May 3 Downes' House

Another whimsical rendition of an area home. The owners, good friends, actually like dandelions.

8" x 10 "

May 2 Belt

 Yesterday. A man looked at the sign then walked away. Skinny brown pants. A skinny brown sport coat. A small woven hat perched atop long thin curly gray hair. A thin short mustache. High heeled snakeskin boots. A brawny red jeep. A wood carver with character goin'on. Somehow incongruous.

Blue jeans. A plaid insulated shirt. Large hat. Handlebar mustache. A belt with a big buckle.

11"x14"  $1220

May 1 Galoshes

It was a rainy May 1 and now, just as the sun is setting, it's bright enough to cast long shadows in the grass. My galoshes are in the entry. I'd like to think that my puddle jumping days aren't over. Yet a flute of something sparkling, a cozy armchair and a book are more enticing.

This reminds me of a conversation I learned in German class long ago. I probably can't spell it correctly anymore.
Ich can nur meine gumishoe nicht finden.
Darf ich dir helfen? Sind sie feilicht unter dem schtool?
Nein, hier sind sie: hinter die tur.

This is the closest I've ever come to using words about losing my galoshes.

5" x 7"  $1210

April 30 Twin Cities home

I had to depart from my usual acrylics on hardboard routine to do a commissioned piece. What a week: painting on walls, a cream can and now, of all things, paper. With a time crunch I have to make the most of painting time. This painting is in the whimsical style I've worked in for about ten years, producing over 300 images. You can see more at http://www.whimsyhomedesigns.homestead.com/. It's pilot pen drawing with watercolor. I've scanned the image and will also make note cards of it for my customer.

I judged the Rotary Art Show in Staples today. Lots of great work from 4th grade through adult. Photography, sculpture, wood work and fiber arts as well as all forms of painting.

Tomorrow there will be three art shows in Staples: the Rotary Art Show, a display of railroad related art at the Historic Depot, and one by 2009 grantees at the Five Wings Middle Ground Gallery.

8" x 10"

April 29 Iris

I'm a little ahead of iris time. They're coming up and will be blooming in just a couple of weeks. I'm enjoying the tulips, scilla and bleeding hearts but always look forward, too, to the irises. On Monday, I painted irises in the birthing center bedroom so was inspired to do some on "canvas."

11" x 14" $1190

April 28 Cream Can

Over the years, I've painted on saw blades, mail boxes, shovels and cream cans as well as walls, doors, and floors. I was commissioned to do this cream can with a deadline of May 1. With the request to have trees, a lake, the camper and the 4-Wheeler, here it is as the painting of the day- on a cream can.

12" x 12"  Don't think for a minute that I could charge, let's see, the price of day 118: $1180.

April 26 Bedroom painting

I spent the afternoon painting in a bedroom in a house 12 miles from Long Prairie. This house is being converted into a birthing center for families who would prefer to have their babies at home. The local hospital insists that the midwife not deliver babies further than 15 miles from the hospital. If they live more than 15 miles from Long Prairie, they're required to have their babies in the hospital. Until now. With this new establishment, they have an option other than the hospital even if it isn't their own home. The request was for flowers and butterflies in the birthing room. I painted on all four walls. The butterflies are in memory of the owners' sister who died in a tragic car accident.

April 25 Waterfall or cabbage

We'll call this a four-and-a-half minute abstract titled "Waterfall" or "Cabbage."

5" x 7" $1150

April 24 Poplars

Across the landscape, many trees are brown and budded. But the poplars and some willows have already leafed out lending a light green in the otherwise drab view. Having had a day of rain, the rest of the trees will be quick to to follow suit. Dandelions are everywhere.

11" x 14" $1140

April 22 Birds

There's a little bird
That somebody sends
Down to the earth
To live on the wind
Borne on the wind
And he sleeps
On the wind
This little bird
That somebody sends

He flies so high
Up in the sky
Out of reach
Of human eyes
And the only time
He touches the ground
Is when that little bird
Is when that little bird
Is when that little bird dies.

5" x 7" $1120

April 20 Strawberry

Fresh strawberries from the garden? Not a chance. Boughten strawberries in a plastic container sitting on the counter.

5" x 7" $1100

April 17 Grassroots Gourmet embraces the vinegar

Ron spent the day in Minneapolis. He took vinegar and gave samples in the Grassroots Gourmet booth of the Global Market. It was a great opportunity to meet folks interested in specialty foods. Today's painting: grass roots embracing a bottle of vinegar.

11" x 14" $1070

April 16 Body Witching

Ron and I went out to eat tonight at a lovely lakeside restaurant not too far from Sauk Centre. A former co-worker of Ron's was at the bar and we invited him to join us. He told us of his particular interest in a local legend. In 1862, a group of soldiers and civilians left Fort Abercrombie, near where Fargo is now, and headed for the Twin Cities. A blizzard, similar to the Armistice Day Blizzard, blew up. Unable to see, the group strayed from the ox cart trail they were traveling on and unknowingly went out onto a frozen lake. They fell through but were able to get out. However, since the blizzard howled on, they were unable to start a fire and ultimately perished. Three of their group had traveled ahead as scouts and after the blizzard came back and found them. They buried the dead and the site, unrecorded, has been lost.

Our friend has been researching this event for some years and believes he found the burial site. He knows a local man who is a water witcher. This man also digs graves and is reputed to be able to find the sites where people have been buried. Our friend asked him to accompany him to the site and when they "witched" the site, found strong indications of bodies buried there. Good story or the basis for further investigation? The basis for my daily painting, anyway.

11" x 14" $1060

April 15 Catcus

Savannah has a little calico kitten, Pandora. She's about a tenth the size of Jed. Jed likes to pounce on Pandora, roll her over and thump her or simulate a bite. She takes it all very well and as soon as he lets up she attacks him. But when she's on her back with him hovering over, she's like a little four-armed cactus, her needle sharp claws raised in defense. He respects those claws. So today's painting is a take off on our little cactus cat: a catcus.

5" x 7" $1050

April 14 Potato, Potato, Potato

They're red, they're white, they're brown

They get that way underground....

Cheryl Wheeler sings a great little ditty called The Potato Song. You'll find it on YouTube under "The Potato Song." I heard it nearly every morning of one year when the girls played the CD version as I drove them to school. It alternated a little with the Bare Naked Ladies' song Post Card, otherwise known as the monkey song. Or maybe that was another year entirely since I seem to remember it being a daily emanation, too. We'll save it for another painting.

Here's my tribute to the Potato Song and potato growers everywhere. It's potato planting time, you know. These aren't just any potatoes. These are seed potatoes. There's a difference. Not washed nor stored in the same way as other potatoes. These are a little dirty and just starting to sprout. They came from my friend the potato farmer, by way of my husband who works for the potato farmer.


11" x 14"  $1040

April 13 Light a Candle and Curse the Darkness

Chickens-3
Dogs-1

8" x 10   $1030

April 12 Plunder

Two dogs attacked my chickens today. A German shepherd type and a dark Lab. Feathers were strewn everywhere. I chased the dogs off and went to see what was left of my hens. Two wounded. Three dead. Nine missing. Ron went after the dogs with deadly intent. Came back with no hint of where they had gone.

After taking stock I got in the car. I drove slowly watching for the marauding beasts, knowing they didn't belong to close neighbors. You know the neighborhood dogs in a place like this. I found them. Two miles away by road; a half mile cross country. Three large dogs in a yard. I know who lives there. I drove in, ready to confront the owner of killer beasts. There was no one home.

I went back home. Three chickens had come out of hiding. I got out the phone book. The guy doesn't have a phone. I wrote him a letter, checked the price of laying hens on Craig's list, and billed him for destroying my flock. Ron went with me to leave the letter in the guy's mailbox. The dogs were still there.

I have mourned the loss of my hens in such ways one too many times. This time it just made me angry. So angry.

Eventually, nine hens came out of hiding and appear to be OK. Ron buried three. I don't know if the two that were injured will make it.

If the dogs come back, they'd better be saying their prayers.

8" x 10" $1020   SOLD

April 11 The Light

Here's the philosophical question: Is it more imperative to praise the light or truly understand its source?

11" x 14" $1020

Apr. 10 Made in Maine

Another busy Saturday. Good friends over for coffee this morning. Some quick cleaning and when Ron got the window screens out I did some unplanned window washing. Ron washed on the outside while I washed on the inside and now we have glistening transparency and I didn't even have it on my to do list for today. Then Savannah and I picked up Calypso at her other grandparents' and we went to a fun bridal shower with many more good friends.

Days like today don't leave much time for painting, nor for planning what to paint. I headed down to the studio and picked up one of my boots on the way. So here it is, like one of my favorite sons-in-law, made in Maine.

11" x 14" $1010

April 9 Horsehead Nebula

I asked Savannah what I should paint for the 100th day. She said, "I know exactly what you should paint; I just don't know what it's called," and disappeared into her room. She came back with a book called Galaxy, Exploring the Milky Way. She paged through and said, "This one." I suppose it's fitting to paint a nebula in the Orion molecular cloud complex, something I'll never see. But it broadens one's perspective to consider all the things "out there" that we'll never see.

11" x 14" $1000