BIG HALF PRICE SALE!!!

6 X 8 Oil on Masonite $150

This is one of several nice paintings that can be purchased at half price during the BIG SALE!
I saw this fellow at Blanco's (Texas) sesquicentennial celebration last Spring. We caught the end of a parade featuring wagons pulled by both horses and mules and some cowboys on mules. This painting is one particularly handsome fellow (the mule!) My friend Janet Vance raises mules and donkeys and still is promising to get me on one...stayed tuned!
Isaiah 3:9
The look on their faces testifies against them; they parade their sin like Sodom; they do not hide it. Woe to them! They have brought disaster upon themselves.

Where Did Your Head Go To?

5.5 X 7.5 Oil on Flat Canvas $100
Shipping and insurance included

Easy was itching from a bothersome fly. I watched him for a good 5 minutes go after it, and at one point, it looked as if his head disappeared. Except for his ear.
When I ask him for this maneuver under saddle he is quite willing to flex like this. It was from early observation of such gyrations that I thought he would be a good riding horse. Or at least flexible. Sometimes those traits don't always go hand in hand...
Today's Bible verse rather reminds me of politicians. hmmmmm

2 Timothy 4:3
For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.

Big Bear Market

24 X 30 Oil on 3/4" gallery wrap canvas
Check with Artist for Availability

I have been obsessed with bears and bison lately, it seems. Say, that sounds like a good title for a painting - perhaps I do need to combine the 2 obsessions into one painting and be done with it!
This painting fairly glows on the canvas and looks 500% better in person. I think it will need to be hung in a gallery to be seen in its true light.
We just returned from camping at Ink's Lake in the Hill Country of Texas - near Marble Falls. Beautiful lake, spacey campsites and perfect weather. The fishing wasn't too good, but I did manage to snag a couple catfish, a bunch of perch and 2 nice striped bass. The 3 black bass I caught were under legal size, but were still a lot of fun to land.
These are our camping buddies from out latest trip - and I understand there are possibly 4 more couples who may want to join us on our next venture. Looks like we may be starting a "club"!
As soon as I finish up some paintings I have already started, I will be doing some lake images. It's hard to make myself complete a project before I start another - my father was the some way. I cannot count the number of "projects" in our garage that looked like great ideas at the time, but never were completed. I take after him in this regard, but I try to be aware of it better.

Isaiah 59:11
We all growl like bears; we moan mournfully like doves. We look for justice, but find none; for deliverance, but it is far away.

Easy Twist

5.5 X 7.5 Oil on flat canvas $110
Includes shipping and insurance in U.S only

Are ya'll getting tired of images of Easy yet? I guess I'm painting him so much because there may be a chance of him leaving.
Don't worry I'm about done, and I'm about to get started on a series of Dandy. She is turning almost black with light splotches of white fur here and there. In the horse world, it's called "roaning", but to me it looks like premature grey. Must be a trait of paints.
The week of October 20 we will be camping and when I get back, I have several large paintings to finish up, so it may be a while before you see new paintings. You're probably ready to take a break, too!
Numbers 30:2
When a man makes a vow to the LORD or takes an oath to obligate himself by a pledge, he must not break his word but must do everything he said.

All in the Family

7.5 X 12 Canvas on 3/4 inch board $125
Includes shipping and insurance within US
SOLD to a collector in California

I thought you might enjoy seeing how I put a particular painting together: four separate pictures of my animal family into one painting. This is also an experiment in mounting canvas on board. The board is a leftover piece of pre-fab shelving; very heavy and 3/4 inch thick. I like the heft of it and the fact that it shouldn't warp at all. I am going to try the same technique on masonite for comparison. I probably could buy the same product for very little more, but I like the fact that I am not restricted to a certain size - or have to cut something to fit the size I need - or wait for an order to arrive. Some paintings demand to be a certain dimension and no ready-mades will do.
A little more information on the upcoming BIG SALE. All little paintings that have not sold (or are not in galleries) as of November 1 will be available for half price for TWO WEEKS. Some of the ones I have painted recently will be going to a gallery next week, if they haven't sold for the original price here first. I will mark them "unavailable" on both the Daily Painter website and and here on my blog. PLEASE e-mail me first before you PayPal me, to be SURE the painting you want is still available. The yellow rose that was posted a couple days ago has sold - and it WAS going to a gallery, so that collector was smart to jump on it quickly!
Matthew 23:4
They tie up heavy loads and put them on men's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them. (Was he speaking of politicians??!! dl)

Lake McDonald West Glacier

8 X 7 Oil on flat canvas $125
Includes shipping and insurance

Here's my 2nd attempt to get this landscape right. I widened the view, added more trees, and hopefully made that distant peninsula look farther away. Also, since it's done on canvas, the edges are softer, which I prefer. I think that once I am through all my little gessoed Masonite panels I will cease to use them. They impart a different texture than canvas, and are great for really detailed work (if they are sanded smooth enough), but since I use them strictly for daily quickies, that's not important to me.
I am really liking just cutting a piece of canvas to suit the size I need. So often a painting needs to be an odd size and not the standard 4 to 5, 5 to 6, or 3 to 4 ratio. Like this one. And the advantage of flat canvas is that they can be mounted and framed in a variety of ways, including under glass with a mat. I am also experimenting with canvas mounted (glued) on board. I have a wonderful glue that is water based, archival and non-warping. I had a piece of pre-fabricated shelving left over from a project and glued a square of canvas onto it and it looks very good. I may paint on it today.
Back to this landscape - I don't think I told you where I saw it. It's on the Going to the Sun Road that winds around Lake McDonald at West Glacier, Montana. If you have been on that road, you have seen this vista. And that road, by the way, is one incredible journey. It winds 50 miles through Glacier Park's wild interior with the pinnacle being Logan's Pass at the Continental Divide. The road was 75 years old this year and is really an engineering marvel. But I suggest you don't drive it yourself and instead take one of the Park buses like we did. If you drive it, you won't be able to enjoy the incredible views - you'll be too busy trying NOT to fall off a mountain!
I am going to paint this scene one more time - on a big canvas. I think I may get it right then.
Don't forget the big sale starting November 1!
Matthew 10:10
take no bag for the journey, or extra tunic, or sandals or a staff; for the worker is worth his keep.
(This same parable, by the way, is in three books of the New Testament...worth looking up.)

Easy's Afternoon Walk

About 4 1/2 X 7 1/2 Oil on loose canvas $110
Includes shipping and insurance

I have decided to concentrate on little ones for a while. I am still waiting for the large horses-in-water underpainting to dry. I was out of Liquin, which I usually use, so the lighter areas are not quite dry. Patience, Debbie.
When frustrated I fall back on painting what I know, and painting Easy is like painting my own hand. I know him so well. This one is a REAL quick study. I may do several today, since we will be gone most of next week camping, and I have been lax about posting.
Don't forget to get ready for the BIG SALE starting November 1!

Galatians 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

Yellow Rose of Texas

7.5 X 7.5 Oil on unstretched canvas $110
Shipping and Insurance included
SOLD to a collector in South Australia

I have never been able to grow roses - every other kind of flower I can grow, but roses have always given me grief. Both my mother and mother-in-law have GORGEOUS roses in their yard, so I am trying one more time. This time I have paid attention to drainage, compost, sunlight and disease, and as a result, this year I HAVE ROSES! I even planted a pink one in the church flower bed and it is thriving, too.
Don't ask me what kind this one is - it's a prickly, yellow one! And I have found out that it's the old fashioned roses that are fragrant - this one is not, so I'm sure it's a hybrid. I may plant another one that smells good next spring, if this one survives the winter. Any advice will be greatly appreciated!
Don't forget to get ready for the BIG SALE starting November 1!
Ephesians 5:2
and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

West Glacier

5 X 7 Oil on Board $110
Includes shipping and insurance

This is a very rough small preliminary for a planned large painting. I definitely don't have the colors worked out yet - not enough distance to the back landscape. But I do think I have the overall composition worked out. But I just noticed the reflection of the distant trees is not accurate and too regular (I do that a lot). I am considering adding a canoeist in a yellow boat in the cove as a focal point. And the tree in the foreground does not stand out enough, even though it's in shadow. And the light on the ground is not LIGHT enough. Oh, maybe I should just forget it....!!!
No, I think I will redo it and just concentrate on color and value only, and not on shapes. I will share that with you next. Promise.
Don't forget to get ready for the BIG SALE starting November 1!
Luke 18:13
"But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, 'God, have mercy on me, a sinner.'

Getting Ready for Winter

5 X 7 Oil on Board $100
Shipping and Insurance included
SOLD to a California collector

Wasn’t today interesting? The biggest gain for the Dow Jones ever. I usually have my radio tuned to talk stations all day, but today I listened to my favorite country western station and was emotionally moved by Randy Travis’ new song, “Dig Two Graves” and Travis Tritt’s song “If I Lost You.” Both songs tugged at my heart because two precious members of our church have recently entered nursing homes – both 90+ and leaving their respective spouses at home alone. We as a church are trying to be supportive, but we all know the inevitable outcome. Someone is going to be left alone after 60+ years of marriage. And we grieve in advance. And pray.

I spent most of the day in the studio with a short trip to town to deliver another painting for a charity event. I find myself being asked for such donations more and more, and I’m beginning to think that perhaps this is why I must paint.

Back to landscapes – sort of. I had to paint a horse in this one! This is a farm I saw in Wyoming. I eliminated the mountains in the background and put beautiful Easy in the foreground to look more “Texasy”.

One of my supporters has expressed a concern for “Easy” should I sell him, and I have reassured her that all my horses are “placed” appropriately! They are family and I take very seriously my caretaker role in their lives.

Easy was a racehorse before he came to me, but his genes were deceptive – he didn’t want to run. He was put on the quarter horse track, which, if you don’t know, means SPRINTING – FAST – like a cheetah. He’s built more like a thoroughbred – for distance. So he was really out of his element, though his genes (Dash for Cash and Easy Jet) just screamed “FAST”!!!!! Most racehorses that don’t run end up as dog food because they only know one thing (imagine Paris Hilton as a Calculus Professor). But Easy was different and his owner recognized that. And luckily we connected and Easy was assured a better life than a tin can. But at my house he just eats and poses for the camera – and he really is a good riding horse, but TOO TALL for me! And a teenager in a good 4-H program would love him. So my horse is in my prayers, too, for a better life than the one he has with me.

And for those of you wondering about Miss Dandy – she is fine, too. We are dealing with hoof issues, but with my friend Trista’s help, we are on top of it and keeping her sound. Stayed tuned for updates and paintings of Dandy and her new friend Gizmo….(?)

By the way – the title “Getting Ready for Winter” implies two things. The horse is eating AND the silo is full. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket…..

Ezekiel 37:13
Then you, my people, will know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves and bring you up from them.

It's a Bear Market!

5 X 7 Oil on Board $100
Includes shipping and insurance

It's hard to stay away from the little paintings because I get the satisfaction of COMPLETING something in a day. The big ones take 3 full days of painting, minimum, and in the case of the two-horses-in-the-water painting, I'll need at least 2 more, uninterrupted days to complete it. That's the tricky part of painting with oil. If you want the "oil effect" of soft edges (and acrylic painters hate this!) you need to work continuously or use mediums (additives) to slow the drying process.
The little paintings are a contradiction in assembly. Under certain circumstances, I wish the paint would dry faster (for instance, I will still need to add a couple more strokes to this one after it dries a bit), but I still want the soft, blended edges that oil paint offers. I have not yet experimented with the new water soluble oils that are supposed to have the consistency of traditional oils, but dry fast (and wash up with soap and water). And it's not because I have that much invested in oil paints. Most of the paints I use fit into a couple small shoe boxes. They are large tubes, but not that many colors. I mix most of what I paint with from the basic primaries of cad yellow, cad red and ultramarine blue. I can make my own burnt umber from those three, but I use it in a tube, too. And titanium white. I have a small tube of ivory black, but I never use it. If I was left on a desert island with those 4 (maybe 5), I would be happy.
Back to the bear. We enjoyed watching this fellow on Bear Lake in Cuchara, Colorado this past summer. He pretty much cleared out the fishing ledge on the back side of the lake - looking for trout along the edge. Trout are fragile and many folks remove them from their line and throw them back, not realizing that unless they are handled VERY carefully, they usually die. And float to the edge of the lake. The bears know this and daily go shopping along the edge, clearing out the fishing folk!
I am also working of a large semi-abstract of this image. Watch for it!
And don't forget the big half-price sale starting November 1!!
Luke 12:37
It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes. I tell you the truth, he will dress himself to serve, will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them.

Easy's Morning Walk

5 X 7 Oil on Masonite $100
includes shipping and insurance
SOLD to a California Collector

I have not sold Easy yet. I think they are still thinking...but if I don't it's OK. He's still my best model! I love him in the morning light.
For the next few weeks, I'll be trying to paint loose paintings like this little one and will offer them ALL for $100, shipping and insurance included. And NOVEMBER 1st will be the beginning of the BIG SALE!!! All little paintings (8 X 10 and smaller) that have not sold will be on sale for half price - and that still includes shipping and insurance!!!! YOU MUST E-MAIL ME FIRST, though, before you pay, to be sure I still have the painting. First e-mail gets it. This sale will only last for 3 weeks (or until Thanksgiving). I will not be going back and changing every painting's price tag, either. So whatever the blog says the price is, you take off half. After that I may put everything that hasn't sold on eBay - or not! And NO, I'm not quitting painting, I'm just cleaning house! And concentrating on my larger, gallery paintings.
I haven't blogged all week because I have been busy putting my house in order, so to speak. Mike and I are facilitating a course called "Financial Peace University" and since we are retired before we are eligible for Social Security or withdrawals from IRA's, we are living off mutual funds and other investments. Needless to say, we are in the same crowded boat that millions all over the world are in, and as a result, we are having to change our life style. Believe it or not, I haven't lost any sleep, but I AM paying attention to our household budget.
We drive to town (15 miles away) once a week now (and THAT may change to even less); we are conscious of lights and what the AC is set on; we are super-insulating our attic; we aren't eating out (but we DO have friends over for dinner - much more fun!); if I lose 20 pounds, I'll have a whole "new" wardrobe; all credit cards are gone; and we are participating in a community-wide garage sale (that's what has really kept me busy).
I did start a new large painting and I thought you might be interested in seeing it's progression.It's 20 X 24 and I start all my large paintings like this - blocked in color, mostly darks and lights only without paying much attention to detail or blending or soft edges. I am PLANNING on the focal point being somewhere below the cowboy's left foot - a sparkly water thingy. There will be drips coming off the horses that'll be sparkly, too. Water is difficult to do, but easier than landscapes in my opinion. We'll see.
Matthew 12:43-45 "When an evil^[a] spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. 44Then it says, 'I will return to the house I left.' When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order. 45Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that man is worse than the first. That is how it will be with this wicked generation."

Getting the Buckskin Mare Home

30 X 40 Oil on Canvas
SOLD to a TEXAS collector

It has become traditional for me to donate a painting to our local school carnival every October, and this year I have painted a very large one. This painting is 30 X 40 and I just completed it today. The carnival is Saturday, so this just MAY be a reason for my painting funk. I HATE DEADLINES!!!
Regardless, I am glad to be through with this! I have also decided to offer an alternative smaller painting to the winner, should they decide this is too big! Not everyone has the wall space to hang a painting this large. So even though it is listed as "not for sale" right now, this painting MAY appear for sale at a later date.
I have again been listening to talk radio all day, and Dave Ramsey says to continue buying mutual funds. Talk about a leap of faith! I would agree with him if I were 10 years younger and didn't need the income from my investments right now (and I could be assured that this is really the bottom)! He also believes that it will be 3 to 5 years before we recover from this financial mess - and I do agree with that completely. Another conservative talk show host is forecasting DE-flation (rather than inflation) due to plummeting oil prices. Yes, falling energy prices is not good - especially when so many of the bad guys in this world (like the former USSR and Iran) depend on the sale of oil for THEIR financial stability. God is probably getting tired of my e-mails by now, but I still have a lot more praying to do...
Proverbs 18:13
He who answers before listening— that is his folly and his shame.

How Do You Bend Like That?

5 X 7 Oil on Masonite $100
Includes Shipping and Insurance

I am reluctantly posting this painting because I really don't like it all. It has been an effort to get it done, and I am quitting at this point and posting it. My painting "Muse" is on vacation, I think. I am really struggling right now to paint and the harder I work, the more I hate the results.
It's time to go back to basics and evaluate the best advice I received from my favorite teachers...
I am in contact with other Daily Painters and several are finding themselves with the same "block" that I seem to be experiencing. I don't know if it's the phase of the moon or just a general feeling of angst over the current state of the world. I don't worry about myself or my immediate family - we will be fine. Maybe not financially, but certainly spiritually and that's what really counts. But I do fear hard times are around the corner and I am praying for many...
Psalm 23:4
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

Pregnant Horses Can Run, Too! 2

5 X 7 Oil on Masonite $125
Includes Shipping and Insurance

If this subject looks familiar, it's because I painted it earlier this year and sent it off to one of my galleries. A delightful lady in Norway wanted it, so I retrieved it from the gallery, paid the owner his commission and brought it home. (And, yes, I still paid a small commission to the gallery owner - it's only right). Anyway, I promptly "lost" it. I searched high and low and even went through the garbage - after all it's a small painting and it could have gotten swept out, even though my studio is not THAT disorganized.
Two days of frantic digging turned up nothing, so I contacted my collector, apologetically told her I lost her painting and asked if I could paint another. Of course, she graciously accepted, and this one is the result. It needed to dry a couple weeks, and in that interim I found the original painting (I had scanned it for my files and had left it in the scanner - DUH!)
She was delighted, of course, because she really preferred the first one, so off it went to Norway.
There IS a difference between the two, although the image is the same. My color sense has always left a lot to be desired and I rarely use the same palette regularly so my paintings are not always easy to identify based strictly on color use.
James 3:1
[ Taming the Tongue ] Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.
(Note to family: Since this year I am teaching Sunday school, and Mike and I are facilitating a class called "Financial Peace University", this Bible verse is SOOO appropriate - ouch!)

Here's to the Politicians

20 X 24 oil on canvas
SOLD

I have been listening to talk radio constantly for the past 2 weeks, and this "bail out" thing and the plummeting Dow Jones average has dominated it so much, that I didn't realize Paul Newman died last Friday, and this upset me!
So this painting is dedicated to the politicians in this country that have let us down. I have informed both Texas senators (Hutchison and Cornyn) and my congressman, John Carter, that I will be voting for whoever runs against them - even if it's Mickey Mouse. I am voting out ALL incumbents, because they have let us down. Period. Nobody could do a worse job.
1 Timothy 4:12
Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.