Happiness lies in the joy of achievement

Happiness lies in the joy of achievement and the thrill of creative effort.- Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. - Benjamin Franklin

You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you.- Dale Carnegie

Never explain--your friends do not need it and your enemies will not believe you anyway.- Elbert Hubbard


Today we had a kind old gentleman model for us ... he had been here before in a different hat. I forgot my glasses today so I left early ... heh heh .... maybe a good thing. :-)

Oil on canvas panel 9x12

You must learn from the mistakes of others

Success is getting what you want, happiness is wanting what you get.- Ingred Bergman

You may be disappointed if you fail, but you are doomed if you don't try.- Beverly Sills

You must learn from the mistakes of others. You can't possibly live long enough to make them all yourself.- Sam Levenson

Sometimes in life you don't always feel like a winner, but that doesn't mean you're not a winner.- Lady Gaga

Today we had a charming young lady pose for us.

Oil on gessoed Masonite 9x12

Stupid is forever

I am still determined to be cheerful and happy, in whatever situation I may be; for I have also learned from experience that the greater part of our happiness or misery depends upon our dispositions, and not upon our circumstances.- Martha Washington

Courage is saying, "Maybe what I'm doing isn't working; maybe I should try something else." - Anna Lappe,

Stupid is forever, ignorance can be fixed.- Don Wood

The only kind of dignity which is genuine is that which is not diminished by the indifference of others.- Dag Hammarskjold

Watching old movies can be very entertaining. You know this guy? I watched an old movie the other day and had to draw the main character.

Charcoal

Now and then it's good to pause

Now and then it's good to pause in our pursuit of happiness and just be happy.- The Cockle Bur

They always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself.- Andy Warhol

The man who has confidence in himself gains the confidence of others.- Hasidic Saying

For in the final analysis, our most basic common link, is that we all inhabit this small planet, we all breathe the same air, we all cherish our children's futures, and we are all mortal.- John F. Kennedy

Today we went to Loyalton for a Plien Aire outing. What a great day.... cloudy but bright ... it rained on us, then quit. When we are painting outside it is always a good day no matter what the results.

Oil on gessoed Masonite 9x12

Energy and persistence

Humor is the antidote to isolation. - Elizabeth Janeway

Seek to do good and happiness will run after you. - James Freeman Clarke

Energy and persistence conquer all things.- Benjamin Franklin

Life engenders life. Energy creates energy. It is by spending oneself that one becomes rich.- Sarah Bernhardt

I painted this the other day with the thought in mind that it should have something in the foreground. I have not yet decided what that should be ... a pile of rocks.... a hill ... some trees.... an animal .... a person .... several of these things .... maybe a stream or river crashing over some rocks. One day I will add something to it.

Oil on canvas board 16x20

An invincible summer.

The man of pleasure, by a vain attempt to be more happy than any man can be, is often more miserable than most men.- Charles Caleb Colton

Use what talents you possess: the woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best.- Henry Van Dyke

To say the least, a town life makes one more tolerant and liberal in one's judgement of others.- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.- Albert Camus

..... and now that invincible summer is here... I love summer. This summer we had lots of things to do ... all of July was Reno is Art Town month ... there were things going on every day... take your pick.... then in August there is Hot August Nights, a festival of old cars and cars shows every where ... and then bike week ... ahhhh, love those bikers. Also, in August is the Quick Draw painting show and auction. Somehow I was invited. It was a wonderful experience painting with all those talented artists and touring the Bowers Mansion. The auction was for the benefit of the Scenic Nevada group so all the art created that day was donated. It seems that the pieces sold in the range of $100 to $550 With most of the pieces going for about $275. Mine sold for $375 ... which made me happy. Here is my attempt:

Oil on gessoed Masonite 9x12

A handful of patience

Seek not happiness too greedily, and be not fearful of unhappiness.- Lao-tzu

A handful of patience is worth more than a bushel of brains.- Dutch Proverb

Assert your right to make a few mistakes. If people can't accept your imperfections, that's their fault.- Dr. David M. Burns

Artists who seek perfection in everything are those who cannot attain it in anything.- Eugene Delacroix

So I sketch the race we attended the other day ... it was exciting ... and colorful ... not a work of perfection, just a sketch of what happened

oil on gessoed Masonite 9x12

Far better it is to dare mighty things

The bird of Paradise alights only on the hand that does not grasp. -John Berry

Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs even though checkered by failure, than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat. - Theodore Roosevelt

You are today where your thoughts have brought you; you will be tomorrow where your thoughts take you. - James Lane Allen

If you tell the truth you don't have to remember anything.- Mark Twain


Back to the woods and knife painting

Oil on gessoed Masonite knife painting

The test for enjoyment

Happiness is a butterfly which, when pursued, is always beyond our grasp, but, if you sit down quietly, may alight upon you. - Nathaniel Hawthorne

The test for enjoyment is the remembrance which it leaves behind. - Logan Pearsall Smith

Sometimes the mind, for reasons we don't necessarily understand, just decides to go to the store for a quart of milk. - Diane Frolov and Andrew Schneider

A goal without a plan is just a wish. - Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Today we gaze upon a dramatic shadow cast by a tree near Bower's Mansion

Oil on gessoed Masonite 9x12

Every time I paint a portrait

There are three components to the good life: learning, earning and yearning. - Christopher Morley

Every time I paint a portrait I lose a friend.- John Singer Sargent

The advantage of a bad memory is that one enjoys several times the same good things for the first time.- Friedrich Nietzsche

Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some hire public relations officers. - Daniel J. Boorstin

Oil on gessoed Masonite

An unhurried sense of time

Youth would be an ideal state if it came a little later in life.- Herbert Henry Asquith

An unhurried sense of time is in itself a form of wealth.- Bonnie Friedman

Wisdom doesn't automatically come with old age. Nothing does - except wrinkles. It's true, some wines improve with age. But only if the grapes were good in the first place. - Abigail Van Buren

It is not our affluence, or our plumbing, or our clogged freeways that grip the imagination of others. Rather, it is the values upon which our system is built. These values imply our adherence not only to liberty and individual freedom, but also to international peace, law and order, and constructive social purpose. When we depart from these value, we do so at our peril.- J. William Fulbright

A quick sketch today of a young man in his soccer uniform

oil on gessoed Masonite

I'm a great believer in luck

Like swimming, riding, writing, or playing golf, happiness can be learned.- Dr. Boris Sokoloff

I'm a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it.- Thomas Jefferson

If you don't learn to laugh at trouble, you won't have anything to laugh at when you're old.- Edgar Watson Howe


Equal opportunity means everyone will have a fair chance at being incompetent.- Laurence J. Peter



Sometimes working small helps us see the big picture.

Oil on canvas 6x6