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North Carolina

Monday, October 1st, 2007

Alain and I flew to North Carolina for three days ( a little business trip and I tagged along—he threatened to take my camera with him and I was sure I could not manage without it!) We drove around the eastern countryside between Raleigh and Washington (NC) through old, old towns (it takes a looong time for wooden doors to shred, and a looong time for conditions to be just right for vines to sprout then twirl round and round, entwined and squished between panes of glass!) …old, old farms: tobacco, cotton, peanuts.. and an interesting gas station.

There is a lot of history in NC – fossil, human/settlers and Civil War history. We stayed at Kitty Hawk (first flight – Wright bros.) and walked the shores at various places along the narrow coast of the Outer Banks. We watched the sun rise and dolphins feed – too far away for good photos, even with the telephoto. As soon as the sun rose they swam away.

Along Cape Hatteras, groups of Grackles ate ripe grass seeds, bouncing up and down on the stems, their bodies too heavy for the tall grasses.

On Pony Island a large sand crab tried to buff up and look tough, but it was quite vulnerable there out in the open; all the other crabs scurried into holes but this one stayed, trying to hide in footprints, which offered no protection if we had been birds looking for a hearty meal.

Great fun to watch the behavior for a while. It’s clearly outlined crab-shaped shadow following it everywhere, creating a few graphic photos that are perfect resource material for drawings and paintings but do not stand alone as good photography because it was moving so fast.

Just off the 2 1/2 hr. long ferry at Swan Quarter, and sunset with a short, wide rainbow after a storm that we managed to escape and watch from the better side.

NO OLF – we were curious about this sign in many people’s yards. The following website shows a video describing how the U.S. Navy has purchased over 30,000 acres of land near the eastern North Carolina coast, planning to move their pilot training program from Virginia.

Part of the huge controversy is that over 75 families would be forced to leave their homes, many of them farming that land for generations. The human issues are enough, but the cause and effect on the wildlife and ecology would be drastic and irreparable. Thousands of ducks and large flocks of snow geese that feed in the area annually would no longer have sanctuary. The large birds would also be a danger to the jets.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XDmC1LD1Kc

A tale of two drawings

Friday, September 21st, 2007

Northern Delights 01, Banff, Alberta, Canada, 14H x 11W graphite, water-wash pencil, oil pastel, colored pencils on paper. 3-inch-wide white double mat and 26H x 22W inch white custom-built white wood frame with crackle finish.

and

Redbuds 03, Eastern Redbuds blooming on a foggy Spring morning in Coppell, Texas. 14H x 11W oil pastels, graphite, water-wash graphite, colored pencils, eraser on paper

Browsing for pieces to enter in a juried exhibition, I came across two drawings started in March that have a lot in common. Both scenes are low-light situations that were achieved by lots and lots of layering, scraping, redrawing, and using the eraser over pastels for blending as well as erasing. Both are experimental re: oil pastels vs. paintable water-wash graphite pencil.

Dancing With Trees 02 – progress

Monday, September 10th, 2007

Dancing With Trees 02, started August 30th – 48H x 48W acrylics on canvas – progression details are combined into one post. The oil pastel with the same name, posted in March 2007, inspired the painting.

I’ve tried lots of new things with this one – am hoping to keep just the impression of branches. I don’t want too many details. Using washes and glazes to help create the cedar branch texture I’ve dripped water, paint, glazes, and varnish across patches of color, splattered it on with a brush and also painting upside down.

Summer Storms

Wednesday, August 22nd, 2007

Evening storm clouds accumulating at about 5:30 p.pm. mid July in Stony Plain, Alberta

Sky appears to be falling, Airdrie Alberta, July 2007

Train and storm, Montana in July

Travel

Monday, July 30th, 2007

Morrill, Nebraska

Driving up through Oklahoma, Nebraska, Wyoming, then Montana to Alberta. Awesome, awesome. Back to Dallas August 8th.

Lisco, Nebraska – The Lazy U Motel

Southeastern Montana, sunset

Southeastern Montana

Orange Milkweed

Wednesday, July 4th, 2007

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These ultra-vibrant milkweed flowers were blooming beside the highway in Kentucky, like fireworks in the ditches. Happy 4th! (1776 – 2007)

True Colors – a creative tribute to Mexico

Saturday, April 28th, 2007

This red bench is one of many on a newly built walkway along the shoreline of Lake Chapala in the small, charming town of San Crystobal De Las Casas. The True Colors photographic series and website is my creative tribute to the colorful landscapes, culture and style of south-central Mexico. One hundred of my favorite photos out of the thousand-plus taken have been selected for the website, developed separately from the main website to highlight the project as one complete and independent Art endeavor.
Using the Paint Shop Pro computer program I’ve isolated a main portion of each shot, then superimposed this colored image on top of a black and white version of the same photo. Altering the photos this way has a powerful effect on our impression of the subject matter. In some cases the true colors intensify so much against the grey tones the scene becomes surreal. The collection can be viewed at http://www.trucolors.info
Credit and many thanks to my husband for encouraging and co-creating the True Colors website, as well as all websites associated with my Artwork.

Aspen, Banff National Park

Thursday, March 22nd, 2007

“Northern Delights 01, Aspen at a protected Bison reserve, Banff National Park, Alberta Canada – 14H x 11W inches oil pastels and water-wash pencils on paper, white double mat, 22H x 26W inches white frame with white crackle finish

Redbuds 02

Saturday, March 17th, 2007

Redbuds 02, misty morning in Coppell, TX, 14H x 11W inches oil pastels, graphite, watercolor pencils on paper. 3-inch-wide white double mat and 26H x 22W inch white custom-built white wood frame with crackle finish.

This drawing was an experiment with oil pastels and water-soluble graphite to see if the two could cooperate in the same drawing. Conclusion: that’s up to the artist! It was about 8 A.M… the sun barely shone through the thick mist this early Spring morning. The surrounding forest was grey, and the brilliant pink blossoms of the Redbud bush pushed through it all, with patches of green grass starting to grow in the field.

Tennessee Poppies

Thursday, September 28th, 2006

Tennessee Poppies along Hwy 40 Tennessee, 11H x 14W inches oil pastels on paper, 3 inch white double mat and 26H x 22W inch white wood frame with crackle finish. Sold.