Good Bye My Little Girl

Hello Everyone;
Today is a personal post.  My wife and I lost our little girl Julietta last night.  She was a 27 year old cockatiel that we had for 23 years.  She was not sick or in pain, just old.  Yesterday evening, she had difficulty keeping her eyes open,  moved around very slowly and had no appetite.  Laura and I spent some really good quality time with her before we put her to bed for the night knowing she may not make it through the night.  Sure enough,  I found her this morning at the bottom of her cage.  We all had our good byes together last night and she went peacefully.
Every night, Laura would hand feed her angel hair pasta to go along with the seed in her cage.  Every Saturday night, she would sit on my shoulder and I would share Rold Gold pretzel sticks with her.  She gave us a lot of joy and love for only being 3.5 oz's.  When Laura and I were home, she would be let out of her cage so she could play with us.  She could not fly well so we kept her wings cut so she would not hurt herself so her main mode of transportation was waddling from one end of the couch to another.  We went to Menards today and bought a really nice pot and buried her in it with new flowers she will help grow and be as beautiful as she was.  Laura and I never had kids of our own, so she was a close as it got for us and we loved her dearly.  We are sad she is no longer with us, but we are grateful for the wonderful 23 years we had together.
Here is where she will rest.  The pink flowers and little bird were from my parents who spent a lot of time with her as well.  I realize this may seem silly to some people, but when you spend that much time with a living creature, you form a bond that is very real and very important.  She will be missed and we loved her and neither of us will apologize for that.

Have a truly Blessed day my friends and never ever be ashamed of showing love to any of God's wonderful creatures.

How About A New Watercolor Painting?

Hello All;
I hope everyone is doing well.  Today I had nothing on my mind.  Normally, when I get ready to paint I usually have something in mind.  Whether it is what medium I will be using or what subject matter I would paint.  Today, I had no idea.  I walked into my studio not even really knowing if I wanted to paint or just sit on the couch and watch re runs of A Big Bang Theory.  Unless I am sick, I pick painting over watching television pretty much every time.  Whenever I am not sure of what I am doing, I always pick up my watercolors and my sketch book and I doodle.  Sometimes I swatch the colors I swatched a hundred times over already, but the trick is to put paint to paper.  I did that for about fifteen minutes or so when an image came into my mind.  There it is.  I went from doodling to a finished painting within the same studio time.  Even if your main medium is not watercolors, keep a small sketch book and a small travel set with you for those artist block occasions.  Watercolor doodling or sketching is a great way to get your mind into a painting frame work.  Once that happens, then grab your preferred medium and go at it.  I talk to so many people that are somewhat new to art and they insist on everything being perfect before they can paint anything.  Whenever I can, I tell them, just paint.  It really does not matter what you paint so long as you put paint to paper.  Once you start painting, doodling or whatever you want to call it, your creative side will eventually take over and your artist block is gone.  Try it, I bet you will be pleasantly surprised.  Have a Blessed and safe day my friends.

Masters Touch Products; 5" X 7" Canvas Panel Oil Painting

Hello All;
I hope everyone is doing well.  I realize everyone is getting antsy to venture from your homes and I can say I am no different.  Here in Illinois, it is 60 degrees today, but most things are closed.  So, I put in my Jimmy Buffet cd, open some windows and paint.  This is my newest oil painting I used Masters Touch products only.  The paint and the canvas panel was from Hobby Lobby before the close down.  I stocked up on panels and paint the day before they closed.  I will not replace my normal oil paints and primed hard board with Masters Touch products, but to be truthful, they are much nicer then I originally thought they would be.  The panels have a rigid backing and a nicely textured painting surface.  The oil paints go on well and the colors are vibrant.  The oil paints do have light fast ratings on the back of each tube that is pretty good as well.  My only real issue is the drying time.  Thicker applications dry much slower then artist grade oil paints.  Now don't get me wrong, they do not take weeks or months to get dry to the touch, but it is a bit longer then what I like.  I am averaging a full week to get touch dry and that is with using walnut alkyd medium from M Graham.  Even so, a week for oil paints is not that bad.  If your looking for a pretty decent student grade oil paint at a great price, by all means, try them out.  I think you will like them.  Have a Blessed day and hang in their my friends.

New Oil Painting; Pallet Knife Try

Hello Everyone;
I was not really sure of what to paint today, but I knew I wanted to paint.  I have two plastic pallet knives I bought at Hobby Lobby awhile ago and use them primarily to clean off my pallet when I am finished painting for the day.  Since I had nothing special in mind, I decided to use them to paint a picture.  This is an 11" X 14" oil painting completed 100% with two plastic pallet knives.  I actually don't hate it.  As a matter of fact, it is growing on me a bit.  No lie, they are really tough to get used to, but I do like the different textures and effects i was able to get with them.  I am not sure if I will try this again, but it is tempting.  I did not waste anywhere near the paint I thought I would, and point of fact, it was a whole lot of fun.  I know I will go through all of the YouTube videos tonight on knife painting to see all of the little tips and tricks needed to paint with this equipment.  I don't know, maybe I have found something else to add to my art.  Please believe me when I say, NEVER EVER be afraid to fail.  Always try new things and always think outside of your comfort zone.  When you challenge yourself mentally, you find things about yourself you never thought possible.  New ideas, thoughts, likes and skills.  We can not grow unless we fail and we can not fail if we don't try.  Always try.
Have a blessed and safe Good Friday my friends.

New Watercolor Painting; Aquabord Painting

Hello Everyone;
It has been a little while since I posted a watercolor painting.  Here is one I just finished this evening.  It is a 5" X 7" watercolor landscape painting on a piece of aquabord.  I know you have heard me talk about how much I love painting on this surface and also, how difficult it is to get the hang of this surface.  Both are still true, but I am feeling a bit more comfortable with this support.  Like anything else I guess, nothing of value comes easy.  The more we practice, the better we become.  I believe that will also be true with my aquabord adventures.  I hope by now, everyone realizes that in order to be good at painting, or anything for that matter, it takes a lot of effort.  Whenever you see a painting you love, a world class athlete, great actor or incredible musician or anyone else that excels at any given profession, they all have one thing in common.  They all worked their tails off.  Anyone could be great at something, but our greatness or lack there of is in direct correlation to the amount of effort and sacrifice we are willing to do.  Work hard, enjoy the journey and see what happens.  You may be pleasantly surprised.
Have a blessed day.