Christmas 2009

My family celebrates Christmas on Christmas Eve....Santa comes early just for us. My sister wanted everyone to arrive early for a light lunch so we left home in blizzard conditions and arrived at her house around 12:30pm. We were supposed to have a few inches of snow but it was to stop at 6:oopm. The weather people blew it again because we had the worst snow storm within a 24 hour period on record! All twelve of us had to spend the night at my sister's house.  We had plenty of good food to eat and games to play so it was fun....it was like old times when all my aunts, uncles, & cousins would come and spend the night. We had over 14 inches of snow and all the Interstate Highways and the Turnpikes were closed. A lot of people were stranded on the roads and had to be rescued. Oklahoma is not equiped for heavy snow storms because they don't happen very often here.

Sweet little Nathan wore his monkey hat and played his new harmonica to keep us entertained!

Life is a journey

This is my latest 11" x 14" portrait. Sorry, I couldn't seem to hold the camera strait so the photo is lopsided.

I lined up all three of my portrait series to evaluate them. As you can see I'm gradually getting away from the Matisse style of painting. This wasn't necessairly my intention because I like the more abstract paintings of Matisse but apparently that's not my personal style. I have a couple of more portraits to paint so I'll see where it leads. Life is a journey so enjoy it!

Pineapple and Pears

Pineapple and Pears is my latest 11x14 oil painting. I really wanted to eat this fruit but by the time I finished the still life painting the fruit had ruined! I need to learn how to paint faster or quit my more-than-full-time job so I will have more time to paint. Since quitting isn't an option I guess I'll just have to learn how to paint faster.

FAD Christmas Party

We had our FAD Group Christmas party meeting last night at Carla's house and had a blast! Seated from left to right around the table is Carla, Charlotte, Shirley, Marie, and Stephanie. Shirley took the next photo while I took my seat. I guess I should learn how to use the time delay feature on my camera so we could all be in the photo.

Carla made her famous Manicotti and it was delicious! We all brought dishes but I forgot to take photos before we ate! So I took photos of what was left over, LOL! Stephanie made an ice cream pie that was fabulous but I didn't get a photo of that or of Charlotte's bread. It was bread from Panera so you know that was a wonderful treat.

Shirley brought the appetizer.... cheese log, prosciutto log, and crackers.

Here is the almost empty bowl of salad that Marie brought. It was delicious as you can tell by the empty bowl!

Need I mention that we stuffed ourselves! This empty dish is all the evidence you need! After we ate, drank (we won't talk about that!), and made merry we adjourned to the living room to have show and tell.

Charlotte showed us her glitzy dragonfly quilt. She used a bobbin work technique to make the dragonfly out of thread. The moons are made from Angelina.

Above is Shirley and Stephanie. You can see Carla's harp in the background. She played a short beautiful song for us....I should have taken a photo of her playing the harp. Carla is so talented! The whole group is talented and I really enjoy spending time with my dearest best friends!

Here are Shirley's four ATC's that she brought for us. I took the one with the fish swimming upstream.

Shirley has been making jewerly with polymer clay. This is a necklace and one of the earrings...she did make two earrings the other one just isn't pictured. I'm going to have to rename her Shirley Kato!

Here is Marie. She brought two of her lovely embroidered pieces to show us.

This one is finished but she needs to have it mounted and framed.

This one is in process. Marie spends hours and hours on these hand embroidered pieces!

Last but not least....I couldn't resist taking a photo of Marie's shoes! I love these shoes, where did you get them?

I have to tell this funny little story about our trip to Carla's house. Since Carla lives way south of here we decided to car pool so Shirley, Stephanie, and Charlotte drove to my house to ride with me to Carla's. It was very cold last night so we loaded up all the food and piled into the car for the trip. We were all talking and laughing on the way and were excited about our 'girl party'. I turned into Carla's edition and turned left on the first street, like I have done several times before. I was watching the numbers on the mail boxes because on Picasso they are 5 digit numbers and then it immediately drops to a single digit number and you are on 173rd St. with out warning and without a street sign. I know Carla's address is 4 so I turned into the driveway with 4 on the mailbox. I thought the house looked different but we were stopped and everyone was getting out of the car carrying their dishes to the front door. There was this older man waking along with us to the house and we were all wondering (to ourselves) who he was. We rang the doorbell and waited, what seemed like a long time, for Carla to answer the door. It was awkward because we didn't know this man that was standing on the porch with us, was he going to be a party crasher? He asked us if we were going to a party and we all answered yes, then stood there waiting for the door to open. Then he said he was Nikki's father......so who in the world is Nikki? I figured he was confused and had arrived at the wrong house. Then the door opens, Charlotte was at the front so she is already walking in the door, I'm at the back of the line and I realize I don't know the person that opened the door! We were at the wrong house! In the mean time Charlotte, thinking the lady is Carla's daughter, is in the house talking to the gracious lady that opened the door. Charlotte is the friendly type of person that never meets a stranger but by this time she sees a stairway and she knows Carla doesn't have a second story on her house. So we all appoligize for invading the wrong house and start back to the car. So the poor man that I thought was a party crasher was at the right house and no telling what was going through his mind about these four lost crazy women. We piled back into the car, laughing our heads off! This was a two story house with a three car garage. Carla has a one story house with a two car garage and her garage is on the right side of the house and this house had the garage on the left! Boy did I make a big mistake! By this time I knew where I had screwed up, I had turned into the first entrance to the edition instead of the second entrance. We were still laughing when we got to right house and were so thankful that Carla answered the door!

Christmas Lights

Chesapeake Energy has a huge complex in OKC off N. Western Ave. between Classen Blvd. and N.W. 63rd St. Every year around Christmas they wrap hundreds of trees with lights and it's just breathtaking! In the past they used white lights on the trees lining Western Ave. but this year they used LED lights in different colors and it's even more spectacular than previous years! Ron and I drove around this evening looking at Christmas lights. It really puts you in the Christmas mood!

Hot Pepper

"Hot Pepper" is a little 6" x 8" abstract oil painting that I finished last week. It's still wet so I haven't been able to varnish it yet. The retouch varnish will bring out the dead spots so it will look better...I should have waited until that time to take the photo but I was in a hurry. I love the bright colors and it exudes an amount of warmth that is very welcome this week because it's been terribly cold outside.

Artist With Blue Hat

Here is a photo of the painting that I'm currently working on......I think it's finished but I may add a few more finishing touches. I haven't named him yet so I'm calling it Artist With Blue Hat for now. He doesn't look very happy, does he? Maybe he is a starving artist that is struggling with his career. Most artists can relate to that!

"Longing for Peace"

"Longing for Peace" is my latest painting that is painted on a 14" x 11" canvas board. I'm trying to develop my own style instead of copying from Matisse. I love colorful paintings so I'm exaggerating the colors like Matisse but I'm trying to soften the images. I'm not trying to paint realistic portraits but I want them to have character and emotion.

One of my cats, Dudley, loves to sleep on my desk and keep me company during the day. Of course, it makes it difficult to use my scanner/copier because I hate to disturb him but thankfully I don't have to use it very often.

I decided Madame Matisse needed company so I recreated a Matisse self portrait. Don't they make a nice couple? Of course these are copies so I can't enter them in any competition but I can frame them and keep them for my own enjoyment. Both are 11" x 14" oil paintings on canvas board.

I painted this little 4" x 6" oil painting last night. This is an original but it's definitely influenced by Matisse. I enjoy working in this style so hopefully I'll see some improvement soon.

The Green Line

This is an 11" x 14" oil painting that I did yesterday afternoon. I admire the work of Henri Matisse and they say you can learn by copying the 'Old Masters' so this is a copy of "The Green Line", 1905. It's a portrait of his wife, Madame Matisse. I love the colors and it was so much fun to paint! Thank goodness Matisse isn't alive to see how I butchered his wife's portrait! Click here is to see an image of the original painting and you will see what I mean.

Finished Jackrabbit

I finished my 14" x 11" oil painting of the Jackrabbit this weekend. I uploaded the reference photo that I used above because I personally find it interesting to see how other artists interpret what they see.

Jack Rabbit in process

Here is my latest painting that is currently setting on my easel. It's an iry painting of a jack rabbit and I haven't decided if it's finished or not. Carla is coming to paint with me tonight so I'll get her opinion. I haven't been pleased with the last few paintings that I've made so I haven't uploaded them on my blog. My huge stack of rejects is growing.

My Uncle Clyde Taylor

My uncle Clyde Taylor (my father's brother) passed away October 13th at the age of 80. The above photo was taken in 1952 so he would have been around 23 years old. He is survived by his wife Ruby, two brothers, daughter Patsy, son-in-law Joe, one granddaughter and two great grandchildren. Clyde was one of my favorite uncles. He served in the Army and the Navy and then worked at Tinker Field until he retired.

It's been hard losing an aunt and an uncle within three days time. I don't usually post family photos on my blog but I felt this would help me through the mourning stage.

More about Opal

Above is my aunt Opal Bullock when she was 23 years old. She was a beautiful woman. She was a hair stylist so her hair always looked nice and she had beautiful skin.

This photo was taken around 1941 when gasoline was rationed and people were riding bikes. Above are a few of my aunts, uncles, and cousins. From left to right; Marion Kay, Armelda Kay, Lela Kay, Ray (Opal's 1st husband), Opal, Elbie Kay (in the wheel chair), seated are Opal's children, Eula and Pearlie. (My mother's maiden name is Kay.)

This photo was taken at a family reunion in 2001. From left to right is Art Kay, Opal Bullock, Mary Ruth Taylor (my mother), Lela McKey, Armelda Kay Randall, and Roy Kay. Opal and Roy are now deceased.

Opal K. Bullock

My Aunt Opal Bullock born March 8, 1917 and died October 11, 2009. She was my mother's oldest sister and she will be dearly missed by all her family and friends. This is an older photo that was taken on her 76th birthday.....she was 92 years old when she passed. She has two surviving daughters, one brother, three sisters, 6 grandchildren, & 8 great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her parents, 3 brothers, and 2 sisters. Opal was an excellent cook so I'll always remember her good food and her infectious laugh.

FAO October Meeting

I attended the FAO meeting last night. Betsy Rowland and Mary Tevington (pictured above) presented the program on Radical Jewelry Make Over. They took a workshop at Penland this past summer and shared their experiences with us. It was a great meeting! They allowed the members to rummage through their goodies and make jewelry to take home.

They made this necklace while they were at Penland.

Mary just loves this hope punch! I think she bought it at Michaels if I'm not mistaken.

FAO group hovering around the tables of 'goodies'.

Forest Path - WIP

Here is my current painting that is in process and is still on my easel. I got a new slr camera yesterday so I'm trying it out. The Nikon D3000 is my Christmas present.....Santa just delivered it early! He arrived in a wonderful disguise yesterday driving a big brown truck and wearing a brown uniform. Santa has way too many packages to deliver this year so I was among the lucky ones that received mine early. I'm sure it's because I've been such a nice girl all year.

Rooster and Hens

I took the above photo at Tina's farm last spring when I went there to do some plein air painting. I like chickens so I tried my hand at painting them. I'm not really pleased with the painting and I've been having serious doubts about my abilities to paint. I guess that's normal for an artist and maybe those feelings of inadequacy is what drives us to try harder.