who comes to mind for showing how expressive sunflowers can be. And while I am so not totally comparing my work to his, I am going to run with his technique of allowing these perky subjects to dance a little for me and come to life. It should be fun and I'll let you know how it all goes. Maybe. :)

May your spirit be light and airy. One Love and Peace from the QuirkyArtiste!

Annual View From a Park Bench

There is something inexplicably delightful about a lovely park bench posing in a strategic location. It may be the feeling of the sun’s mid-day rays or maybe the view of the bumblebees buzzing in and out and around and about (are you dizzy yet?) of the gorgeous garden flowers that is so enchanting. Regardless, if you allow yourself to become one with the nature around, you can be momentarily lost in a world of solace and calm.

So…you can imagine that I am always in search of that “perfect” park bench on which to recline. I guess its another holy grail I suppose. It was at the end of this summer that I discovered another such coveted experience. I slipped away at every chance and especially when one of those elusive “summer like” fall days crossed my path.

These little watercolor paintings are the results. I also found this quote etched into another favorite park bench spot. “Too short a time to be there but a long time to be gone.” At first, I did not understand it, but then a second later the realization dawned and now I absolutely adore its sentiments. I hope you have a favorite park bench and a favorite quote that you could carve into it. Escape along with me in its prose. One Love and Peace from the Quirky Artiste.

"Every day one should at least hear one little song, read one good poem, see one fine painting and - if at all possible - speak a few sensible words." - Johann Wolfang von Goethe

Dreaming

Close Your Eyes...

 



If a dream is realistic, it's not really a dream. It's a to-do. - Kim and Jason Kotecki



Go ahead. Don't be afraid. Dream. What do you see? I see a brilliant blue sky with puffy marshmallow clouds and I start to float away. Weightless (no worry about those chunky chocolate cookies I just ate. Or that I experimented and tried dipping them in Hershey's chocolate syrup too. Yum).

OK. Forget about the chocolate chip cookies. Try again to focus. Take a deep breath and clear your mind. Feel your muscles begin to unwind and untie those knots. The tension is ebbing. Wait for it. Calgon will take you away.

Now I see a warm, sunny bayou. It is soooo relaxing and calm. Your heart rate is slow, strong, and even. What do you hear? At first I hear silence. Aaahh. Then I hear the wings of a tiny hummingbird. Ohhh but I do not see him. Does not mean that he is not with me? You are full of nature's joy, relaxed, peaceful, and filled with bliss. No worries. No annoying aches. Samahdi.

Time's up. Say your prayers and you can come back down to earth now. Deep sigh. Time to go to work. But don't worry, we can do this together again tomorrow. The best things in life really are free. Sometimes we just don't take a mindful moment to read the price tag. One Love and Peace.

Aloha

Hawaii has always seemed like a dreamy place. Did you know that the Hawaiian alphabet was written by 19th century missionaries? It has 5 vowels but only 7 consonants. Hawaii consists of 8 main islands and it is the most isolated population center on the face of the earth.

I'm thinking that maybe I'll relocate there instead of Costa Rica. Island flowers and colors are used to represent each of the islands. I would have lots of inspirations to choose from for my watercolor greeting cards. The flower for the big island of Hawaii is Lehua Ohia and the island's color is red. It is the only state that grows coffee. Hmmm. I wonder if there is a Starbucks there? Hawaii has its own time zone and, yep you guessed it- it is called - Hawaiin Standard Time and there is no daylight savings time there. I never really understood daylight savings time, so that's another good reason to move to Hawaii.

The highest recorded temperature is 96'F and the lowest is 56'F. The average daytime temperature in January is 72'F. Are you packing your bags yet? There are no racial or ethnic majorities in Hawaii. Everyone is a minority. Legend says that the island of Nihau is the original home to the goddess Pele. I think she shall make a good neighbor for me. The island Nihau has a population of 230. Well, of course when I arrive it will be 231. But if you are counting Princess Pele, make that 232. We will all have to squeeze into a spacious 69 square miles of island.

For something to do when you are not picking sea shells and stringing a necklace out of them, you can visit the Wai Golf Course- it is Hawaii's first municipal course. The Island of Kalaaupapa was once a leper colony administered by Father Damien. Hawaii is home to Kilauea Volcano - the world's most active. OK, so maybe there's that one small drawback about living in the middle of the ocean on a huge rock of lava. But Mauna Kea Island is the worldwide leader in harvesting macadamia nuts and orchids. What more could you need? Aloha! Oh yeah, of course you can come visit me.

"A man who works with his hands is a laborer, a man who works with his hands and his brain is a craftsman, but a man who works with his hands and his brain and his heart is an artist." - Louis Nizer, American lawyer (1902-1994).

Send Me Away With A Love Song...Art is meant to be evocative.

In Search of Bliss

I like to write and prattle on about art as if I know what I am talking about. I read about other artists, look at the pretty pictures in the books, and experiment a lot on my own. I pretend that I am a real artist. Most of the time I feel as if I am only masquerading as one. I like to dream about what my third floor Art Studio will look like someday. Lots of sunshine streaming in, the smell of pine wood blended with the scent of blooming exotic foliage, a canvas propped up on a corner easel, and a cuddly cat sitting on a windowsill enjoying the ocean front view. But alas, I still do not even have a third floor. Sigh.

"The Holy Grail is to spend less time painting a picture than it takes others to view." - William Odell 

Lovely in Lavender

I love buying triple milled pure vegetable lavender soap. I have no idea what triple milled soap really is and I still don’t understand how it gets you clean. On the other hand, I know that lavender has a fascinating and quite exotic history, along with a myriad of uses and reported mystical powers.

Breathing in its aromatic and uplifting scent will calm that nervous tension and anxiety within minutes. Drinking it as a soothing tea made out of its flowers will soothe those butterflies flitting around in your stomach. Placing a sprig underneath your pillow induces sleep. I found Pritty Kitty here, sleeping on the net amidst all those lovely bouquets and it seems to have zonked her out for an extra long afternoon cat nap.

Try applying lavender essential oil to your hair, neck, ears or other body parts and make yourself irresistible to your special someone. Let me know how that works out for you. Smile. Add a few drops of the essential oil to water in a spray bottle and mist sunburned skin to alleviate the discomfort. Apply it to insect bites and stings, cuts, scrapes and abrasions to help destroy germs that can cause infections. Incredible.

So - I guess chopping it up and sprinkling it throughout soap has to be a good thing. Right? But putting those pretty little dried flowers on the loofa makes me feel like I am floating in the middle a birdbath in the flower garden. For a minute, I think I see Monet’s water lilies drift by. I blink to only realize that the nearby foot scrubby is made of…seriously… terra cotta according to that saleswoman at the Bed-n-Bath Store. Now I am really starting to feel like I am a potted plant. And well, the butterflies in my stomach in search of that lavender tea are not helping much. Which brings me back to my roots. I started my public art career by painting and sharing magnets and so, I thought that it was time again to try my hand at another one. I covered a little magnet with lots of layers of gesso and well, a butterfly seems to have landed on it.

Content With Ordinary

You may have felt that push to go beyond the realm of ordinary. We all know the hustle and bustle of achieving and the accompanying stressors from the acceleration of excelling. Not sure where it comes from exactly. An internal locus of control maybe? The external influences of the multi-faceted world around us? Probably both. My sophisticated artsy theory (LOL) postulates that the world is not black and white but rather that all outcomes are a blend of every imaginable color. Every experience. Every event. Every unconscious nuance. And the result is expressed on this huge canvas some have titled LIFE.

Setting lofty goals keeps us focused, inspires hope, and sustains dreams. If you revel in creativity, you are engaged in the timeless quest for the ultimate sense of achievement. I am fascinated by the aspects of artists' personalities - both the famous (you know them well by now and they are once again scattered about here) and the non-famous. Themes emerge. Their engagement with the world seems to have the sole purpose and struggle of interpreting it for others in their preferred form of expression. Dance. Photography. Writing. Acting. Painting. You get the idea again!


Rarely, however, do artists themselves recognize their place of actualization when they "arrive". Working hard but setting time aside to play, "to just be" and to rest the weary soul is important to keeping your spirit and dream alive. And sometimes I muse: what is sooo innately wrong with simply being ordinary? Especially if it can bring along with it a sense of contentment? Of peace. Of bliss. Remaining true to your values, engaging in frequent random acts of kindness, and helping a neighbor in need brings a sense of contentment at the end of your journey. Aaahhh. An epiphany. A sense of being ordinary suddenly becomes extraordinary.

"In the race to be not better, but best, miss not the joy of being." - A friend.

"If you have a talent. It is God given. Be thankful.
If you have fame. It is people given. Be grateful.
If you have conceit. It is self given. Be careful."
- Author Unknown

My Day in the Sun

I had a case of the sniffles (darn this rolley coaster weather) and so I decided to turn my face to the sun. The air was saturated with 77 degrees of warmth and a 14 mph north westerly breeze kept the sun's rays feeling like soft feathery touches upon my skin. I was determined to soak as much of it in as possible before this journey's delight was over.

It was probably simple exhaustion or maybe the delirium; but whatever it was, it felt wonderful to sit still. No fidgeting. No endless chattering going on in my mind. No desire to get up and "do something". I wondered how long it was possible to stay in such a state of Nirvana. I wasn't worrying about any of the UV rays for a change. Today, I would only absorb vitamins C and D - the au naturale way. No bottles. No pills.

I always thought that if I were a flower, I would be a brilliant red, bold canna. However, my uplifted face was following the travels of this summer's end sun across the clear azure sky. Today, I was beginning to feel more like a sunflower. My petals were fluttering in the balmy wind and I began to worry about the tiny birds who were waiting "in the wings" (so to speak) to nibble on my seeds. Yes, I must definitely be feverish. Tee Hee.

Georgia O'Keeffe painted cannas, along with lots and lots of other flowers. She was also fascinated by the organic shapes of bones and they were the subjects for many of her abstract compositions. Of course, van Gogh's sunflowers are still alive and soooo world famous. This is my humble watercolor inspired from "my day in the sun." A great line from T.S. Eliot's poem - Memory.

Painting Your Imagination

They say that most artists do not paint from memory. Admittedly, it is way easier to paint something when you have a photo or the real thing in front of you. However, you should know by now that I am addicted to painting for escape; to search for bliss, for enlightenment, and to find my holy grail.

Despite all my picture taking, I do not identify myself as a photographer. It is only by accident that I may like the results. I do frequently run to get the camera and am still mesmerized by bug watching, as long as my tiny friends remain outdoors. My salvias are now rootbound in their flower boxes (I think that I over indulged them with plant food, YUM for them). But they look great. The hummingbirds (OMG!) love them too. Couldn't get a pic of their fast moving and quite noisy wings but I did capture this guy featured here. He's been hanging around on this little salvia stalk. I've seen him before but I do not know his name. Does that make him a stalker? Tee hee.

Sooo, with my photo in hand, I drift far away into oblivion and only feel the smoothness of the paint and the rhythmic movement of the brush strokes. I can only see the dizzying and swirling colors dancing onto the canvas. My composition may become unrecognizable from the image that is in front of me. Sometimes I love the result. Sometimes it is comme ci, comme ca.

My college art professor chastised me for drawing from a photo, stating that the work is too flat. I seem to recall that he frequently critiqued my work and it was devastating. If you've been reading along, you may recall that I was quite reluctant about choosing art as a career. Superficially, I said that I did not ever want art to be "work" for me. That's true - but secretly I feared I had no talent. Today, I am finding a way to weave my passion into everyday life. The real joy for me now is in creating art with those who also share the love of this experience.
Regardless, while I may lose the dimensionality by painting from my imagination, I know that it is always an original composition. Take for instance this isolated cabin in the woods which seems to be a favorite theme of mine. I can always go there for a moment or two of solace and for that enveloping but ever elusive sense of peace.

If you painted your imagination, what would it look like?

A Veritable Entertainment Center

I think that I am easily amused. Not complaining. I think it is a good thing that I seem to derive sooo much enjoyment from the silliest things in life. Well, more specifically, from the simple things that are found right outside my front door. Take for instance the bee-u-tee-full butterflies that must be one of the healthiest creatures in my yard. They absolutely love the echinacea flowers which are doing so well this year. Mainly because the deer have not found them yet. There is one whose left set of wings are shredded and look like my lace dining room tablecloth and I am worried about him. However, I see that he is flitting around as unencumbered as his friends and I feel better.


I place my finger next to the flowers and gently encourage the butterflies to hop onto my fingertip, hoping that they do not realize that I am tricking them into doing so. I tell them how pretty they are and ask if they would like to sit for one of my paintings. Apparently, none are interested and they fly away. Getting far away from the bothersome artiste and they are conspicuously absent when the picture below was painted. I have no friends. :(

Next, I check out my zucchinis and pumpkins to see how much they have grown in the past hour. Always hoping the chipmunks have not found them yet. These little critters, cute as they are, can be quite the little destroyers. Nibble, nibble, nibble without ever finishing a thing. Very wasteful. Although truth be told, I have had just enough zucchini this year and am quite ready to share with anyone right about now. Zucchini bread, zucchini soup, breaded zucchini, zucchini in spaghetti sauce....

And then there is the baby bunny who I think has claimed our backyard as his new home. I stare at him in amazement as he chews away and wonder if he ever gets bored on his diet of grass, grass, and more grass. And I always think of the very famous painting by Alfred Durer. The Hare is featured here. LOL. I guess rabbits have not changed much since 1503.

I always stroll over to my cannas and immerse myself in their REDness. They are such bold, strong, and exotic displays of beauty. The bumbling bees also seem to enjoy these huge flowers for they are always crawling inside of them, presumably for pollen but then they do the strangest thing. They just stay in there and hang out - interminably. Their bee-hind and furry legs are the only things visible. I am nosy and wish I knew what they were doing in there. Snoozing? Snacking? Do they ever decide to come back out? This is a frequent occurrence and I find it quite comical.

You may have heard of the expression "you'd watch a bug walk across the TV screen." Well, I have not done that....Yet. I may be missing out on a very interesting composition for my next painting. Tee Hee. I sincerely hope you too, are able to enjoy the bountiful gifts to be found in Nature's Summer. Thank you God.

More Butterfly Kisses

Have You Ever....

I love Pink. And no, not just because her name is a brilliant color. Although, you know that I think that is way cool. What color would you be? I might try on "Azure" and maybe change my middle name to Sky. I very much admire Pink's bold and powerful expressions which are complimented by her poetic and artistic style. Surpisingly soft at times. She also seemed to share a close relationship with her father. Well, I don't really know but they did record a duet together, much in the style of Arlo Guthrie. The lyrics pour out the emotions of the Vietnam War. I think that her father wrote it and she says it was one of the first songs she sang. A very talented family.

Anyways, this video is 36 seconds from "Glitter in the Air" which she performed at the 2010 Grammy's. And for those of you who remember, wearing a very different outfit. Tee Hee. I remember that I kept thinking, "isn't she getting dizzy?" You can google it to see that full rendition. Like a million people have watched and been mesmerized by it. The music is gorgeous and the lyrics are incredible. "There you are, sitting in the garden, clutching my coffee, calling me sugar, you called me sugar" and I keep thinking OMG, Oh my gosh (no, not Usher) that I ought to try painting that handful of glitter sometime. Can't you see it now? Sparkling in your mind?

Laughter Blended with a Touch of Fantasy

Seagull Steals From World's Laziest Cat

Click on the link above for a few chuckles. Sorry, the audio may compete with the music but just for a bit. Then, take some deep cleansing breaths, relax, and enjoy the rest of the songs while you do your yoga routine. And the colorful little nymph below may join you as soon as she completes her Fantasy Floral Fall. All very good for your weary soul.

Provenance

It was "Artist's Day" at a local museum last week. So I had no choice but to sneak off during a gorgeous sunny afternoon and enjoy a private gallery tour, escaping into the breathtaking world of Art. I listened intently to the lovely older woman giving the guided walk and I admired her very artsy leather lilac jacket. I decided that giving gallery tours through really cool rooms where priceless art works hung suspended on velvet walls in darkened rooms would be a pretty neat job. Unfortunately, I have never taken one Art History Class and I am pretty much a self taught and incredibly struggling artist. Still, I found myself musing about what I would say to my own gallery group, as together we would study Peter Paul Rubens' painting of the Princess of Conde, which BTW, is my personal favorite. And where does one find such a red beaded dress as the one Princess Charlotte-Margerite de Montmorency is wearing?

The other works to which I was particularly drawn shared the theme of escapism. Not surprisingly, this category has a recurring theme of nature. "Wild color and an over active imagination interpret reality before expressing itself on canvas", I would say to my tour group.

The first tour that I took was fascinating but I must admit that the second one was not as enthralling. So, I surreptitiously slipped into the other gallery rooms which held pieces from as early as the 1600's and I practiced giving my first tour to myself. The muted lighting and the cool air of the controlled room temperature made you actually feel the weight of the centuries. Art History literally comes alive when you stare into the eyes of a portraiture and you start to feel its beating pulse. I was mesmerized by the strangest facts. I could not understand how the artists' identities of several incredible paintings were unknown and why their provenance remained so hotly debated. I felt sad that such amazing talent had drifted into obscurity. Then I remembered that many of these pieces were created well over 400 years ago. I know that restoration is a scary process, requiring much skill and patience. However, I simply could not get over the quality of the oils and the condition of the canvases. I guess like a lot of things, they don't make art supplies like they used to. LOL.

I finally finished re-painting my Rock-n-Art and it is once again displayed underneath the Crimson King. A very cool place to spend the summer. These are pics of the front and back of it. Done in acrylics which seems to reflect too much of the sun which creates that glare. Next time, I may actually try working with house paint. May eliminate that problem.

We're fools whether we dance or not, so we might as well dance. — Japanese Proverb

Lunchtime Artistes in the Park

It was a lovely and very clear blue sky 61 degree day when I decided to go to the park at noon to shoot some photos of my artwork in natural lighting. It was still chilly in the shade but in the sun it was bright and warm.

I tried to find an isolated corner, but in the city, that it is kinda hard to do. So, I really thought that I had found one when I positioned my miniature paintings on a stone bench in an alcove that overlooked the walking trail. And then. . . what is that I heard?. Oh my goodness. I looked over the stone wall and there was a man sitting along the trail and strumming his acoustic guitar and yes, he began to sing. It was incredible. I loved the company of another quirky artiste on a lunch hour excursion. Very cool! His style was a blend of Springsteen and Dylan I think. A woman walked by and said "that's good, you should go on American Idol". I tried not to stare too much and to let him continue his lunch hour practicing uninterrupted.

I continued my journey across the street and strolled through the park gift shop that always gives me wonderful ideas. There are lovely flowers scattered around the grounds and a very quaint cafe for al fresco dining. I decided to take some more photos but this time of the scenery. The Pittsburgh Frick Mansion shown here was built circa 1870 and purchased by Henry Clay Frick in 1892. There New York Home was built in 1913. Truly extravagant mansions and built at a time when my great grandparents and grandparents were coming over through Ellis Island and all of their belongings had to fit into one trunk. I had done some research but it was hard for me to figure out how Frick made his fortune and how their lives read so differently from that of my own grandparents. I found a book once about the Battle at Homestead and learned that Frick was one of the steel mill bosses for Carnegie during some of the darker times in American History.

Frick's favored daughter, Helen, inherited 38 million dollars in 1919 and became the richest single woman in the United States. Beautiful and well known for her feisty temperament, she remained unmarried and was very passionate about art. Oh, and did I mention that there is also a greenhouse on the grounds with huge banana trees growing?

“Sometimes the most important thing in a whole day is the rest we take between two deep breaths.”
― Etty Hillesum

Ve Git Too Soon Oldt

und too late schmart. If you are lucky, each new day will bring for you a deeper understanding of life and its many rich perplexities. Even those over used cliches can all of a sudden start to feel like an epiphany. And it seems the older that I get, the smarter my parents become.

I do believe that I have peeled away another layer of insight regarding that cliched Starving Artist expression. I can vividly still recall the sale of my first artwork when I was 14 years of age. Apparently, I was into tole painting and antiquing at the time. Not much has changed, I always seem to have an obsession du jour. Anyways, my mom had picked up these tin cups from the Williamsburg Pottery Outlet in Virginia. I think they were the ones that were really supposed to be used for dipping fresh milk out of pales. Since we had no cows at the moment, yep you guessed it, I antiqued and then painted them instead with tole designs.

I recall my amazement when a woman bought one for a dollar. Applying the rule of 72 (divide the interest rate into 72 and that's how many years it will take for your money to double), I figure I have about $8.47 in my IRA right about now.

So, for me, it is obviously more about the thrill I experience every time someone actually wishes to acquire my art. It sustains me in ways that can not be purchased. But just to be on the safe side, I think I shall keep my day job.

These are photos of the front, back, bottom, and one side of a canvas handbag that I painted. I am always filled with anxiety when presenting a work but I hope that its new owner is pleased. I am however, quite confident that it is an original and one of a kind!
Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn't learn a lot today, at least we learned a little, and if we didn't learn a little, at least we didn't get sick, and if we got sick, at least we didn't die; so, let us all be thankful. ~Buddha

Solstice Bliss

I've never been much of a "picture taker" until I needed my own original compositions to paint. And these handy dandy digital cameras with their ability to fix mistakes are amazing. The sun was shining so brightly on this day that I really had no clue as to what I was shooting. Alas, they are indeed delightful scenes of our first snowfall in Pittsburgh this year. Look how pretty they are and so Monet Blue. I was quite relieved that this weather happened when I did not have to venture out in it and travel afar. For now, I am thrilled to have something to paint. But first. . . I must dream about them.













"If you don't have a smile, I'll give you one of mine."
-author unknown

A Florist Called Serendipity

I really don't have a Florist. Well, not yet anyways. Just Kidding! But it is fun to pretend. My imagination does tend to run away with me.

These floral arrangements show how serendipity works for me. They are made with things from my yard that I ran around and gathered in about half an hour because it was 18 degrees Fahrenheit and snow flurrying. YIKES! But I forgot the pine cones. How could I forget the pine cones?

The next Serendipitous Factor was discovering the can of gold spray paint on the shelf of my Art Studio (well, really it was on my basement shelf). I start spraying things gold that I would never heretofore have ever considered using in a Christmas Floral Arrangement. The seed pods from the Nicotina Plant look very cool spray painted gold and I think that they resemble jingle bells (well perhaps they do only in my mind). BTW, I stumbled on this piece of trivia: Nicotina Plants also are grown in the Gardens at Giverny.

I wanted to finally use up some of those "odds and ends" from holidays past so this limited selection also controlled my designs. The evergreens are live, so therefore these arrangements will only be used outdoors. I don't know how the real florists find those evergreens that don't drop their needles. They fall off like a domino effect for me if I leave them inside my very dry house. As it is, I will be picking up pine needles until June 2010.

I am done now for another year. My hands feel like sandpaper and my arms look like pin cushions. A very attractive and original fashion. LOL. Goes with the paint splattered pants. What fun! And definitely quirky.

"Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle." - Plato