When life gives you lemons, draw them, 11 x 14 inches dry pastels, graphite on paper

"When life gives you lemons, draw them". (Nikki)

"...the painting has a life of its own. My mission is to bring forth this life". (Jackson Pollock)

"Trust your intuition, it's just like goin' fishin'; you cast your line 'til you get a bite." (Paul Simon)

photography

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True colors

Thursday, May 26th, 2011

ikoniикони

 Fern tree shadows cast across garden rocks, Chapala, Mexico

Tree fern shadows cast across garden rocks in Chapala, Mexico

“Your true colors are beautiful” - Cindy Lauper

I’ve been in Mexico for the past two weeks, so I’ll be contributing more images to the True Colors website, created in 2007 as tribute to the colorful landscapes and cultures here. Developed separately from the other chapters of nikkiartwork.com, True Colors is considered as one complete and independent project. I’ve posted a few more of the recent pieces in this series on nikkiphotography.com

Five seconds of beauty

Thursday, February 10th, 2011

Dallas, TX early Feb., ice dripping on Dogwood branches forms alien-like figures

There are days when a falling leaf is just a falling leaf, but today one caught my eye as it floated down then caught an updraft, then flipping sideways and rolling over a few times, it seemed to be avoiding its final destination as long as it could. It was five seconds of beauty I will never forget!

I’m sure my friend and mentor, Jo Williams will not mind me passing along her note of a quote by Judith Hanson Lasater: “As many times a day as you can, find something to be grateful for because that will connect you with yourself, with others, and with the wider world. And we need to do this MOST when things are their most difficult in our lives. ”

Dogwood buds and branches - ice formed by melting roof snowMaybe the leaves have fallen like that all season, but I was too busy grumbling about raking half of them from our neighbour’s yard. I’ve been too busy detailing the house inside and out, trying to get it listed as soon as possible. There have been issues this winter of solid ice in the evestroughing, and having to chip away and melt trails with boiling water so the roof run-off would flow properly. I was too annoyed to notice the incredible phenomena on the other side of the house that were created by the very same problem. Left and above: alien-like forms were created when slow-melting ice dripped from the eavestroughs onto shaded Dogwood branches.

Icy PansyBefore the snow and frigid temperatures last week, the pansies were finally filling in and gorgeous alongside the back yard fence. When winter came with a vengeance and would not let go, so did my view that, “Aww! The pansies are frozen!”, but yesterday,it changed to: ”Awe! The pansies are frozen!”

Thanks for sharing, Jo!

A continuing saga

Friday, October 22nd, 2010

This could be your last chance, Sweets. I'm moving on up to Oregon.

“This could be your last chance, Sweets. I’m moving on up to Oregon.”

The Studio Affair saga on previous blog posts:  October 20th, 2009, October 28th, 2008 , October 30th, 2007

That’s right, me and all the skeletons in my closet are moving to Oregon, so the painting now is all about walls. I’ve bought a small 4 x 6 sketchbook, hoping to sneak in some time to do a few thumbnail drawings of my travels this year. 

The past six months: starting with driving up to Madison, Wisconsin at the end of April to set up the Dancing With Trees Exhibition, after the show opening, it was back to Dallas then shortly afterward to Singapore for 3 weeks (amazing!). Two days after returning from Singapore I drove up to Ottawa, Ontario. At the end of June, the drive back down through Michegan.to meet my internet artist-friend, Virginia Wieringa (triple amazing!) then across to Wisconsin to pick up the DWT show, then down through Chicago to drop off Morning Light 01, through the U.S. midwest back to Dallas.

Fields of Flax, Rowley, Alberta - future paintingTwo weeks later I drove up through OK and North Dakota into Saskatchewan,. then into Alberta. I took so many photos (that still need sorting) on the drive across Canada through the prairies two weeks later, and the Great Lakes region back to Ontario, where I stayed for another 2 weeks. Back down to Dallas! During September we found out that my husband is transferred to Portland, OR for work. So here we go again. The first week of October we both drove west in separate cars, across the Continental Divide, the red rocks and incredible geography in Utah, finally reaching our future home just outside of the Columbia River Gorge, and on the other side: the Pacific Ocean shores and the Sequoia and Redwood forests. I drove back to Dallas with a truck and trailer to refill, and will make the trip across only one more time before winter – hopefully the weather holds up. I’m excited to get to work again after the move..

Oh well, maybe she still needs more time... guess I'll jus' hang around here for a while.

“Oh well, maybe she still needs more time… guess I’ll jus’ hang around here for a while.”

Summer travels

Friday, August 13th, 2010

  Archean rocks, Lake Superior just east of Wawa, OntarioArchean rocks, Lake Superior just east of Wawa, OntarioLichen, Lake Superior just east of Wawa, OntarioLichen and distant shoreline, Lake Superior, Ontario, CanadaLichen, Lake Superior just east of Wawa, Ontario

When I’m back in Dallas blogging regularly again, these photos will be posted on the photography website. An unplanned extra trip from Alberta to Ottawa; in Ontario a second time, means I won’t be back until the first week of Sept. Here are a few photos I took on the shores of Lake Superior just east of Wawa, ON.

Translation

Thursday, February 11th, 2010

 Translation: It's snowing in Dallas today!

Translation: It’s snowing in Dallas today!

It snowed all day, huge Texas-sized flakes. Here, the snow melts on the warmth of the brick-work in the garden.

Happy Holidays

Friday, December 25th, 2009

Snow on French Lilac

Merry Christmas from Airdrie, Alberta

столове~ Snow on French Lilac ~

Check out the Alberta/Texas phone interview for a pull-out feature in today’s Denton Record Chronicle.

The Studio Affair

Tuesday, October 20th, 2009

I've got my eye on you!

“I’ve got my eye on you!”

See the other years’ posts  on October 28th, 2008  and October 30th, 2007

Simple Beauty

Sunday, October 18th, 2009

Stem on the sidewalk, uptown Dallas

Simple beauty, McKinney Ave. sidewalk, Uptown Dallas, Texas

Looking for pickles and an apartment?

Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009

Kingston, Ontario, Canada

I have no fresh art to advertise since returning from Kingston, Ontario… where the fresh dill pickles are plentiful.

More Roots garden sculptures

Tuesday, June 16th, 2009

 Rootosaurus gardenicusAfrican Mask profileFrog

Rootosaurus gardenicus

African Mask profile

Frog

See more

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