Real happiness

Real happiness is cheap enough, yet how dearly we pay for its counterfeit. - Hosea Ballou

People who ask our advice almost never take it. Yet we should never refuse to give it, upon request, for it often helps us to see our own way more clearly.- Brendan Francis

Advice is what we ask for when we already know the answer but wish we didn't. - Erica Jong

It is by acts and not by ideas that people live.- Anatole France

So today we practice out landscape paintings ..... the Quick Draw is a group of very talented painters... and me .... I better get going

Oil on Masonite 9x12

There is no such thing as expecting too much

The joyfulness of man prolongeth his days.- Psalms

There is no such thing as expecting too much.- Susan Cheever

We would worry less about what others think of us if we realized how seldom they do.
- Ethel Barrett

Let the past drift away with the water.- Japanese Proverb


One of our fellow artists posed today ... a very fine lady.

oil 9x12 on Gessoed Masonite

To accomplish great things

To accomplish great things, we must dream as well as act. - Anatole France

To want to be what one can be is purpose in life. - Cynthia Ozick

He felt that his whole life was some kind of dream and he sometimes wondered whose it was and whether they were enjoying it. - Douglas Adams

Those who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night. - Edgar Allan Poe

This week is moving week .. here is my new place ... well at least part of it.

It is our choice

We are much happier,
much happier
when we realize
that life is an opportunity rather
than an obligation. - Mary Augustine

The more alternatives, the more difficult the choice. - Abbe' D'Allanival

I think that somehow, we learn who we really are and then live with that decision. - Eleanor Roosevelt

It is our choices...that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.- J. K. Rowling

Next month I will be signed up for a plein aire "Quick Draw" and auction. Why did I sign up for that? ... I have no idea. Nevertheless, I am in it now.... soooo
I'm practicing.

Oil on Masonite 11x14

Life is about enjoying yourself

Life is about enjoying yourself and having a good time. - Cher

Ambition is putting a ladder against the sky. - American Proverb

Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great. - Mark Twain

Just because you are blind, and unable to see my beauty doesn't mean it does not exist. - Margaret Cho

Seeing light thru the trees is awesome.... this is this one... next one will be different.

Oil on Masonite 9x12

Life-transforming ideas

The best and safest thing is to keep a balance in your life, acknowledge the great powers around us and in us. If you can do that, and live that way, you are really a wise man.- Euripides

We can be sure that the greatest hope for maintaining equilibrium in the face of any situation rests within ourselves.- Francis J. Braceland

Life-transforming ideas have always come to me through books.- Bell Hooks

Nothing can do what a book can do. Lifts you out of your life... to a whole new world, whole new perspective. A book is like a dream you're borrowing from a friend.
Dave Kellett

OK... so I wanted to practice doing some mountains .... I did some others, too ... you may see them some day on this blog but for now you will have to settle for these .... good, bad or ugly.

Oil on canvas panel 6x6

Day's sweetest moments

Day's sweetest moments are at dawn.- Ella Wheeler Wilcox

If you would convince a man that he does wrong, do right. But do not care to convince him. Men will believe what they see. Let them see. - Henry David Thoreau

Men are born to succeed, not fail. - Henry David Thoreau

The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources. - Albert Einstein

Oil on Masonite 9x12

Chocolate is good for the heart and mind

Chocolate is good for the heart and mind - Unocchio

An ignorant person is one who doesn't know what you have just found out.- Will Rogers

Ancient Rome declined because it had a Senate; now what's going to happen to us with both a Senate and a House?
Be thankful we're not getting all the government we're paying for. - Will Rogers

Be not ashamed of mistakes and thus make them crimes.- Confucius

We paint portraits every Wednesday from 9:30 to 12:30 ... some come out ok and others need much more work. I will post some of that work here .. but that does not mean I am satisfied with it or that I think it is good ... it's just what happended that day.

oil on Masonite 9x12

Silence is more musical than any song

I think a hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles.- Christopher Reeves

Cultivate the habit of early rising. It is unwise to keep the head long on a level with the feet. - Henry David Thoreau

Silence is more musical than any song. - Christina Rossetti

I was born an American; I will live an American; I shall die an American. - Daniel Webster

Lately I have been practicing  painting miniatures so that is what you will see here. They may appear larger on your screen than they actually are in real life.

oil on canvas 6x8

An Apple a Day

To love what you do and feel that it matters -- how could anything be more fun? -Katharine Graham

Life is better than death, I believe, if only because it is less boring, and because it has fresh peaches in it.- Alice Walker

Be true to your work, your word, and your friend.- Henry David Thoreau

Oil 6x8

Contemplation

All the wonders you seek are within yourself. -Sir Thomas Browne;
Smile, and the world smiles with you. - Anon
Things turn out best for people who make the best of the way things turn out. - Anon
Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm. - Winston Churchill

So today we have a pencil drawing ... just a plain ol' carbon graphite pencil and bristol paper (300 Wt; smooth surface). I like this model... never any complaints :-)

Carbon Pencil on Bristol Paper 11x14

Accept Truth

Let us accept truth, even when it surprises us and alters our views. -George Sand

Most people would succeed in small things if they were not troubled with great ambitions. - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

What a splendid head, yet no brain. - Aesop

Estimated amount of glucose used by an adult human brain each day, expressed in M&Ms: 250 - Harper's Index,

Well you can tell that tax season is winding down now .. I'm getting back to drawing and painting.... just practicing on you-know-who :-)

Charcoal on smooth newsprint 7x10

Reality

Nothing will content him who is not content with a little. - Greek Proverb

Reality is nothing but a collective hunch. Jane Wagner

I believe in looking reality straight in the eye and denying it. Garrison Keillor (1942 - )

Realism...has no more to do with reality than anything else. Hob Broun

OK.. for today we have a quick sketch with the charcoal.

Charcoal on smooth newsprint 7x7

Spring is when you feel like whistling

One can get as much exultation in losing oneself in a little thing as in a big thing. It is nice to think that one can get recklessly lost in a daisy. - Anne Morrow Lindbergh

Laughter can be more satisfying than honor; more precious than money; more heart-cleansing than prayer. - Harriet Rochlin

Spring is when you feel like whistling even with a shoe full of slush. Doug Larson

If there comes a little thaw,
Still the air is chill and raw,
Here and there a patch of snow,
Dirtier than the ground below,
Dribbles down a marshy flood;
Ankle-deep you stick in mud In the meadows while you sing,
"This is Spring." - Christopher Pearce Cranch, A Spring Growl


And so it goes ...
as I look out the window I see the wonderful sight of snow gently covering the ground
now I must go outside and snap a few pictures...
this may be our last chance to capture to beauty of the snow covering our valley
... but maybe not
don't you just love the snow?

I don't know where I'm going, but I'm on my way

It's choice - not chance - that determines your destiny. Jean Nidetch

Our problems are man-made, therefore they may be solved by man. No problem of human destiny is beyond human beings. John F. Kennedy

There's a fine line between genius and insanity. I have erased this line. Oscar Levant

Genius is one per cent inspiration, ninety-nine per cent perspiration. Thomas A. Edison

I'm an idealist. I don't know where I'm going, but I'm on my way. Carl Sandburg

So here is another 5x5 mini.These are fun little paintings.

Oil on canvas 5x5

One must not lose desires

Laughter is by definition healthy. - Doris Lessing

One must not lose desires. They are mighty stimulants to creativeness, to love, and to long life. Alexander A. Bogomoletz

If you greatly desire something, have the guts to stake everything on obtaining it.
Brendan Francis

Manifest plainness,
Embrace simplicity,
Reduce selfishness,
Have few desires.
Lao-tzu

Oil on canvas panel 11x14

And remember

One half of the world cannot understand the pleasures of the other. Jane Austen

And remember, no matter where you go, there you are. Earl Mac Rauch

Man is what he believes. Anton Chekhov

The public will believe anything, so long as it is not founded on truth. Edith Sitwell

This may resemble another painting that you saw on here recently, however, it is not the same one. This one is a miniature, 5x5. I have painted several miniatures for an upcoming show.... and I will paint more.

Oil on Canvas 5x5

I realized that If I had to choose

We rarely think people have good sense unless they agree with us. Francois de La Rochefoucauld

Beautiful young people are accidents of nature, but beautiful old people are works of art. Eleanor Roosevelt

I realized that If I had to choose, I would rather have birds than airplanes. Charles Lindbergh

The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity. Dorothy Parker

It was another fine day today ... sunny and warm. It's been in the 60's here... can't ask for better than that. Finished off the painting of the river ... I love the river and it's rushing waters.

Oil on canvas on Masonite 9x12

I am still determined to be cheerful and happy

Being assertive does not mean attacking or ignoring others feelings. It means that you are willing to hold up for yourself fairly-without attacking others. Albert Ellis, Michael Abrams, Lidia Dengelegi

A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort. Herm Albright

Eccentricity is not, as dull people would have us believe, a form of madness. It is often a kind of innocent pride, and the man of genius and the aristocrat are frequently regarded as eccentrics because genius and aristocrat are entirely unafraid of and uninfluenced by the opinions and vagaries of the crowd. Edith Sitwell

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

Monochromatic Oil on canvas 5x5

The secret of happiness

I tore myself away from the safe comfort of certainties through my love for the truth; and truth rewarded me. - Simone de Beauvoir

Courage is the price that Life exacts for granting peace. - Amelia Earhart

Courage is doing what you're afraid to do. There can be no courage unless you're scared. - Eddie Rickenbacker

The secret of happiness is to make others believe they are the cause of it. - Al Batt

Happiness is nothing more than good health and a bad memory. - Albert Schweitzer

Oil on canvas 5x5