Monday's lovelies

"Prairie Courtship"

It was a little odd to be painting this spring painting on Saturday with swirls of fluffy white snow falling just outside the window. What a strange weekend! The snow kept up a dizzying pace until about 5 that evening. Then it slowed....and was done. By Sunday the sky was a cloudless spring blue and every inch of the snow melted away! It is completely gone now, as mysteriously as it came. However, it did make for good painting weather and so I have this new offering:


This is Prairie Courtship, just about the sweetness of uncomplicated innocense of first love. I think this was sparked a bit by some of the outrageous reality shows on tv. I had no idea you needed to go on "The Bachelor" or "Flavor of Love" to find your one true love. It all sort of gives me the icks. Better to find love in your own back yard :)

And if you're reading this in 20 years Miss Audrey, no you may not audition for that reality love show. Mama says. Not that you'll need it anyway...I'm sure there will be plenty of boys knocking on our door in a few years ;)

You can find Prairie Courtship for sale now in my Etsy shop. Go here to see!

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I have one more thing to share with you! It's the commission I finished last weekend and it's called "Coming Home." I created this painting for Dana, and we worked together to create a scene she invisioned of her great-grandparents and their children traveling to America from Bohemia.

I cant imagine what a trial and tribulation packing up all your earthly belongings and heading to an uncertain future must have been like for all the families that made this journey over the centuries. I wish I knew exactly who in my family did....their names have been lost to history. I know one branch in my family was traced to Pennsylvania in the 1740s....so I guess we've been here a while ;)

I'm happy to report that Dana loves her painting and even did a little write-up on it (and me!) on her blog. You're welcome to go HERE to check it out!

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More projects are in the work! I am busy, busy. May is going to be a frenzy of a month, atleast the first few days of it!
Thank you for your visit!~
H

A snowy Etsy update

This morning when I got up, the ground was green, although very soggy and sloshy from a day of rain on Friday. I assumed then that the snow that had been predicted for us hadnt made it that far south...
Then at breakfast, as if someone had turned on a switch, the falling rain became fat fluffy snowflakes that haven't let up. I took this picture out the back door when the snow first started accumulating. It's been a few hours now and the snow keeps falling...and falling...and falling...with no sign of letting up.

It is time to hybernate, just when I thought we were done....

Did manage to get Orchard Sisters on Etsy though! Go here and check them out!

Stay warm little Okie crafters!~

Orchard Sisters

This is Orchard Sisters, my latest painting. It's done on a slab of repurposed solid oak and I really like how it came out. I seem to be lost in this new color palette, don't I? Still loving the spring trees too...I wished they bloomed like this much longer than just a few weeks.


A closer look with a scan:


When I was little I always wished for a sister. I was an only child for six years and then got a brother! I did have lots of fun tormenting him though ;)

I plan on putting this painting on Etsy, but I think I want to have my husband drill some holes in the top so I can put on a gritty metal handle to hang it with. What do you think? I'm really loving painting on these slabs. They are unbelievably sturdy! They are scraps from a local cabinet making company that does business with my family's business. Good stuff!

Well, the storms have been blowing down on us all morning. Such weird weather. The other day Audrey and Henry were out back playing when it suddenly started hailing on them, they didnt know what to think! I had to run out and grab them and pull them in.

It's already snowing out in the panhandle--- 10-15 inches is predicted for western Oklahoma! That is just craziness. To us, 4 inches is a big deal. And we're forecasted to get anywhere from 6 to 1 inches, just depending on how the storm falls. Oh, where is my endlessly blue spring sky?

Time to huddle up and paint.......

Spring...while it lasts

This morning we headed out to the bloom-filled hills of Woodward Park to do some baby glamour shots while the blooms were still there. Here we all thought spring was here to stay...and now we are expecting snow by Saturday. Snow! On the prairie! In late march! Bah!

This afternoon the Little Miss is curled up in a quilt with her ever-faithful puppy as a thunderstorm rolls overhead. I expect the storms, but the inches of snow forecasted are putting a considerable kink in my planting plans. The pansies will like it, they like cold toes. The tulips, however....I planted about 50 bulbs....their tender green leaves and unsuspecting little blooms all ready to open....are they just out of luck????

Appropriately, I am up to "The Long Winter" in my little house reading marathon. I cant help but think about the poor Dakotas now, all covered in so much snow that its reaching devistating dangers, and wonder if this is part of the cycle.

Our winter was extremely mild. Almost disapointingly mild. Just cold and wet and blah. No real snowfall to talk about....no catastrophic ice storms to have us huddled around the fire light. Surely winter wasnt just waiting til almost April, was it? Surely not....

Hope you are fairing well this "spring"...whatever that means!~

A regency commission

"Ginny in the roses"

You know I like nothing better than a good book. Which is why I think it's so fabulous that I seem to keep falling into commissions where I get to bring characters to life! How fun is that?
This latest commission is Miss Ginny Delacourt, the creation of author Heidi Ashworth. Ginny is the heroine in the novel Miss Delacourt Speaks Her Mind.
Heidi approached me to do a portrait of her lovely heroine because her cover (which is lovely itself) didnt feature her character. I was happy to oblige!
If you'd like to find out more about Heidi or her writings, you can visiter her blog here.

As for me...I am sorry that the etsy shop has gotten so skimpy. That just wont do! I am starting some new paintings now to add to the shop after my massive Deluxe painting frenzy. So many projects just keep piling up for May that I know I must get started now.
And to top it off, we've decided to put wood (or wood-esque!) floors in the main part of our house and I know the instillation of those will really throw us for a loop and I wont get much painting done.
That said, I'm thinking I wont take any more commission work until after May 9. I've just so much that needs to be done by May 1 and May 9 is the big Deluxe Indie Craft Bazaar. So, to save my sanity, I think I need to reign myself in. I hope you understand! But I will still try to keep many treasures in the etsy shop for your buying pleasure.

Also...I'm thinking I may try out the print idea. I need to start tracking down paper and shipping packaging. So I'm working on it ;)

Ok, well, I hope to do some etsy painting today. And I still have my large commission to show you, so there's still more to come!~
H

The wind comes sweeping down the plain...

It's a little windy out today.

It's also that time of year that every Okie loves and anticipates, spring storm season. You can always tell the native Okies from the transplants because I think everyone who is born here secretly or not-so-secretly loves when the sky clouds and darkens, the wind picks up, and you know that something is coming.

It's that way today. Got all my errands run this morning (although nearly got blown over trying to do it) and now we're safely bunkered in the Little House, drinking hot and honeyed tea, the baby sleeping in a pile of quilts, and ears tuned to the rush of the winds.

I know that many people are terrified of tornados and I certainly am not making light of them. They are devistating. However, in my entire life here, I have never seen one and hope I never do. The closest I got was a few years ago when I stood with my dad looking at the storm out the backdoor (this is another thing Okies like to do) in the darkness I saw flashing green lights in the clouds and later we found out that the tornado had slammed into an electricity transformer. That tornado had whirled all the way up I-44 from Oklahoma City and stopped only a few miles from our home.

But while I'm hiding out here from the anticipated weather, I am scheming. I have gotten in a painting tizzy for Deluxe and hope to create a small stockpile that will ease my mind. So many little paintings are waiting to be finished.

I'm also very pleased to be a part of a little group that Doreen at Vermont Harvest is putting together. I hate to say much about it now, but I am very excited to be part of it and hope to explore more of the traditional folk side of my art through her gathering of artists. I am so pleased! I hope to have more to share with you soon.

Also...I wanted to bounce this off of you...I've been thinking more and more about doing prints. Originally I didnt want to mess with them because I didnt know if my art would translate well as a print and in the past, prints I've done didnt really seem that hot a sale. But things have changed and I didnt know...is this something you'd like to see in my etsy shop?

Well, the paintings are calling. I have several that need to be finished. Hope you are warm and safe on this spring day~
H

painting and daydreaming

Have you ever had so much to do you dont even know where to start? You just want to curl up and read a book and just not think about it? That's totally me right now!
I have done a few things though. The pic above shows some of my new flat canvas painting stock for Deluxe. Yet even with all of them, my collection of things for Deluxe is skimpy and I'm totally getting skatter-brained trying to plan for what I need.
Also working on two commissions, where are fun and a pleasure. However, all these half done projects has led to the creation of this disaster area:

I seriously don't even know which end is up at the moment. Deadlines looming, but I guess this is when I do my best? Gotta light a fire under this girl ;) Thankfully, my mom is coming to pick up Audrey for some 'granny time' this afternoon and it will just be me and the dog here working (well, I will be working. The dog? Not so much...He's management.)

But it hasn't been all work and no play. My new favorite pass-time is to read up and imagine the perfect home for us to build later on down the line. After my search for the perfect historical home ending in heartache last summer, my husband and I have decided we'll stay at the little house for several more years and bide our time so that hopefully, later on, we can create our 'forever' home.

That's where these come in:

I found these books by Russell Versaci and they are such eye candy! Especially for us history geeks...."Creating a New Old House" is all about building a new home in reference to historical home and the homes featured within the book are amazing--- this would be my dream! Rustic Homestead meets central heat and air ;) "Roots of Home" is also an excellent book in that it researches all the historical styles and influences of American homes-- also so many beautiful homes featured. It helps me bide my time ;)

But I think I found my dream home. It was in the pages of the last (sob) Country Home magazine and is this amazing log house:

The only think keeping it from perfection is a large porch spanning the front. But add that and I'm there-- I'm moving in! This is my dream home :)

So...that's what I'm doing. Painting like a crazy woman and obsessing about my 'someday' house. Keeps me off the streets though, right? ;)

Ok, no more yapping, I need to go paint.....

ART CRUSH: Kristina Layton

Last year I started a feature on artists I admire and because of several different reasons, it all sort of ran off the road.
And while I dont have the time to write full-on articles anymore, I did want to still bring to your attention some amazing artists whose work I really enjoy.

Because, am I wrong, but sometimes you see someone's art or their blog and feel such an instant connection that you sort of get an 'art crush.' Haha, well, these are some of mine!

My first Art Crush is an awesome gal from Colorado that I have known through the online art community for a few years now. I have loved watching her talent and confidence grow and it seems like with each new painting she presents, her style is richer and more defined, and she has captured that 'magic something' that all artists strive for-- a unique style that shows her heart.

Kristina paints some of the richest and lushest landscapes I have ever seen and her animals and people are all so sweet, perfect, and full of personality. I know you'll easily get an art crush too! Meet Kristina:

Name: Kristina Layton

Business: Crow Hill Illustration

Home town: Parker, Colorado

*You have such a unique style as a painter. How did you find your ‘voice’ in your art?


The things I paint most remind me of the things I loved when I was a little girl~ little secret spots in the woods and tall grass, characters and places in books, and folk and fairy tales, Holly Hobbie, patchwork, calico and gingham (ha! It was the 70’s!), and lots of yellow! Most important of all were the Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder. (*high five* to Heather ;) ) I loved illustrations by Garth Williams and Joan Walsh Anglund, and Beatrix Potter’s books. Gnomes by Rien Poortvliet nearly had me convinced that they actually existed (and maybe they do). I so very much loved reading to my daughter and son when they were little. About ten years ago, we lived in San Diego, and I volunteered for a year at our public library as the children’s storyteller. While planning for each week, I read and researched so many stories, tales and legends, learned so much, discovered other illustrators like Arthur Rackham, Jessie Willcox Smith and Cecily Mary Barker. When the babies got older and I had time to paint again, old images and stories I remembered, and the new experiences with my own family, and all of my past and current interests jumbled together to make what I think would be the voice of my art.



*How do things like nature and music influence your work?


I am so blessed that they are both always around me! Just past our back yard are 40 acres of open fields and Ponderosa pines. It’s a magic place to me, with twisted old trees, mule deer and wildflowers. I walk the dog up there, and my kids have grown up playing there~ sledding, building forts and exploring. Through a telescope in Sam’s room, we watched a family of great horned owls until they left the nest. We’ve climbed a tree to look inside a honeybee hive, tracked coyotes in the snow, and had many other grand adventures. :) There is a world of stories in those woods and I want to paint them all! :)My husband, Gil, plays in a band ( www.myspace.com/prankstersband ) and the kids both play guitar and violin (my daughter’s band~ www.myspace.com/fallingtoflyband ). Someone in the house is almost always making some kind of music. A lot of our friends are musicians, too, and I’ve done some pieces for friends’ bands. I’m so into old American folk songs~ the stories they tell and the images they recall. Stringed, acoustic instruments are just so beautiful that I love to paint them.

*How do you ‘get in the zone’ to paint? Do you have a special process?

About two years ago, I set regular hours to work~ Monday through Thursday while the kids are in school~ so now I’m almost always ready to go. Sometimes I listen to music, but I watch a lot of movies and History Channel. Other than that, my left hand feels empty if I don’t have a hot drink, coffee or tea.

*Has anyone ever told you that your adorable little brunette ladies look like you?

Do you see your personality coming out in your artwork?Haha~ yes! I think they look like my daughter, Catherine, and I have her pose for me sometimes. :) I think my personality probably does come through because I paint things I love~ flowers, animals, landscapes, and little elven girls in pretty dresses. ;) I hope my work feels warm and cozy, earthy and a little adventurous!

*How do you balance raising your family and working on your art?

I usually work at the kitchen table, so I’ve found it’s easier to work when the kids are in school or off doing their own things. Cat just turned 16 and Sam is 11, so afternoons are after-school activities, homework, then dinner and family time. I paint a little on the weekends, and I love to paint late at night! Gil, Cat and Sam are all so dedicated themselves to music, and Cat likes to sew and make jewelry. We share ideas and work on some projects together. Gil is so supportive and very sweet when I ask for his opinion. We set up a display with some of my products at his shows. They all inspire me!*In five years, what would you have liked to accomplish artwise?There are so many things I want to do! I’m always learning, so I hope to be a better painter then. I would love to make posters for music festivals! I really want to have a collection of paintings published in some form~ illustrations for a song book, or an elven wildflower field guide or seasonal calendar. I’m excited for the next step in the journey!

* What are your interests outside of painting?

I just began to learn to play the mountain dulcimer. I don’t seem to have a musician’s brain and it doesn’t come easy to me, but it’s so fun to play. I love to read~ biographies about other artists, British history, the old west, native american legends, ghost stories and folk tales from everywhere. We go hear live music and I lead Cat’s Girl Scout troop. I collect vintage pottery and lots of odd little things. I’ve redecorated one room of my old dollhouse and I can’t wait to do the rest. I enjoy identifying birds and wildflowers. I’m a wild one! ;)

Website: kristinalayton.com

Blog: Crow Hill Almanac

Artist Love

In the last few months I have decided that I need to collect the art of those I admire and art that I love--- some have been done in fun trades, others I have snatched up online. As artists, I think its important that we support the trade, you know? And I have gotten some very sweet pieces in the process!

This came in the mail today from Jennifer over at Hot Tamale Art Studio. Isn't this little sweetie adorable???


Already up in the studio is a cute little Frida Kahlo painted by Flor Larios and a pretty blonde angel painted by Adriana Whitney.




And in continuing goodwill, I received this sweet award from not one but two great artists! Thanks to Hot Tamale Art Studio and Soggy Dog Studio!~

To receive the award I must list seven random things about myself and then list 7 other bloggers I feel are creative contributors to this arty little web of ours. Ready??? Here goes....

1) Today, St. Patrick's Day, was my original due date with Audrey. She came a week early ;)

2) I spent a lot of my early childhood in the care of elderly people. My great-grandparents, who were in their 80s, took care of me when my parents worked. After my Grandma Emma's death when I was 4, I spent the next couple of years before I started school running around on a small cattle farm with an elderly couple in their 70s. My mom says I talked like an old person ;) Now I think you know why I am how I am, haha.

3) I wish I could do fiber arts, but I am inept. I think hooked rugs are beautiful, sort of like painting with cloth. I'd love to make one some day, but I dont have high hopes!

4) I dont like texting and am generally all crotchety and suspicious of complicated electronics. I think #1 may shed light on this.

5) I wanted to name Audrey "Emma" (see #1 again) but the name was the most popular girls name in the country the year she was born! Boo! I didnt want her to deal with what I did as a kid (I was Heather#1298341 at school it seemed like) so we went for Audrey.

6) If possible, I would move to The Village, as in the M. Night Shayalaman film. Except I totally wouldnt believe there were creatures in the woods ;) I thought it was a beautiful and thought-provoking film. Loved the clothes.

7) I really want to live on a small farm some day. But no animals bigger than goats. My limited experience with cattle has made me leary of animals that can squish you. Ok, maybe I'd go for a pony, but it would have to be really docile ;) I think Tasha Tudor made me obsessed with goats. That and the adorable little goat family in the field down the road from my house....too cute!

Who do I choose to bestow this award on? How about...

Dana at A Cat in my Lap

Julie at Julie Bailey Primatives

Racheal at Ladys Repository Museum

Alyson at New England Living

Jen at Parrish Relics

Sarah at Sarah Blank Studios

Stephanie at Old World Primatives

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In other news, the other day I listened to a pretty long podcast interview with Emily Martin of The Black Apple. She was, as of the time of this interview, the #1 artist seller on Etsy. She very might still be. Her story is like so many of us, but she has some really great advice to share on how to be a successful seller and artist in general. I was also amazed at all the long hours of work (think 12-14 hour days) she puts in, and how she deals with criticism and the after-effects of being on the Martha Stewart show. If you are an etsy artist, or just an artist wondering if you should persue it, I highly suggest listening to her interview on craft sanity. Listen HERE.

That's all for now everyone...Yes, I am still painting! I've got two commissions on the table and I've been working to create stock for Deluxe in OKC in May. I dont want to be running around crazy trying to get things done, so I decided I'd better start now. I might even show some peeks soon...

Oh! And one more thing! I'm going to be starting a new "Art Crush" section here at Audrey Eclectic, where I show off some of my 'Art Crush' artists and ask them a little about themselves (because I'm nosey and love to hear about people I admire, dont you???) the first one will be posted very, very soon!!! Yay!

Ok. That's REALLY it for now!~

H

Spring...

Funny, the last post was snow falling on the little house. Ah, but fickle Oklahoma weather...we planted our first spring flowers today under a clear blue sky. Spring is coming....or is it here?

A snowy prairie

On Tuesday the day was beautiful--- all the windows and the back door of the Little House were open to enjoy the breeze. The Little Girl and her Little Dog ran around outside, enjoying the spring.

Now....it is snowing...

Clemetine the porch kitty seems a bit put out. And the flower garden, which was just waking up, doesnt know what to make of it all...

Today is a day of warm quilts, hot tea, good books, and staying in PJs all day long.

Ma Ingalls--- hardcore prairie mama

The other day when I was babbling about reading the Little House books again and how much crap Ma Ingalls had to put up with, friend Robin mentioned how 'hardcore' Ma Ingalls was. It cracked me up because you know what--- it is SO true!

Girlfriend just picked up and moved, leaving all her family and any sort of basic luxery. She lived in wagons for weeks, only trading up for a sod house or (if she was really lucky!) a one room log cabin once Pa finally wandered somewhere he thought he could stand still for 5 minutes.

Another girl falls for a bearded man...did she know what she was getting into?

Rereading these books as a grown up with my own daughter has been interesting. I am amazed at how children are basically the same ornery little things, but how long ago they expected so much less to entertain them and were happy with it. Ma Ingalls wasnt toting any Baby Einsteins or playstations in the covered wagon. Those girls played with the dog and ran through the prairie and they were happy-- all day.
The lesson I've taken from that is, just let kids be kids. As a child with no siblings until I started school, I can remember spending lots of time in my own make-believe, exploring our creek, drawing in my endless notebooks. It was cheap entertainment, and probably the stuff that most made me me. And I've noticed that the kids that always had a constant activity or agenda planned for their childhood have a hard time finding ways to entertain themselves in simple ways as adults. I think there's a connection...thanks Ma Ingalls ;)

One of my 2008 paintings

But man, life was so hard back then. All grown up now, I wonder if Ma was lonely and how she coped with being left in wide open expanses for months and years with only her husband and little girls to talk to. There was no texting (God forbid! Can you tell I'm an anit-texter??) no email, no long distance calling, heck the mail was painfully slow.

There's a part in Little House on the Prairie where Ma asks Pa to go to town and mail a letter that fall, so that her folks can get it by winter and maybe she'll get a reply by spring. Ouch! That is a painful amount of time to wait for communication....How did she deal with it I wonder?

Obviously she did pretty well. There is no chapter called 'nervous breakdown on the prairie'. Although I would have understood if there were! It makes me extremely grateful that here I am, a mere 100 miles from Ma's prairie home on my own prairie...with high speed internet, a cell phone, cable tv and oh yeah--- a microwave and fridge. I am a more modern girl on the prairie ;)

The new little house on the prairie!

And how, you may ask, do I know that I am 100 miles from Ma's little house??? Well, getting curious as to whether the Ingalls were really in Kansas or Oklahoma, I did some internet sleuthing. I am so happy that the internet exists with its instant info! I found out that in the 1970s, interest in the Ingalls family caused some people to start digging through records and exploring the country side. They found Pa listed in a census in Montgomery County in Kansas, just over the Oklahoma state line a bit (turns out they were only 13 miles from Independence, not 40 miles like in the book. That would have definitely put them in Oklahoma.)

Looking at the census records, researchers were able to pinpoint where the little house would have stood, and while interviewing residents of the area, were able to find a place where there was no house, but a very old hand dug well. When the researchers got to the spot, they were amazed to see that the land still matched Laura's description of the place to the last detail.

Kids book geek that I am, I was overjoyed by this news! Part of me thought that when I started researching this that a giant Wal-Mart probably sat right on the spot of the little house and a highway mowed through the prairie. Miraculously, the area remains unchanged for the most part and now there is a museum on the site complete with a reconstructed little house. You can find more information at http://www.littlehouseontheprairie.com/.

And oh yeah. I am TOTALLY there when the weather is warm and nice.

me and my prairie baby enjoying her birthday brownie. She even fed me some, mmm mm, love a good slobbery brownie!

So what is this post all about? Alas, no, not art ;) but more about the universal stuff of family and raising little ones. Times have changed a lot since Ma was raising her girls, but many things remain the same. And I'm actually picking up some tips. She managed to raise impeccably good children without having to threaten them, spank them (much) and always kept her cool.

She knew that when things needed to be done, you just did them and didn't complain, and found things to be grateful for even amidst danger, poverty and uncertainty.

She was able to have a loving relationship with her family and created a beautiful home out of the simplest and littlest things. She created refinement even in desolate country.

Ma was so hardcore!

;)

Happy Birthday Little One

Two years ago at 1:16 in the afternoon, I was presented with this:

I can't believe that it's been two years since little Audrey came into our lives! It at once seems impossible that she is this old, and then again, it seems like she has been a part of us forever. This tiny sleeping creature has now turned into this amazing prairie princess:

We love you Audrey Claire! Happy 2nd birthday!!!

News and a heartful Sunday

It is Sunday and a bright blue-sky day. Henry and I went walking to enjoy the day before these last spring tease days go back to blah winter. Oh, march. You are so fickle.
I have some news that is very fun and very good. Its still very early and I wouldn't have said anything about it (Im superstitious about things like this) but its already been announced on other blogs so what the heck, let's spill the beans:

I am going to be part of an art book!!

The book is being put together by artist and author Chrissie Grace and will focus on artist colaborations and swap projects. I will be one of 13 artists participating in the creation of the book, which is slated to be out in late 2010. I'm totally excited! Here is a list of the participants:

Claudine Hellmuth
Ruth Rae
Jenn McGlon (from Noodle and Lou)
Danita
Marjorie Liucci (from Marmee Craft)
Sarah Wyman
Alisa Burke
Liz Lamoreux
Heather Sleightholm
Catherine Thursby (from Red Shoes)
Sara Mincy
Sandy Mastroni
Krissy Keene

I am so excited to be a part of this project and can't wait to get started! For more info, you can visit Chrissie's blog here.

And in my fight against the blahs and boos of the economy, I now present a list of things I heart. You might heart them to. In no particular order:

I heart drinking pear tea with honey out of pretty pink china

I heart a house full of open windows and warm spring breezes

I heart finding an old night stand for less than $20 and making a fancy new home for my paints:

I heart getting paint all over myself (and sometimes other people)

I heart wide fields dotted with grazing horses

I heart chocolate of any size shape and color

I heart curling up with a good book

I heart a nice old quilt

I heart watching my girl run around outside, playing and laughing to the game she has created:

I heart the fact that you come to visit me so often and say such sweet things :)

What do you heart????

In which she rambles about the world and art and oh yeah, magazines

So this is my latest plank painting, called "Dearest":

This painting, of course was inspired by these photos that I found by Erin Hearts Court.

I hope you like the painting and its simple, home spun quality. It was very fun to create. Painting for me has always been sort of meditative. Usually I am very distractable and my mind is always flitting around. However, when I paint, all that stops. Its very nice! A simple pleasure.

Lately it seems that we have to cling more tightly to our simple pleasures. I know I am not the only one depressed by all the dire stories we hear day after day on the news. I never imagined that I would be living in an era described as a depression. And like any good distractable American I feel like, "Ok, I am so over this! Lets have some good news now! Where is the happy ending to this?"

My family has been very lucky unlike so many millions of others and I am thankful for that. But there is still this aura of "no time for frills, its time to bunker down and muddle through this" attitude that is all around us.

Even one of my most simple pleasures (and biggest addiction) has been hit by the economy-- I'm talking about magazines. Since the housing market went into its death spiral, it has taken with it publications like Domino, Country Home, Cottage Living and Mary Engelbreit Home Companion. These magazines, some of which had thrived for decades, just couldnt keep afloat when their advertisers dried up. And while this seems like such a petty thing to dwell on, it just shows you the vicious cycle of things. People stop wanting new houses. Businesses that cater to building have less revenue and cant advertise. Magazines that depend on advertisements cant keep up with costs. And artists, like myself, who lost themselves in these publications in order to find inspiration and spur their creative process are left without muses. It is bizarre how everything just rolls down hill.

A few weeks ago I found some old issues of Home Companion at a flea market. You would have thought I was an addict and had just found a stockpile of crack. I snatched them up and tried to read them as slowly as I could. Oh my precious, I miss you ;)

Perhaps as a sign of the times, magazine racks are now filled with magazines touting new ways to save on groceries and other practical crap. I turn my nose up because really, I don't want one more reminder that we're living in such a struggling time. I want escapism, color, art, life. I want signs that there are still beautiful worlds out there and artists making something out of nothing (I also want to kick in the teeth all those matrons who 'go to france several times a year' to furnish their vacation homes. I do NOT want to read about them! My escapism only goes so far!)


This is such a doomsday time in our world. And I didn't know whether I should even bring it up, as I want this to be a fun and bright place. However, this is also a record of my art and the time in which it was created. And the art I am creating--- art I try to enfuse with love, faith and most of all hope, is being presented to a world that is losing so much of those qualities. All I can hope for is that artists continue to thrive (because really, there has never been an era devoid of art, no matter how dark things look) and that we can learn from these times. I think movements like the handmade movement and the green movement have taken hold of people in these times in a more serious way than perhaps they would have if things were all goodness and light. These dark times have made us see that you can't depend on 'the system' to take care of you, and that you must care for your world and be as industrious as you can to survive. Now, more than ever, we feel accountable to ourselves and our kids. That pioneer spirit of "I can do it myself" is rising up in people and I like that.


But until the day when things are once again rosey and these times become stories of distant days, much like the stories I used to hear from my grandparent's childhoods in the 1930s (complete with flour sack dresses, riveting games of 'kick the can' and living in rural log cabins with no luxeries) we will just have to focus on the little things and find joy there.

So let's take a cue from Henry: smile

Latest Commission

Here it is! My big portrait for Alyson of New England Living and her adorable family! This portrait was large--- 24x12" and depicts a traditional New England scene (as much as I can imagine one to be, sitting here in the middle of the southern prairie!) I finished this about a week and a half ago but I wanted to wait to post it until she had the painting in her possession. And here it is!!!
If you've never visited Alyson's blog, I highly suggest it. She is hysterical (in the best sense of the word!) and her photos of New England are just magical. Makes me wish I could just hop in the car and go visit the spooky ancient cemeteries with her and spectacular places like Salem and Sleepy Hollow. Til then, I will live vicariously through her blog ;)

Here are a few closer details of the painting:

Ah, to live in New England!

Homespun Spring

The other night I started a painting in which I envisioned an angel in a homespun linen dress carrying a bouquet of muted gold sunflowers in a wheat-colored field. I'm not sure why after all my color-punched paintings I yearned to go the simple route. Then, that evening (while waiting for layers to dry, as per usual) I came upon these amazing wedding shots by Erin Hearts Court. I was so moved by these images, and decided right then, I'd found my spring muse:

Image by Erin Hearts Court

For about the millionth time since I've started looking at wedding photography as inspiration (remember Lola?) I was bummed that my wedding was long ago over with, because this is exactly what I would have wanted. I even have the bearded man already! So inspired by the photos, Reverence was quickly born:

Reverence

She is quiet and contemplative, and the prairie once again makes an appearance as a quiet background. This girl is a bit different than what I usually do. Everything about this painting is subdued, quiet. Which is exactly what you need when deep in thought, deep in reverence. I am already working on another painting directly inspired by these beautiful photos.
And not one to squirrel away my inspiration, here are some more luscious Erin Hearts Court images from this amazing wedding:

Sigh

so pretty

New art, new look

The blog has a whole new look in time for spring, and it was inspired by I painting I finished yesterday. I made it for someone very special to me! My sweet bearded man!


He is the math and business brains behind Audrey Eclectic. He keeps me in line, up-to-date and takes on the no-fun business side of things so that I can just paint and make pretty things. I heart him! He was the first to tell me he thought my art was good and encourage me to make a business of it. Some times I think without him, I might have just given up or not even have had the opportunity to paint. So this painting is for him!


I love folk art flower trees and this painting contains my first attempt at them. Sort of Mary ENgelbreit meets....I dunno, just whatever came to mind ;) I love the flowers. And I love that in folk art you can just make up things, like huge flowering trees and don't have to be bothered that they don't really exist. In this little world, they do!
Hope you all like the painting and the new blog layout. I felt like with spring coming, the brown was just too dark. Its time to lighten up and frolic!

Happy Spring
H

Prairie Angel

Good morning from the little house.....


This weekend I took one of my beloved childhood books off the shelf and curled up with it for a while. It has been many, many years since I first read this book. Little House on the Prairie was the first Little House book I read, and I remember the librarian giving me this book at school the last day before summer. It was so tattered and well-loved it was going to be thrown out. I am so glad she thought to give it to me, because I devoured it and all the other books that summer.
Reading it now, as an adult and a mom, I see it through new eyes. Mostly thoughts like "I can't believe Pa would take his whole family and the dog across a frozen lake he knew could break underneath them at any moment! That is downright negligent!" But as a kid, you think its deliciously adventurous.
I was also horrified that they wouldnt let the poor dog ride in the wagon to cross the river. What's the harm? Poor Jack! Oy! it's a good thing I wasn't Ma back then. Things would have been much less harmonious. I would have told Pa, "You're out of you're ever-lovin' mind if you think I'm taking my three little kids and trudging across the prairie..." Talk about the road trip from hell ;)
However, the thought that so many families did do this, and did make a life for themselves out on the plains despite the constant hardships inspired me to make this little painting yesterday afternoon. This is Prairie Angel:

I've always wondered if the Ingalls were really living in Oklahoma during this book. At the time, these lands were Indian Territory and I know the Verdigris River, which is mentioned in the book, runs in Oklahoma. I like to think that this land was their prairie when they lived here.
A few decades after little Laura was scampering around, my own prairie dwelling family member made her way to Indian Territory. Her name was Lula Mae and from all appearances, she was a sultry little thing. Just look at her, sitting coyly on a chair arm beside this young man:

Something about Great-great grandma Lula Mae makes me think she caused her Mama a lot of trouble. Lula Mae loved to get her picture taken. She is tall and slim and beautiful, posing with dashing young men or her sister (I think that is her sister with her above. I have several pictures of these young women together) Lula Mae ended up marrying and outliving 4 or 5 husbands throughout her life. Her first was my Great-great grandfather Jim Van Winkle. Here's their wedding portrait. Aren't they the sweetest?

Together they had one son, Jesse, who would be Lula Mae's only child. I have many photos of her with him throughout his childhood. It's easy to see she doted on him. And easy to understand because Jim died during Jesse's childhood....the reason is not clear in family legend. One story says he went off to World War I and was killed. Another said he was some sort of lawman here in Creek County and met his end that way. The only thing we know for sure is that he is buried somewhere out in the old town cemetery in an unmarked grave. I hope some day we find him.

Who knows what happened....this prairie town was wild back then. Growing quickly when oil was found only a few miles away, attracting bank robbers and bandits who hid out in the woods and creek beds.

It was a time when young men like this roamed around:

The man standing is identified on the back of the photo as Jake Van Winkle. I'm guessing he was Jim's brother. I wonder what these young men did for a living, dont you love their boots? Were they the real-deal cowboys?

Whoever they are, these are the faces of the real people who lived out on the prairie. They walked these streets and road through these fields decades ago and are long gone. It's nice to remember them every once in a while.

That is what Prairie Angel is all about! I will be listing her on Etsy very soon. Hope you enjoyed the painting, and the photos, and the rambling for today ;)
Now back to painting...................