GOMEZ AND MAMA - PAINTING #35!!!!

Here we are at THE END of the 7 weeks of a painting a day- 5 days a week. Thank you all for the encouragement and advice you've given and for following along with this blog. I hope you've enjoyed the artwork and that it's encouraged you to pick up a pencil or paint brush and create your own works of art. For me, it's been a great learning experience, and an exciting, exhilarating, grit your teeth, nerve tingling, challenge that makes me both sad and relieved to see it come to an end. Several times, in these past 7 weeks, when life was rushing too fast, I thought I was going to have to bail out on my goal, but, somehow kept putting one brush stroke after another until the difficult times passed. I've gained a good bit of speed since this series started and have 35 more paintings than I did too!
I'll be working on the 4 unfinished paintings (the Alamo, The Riverwalk, Gateway to the West, and Strutting his Stuff) Monday and Tuesday and will post them as soon as they're completed. The kids will be out of school for the Thanksgiving holiday and I'm going to spend some time with them. After that, maybe we'll start a new goal?
For all you artist's out there, Austin is having a tour of studios this weekend. I don't have the details on it - google it if you want to go too. My youngest daughter and I are going to go check it out.

Today's painting, Gomez and Mama, are some adorable donkeys that my husband's friend has and she sent a photo for me to paint them. Thanks so much for sharing the photos, Teresa!
I'm grateful to all of you for joining me in this part of my journey. Have a great weekend everyone!

Gomez and Mama
acrylic
6"x6"
$30.

THE SEASONS BOUNTY - PAINTING #34

How time flies! We're almost at the end of our 7 weeks of "a painting a day" series. I'm going to take a week off and spend some time with my kids and grandkids. My son has been telling me he misses me because I've spent too many evenings painting straight through. Then it'll be back to work (fun) as usual, although they'll be larger in size and they probably won't be completed in a day. Hopefully this fast paced painting has been like a speed drill for a typist. Now it's time to focus again on details and getting everything just right.

Seasons Bounty
Acrylic
6"x6"
$30.

JOHNNY

I took a chance today and did a 1 day portrait. Didn't know how it would turn out, but figured I didn't have to show the picture that it came from if it wasn't similar enough. My son had been in one of his guitar lessons and I was sitting around waiting from it to end when another instructor, Johnny, picked up his guitar and started playing. His music was awesome and while I listened it occured to me that he'd make a great painting subject and,I happened to have my camera with me. Johnny let me take his photo and gave his consent to let me paint his portrait. I showed it to him today, before it was finished, and he seemed to like it. Here's both the photo and the painting.

STRUTTING HIS STUFF

Mr. Turkey is back for the holidays and strutting his stuff in this stylized oil painting. I like this one, but am going to rework his tail feathers and then replace the picture here with the reworked one in a couple of days. I've already wiped the entire tail off once this evening and repainted it but, don't like the second one either, so it's getting wiped it off again as well and will be "fixed" in a couple of days. In case you're wondering, I cut that part of the photo out. :D Couldn't stand to show it.

THE FLAVORS OF COLOR - #31

A fellow artist and his wife invited us to attend a reception, talk, and display on Chocolate, with them at the Sand Antonio Museum of Art last night, and it was as DELICIOUS as it was interesting! There was lots of wine and luscious, decadent, incredible, chocolate samples there for us to enjoy. The company and the reception was wonderful! So, with thoughts of the discussion(s) , the enjoyable art, and the lingering taste of sweets on my mind, comes today's painting The Flavors of Color.

BLONDIE

This painting is an 8"x10" acrylic of a blond maned horse up at my neighbor's ranch. She's such a beautiful animal that I slow down and take a good look each time we pass by. She doesn't especially like being stared at though and too often turns her back to me when the camera comes into sight. Well, it's Friday night and hope you all have a great weekend!

Blondie
Acrylic
8"x10"
$40.

DEEP IN THOUGHT

This is painting #29 and it's an 8"x 10" acrylic of a cat we used to have. His name was Butterscotch and he was an incredibly loving, beautiful cat inside and out. Today was a great day to paint his portrait and now he's immortalized. Tomorrow's painting will be another surprise. Hope you like surprises!

CHILDHOOD PRANKS

This scene is a micro sized cityscape from Santiago Chile and was inspired by my husband who, with his childhood buddy, used to swipe tomatoes from the old shop keeper not far from his home. I'm still having a hard time picturing my husband stealing anything since he's Mr. Honesty, but I guess we all have our moments of doing something we shouldn't have at one point or another. :) Anyway,he CLAIMS they were never caught but told me that after I had already started the painting and I left it as is. It's more interesting like this. My hubby's dad told us the old man is still there and took a photo of him and his shop and sent it to us.
This is it for the Cityscapes for this week. I've run out of good photos and don't have the time to go take some better ones at the moment. The rest of this week and all of next week will be surprises.

Childhood Pranks
oil
6"x6"
$30.

GATEWAY TO THE WEST

The St. Louis Gateway is a huge, stainless steel, arch that stands by the Mississippi river at the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial park in St. Louis, Missouri and represents St. Louis’ role as the gateway to the West. It stands 630 ft. tall by 630 ft. wide at the base and is supposed to be the largest monument in the U.S. I just found out that there is a tram system in the hollow insides that carries people to an observation deck on top of the arch. I've driven by that arch at least 6 times and never knew that you could go inside it! Thank you, Internet! This is an 8"x10" oil painting for the "painting a day" series.

Gateway To The West
oil
8"x10"

SAN ANTONIO RIVERWALK

This week's painting subject is cityscapes and todays' is of the San Antonio Riverwalk. It's such a beautiful place with so many sites just begging to be painted. I'm not sure if I'll do another San Antonio scene this week or not yet. This one isn't quite finished and, although I painted all weekend long, the Grand Canyon and the Alamo from last week are still waiting for me. The one of the Grand Canyon is getting close though. Tomorrow I'll be painting the St. Louis Arch and a part of the river along side of it. We only have 2 weeks left now of the 7 weeks of "a painting a day". Last Monday I was begining to think that I wouldn't be able to make it all the way through the series. Now I'm confident that I can paint the last 9 paintings and then I'm going to really enjoy taking a break. :)

San Antonio Riverwalk
oil
8"x10"
$40.

ALBUQUERQUE'S BALLOON FESTIVAL # 25

One of my aunts and a bunch of cousins live over in Albuquerque and we've gone to visit them many times, but we have only seen the Balloon Festival once - eight years ago - and it was a sight to see! We got lucky that time because some guy was giving tethered balloon rides to kids of all sizes. All my family got a ride in it except me, and, I was too embarrassed to go take the space that an actual kid could have had, and passed it up. The rest of them raved about it. I'd really like to see it again but with a better camera than the one I had then. My family has been watching the progress on this painting and the younger ones are saying they can barely remember it - if at all. Mark your calendars for September if you enjoy big balloons. Old town Albuquerque is a neat place to visit too and, if you can, plan a little extra time to drop down south a bit and see Karlsbad Caverns while you're in New Mexico. I saw the caverns when I was a kid but all I remember of it now is that it was also an incredible sight. If you go, take a few extra pictures for me. :D

Albuquerque's Balloon Festival
oil
8"x10"
$40.

NA POLI COAST, KAUAI - #24

This was an awesome sight that I probably didn't quite do justice to. We were there 18 years ago, paid for a motorized raft ride around the coast line and, this fantastic sight was waiting for us. We moved along the coast and also saw some nude bathers, but, I didn't think you'd want to see that. :)

Na Poli Coast, Kauai
oil
8"x10"
$40.

IN MEMORY OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN

Today's painting is the statue of Abraham Lincoln at the Lincoln memorial, and, since it's election day, thought it would be a fitting subject since he was the one who did away with slavery so that all men could be equal. Too bad it wasn't for the women at that time as well. Way back when I was a kid of 12, my brother, Mom, and I went and saw this site and I remember standing at the base of the statue, looking way, way, up to into the face of that colossal man and thinking he must have been the greatest man ever to have such a towering monument made of him. This morning I read that the sculpture, Daniel Chester French, positioned Lincoln's fingers to form the letters L and A - possibly because he signed a federal legislation giving Gallaudet University, a university for the deaf, the authority to grant college degrees and the sculpture had a son who was deaf. The National Park service claims that is just an urban legend though. Henry Bacon designed the statue and Daniel French and two other men did the actual chiseling. What an amazing job!
This painting is (basically) finished. After the paint dries I'll touch up the face and make it look a little more like Lincoln's and then ad the words, "In this Temple, as in the hearts of the people, for whom he saved the Union, the memory of Abraham Lincoln is enshrined forever", on the wall behind his head, as it is in the monument.

THE ALAMO - also unfinished

Well, I was thinking yesterday must have been some kind of fluke or something (me not getting the painting completed) because I really felt like Super Woman then and did again today. So, I painted another 11"x14" today - and didn't get it finished either! The Subject is the Alamo and it seems to be much simpler than yesterday's Grand Canyon so maybe the size difference is the make or break factor. I'm packing it in for the night. The lines on everything in the painting still need to be straightened, colors deepened, the trees are still missing and so are the people. I'm going back to the 8"x10" or smaller sizes from here on out until the 21st. Too bad. I don't like painting small. This is going to be one very busy week getting them all finished!

The Alamo is something that every Texas painter must do at least once or their status of Texan is seriously questioned. This is my first one. Since it stands for independence and fighting for what one believes in, It seems fitting for today - voting day. Did you go make your vote count? I voted for the first time in my life today because of an e-mail that went around a few weeks ago about the suffragists fighting for women's rights back in my grandma's time. Reading about what few rights women had back then was sickening and shamed me into going to vote - even though I'm not too sure just how much our votes count these days. I did it for my grandma, myself, and for all women.

The Alamo
Oil
11"x14"

GRAND CANYON - UNFINISHED

Today's adventure is an oil painting of the Grand Canyon. Apparently I bit off more than I could do in a one day sitting though and will have to work on completing it in between the other paintings I'll be doing this week. That's right, it's not a one day painting. :O I should have taken a hint from some of those other "painting a day" painters and made a little 3"x4" of an orange or an egg, or something else very simple, but I felt like Super Woman today. So what happened??? Famous landscapes will be the painting subject of this 5 day set. Next week's topic is cityscapes.

Grand Canyon
oil
11"x14"

PLAY WITH ME! - # 20

This little guy is actually a girl. Her name was Leia - after the princess in Star Wars- and she was our dog for 13 years. She was part Corgie mix and part Australian Shepherd and sure was a beauty! She was also incredibly ornery. After someone asked me to paint a puppy I started looking through our old photo books and that sure take me back a ways! I'd post the original pictures to share with you, but, we had a lousy camera back then and they're hard to see -or is that just that I need new glasses?. Anyway, I'm working on ideas for this weeks paintings this afternoon. If you have anything you'd like to see me paint, please let me know.

Play With Me!
Acrylic
3"x4"

Painting # 19 - MOUSE ATTACK

I've been making room for a couple of family members to move (back) in with us these past few days and had a 3 day splitting headache. I did paint, but couldn't stand looking at the computer screen long enough to get them posted. Sorry.

This puppy is modeled after one of our dogs when he was little. There's a wind up mouse that's driving him crazy and he's loving it. Someone asked me to paint this little guy, so, here he is!

Mouse Attack
Acrylic
3"x4"
$10.

IT WASN'T ME!

This little pooch looked so cute I had to paint his picture. I changed my thoughts on the background and was going to change it around a little, but the paint is too wet to do that now. Maybe later. After looking at this puppy, I dug out my photo book and looked up our dog's baby pictures. That could be tomorrow's painting.

IT WASN'T ME!
oil
4"x 3"
$10.

READY FOR FUN

These are a couple of characters that wandered onto our place a few years ago and never left. They've eaten most of my flowers, torn up most of the fencing around here, try to eat the magnetic signs from my vehicle anytime I forget to remove them, and have rubbed their horns on a few nice cars, but they kind of make up for the mischief they've caused by their friendly, lovable, personalities. They don't care much for being looked at through the camera lens though and it was tough getting some good photos of them. Now you can see how adorable they look as well.

READY FOR FUN
oil
9"x12"
$50.

BLUE IRIS

A blue iris, because Iris asked for one.

Blue Iris
acrylic
9"x12".

FAIRY LIGHTS

Painting #15 finished! It's an elf who's found some tiny fairies in the dark woods. This is one that I've thought about painting for a while but only today got around to doing it. Hope you enjoy it and have a great weekend everyone!

FAIRY LIGHTS
acrylic
5"x7"
$15.

DRAGON VS. KNIGHT - #14

Here we go once again, back to the land of long ago (or, fantasy). The knight looks as though he's going to be toast, but will he? Maybe he's related to Indiana Jones and will take the chain that's hanging on the other side of his belt (that we don't see) and toss it up around the dragon's head, distracting it just long enough to make it to the trees? Or perhaps the damsel in the castle has sent her falcon to distract the dragon so her love can escape? How do you think the story goes? Would you believe that I saw this at the Renaissance Festival?

DRAGON VS. KNIGHT
oil
6"x6"
$25.

THE LOVERS

Today we dive into the realm of fantasy and oils. The Lovers are a pair of elves that are so completely captivated by each other that they are oblivious to the world around them. It was inspired from a couple that I saw at the Renaissance Festival's 1001 Dreams theme this past weekend. There was a lot of really cool things there and there's nothing like a bit of fantasy to refuel the imagination. Wait until you see what tomorrow brings!

The Lovers
oil
6" x 6"
$25.

Terrie Leyton

GRANDMA'S BOUQUET

Nothing like flowers from grandma's garden! Here we are with another Fall flower watercolor. Let me tell you doing this floral - watercolor combo feels like torture to me. I love flowers, but sure hate painting them. Hope it doesn't show in the paintings - does it?

GRANDMA'S BOUQUET
watercolor
8"x10"
$40.

AUTUMN FLORAL

Someone asked me to paint some watercolor florals when I first started doing "a-painting-a-day" so,that's the plans for this week - although, I may end up yelling "uncle" and switching to oils instead. Today's painting is called Autumn Floral and, as you can tell, it's not finished. Ahhhhg! Yes! It's supposed to be a finished painting but it seems that my second watercolor in this series has beat me as well. I feel like digging in and working in this medium until I can turn out some decent ones, but am not sure if I want to do it right here in front of God and everybody all week long. I've worked on this painting since this morning. It needs to dry a little bit before going back over some areas to ad more details and/ or color but I just can't hang any longer this evening. I'm going to have to re-post it tomorrow. In the mean time, feel free to click on the word "comment" below here in micro print and tell me what you think of it so far.

AUTUMN FLORAL
watercolor
8"x10"
$40.

DREAM BIG

This little guy is thinking his dreams are finally coming true. We all have dreams that we'd like to see come true. Monday voting starts, and because of a dream some women made come true back in 1917, all women now have the right to cast their vote. How many of you know of the "NIGHT OF TERROR", Nov. 15, 1917? That's the night that Alice Paul and 32 other women, who were arrested for demonstrating against President Wilson in front of white house, were thrown in jail and terrorized to make them behave. Women still weren't allowed to own property then either. If you don't remember reading or hearing about the Women's suffrage movement and this Night OF Terror, you should check out this link: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/suffrage/nwp/prisoners.pdf
Hope to see all you ladies out there at the polls this coming week!

DREAM BIG
Acrylic
6"x6"
$25.

FAIR DAY

Fair day! Try your luck at the games! Who can resist them? It's the thrill of chance and the feeling that you're sure you're going to win! Did any of you happen to wander over to the Home Arts area at The Guadalupe County fair last week? I entered 1 painting, called Passing Glances, (it's on my website) and got a champion ribbon. What a sweet surprise that was! Sometimes you just have to take a chance.

FAIR DAY
acrylic
5"x7"
$15.

THE WAY HOME

I read somewhere that to paint well you have to be in the daily habit of painting at a certain time each day and, as time goes by, you one day you find that you're doing more than just painting. You're slipping into the right brain creative mode and are exploring, learning, and growing without even realizing that it's happening.
I'm wondering if a person should jump right in with both feet and paint from the imagination alone to expand the right brain creativeness or if we should still work on the "rules of drawing and painting" as we go along? Last Saturday my son and I went to an art district at LaVillita in San Antonio and checked out the galleries there and it was energizing to see all the different styles and types of art. Ok, it was energizing for me, but for my son, he was happy with the hot dog, pop, and mood ring he got. I wanted to come home and paint some of that bizarre, yet intriguing, art. That said, today was not that day. :D
Today's painting is my own driveway. Yes, it looks as though we don't own a lawn mower, but we do, and sometimes we even use it. Afterwards I'm always rewarded with a great case of poison oak - something there's plenty of here!

THE WAY HOME
acrylic
9"x12"
$50.

PIE BABY - #6

This little Pie Bald Fawn is being raised by my vet and is so adorable and friendly that I thought she'd make a good painting subject. Doesn't she look like she's smiling? Have you ever seen a fawn with this much white on it before? She was inside a building when we took her picture, but, this sunny outdoor setting seems more peaceful and natural to me.

PIE BABY
Acrylic
9" x 12"
$50

Terrie Leyton

FIELD OF FLOWERS

Monday, Monday! Today's painting is a watercolor from a photo I took earlier this Spring out on Hwy 123 S. of Seguin. I'm sorry to say, this painting doesn't do that field of flowers justice. It was a pretty incredible sight and I'm going to repaint it in oils or acrylics - or maybe another watercolor. If at first you don't succeed... do it again. I wasn't going to post this painting, but that would leave me with nothing at all to show for today, so here it is anyway. Now you see that we all occasionally make boo - boos. I'll work on this painting more this coming weekend and will let you know if there's good news. :)

This calls for a positive quote:
"Imagination was given to us to compensate for what we are not; a sense of humor was given to us to console us for what we are". -Mark McGinnis

SHADES OF PINK

Whoo! Hoo! It's Friday and my 5th painting for the week is just now finished! Oh Yeah! I'm probably going to clean my "castle" before the kids and grandkids come over, and then...who knows. This flower is a close up of a wonderful Texas roadside plant that I took a bit of artistic liberty with. It's usually seen as a white flower with lots of pink tinge, but, I like it this way better. Hey, that's why it's a painting and not a photo, right? If the color really bothers you, go ahead and paint one yourself and then show it to me! Now - on to the weekend! Hope yours is a good one!

SHADES OF PINK
Acrylic
9" x 12"
$50

Terrie Leyton

LITTLE RED

I see this horse almost every day on my way into town. Actually, it's neighbor's and he has a field of them and they're all so beautiful that so it's hard to pick just one. Horses are one of my favorite subjects to paint! They're so majestic and yet so naturally down to earth.

Little Red
Acrylic
5"x7"
$15.

Terrie Leyton

THE MOOCHERS - #3

This painting was done from a photo that I took at Mustang Island on Spring break. The seagulls were so fascinating! We brought our lunch on to the beach and at the first sight of food the gulls surrounded us, seemingly hovering in the air, and squawking like crazy. It was a first and it was fun!

THE MOOCHERS
Acrylic
9" x 12"
$50.

PAINTING #2 OF THE GOAL OF 35

Well, here's the next painting! This came from one of the sketches I doodled while looking for a painting idea for a competition this Summer. It's called Angel of the Morning.

ANGEL OF THE MORNING
5"x7"
Acrylic
$15.

Painting #1 of 35

This painting is another view of the Hydro Plant in Seguin, Tx. It's the 1st one for my goal of 35 paintings in 7 weeks. Let me know what you think of it.



Hydro Plant #2
8"x10"
Acrylic
$40.

A PAINTING GOAL

I've set a new goal for myself - a challenge - to paint 1 painting each day, 5 days a week, begining today and ending on November 21st. That will be a total of 35 paintings. I'm excited about it! I have a rather long list of ideas for future paintings, but am thinking that it's not quite long enough. If you have suggestions on things you'd like to see me paint, please blog me on it.
The painting that you see here is one that I did recently. It's the Hydro Plant in Seguin, Tx.
I'll add today's new painting on this evening after it's finished. Hope you'll comment on the paintings and chat with me.

Terrie Leyton

THE IMPORTANCE OF ART

Here we are talking about art while the world around us is in chaos. Some think this is a frivolous subject in times like these. They feel that time and money could be far better spent by focusing on things that will save our planet and correct our society. Well, that's exactly why art is needed so much more now than ever before. Art deepens our creative abilities allowing us to think, reason, and invent better. It helps us understand our history and our culture as no written words ever can. We see illustrations and understand math, science, music, etc., much better with artistic graphics. Look at the effects of art on school children. "Students in "arts rich" schools scored higher in creativity-imagination, expression, cooperative learning, risk-taking, and measures of academic self-concept than students in "arts poor" schools. Teachers and principals in schools with strong arts programs reported that the presence of the arts led teachers to be more innovative, to have increased awareness of students' abilities, and to enjoy work more". www.creatingpride.org/educators/why_art.asp
So, you see, it's not just the children that benefit from art. It's good for adults as well.
Art calms our minds and our bodies and helps us to refocus and maintain our mental and emotional balance and heals the psyche. "Art theraphy is the therapeutic use of art making, within a professional relationship, by people who experience illness, trauma, or challenges in living, and by people who seek personal development. Through creating art and reflecting on the art products and processes, people can increase awareness of self and others, cope with symptoms, stress, and traumatic experiences; enhance cognitive abilities; and enjoy the life-affirming pleasures of making art". www.art-therapy.us/art_therapy.htm
Colors reach into the deepest parts of our emotions and cause us to react to them without consciously realizing it. We can use colors to shift our emotions and heal. www.healing.about.com/cs/colortherapy/a/aa_colortherapy.htm
Think about this; Do we make better decisions and come up with better solutions when we're stressed out and anxious or when we've calmed down to the point of good reason? Maybe we should get out our pencils and paper and start drawing again.