Time to put the tree away

Another Christmas has come and gone, and is time to take the decorations off the tree, and put it all away for another year. I pray that 2012 will be a wonderful healthy and peaceful New year for us all. Happy New Year.

Christmas 2011

The Powell Kids Christmas 2011.

Keri, Dustin, Karla in Pink, Kenyon, Kenley,
Hunter in gray, and Amber

We had a fun Christmas Celebration, with lots of snow on the ground!
Kenley brought Pizzas, and Karla read the Christmas story, and Hunter
and Karla were Santa, giving out the gifts. It was a very special time.
We are very blessed to have been given the family that we have! and very
thankful that God gave his Son so we would have life ever lasting.
We could never thank Him enough.
John 3:16

T-Bone Blanket

Keri and T-Bone with their Christmas Blanket

Painting of T-Bone

Fabric made at www.spoonflower.com with the image of my painting. I put a layer of batting and flannel, and quilted it with my sewing machine. They loved their little 'blankee'.

Christmas Memories

I found this old car in Lubbock, TX, and thought it would make a nice card.
This painting was poured, using red, blue and yellow. I used miskit on the tree limbs, and top of car and part of the snow on the ground. It was done a few years ago, but I always have fun dragging out some of my favorites. This is what it looked like here during Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. We don't normally have a white Christmas and it was beautiful.

Nativity

When our kids were little they dressed up in towels, and played 'Christmas'. This is from a photo i found of them. They had a little wooden stool and Keri had her doll wrapped up and laying on it, and they were praying. It was so cute. I just made up the background. This was done 'several' years ago, but always brings back such sweet memories for me. They probably don't even remember it!

Joy to the World

The Lord is Come, Let Earth receive her King...

Jesus is the Reason

I wish every one would remember what we are celebrating!
The birth of Jesus!

The Little Drummer

One of my favorite Christmas songs is the 'Little Drummer Boy', and this was done for a little girl. That little girl is married now! goodness..time flies! She had sheep, and must have played the drum. I can't remember. It was that long ago. Merry Christmas!

Coming Home

We have a lot of men and women coming home for Christmas...and some that can't be home...Merry Christmas to all of them!

Last Day of School

The last day of school before Christmas is so exciting to the kids! And teachers, and bus drivers.
The snow kids are getting on the bus with their gifts for their teachers, and friends.

The Piano Player

Both of our kids took piano lessons for years. There is no telling how many miles we drove, just for them to learn. It was always such a joy to hear them play, and practice. Just to hear the beginning of a new song, and then hear it after it was learned was such fun for me. I know a lot of parents hated to hear their kids practice, but I can honestly say I loved it every time they sat down at the piano. Now I miss hearing it so much. Our piano is out of tune, and needs their touch again! I am so glad God gave us music to enjoy!

Choir Program

I am in choir at our church, but have been unable to attend due to my eye surgery, and
tonight our choir came out and sang Christmas carols, along with a basket of goodies, and we enjoyed it so much! So, This is in their honor! Thanks First Baptist Choir!

The Hair Dresser

This funny little snow hair dresser was painted a while back. It was such fun to do.
The snow 'lady' is getting all ready for the holidays!
It can be personalized for your hair dresser too.

Lady Lake and Mr.Moon

This snow lady was done for an artist friend, who lives in Minnesota, by a lake. She writes every day about Lady Lake and Mr. Moon. Her writings are so good, I hope she will publish them someday.

Coming Home

'Coming Home' was a fun painting to do. I love old vehicles, Christmas, Snow, and Christmas trees, so I just put them all together. This painting sold a while back.

O Come Let Us Adore Him

This Painting "O Come Let Us Adore Him' was done for a family with two girls.

The Mom wanted it to depict her 2 daughters worshiping. It was fun to do.

They had 2 cats and they had to be in it too!

First Snow!

After months and months of no moisture we got a good snow! As farmers we are always so excited for any kind of rain, sleet, snow...whatever God wants to send us! So...Thank you God for the moisture for our land!
This was painted last year. All our tractors are 'green and yellow!'

Christmas Studio

This is one of the first things I have painted since I had my eye surgery. Was fun to do. I have missed painting a lot! Hopefully, I will be back at it full time again...soon. This one is called ' Christmas Studio' and can be personalized with any artist's name.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL...It is coming!

Seabee and Family

Seabee & Family

My cousin is married to a  Seabee and he is NOT at home at this time of year. 

I can't imagine how hard that must be.  She ask me back several months ago about 

painting their family, and  has given me permission to post it here.  These are such

fun for me to do, and I have done so many over the years. I feel blessed to get 

take family favorites, and make it fun for them.  Merry Christmas to this special family

who helps protect us all.

Best Friends

I found this drawing before I had my eye surgery, just waiting to be painted, so I did this about a month ago, waiting for the right time to put it on the blog.  I love scooters and this is my second Christmas card with one.
Keri and I saw a red and white one in Dallas, that we loved, so this one had to be red and white.
I pray that we will all remember the true meaning of Christmas. ...Jesus' birthday and His love for us.

Dennis

'Dennis'

Viet Nam 1968-69

20x20 torn paper collage

 

Unfinished portrait of Dennis with Photo

Dennis, a very good friend of ours, emailed me and ask me if I would do his portrait from Viet Nam for his wife for Christmas, and it not only scared me to death, but also honor that he would trust me with it.

I told him I would try but no promises.  When he sent his pictures they made me cry, at the thought of what he and his wife and family went through knowing he was in such danger. Every picture he sent me had a special story about it.  I printed out some some of his writing, and put it on the edges of the canvas. I printed his photos out, and made them in a gray color, and put them in it too.Their daughter was born while he was gone so her birth date is on it.

There is a lot of history , sadness, courage, honor, bravery and love in his story.  I was surprised at some of the words I was able to find to go on it, that was just the right thing.

He decided to give it to his wife on Veterans day instead of waiting for Christmas. We are very fortunate to have men and women who will go and serve and defend our wonderful country., no matter what their part was.   I am married to one myself.

And I want to say Thank you to Dennis for sharing this time of his life with all of us.  It has been a long time coming. I am very honored to have gotten to do this for him and his family.

In Honor of Veterans Day

For Veterans Day

I hope we stop and remember those who have served our country for whatever reason. War or Peace, and think of those who have given the ultimate...their life. There are many men and women who are away from home for months, years at a time. Thanks to them! Thanks to my family members who served. Ken was in the Navy for 4  years.....Thanks for our  friends who served. 

So I am posting this little flag in their honor! along with the steps I took to paint it.

I did this painting a while back, took photos of the steps,and thought I would show how I work with watercolor.

  STEP #1

I do a drawing the size that I want with pencil, then I go over it with a sharpie or black pen, and use my light box to transfer onto 140 lb arches cold press or WN rough watercolor paper. Keeping your pencil lines light,  using a vinyl eraser if you have to correct.

STEP #2

 I use Manganese blue mixed with Permanent Rose,a little ultramarine blue, and sometimes some turquoise to paint in the shadows, and I use this technique all the time. Sometimes I add a tiny bit of orange.

When you paint over it, it shows through as a shadow, and You can always add local color to it as you go. I try to paint the shadow about 40% if possible.

STEP#3

For some reason, this photo is much lighter, but you can see where I stared in adding the flag color.

I love to use a lot of reds.  I use Alizarin Crimson for my darkest red, and I LOVE Bright Red for the sunlit areas of the flag. I use dark blues along with ultramarine blue for the blue leaving the stars white. I normally dont mask them.If I need more shadow on the flag I use ultramarine blue. It will really pop a shadow when you use it last.

STEP #4

I just continue on adding the leaves, stems, and flowers. Using the dark and light red where it is in sun or in shadow. I love thalo yellow green, and I put that with yellow down first on the leaves, along with some burnt orange, and some reds that are in the flowers. I used Burnt orange and oranges for the clay pot, using some kosher salt for texture.

STEP #5

  This is the finished piece. I painted the background with some blues,leaving some white showing through,

and finished the big metal pot it was sitting in.

Just Graz'n

Just Graz'n was painted a while back, but decided to post it for my friend Lola Douglas who loves horses so much. Wish our pasture looked like this one...ours is pretty dry!

Halloween Challenge

'SPOOKTACULAR COWGIRL'

I was invited to do a painting for a 'Halloween Challenge' by Chris Beck, along with  Pablo Villicana Lara. 

At first I was a little hesitant, since I am not real crazy about Halloween, but I do love to see the cute kids in their costumes, etc. so I agreed, then I had problems trying to decide what to do!

When Keri and I went to the Ft.Worth Stockyards, I saw the cutest skeleton decoration.  She had a green feather boa, and orange flip flops, and a witch hat, so I turned her into a Texas Cowgirl Skeleton!  A friend said she could have a western hat, and at the same time we both said AND BOOTS! so wa-la! Here she is, in all her black and orange with her best friend 'Midnight' the Black Cat at her side.
She could be called 'October Cowgirl' or 'Texas Halloween'...

There were several ideas on that, but Spooktacular Cowgirl won out.

This is Torn Paper Collage using magazines for my 'paint.' This art from is pretty addictive, and so much fun!

Below is a list of artists who were in the challenge. The top two were the organizers.

Please go to the top two websites to see everybody's work together, and then you can go to each separately if you want to. These are all wonderful artists, and I am honored to have been ask to join them! Please leave them a comment after you view their work.

Challenge organizers:

Chris Beck:  http://chrisbeckstudio.blogspot.com/

Pablo Villicana Lara:  http://www.mylittlepaintbox.blogspot.com/


List of Participants
Janet Belich:  http://janetbelich.blogspot.com/

Debbie Cannatella:  http://www.dcannatella.blogspot.com/

R. Garriott:  http://www.rgarriott.blogspot.com/

Jeanette Jobson:  http://illustratedlife.blogspot.com/

Ron Morrison:  http://watercolourproductions.blogspot.com/

Diahn Ott:  http://artbydiahn.blogspot.com/

Suzy Pal Powell:  http://www.suzypal.blogspot.com/

Terry Rafferty:  http://terryrafferty.blogspot.com/

Kay Smith:  http://kaysmithbrushworks.blogspot.com/

Deb Ward:  http://debwardart.blogspot.com/

Brenda York:  http://brendayork.blogspot.com/ 

Collage Workshop

 Wadonna Davis, Somita Fekete, Alice Hahn, Jena Jones, Beverly Ellis, Jan Wilson & June Carruth

We had our collage workshop this week end in Plains, and had such fun! Every body did a great job.
We had a geologist from Midland, 2 art teachers from Lubbock, a retired teacher from Hobbs, NM, a teacher from Eunice NM  and two from Plains.
We had such fun, with lots of laughs.The students are what make a successful workshop! Thanks you'll!

Midland Juried Art Show

Lets Dance!

I am honored that this torn paper piece was accepted into theMidland Art Association/Midland College 34th Annual Fall Juried Art Show. The show will be open from October 14 through November 11 at the McCormick Gallery, Allison Fine Arts Building in Midland.  I was told that there were a lot of entries, and they could only take a certain amount due to space.

This was done with magazine pages, and I used an acrylic wash on the background.

Demo in Midland, TX

Today I was honored to do a torn paper demo in Midland, TX..  My sister went with me and we had a great time. Haven't seen each other in about a year. (ridiculous) As I drove up, Barbara read the sign, and I got so excited, and told her we had to get a photo!

There was a big crowd, and they were so gracious, and interested, and excited to see how the torn paper was done.  I am doing a workshop there in March, and they told me today that the workshop was full. I put the bottom picture so you could see the cowboy I was working on. Of course I didn't even get through. I sold 2 pieces! Yeah! One of the boots and an old pick-up.

It was a lot of fun, but boy I am beat. Got up at 4:30 this a.m. to get there in time! What we will do for art!

The Red Door

Another old pick up. I have 2 photos of different pick ups, with ths red door. I don't know why it is this color unless they made them like this one year. It actually just looks like rust in the photo.

Another fun painting for me! This has some gouache in the sky.

Southwestern Watercolor Society, Dallas TX

 Naomi Brotherton, Carrollton, TX with her painting

Daughter~ Keri

 My  Garden Chair

5th painting accepted

 Kay Smith, Big Spring ,TX

 Naomi presenting me with my Signature Status

 Diane Jones, friend from Keller,TX

 
This past week end the Southwestern Watercolor Society Show was held at the PFamily Arts Center in Plano TX. Keri (my daughter) and I flew to Dallas, to be there for the reception.
It was such fun, and a great honor not only to get my signature status but to have one of my favorite artist friend present it to me!  I met Naomi Brotherton in 1999 in Graham TX.   I went to Graham to take her workshop, and we have been good friends since that time. She is a wonderful friend, and a wonderful artist.
She is still teaching! Every week! I hope when I am her age, I can too!
Kay Smith from Big Spring, another good friend was also in the show,  and was there to accept her award.. A good school friend, Diane and her husband, Everett also came to help us celebrate. It was so good to get to see them!

Tokio Post Office

This is Tokio Post Office, taken back years ago. It is gone now. The building is not even there. I was so sad when I drove by, and it was gone.
This painting was done by pouring the paint.  I mixed it up in cups, and poured three colors. Yellow first, where I wanted the sun shine, then blue and red in the sky. I had to mask out the whites. After it was dry, then I did the detail with a brush.

New QR-Code for my website

I  have been seeing these on everything lately, and I looked it up, and it is the same thing as a bar code, Called QR-Code.  You just go to
http://www.mobile-barcodes.com/qr-code-generator/
and you can make your own code for your website, phone, or email.
It seems like their is always something new electronically! If you have a smart phone, you can download the barcode scanner. They are all free.
Just hold your phone over the square, and my website will come up, and you can view it from your phone! cool huh?

Tokio Cross Roads

Tokio Cross Roads

This old truck was buried up in weeds, in Tokio TX. Tokio is an old 'little bitty' town that is now just a ghost town.  All the buildings are falling down. There are so many memories from Tokio! I never lived there, but I hear so much about it, since so many of Plains people used to live there. Some dear friends met there at the Baptist Church, and married, over 40 years ago! It was a wonderful little town in its' day. My Granddad used to tell me stories about he and my Grandmother riding their horses to Tokio for 'play parties.'

If you ever travel on US 82 between Plains and Brownfield TX you will go thru this special place.

I have painted all the buildings, and they have fallen down since then! I will post them next.

By the way, this truck disappeared after I painted it!

Old DeSoto

Old DeSoto

I have painted this more than once! I love this old car. I have such fun painting these old relics.

I wonder where all they have been, how many miles are on them. How many secrets they might know!

I wonder how much they cost 'back in their day'