exists to create art which reflects the beauty and the glory of God, to use art to comfort and encourage people, and to inspire others to pursue the arts.
I took the photo of this adorable child at a picnic in which she was intently eating a hotdog covered with ketchup. Her face had ketchup on it, also, but I managed to leave that out of the portrait. LOL! This is an 8×10 oil on canvas.
A toddling little girl is a centre of common feeling which makes the most dissimilar people understand each other. — George Eliot
This cat’s eyes drew me in. I had to at least make an attempt.
Oils on 11×14 stretched canvas. It took two days. It actually took me a few hours just to get set up before I could even start painting. LOL! I try to save my paints from one painting to the next, but there comes a time when you must scrape the palette and start from scratch.
By the way, I don’t always agree with the quotes that I use. In this case, there are much more than two means of refuge from the miseries of life. But, I do agree with John Singer Sargent when he said, “A portrait is a painting with something wrong with the mouth.”
There are two means of refuge from the miseries of life: music and cats. — Albert Schweitzer
Well, it is here. Cool, sunny, beautiful autumn. And here is a painting in tribute to the change of seasons. This one is 11×14 and it took me two days. I think, once again, I have bitten off more than I can chew. I don’t think I can do a painting a day. LOL!
Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns. — George Eliot
Hanoi
A bowl of green and grey and black,
with mountains all around.
The lofty buildings heavenward stack,
the air is full of sound.
A dazzling maze of streets and lanes,
a web of alleys long,
The roads all bearing heroes' names,
all avenues of song.
The streets do sing of long-gone times,
all tunes of joy and pain,
The blaring horns of speeding cars
are echoes of the same.
In darkest night the peddlers roam
and seek to make a sale,
Their cry for us to buy their wares,
a great, impoverished wail.
The stately trees that line the streets,
and spread their lofty boughs,
Have shaded many creatures' heads,
from kings to peasants' cows.
The aged buildings here abound,
French villas with an asian flare,
Colonial lords and ancient kings
do these long avenues share.
When the burning midday comes,
then all the city rests,
From the portliest of businessmen,
to the smallest household pests.
Throughout the day the tools are heard,
construction hourly swells.
A tale of economic growth
this hectic medley tells.
The food with which the people live
is perhaps the world's best,
With all the charms of local spice
and tantalizing zest.
If once you stroll down a busy street,
amidst the hour of lunch,
It will not be hard to find some food
that will be good to munch.
The people, too, in most respects,
are jovial company,
Their happy airs and sensible ways
will not be hard to see.
Mr. McFall is currently a resident of Hanoi, Vietnam. He is a multi-talented student and all-around good guy. I’m not saying that just because he is my nephew, either. LOL!
All the roads of Hanoi are beautiful, but the road to your home is the best. — Anonymous
This is a lovely little crooked vase that I set up in my light box. I initially had put a mirror behind it, but that proved too complicated. At least for right now. So, I turned the mirror around and adjusted the lamp. I think it made some nice shadows and reflections. The light from the window also caused some nifty glints. Unfortunately, it also caused glints in the wet paint. When it is dry, I don’t think you will see the brush marks as easily.
If it weren’t for painting, I wouldn’t live; I couldn’t bear the extra strain of things. — Winston Churchill
This was a quickie. I felt the pressure to get a painting done, but couldn’t find anything that inspired me to paint. LOL! I like it, but I feel like I was in too much of a hurry.
The snowdrop and primrose our woodlands adorn, and violets bathe in the wet o’ the morn. — Robert Burns
Well, I have already gone off my plan to do a painting a day. The plan was to do a painting each weekday, but Monday was busy and then, when I got downstairs to my studio to actually start painting, we got a whopper of a storm. We turned off all the computers and lit oil lamps and hunkered down. We got up yesterday to a yard almost completely covered, around the house, with fallen branches. But, we consider ourselves very blessed that the house, vehicles, animals, and people were untouched.
We did not get as much damage as some and we did not have our electricity out for more than a few minutes. Ron is working on the clean-up. I wish I could help, but I have back and foot problems.
So, this painting is an apple that I picked off our tree. It is tiny and wormy, but I got it’s best side. LOL! The banana is much bigger in real life.
I forgot to take a sketch photo, but I actually didn’t do much sketching. I just started painting on a white canvas. It was a little rough getting all the canvas covered, without little dots of white showing through. But, I think I managed. Hopefully, I will get a painting a day done for tomorrow and Friday.
The smallest seed of faith is better than the largest fruit of happiness. — Henry David Thoreau
The reference photo was taken at Bonnie’s place, White Oak Farms, in the woods behind her house. The difficulty in this particular piece was the white. It was hard to get a light enough color without blowing out the white. I started with a toned canvas, which may have been my problem. I maybe should have started with a white canvas. I hope I am learning my lessons. LOL!
I am reading more books! Wow! LOL! I have read so many recently that I can’t think of them. Maybe I will get together a list in a couple of days. Until then, I will tell you the most recent few. I re-read The Wind in the Willows. I love that book! If you have not read it, you must just to get to know Toad of Toad Hall. And, of course, Water Rat, Mole, and Badger. Oh, I love that book! Did I already say that? LOL! And I have a particularly nicely illustrated copy.
I am almost finished with Bracebridge Hall by Washington Irving, which is so funny and interesting. When I am finished with this I will move on to The Alhambra by Irving. I got a copy of the book while we were living in Spain, near the Alhambra, but I never actually read it. It is time! And I just started Rebel Yell by S. C. Gwynne about Stonewall Jackson, one of my favorite Civil War personalities. So far, it appears that it will be a very good book.
What are you reading?
As I was walking with Toby around our yard, yesterday, I was keeping my eyes open for things to paint. I picked up some leaves. I brought them into the house, put them in my light box, and took some photos. I love this photo, but I will not be painting it during September, because it is one that would take a long time. I don’t want to do a quickie of it. It is two red hawthorn leaves, a green redbud leaf, a yellow birch leaf, and a yellow mulberry leaf.
Here are a few more photos from the last day or so. I took them and processed them with my phone. I was surprised how well they came out.
Below is the sketch of the trillium painting. I toned the canvas with a mixture of all the paint left on the palette from a few paintings ago and then did the sketch with purply gray.
There is a serene and settled majesty to woodland scenery that enters into the soul and delights and elevates it, and fills it with noble inclinations. — Washington Irving
This is day three of my September painting challenge. I am trying to do these as quick as possible, but this one still took me about six hours. Ugh! I am also trying to do it without drawing it with pencil and getting it as precise as possible before applying paint. I am trying to draw a very simple drawing with paint and then build on that. LOL! Let’s hope this thing works for me (making me better)…
Do Lipton employees take coffee breaks? — Steven Wright
I have decided to do a painting a day for the month of September (the five weekdays). It is said that if you will challenge yourself to do a painting a day for 30 days that you will make significant improvements in your painting. We will see…
All of these paintings will be in oils and on an 8×10 support. Yesterdays was on canvas. This one is on a panel.
I didn’t grow up around wild horses, no. But I’ve appreciated their beauty and their power ever since I can remember. — Ricky Schroder
Virginia C. McCoy Fine Art 
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