Sometimes Paintings Resurface

This painting came back with a couple of others over the internet from J. Henderson.  She bought some ten paintings in the late 60's from the Starving Artist Shows that I was doing every week end.  She gave some away as gifts and kept some.  What an appreciated collector she was.
  Let me tell you about those few years of Starving Artist Shows.  I would load car up and head out every Friday or Saturday morning for a day, sometimes week end of selling.  Because I was selling so incredibly many paintings, I set a goal of 20 new paintings a week.  Because they were all still wet, they had to be in frames.  So, I was painting 5 a day for four days and then framing them on last day and loading my car or horse trailer.  Never will I make that kind of money again (bought the 20 acres in Colleyville with sales dollars, bought horse trailer,  put the road in to the 20 acres, and bought a four stall barn that was later enlarged.)  Nor, will I ever want to work that physically hard again.
  Evelyn Schmedt was my running buddy.  Can't tell you the giddy times we had sitting in the middle of a floor and pulling the money, checks from various areas of

our clothes, and counting.  Sometimes we were so tired on the way home that we would stop our cars, get out and run around the car, breathe deeply, chew ice, drink coffee to keep our eyes open.
  The years were 1969-1973.  Then I slightly retired from painting when we moved to Colleyville and the next stage of life opened up:  children in upper grades, horses, and the Chamber of Commerce.
  Thanks to J. Henderson for sharing the past.

While Living Life You Meet Some Mighty Special People

  I use Market Street on a regular basis.  Many years ago I met the person below that became the Produce Manager.  Immediately knew he was a helpful, kind, and a very sweet human being.  Watched his dreads grow over the years and then last year told him I wanted to paint him.  Two weeks ago he told me he was leaving Market Street, so I rushed home, got my camera, came back to  the store and set up the painting.  Loaded his arms with pumpkins, corn, and a butternut squash, pulled his dreads over his shoulder and took some photos.

The store just doesn't seem the same without his cheery presence.  Know his fellow workers feel the same.

Hold the December 6th date

Bluebonnet Hills Cemetery and Funeral Home is giving me a RECEPTION on Dec. 6th, from 6-9 pm at their location on 5725 Colleyville Blvd., Colleyville, Texas, 76034.  I will have 30 NEW paintings and some great oldies of demos and studies.

Here are a couple of NEWBIES:

Ahhhhhhh LIFE. WHAT BLESSINGS ! ! ! ! !

This week end, packed up my most adorable dog, Trudy, and headed for Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas, where we spent a couple of days reuniting with wonderful friends of many decades ago. (seen many of them over the years at same reunion, but, somehow it seemed more special this year). My Junior year roomy, Kathleen, was driven over from Austin by Carol.  These two women have been a great contribution to the world.  It is definitely a better place for their being in it.  Got to see my Granddaughter, Madison, and she looked glowingly beautiful. She even had the courage to take me to her apartment and show it off. Got to meet her roommate. Met and talked with Dr. Berger, SU President, and I told him I had a Granddaughter there and he quickly corrected me that she was not a freshman, but a sophomore, and her name was Madison Hardy. He even remembered giving her a ride in his golf cart to an early breakfast at the commons.

 The week end before I went out to the Ft Worth Nature Center and painted at Stormy's home there.It is located in the middle of the Center with a 12 foot fence around their place to keep the critters out of one of the most wonderful gardens.While there I painted tomatoes, shown below, and came home with some of the best yard long green beans (ate the entire amount in one sitting that very night), tomatoes, and huge sweet potato. Stormy ended up chatting with me for almost an hour as I painted her tomatoes. Beautiful day in a beautiful place with a beautiful person.

Downsizing Your Home

I have a son, Hunter, who this past year sold their (He and Liz's) home of too many square  feet on a couple of acres and bought less than half the square footage in a gated community. The Reason for selling is because two daughters have married and the third is in Southwestern University.  The maintenance of a large lot and swimming pool had become excessive in time and money, especially time..

  Now someone else is responsible for exterior maintenance and lawn care.  He and Liz are free to do more travel and enjoy a simpler life.  LOVE this thinking.

OUR CULTURE, OUR SOCIETY

A wise man once said every society is judged by how it treats it's least fortunate amongst us.

In a class in college, I have an autistic young man as a class mate.  I have had some experiences with him that range the spectrum of emotions.  Autistic children, people, do not like to be touched.  I have made the error of hugging or patting on the back and been strongly rebuffed.
  In a recent class, a fellow classmate tried to hug him before I could say he does not want a hug.  He then gave her a strong push into me and my palette later as she and I were talking and her back was to him.   This is a rather typical inappropriate action that an autistic person might take.  He can also be fixated  on things.  The first painting session he was fixated on my painting supports.  I use a variety and he did not understand why I used what I was painting on and asked dozens and dozens of questions.  Some of his questions were very smart and reasonable.
  The point of this blog is he is in college and gaining in skill.  Professors and students are willing to take his inappropriate social skills and strange habits into consideration and give him a chance.

 I painted the below painting using real spaghetti for the spaghetti in the painting.  He walked in and said with a matter of fact voice:  "Don't think I have ever seen a painting with a shelf life before."  It took me a minute to understand what he was saying.

What My DOG HAS TAUGHT ME.

Trudy, is my rescue dog of several years now, a black Aust. Shepherd/Lab mix that resembles a large Border Collie and with all the same brain matter.  She is WAY too smart.
  Every meal when I put her food into her bowl she looks into my soul with her warm brown loving eyes and then whomps me with her tongue across my arm.  She has never missed doing this.  Always I tell her "You are welcome" and only then does she put her head down to eat.  I feel a sense of JOY because of her gratitude.  We can't experience joy without gratitude coming before it and knowing what we are grateful for.  Never have I met or talked with a single person with the capacity to really experience joy who does not also actively practice gratitude.  The owner of this painting is such a person.

I've Got a Friend

who loves me not despite my vulnerability and imperfections but because of them.  She is my daughter's age, but we have shared some grand and not so grand experiences of life.  You only need one of these kinds of people in your life that when you call and say "I have just done such and such a terrible thing in my life and am ashamed", she or he will say "Ok, let's talk it through.  Been there and  done that and understand".

Hold the Date: December 6th, Sunday, 6-9 p.m. Paintings for the Living" at Bluebonnet Hills Cemetery in Colleyville, Texas

This coming December 6th, a Sunday, from 6 until 9 p.m., Bluebonnet Hills Cemetery is hosting a Reception for me.  Will have 30 NEW paintings and a selection of others at a greatly reduced pricing that I have had for more than a year.  Bluebonnet is supplying the music and reception in a beautiful room and I am supplying the paintings.  Here are a couple of my newer paintings: