Sunday, July 31, 2011

They Must Be Married - Eleven Mile Campground Pelicans oil painting

5X7 Oil on canvas panel $115
Includes Shipping and Insurance
At the end of a fishing morning on Eleven Mile Reservoir, one of our fellow fishers cleaned her fish before she left, and the local pelicans and gulls took close notice. They hung around waiting for a chance to come near shore and clean up the guts and heads – opportunists abound everywhere.
Pelicans fascinate me – such HUGE birds with enormous wingspans. It takes a lot of energy for them to gain altitude, but once aloft, their wings maintain lift and they seem to fly effortlessly.  Clumsy on shore yet so graceful in air. Like many of us – in our element we thrive, but put us in high heels and diamonds – OUCHEE! I am SO happy in my camper or in the garden…or the studio.
If you are interested in purchasing this painting, remember I am on the road and cannot get it to you for a while – PLUS it will need to dry before I can ship it anyway – but your patience will be rewarded! THANKS!
Exodus 19:4
‘You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. 
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Price: $115 USD
Or, send me an email
 I accept checks and Paypal. I can also arrange LAYAWAY. To view my latest paintings on Daily Painters go HERE. To view larger paintings, go to my Website HERE. To view a wealth of OTHER Texas Artists, enjoy THIS site!

Saturday, July 30, 2011

The Sentinel - Eleven Mile Campground near Lake George, landscape oil painting


The Sentinel
8 X 10 Oil on stretched canvas $150
Includes shipping and insurance in US
It is still over 100 degrees back home, but here at Eleven Mile Campground at about 8700 feet, it’s been in the 40’s when we wake at dawn, and it only climbs to 80 during the day (The locals are complaining this is a HOT summer!) We have very limited phone service and NO internet. To connect with the rest of the world, we have to travel eleven miles to the closest town – Lake George – and use their tiny library’s wi-fi.
The fishing around the lake shore has not been good this year. This is our 4th trip here and our most disappointing. We DID hire Larry-the-Guide again, though, to take us trolling on the lake in the deep water, and as usual we caught our limit. This year Mike out-fished me by nearly three to one AND caught the biggest fish. After we filled the live well with our legal 8 fish, we played “catch and release’ for another 2 hours – hoping to add some salmon to the freezer. Mike caught several more trout (including 2 small Cutthroats) but no salmon.
A million salmon are released into the lake yearly, but they are a tricky fish to catch. Larry thinks they are succumbing to a gill parasite and not surviving, but no one knows. There’s Northern Pike in the lake, too. We caught one last year and it was delicious, but we didn’t luck into any this year. All the fish we kept  are what’s known as “Cut-Bow” – a cross between the Rainbow and Cutthroat trout. The flesh is a rich pink, salmon color and very good to eat. I ate a whole one for lunch and I may do the same for several days…and yes, Mimi and Grandma, I have saved you each a fish in the freezer!
One of the good things about this trip is the down time – with no outside interruptions, I have actually had time to paint – both the local scenery and my horses. Texas may be fried when we return (THANK YOU FAMILY AND NEIGHBORS for taking care of things!!!!), at least this moment I can be in my “happy place”!
This painting is a view from one of the campsites here – there aren’t many trees close to the lake, but those that are here are tough survivors and all have interesting feature.

Psalm 3:5
I lie down and sleep; I wake again, because the LORD sustains me.
Buy this painting on PayPal
Price: $150 USD
Or, send me an email
 I accept checks and Paypal. I can also arrange LAYAWAY. To view my latest paintings on Daily Painters go HERE. To view larger paintings, go to my Website HERE. To view a wealth of OTHER Texas Artists, enjoy THIS site!

Saturday, July 9, 2011

Arabian Moves 3 - Kiss My A--, PETA

5 X 6 Oil on Masonite Panel $75
Includes shipping and insurance
OK - time to get on my soapbox.
First remember that I LOVE HORSES. And BECAUSE I love horses, I reluctantly support the the humane slaughter of horses as a necessity for their survival and well being. I know this sounds like an oxymoron, but follow me on this...
PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) has successfully shut down the US businesses that processed horses for overseas consumption. As a result, hundreds of thousands of horses are facing slow, painful starvation.
We are in the middle of a terrible drougth in Texas. I have friends who have owned horses all their lives who can longer afford to feed them (and in some cases cannot even FIND feed at ANY cost). Neither can they afford to "humanely" put them down and have them disposed of. It's a choice between feeding their families or feeding the horses.
I always said if I had an old, beloved horse I would do the humane thing and haul them to the "killer" myself to put them down. We no longer have that option. Fortunately I know where to place a bullet, and we have a large enough piece of land to simply leave the body for the coyotes (yes, I would LOVE to bury my horses, but do you know what a backhoe rents for?) Besides, feeding coyotes and buzzards is the natural way.
My main point is:  thanks to PETA, horses are not facing a quick death at the processor, but instead a long, drawn out, painful starvation death. My friend who has raised high dollar, spectacular horses all her life cannot give them away. Yes, she can take them to the sale barn and for $130 each they'll be loaded into cattle trucks and hauled 1200 miles into Mexico without food or water in this heat. Now THAT sounds humane...
PETA would have been serving animals better if they had concentrated on the quality of the trucking companies and the humane execution of the horses instead of eliminating the procedure all together.
I love horses - always have, but they are still animals. ALL animals deserve to be treated humanely and respectfully, both in life and death. But now, thanks to PETA, who THINK they have the welfare of horses in mind, we are going to see more and more horses first starve and then ultimately destroyed anyway.
Hey, PETA person - will YOU care for the unwanted, the wild and untameable, the permanently injured and suffering and the starving for those who no longer can?
Genesis 1:26
Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
Buy this painting on PayPal
Price: $75 USD
Or, send me an email
 I accept checks and Paypal. I can also arrange LAYAWAY. To view my latest paintings on Daily Painters go HERE. To view larger paintings, go to my Website HERE. To view a wealth of OTHER Texas Artists, enjoy THIS site!

Friday, July 8, 2011

Arabian Moves 2 - Magnum Psyche foal out of Khadraj mare oil painting

 6 X 8 Oil on Masonite panel $125
Available at benefit auction through 
Lord's Acre in Bluff Dale, Texas
Sunday October 23
I went to help my friend Tessa pour medicine down the throat of her palomino filly foal a couple days ago and toted my camera along to get pictures of her latest hot stud colt. This has got to be the  most stunning Arabian colt I have ever seen...with a blazing personality and a "presence" rarely seen in 3 1/2 month old babies. He already knows he is destined for greatness.
I know nothing about Arabian pedigrees, so I had to get Tessa to spell the names in this fellow's pedigree - and a Google search turned up plenty of images...no WONDER this boy is exceptional, and my painting no where near does him justice. I will HAVE to go back for more images...if she doesn't sell him first! He's already nearly as tall as his dam and she is weaning him this weekend. THAT's when I'll probably get some good images...
Psalm 145:3
Great is the LORD and most worthy of praise; his greatness no one can fathom.
send me an email
 I accept checks and Paypal. I can also arrange LAYAWAY. To view my latest paintings on Daily Painters go HERE. To view larger paintings, go to my Website HERE. To view a wealth of OTHER Texas Artists, enjoy THIS site!

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Blondes are Beautiful - charolais calves oil painting

28 X 32 1 1/2" Gallery Wrap
Contact Artist for Availability
Our friends, the Hodges, raise Charolais/cross cattle - going against the standard of Black Angus in this part of Texas. Not a black hide in the bunch - but a nicer bunch of calves you'll never see - especially in this severe drought. One reason they look so good is their mamas - mostly BrahmanXHerford cows who sacrifice their own health to wean a fat calf. And in the heat of the day, they'll still be up and grazing - unlike all the black angus cows hiding in the shade.
We are still burning up in Texas - no fireworks yesterday except over local lakes and at the Ballpark (where the Rangers smashed the Orioles). Hope you all had a safe and heart warming Independence Day!
Jeremiah 30:17
But I will restore you to health and heal your wounds,’ declares the LORD, ‘because you are called an outcast, Zion for whom no one cares.’
If you are interested in this painting, click here to send me an email. I accept checks and Paypal. I can also arrange LAYAWAY. To view my latest paintings on Daily Painters go HERE. To view larger paintings, go to my Website HERE. To view a wealth of OTHER Texas Artists, enjoy THIS site!

Sunday, July 3, 2011

What Cows Do Best

6 X 8 Ink on index $25
Includes shipping and insurance
There's not much grass left in the pasture for this kind of activity. No rain means no grass...and no flowers for the bees. I am feeding them a quart of 50% sugar water a day - and they'd take more. The bees are NOT in a good mood, either. When I removed the empty sugar water jar last night at sundown, they came after me and I got stung on the hand. Now half my right hand is swollen and itchy - not good. Guess I'd better start walking more cautiously around them!
The chickens are cutting back on their laying, too - but good old Moe, the naked-neck chicken, is uglier than ever and still laying the biggest eggs every day. Today's Sunday school lesson for my teenagers was about God not seeing the same way people see. People look at the outside of a person, but the Lord looks at the heart.
Same with Moe - she would end up last place in a chicken beauty pageant - heck, they may not even let her in!!!! But she is the best layer AND the best at getting after the grasshoppers. AND she survived the great coyote massacre of 2010. As far as I am concerned, she is perfect.
1 Samuel 16:7
But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”
Buy this drawing on PayPal
Price: $25 USD
Or, send me an email
 I accept checks and Paypal. I can also arrange LAYAWAY. To view my latest paintings on Daily Painters go HERE. To view larger paintings, go to my Website HERE. To view a wealth of OTHER Texas Artists, enjoy THIS site!