Do any of you have an item you just can't throw away? Well so do I. OR is it Junk and I am in denial?

Do any of you have an item you just can't throw away. Well so do I. I hold on to the memory of friendships with items we have shared together. One such item is our tea tray, which sadly broke this past Thursday while I was carrying in dinner dishes from the patio.This tray holds memories of service to friends and family served tea and special coffees and pie around the table. It holds memories of laughter and stories and heart break in summer, winter, fall .... I hope we can repair it. Most of all it was made by my husband some twenty plus years ago.I have other such memory with a recipe storage book that is falling to pieces. It was a wedding shower gift from one of my favorite aunts, Aunt Christine, whose middle name I have. As a young girl, I was impressed with her kindness and elegance. She taught me how to set a table. She taught me how to create things. She taught be that I could create beautiful things. Yet the recipe book cover itself is more sweet than I prefer, every time I use it I think of her.

40/40 of 40 Consecutive Painting a Day Painting Challenge - Swing So High

Swing So High
11" x 14"
Oil on Panel
$250

This was my quick paint submission for the Cedarburg Plein Air Event.
This is also the 40 Painting of the 40 day Painting a Day Challenge.
I will be going a a vacation from painting for a few days.

39/40 Consecutive Days Painting a Day Challenge - Heavy Cloud

Heavy Cloud
3.5" x 5"
Watercolor on Paper
$50

Tonight I delivered the work to Alyson Cook who curates the exhibits at Beans and Barley, a trendy Eastside eating place.

38/40 of 40 Consecutive Paintings a Day - Walkway

Walkway
11" x 14"
Oil on Canvas
on exhibition at the Cedarburg Cultural Center in the Cedarburg Plein Air Event
June 25-26 silent auction
June 27 open sale
exhibit through July 5
Starting bid $250
Retail if not sold in auction $375

This painting I finished in the morning at 2 AM so I am counting this painting for today. I painted at night on the corner of Columbia and Washington in Cedarburg at their Annual Plein Air Painting competition.

I will post more about the event tomorrow.

37/40 of 40 Consecutive Paintings a Day - Waterpump

Waterpump
11" x 14" unframed
oil
on exhibition at the Cedarburg Cultural Center in the Cedarburg Plein Air Event
June 25-26 silent auction
June 27 open sale
exhibt through July 5
Starting bid $250
Retail if not sold in auction $375

Back of reality building on Washington north of Village Hall

36/40 of 40 Consecutive Paintings a Day - Faded Roses

Faded Roses
10" x 14"
Watercolor on Paper
$75

Faded roses on my kitchen table.

35/40 of 40 Consecutive Painting a Day - Late View of the Mists

Late View of the Mists
11" x 15"
Watercolor on Paper
$100

From photo from trip to Ireland. I was at Malin Head looking over the bay.

34/40 Paintings a Day for 40 Consecutive Days- Birthday Girl II

Birthday Girl II
6" x 7.25"
Watercolor on Paper
$75

This has been a tough Father's day.
My darling, my heart.

"But Zion said, 'The Lord has forsaken me,
the Lord has forgotten me.'
' Can a mother forget the baby at her breast
and have no compassion on the child she has borne?
Though she may forget,
I will not forget you!
See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands;
your walls are ever before me...'
Isaiah 49:14f

A Son, a Dad, and a Treasured Friend

This link is sent to you from http://thestory.org

You are receiving this mail because someone read a page at
The Story from American Public Media
and thought it might interest you.

It is sent by judithreidy@sbcglobal.net with the following comment:
"I heard this program this past Friday and thought it presented two stunning stories, one about a father's love for his children and the second the desire of a young man's love for his father. I found it very interesting how the young man grew up always longing for time with a busy father who left the family when he was seven. It was interesting how the father and he came together when the father retired.



Listen to the stories yourself."

A Son, a Dad, and a Treasured Friend

A father of eleven reunites with the man who helped him settle and gain citizenship in the States. Also, the restoration of an old building brings life back to a father-son relationship.

http://thestory.org/archive/the_story_799_Braceros_Diploma.mp3/mediafile_view

--
webmaster

33/40 of 40 consecutive Day Painting a Day - Birthday Girl

Birthday Girl
6" x 8"
Watercolor on Paper
$75

Once a little girl full of delight had a birthday party.

32/40 0f 40 Consecutive Days Painting - Lee Paulsen

Lee Paulsen
6" x 8"
watercolor on paper
$70

View in Bakery Bontom in Jefferson, WI

31/40 of 40 Consecutive Painting a Day - Treeline in Fall

Treeline in Fall
8" x 6"
Oil on Panel
$85.00
I painted this painting today, in the morning. It is a view of a creek near by. I was quite pleased with it. It was a odd morning with a mist of clouds hanging low in the sky, allowing a veil of soft difused light.

30/40 of 40 Consecutive Paintings a Day - King's Head

King's Head
3.75" x 5.25"
Watercolor on Paper
$60

This was taken from an old photo I had. Regal! Aslan!

29/40 of 40 Consecutive Paintings a Day - Kelly Lake Dock

Kelly Lake Dock
8" x 6"
Watercolor on Paper
$75

Today, I took my small inflatable boat onto to Kelly Lake, rowed across the lake and tied my boat to a raft and began this painting. I worked on it until the rain came down heavily.
Then I rowed to shore loaded the boat and went home.

This secluded lake is a hidden gem in Hales Corners... my little Eden where I can go to decompress.

Oliver is Rescued - what is done for love of cat!!!!

Oliver is Rescued
At first I felt it was a lost cause,
but due to your supportive, non-judgmental comments,
I kept hoping the cat could be returned to us.
I made and distributed fliers, scouted the neighborhood
and after all else failed
prayed.
Thank you for your suggestions,
and support and
most of all thank you for encouraging me to pray!!!!!
You reminded me that, "Every good and perfect gift is from above coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights who does not change like shifting shadows..." James 1:17f
You , your good advice, and your kindness is a another gift in my life.

28/40 of 40 Consecutive Paintings a Day - Mountain of Mist

Mountains of Mist
3.75" x 5.25"
Watercolor on Paper
$50

From photo and memory of Malin Head of Inishowen in Donegal, Ireland.

Appeal to Find our Lost Cat - Oliver

Help up find
Lost Cat, Oliver,
That we love

Indoor Cats can get very scared when they are lost outside, CATATONIC scared.
They try to hide in bushes or in some secluded site. They are often so afraid that they won’t come near even their owners. They can scratch or bite out of fear. Oliver, our cat, normally is very loving and gently persistent, but has a skittish nature in strange new environments...like being outside or with strangers. Normally he hides when strangers visit. He has been friendly with a few.
If you see him,
please call us at 414-529-1624
We live at
5715 South 115th Street
Hales Corners, WI

27/40 of 40 Consecutive Day Painting a Day - Boy

A Boy
6" x 8"
Watercolor on Paper
$75

Comments on My Painting a Day for 40 Consecutive Days Experience

I am going to talk to all of you a little about this painting a day for 40 consecutive days. It has been a good experience to have the goal to do a painting a day and to order my day so that it is a priority to be done. I don't have the pressure of trying to make each painting a great painting, but I do have the challenge of painting and posting. I have learned to more efficiently post images. I suspect that making so many paintings has its own reward in making me "think visually all the time." It can only help but move me along the path of being a better artist. The pattern of making art, thinking art as natural as breathing in an out can only deepen my strength as a painter over time.

I have also begun doing something that I had only dreamt of doing since my advanced drawing class in 2006, making figurative sketches, working on subtle character studies. In the painting a day project I have worked from life on several occasions while in other occasions from photos. I truly like working from life when I can have a long conversation with the person I am drawing. That is ideal, but not always possible. I don't really want to go to a live modeling class situation, because I am more interested in the personality of the person than in their individual body parts. That does not mean I do not believe in the importance of working from a live model in a
life drawing setting. However, I don't want a clinical look of the person. I am going for their mood, their persona. The academic live model in a shared "studio" or "class" situation tends to lend itself to the creation of manikins rather than people with heart and soul, angst or delight...on to the full gamut of human emotion.

In this 40 Day project, sometimes my imagery seems somewhat inconsistent taken as a whole. Part of that is simply getting the painting done, even when I am emotionally tired. I pick a no brainer image, where the form and shape is really the idea for the painting rather than the "character" studies that are more demanding.

Balancing the immersion into the mind set of making art with the business of selling art is a real struggle for me as it is for many artists. It is mental toughness I still must work to possess and release at will.

If you have any thoughts, I would apprecitate your comments.

Painting 26/40 of 40 Consecutive Painting a Day Challenge - Smiling Girl

Smiling Girl
8" x 6"
Watercolor on Paper
$75

I had a great time going through our old family photos when I was preparing the life display poster for my son's high school graduation. Here he is held by his sister in a garden at the Milwaukee domes.

Painting 25/40 of the 40 Consecutive day Painting a Day Challenge - Acker Streen NE, Capitol Hill

602 1/2 Acker Street NE, Capitol Hill
14" x 10"
Watercolor on Paper
$150

This was taken from a drawing and a dim memory of a dusk in Washington D. C. I love the dark evening and the feeling of being alone on the street.

Painting 24/40 of the 40 Consecutive Painting a Day Challenge - Illuminating an Apple

Illuminating an Apple
6" x 7 3/4"
Watercolor on Paper
$75

This was a fun way to end the day.

23/40 Painting of 40 Consecutive Days Painting a Day

Mama
6" x 7.5"
watercolor on paper with ink
$75

yeah mama

Painting 22 of the 40 Consecutive Painting a Day Challenge - Road Uphill at Malin Head 2

Road Uphill at Malin Head 2
16" x 20"
Pastel on Museum Board
$450

I have done several studies for this piece, some in painting a day. Today I complete the big one.

Painting 21/40 of the 40 Consecutive Day Painting a Day Challenge - Some Years Later

Some Years Later

6" x 7.5"
Watercolor on Paper
$50 print
Original not for Sale

Back several years ago, I took an advanced drawing and anatomy class with Stephan Samerjan (now retired) at UW- Milwaukee. I was inspired by the volume of work he demanded of us, the freedom he gave us to explore and the conversations and class critiques in a fresh way.

I had begun doing a series of line drawings of my mother catching her various moods with a few strokes. It was like writing poetry sketches, fluid yet sharp and clear catching a life of their own. I have talked about expanding that figurative series with color. But because I have always done landscape painting and even Plein Air landscape painting once the magic of the classes influence passed, I fell back into my old habits of doing landscape imagery. Yet the desire to return and expand the exploration of the figure remained with me. Now the last week's busyness forced me to do what I always wanted to do all along. Now I am making expressions with the figure.

This one is of my son now.

Painting 20/40 of 40 Consecutive Day Painting a Day Challenge - Young Actor for Spanky

Young Actor for Spanky
6" x 7.25 "
Watercolor on Paper
$75

I actually am having a relaxing time with this painting. After hosting my son's High School Graduation Party this weekend, I am enjoying working from one of my son's younger days photos.

This weekend marks a MAJOR milestone in my life - my youngest son's graduation from highschool, probably up there with my wedding day and the birth fo my first child or the death of my father. Many of you may not be aware that I had homeschool our four children. Raising and teaching these children was an act of love and my major creative enterprise for over 28 years. I had some of my greatest joys and most wounding experiences in this role as mother and teacher. The goal of teaching was to put myself out of a job. My other more important goal was for my children to have a sense of calling and service to God and their fellow man. Yet another goal was for them to be both kind and happy in being kind.
I have not succeded in all these goals, yet in some measure there was some sucess for them.
Now my role has changed. I officially have retired as teacher.
This weekend's Graduation Ceremony marked the end of an era and a new beginning.
To many of you I wish to thank you for sharing with me this time.

I am now going to restructure my life, assess my activities and reprioritize my time.
It is an exciting time.
This photo I found while my son and I were preparing a photo display board of my son Caleb's life. I found a few others that I would like to use as source materials for other paintings.


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19/40 Painting of 40 Consecutive Days of a Paintng a Day - Mrs. Mendon

Mrs. Mendon
6" x 7"
Watercolor on Paper
$50

Today was the big Graduation Party for my son, an all day affair.
Yet, I did manage to do this watercolor painting of Mrs. Mendon.
I truly enjoy the expressive line and fluidity of the painted forms.