A pie. About 40 years ago, I had a summer job as a baker, and the place was known for pies. A guy from church told me about a pie his mom used to make for him and asked if I would make it for him. I was willing to try, so he brought me […]
The Hardest Part About Being an Artist (accompanied by a random selection of pencil drawings)
Anyone want to guess? Guesses Maybe you are thinking that it is difficult to paint according to people’s instructions (called “commissions” or “commissioned art”). That might be true for some artists, but I am not one of them. I’ve said for decades that I’d rather draw an ugly house than be a waitress. Maybe you […]
Mural Dedicated
It was called an unveiling, but it was really a dedication, a symbolic presentation to the town of Ivanhoe, a “Here, this is for you and you are welcome, be proud!” (I wanted to add, “and don’t let it get egged!”) Lots of hoorah, thank you to this personage, thank you to that personage, acknowledge […]
The Business of Art | Many words today
This might take more time to read than you want to spend. You also might not find it interesting. You can skip it today—I’ll still be your friend. In thinking about all the distractions and how long it has been since I last painted, I realized several things, the most glaring that. . . . […]
Tryna Paint | A Few Other Things First
So many parts to my little life: editing, gardening, doing stuff for church. . . but I was ‘posed to be painting. Look! This crape myrtle tree isn’t dead after all! Hey! Why are these iris hiding? This sign will be repurposed, but first Trail Guy had to scrape off old lettering, and then I […]
Eleven Things Learned in March
2. Do NOT let piles of paper accumulate! I finally went through the stack of birthday and Christmas cards and in that stack I found THREE Very Important Items: 1. a letter I thought I had mailed in October (ARE YOU KIDDING ME??) 2. a gift certificate to Luis Nursery (ARE YOU KIDDING ME??) 3. […]
About That Road Trip
Currently I am doing a final edit, photo edit, and formatting a book that has been a long time coming (about the TB hospital in Springville, here in Tulare County). Things are a bit urgent, so here is a post about my road trip 10 days ago, because this is my blog and I can […]
How Fast?
Walking Partner and I noticed something different a week or two ago here in Three Rivers: new speed limit signs on a private road. This is one post. 15 mph heading upstream, 5 mph heading downstream. (This is along the river—could you guess that?) Here’s another one: This time it was 15 mph going downstream […]
Tempted Away From Painting
On a fabulously springlike day in February, Trail Guy tempted me away from painting: easy to do when there are wildflowers and it isn’t hot and I don’t have a tight deadline. First, I noticed all the chemtrails. Yeah, yeah, I know, “contrails”, but I still think there are way more than we have passenger […]
Eight Things Learned in February
1.The most fun thing I learned is that Reader Sharon had a heart-shaped potato. 2. My friends went to Jordan and Israel, and I recognized all but one of the places just from their photos. Actually, I recognized that they were in Petra, which I knew was in Jordan, but I don’t understand the Biblical […]