Mistakes are a part of being human

I am not young enough to know everything. - Oscar Wilde

Mistakes are a part of being human. Appreciate your mistakes for what they are: precious life lessons that can only be learned the hard way. Unless it's a fatal mistake, which, at least, others can learn from. -Al Franken

I always admired atheists. I think it takes a lot of faith.- Diane Frolov and Andrew Schneider

Every day brings a chance for you to draw in a breath, kick off your shoes, and dance - Oprah Winfrey


and so we have today's oil painting

Oil on Panel 14x18

Our land is more valuable than your money

Happiness is not being pained in body nor troubled in mind.-Thomas Jefferson

The happiness of a man in this life does not consist in the absence but in the mastery of his passions. Alfred Lord Tennyson

Be still when you have nothing to say; when genuine passion moves you, say what you've got to say, and say it hot. D. H. Lawrence

Our land is more valuable than your money. As long as the sun shines and the waters flow, this land will be here to give life to men and animals; therefore, we cannot sell this land. It was put here for us by the Great Spirit and we cannot sell it because it does not belong to us. Anonymous, Blackfoot chief (c. 1880)

You probably do not eat kale but really, it is very good... and good for you. Today's sketch is of a young kale we planted.

Young Kale - Pen & Ink and watercolor pencils  6x6

The simple truth is

The simple truth is that happy people generally don't get sick.-Bernie S. Siegel,
M.D.

Slow down and enjoy life. It's not only the scenery you miss by going too fast -- you also miss the sense of where you are going and why.-Eddie Cantor

We can not hold a torch to light another's path without brightening our own.-Ben Sweetland

The entire sum of existence is the magic of being needed by just one person.-Vi Putnam

I am doing a series of botanical sketches for the local food co-op. This is one of them, There may be more coming on this sight... depends if it gets too boring.

 

Ink and watercolor pencil 7x4.5

Liberty and equality

Education is the best provision for old age.- Aristotle

All ambitions are lawful except those that climb upward on the miseries or credulities of mankind.- Joseph Conrad

Men are not prisoners of fate, but only prisoners of their own minds.- Franklin D. Roosevelt

If liberty and equality, as is thought by some are chiefly to be found in democracy, they will be best attained when all persons alike share in the government to the utmost.- Aristotle

Fun at the races ... the Tour de Nez..... heh heh... a big bike race in downtown Reno ... we all went down to see it ... even Stella.... she loved it

Oil on canvas Panel 11x14

Those who live intensely in the present.

At the height of laughter the universe is flung into a kaleidoscope of new possibilities.- Jean Houston

The future belongs to those who live intensely in the present.-Anon

If you can't change your fate, change your attitude.- Amy Tan

Where we have strong emotions, we're liable to fool ourselves.- Carl Sagan


Here are 2 pictures that when hung side by side seem to go together.

2 oil on Masonite panels each 9x12

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

When freedom is lost

How unhappy is he who cannot forgive himself.- Publilius Syrus

One doesn't discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very long time.- Andre Gide

I'm of the mind that even people who have limitations, if they have a curiosity, they will find a way to explore it.- Tish Grier

Don't mistake pleasures for happiness. They are a different breed of dog.- Josh Billings

When freedom is lost so is creative exploration

Still practicing with the out-of-doors stuff.

Oil on gessoed Masonite 9x12

Way up there is my new fan ... hanging from 20 feet in the air it is cool, sleek, economical. It runs on 17 watts of electricity and is controlled by a remote device. I am very happy with the new fan.

Eating is always a decision

Have a variety of interests... These interests relax the mind and lessen tension on the nervous system. People with many interests live, not only longest, but happiest.
-George Matthew Allen

Eating is always a decision, nobody forces your hand to pick up food and put it into your mouth. - Albert Ellis, Michael Abrams, Lidia Dengelegi

I was born not knowing and have had only a little time to change that here and there. - Richard Feynman

Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any one thing. - Abraham Lincoln

Still working on scenes from Bowers Mansion.

Oil on gessoed Masonite 9x12

Some pursue happiness

A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes. Charles Spurgeon

Some pursue happiness while others create it. - Anon

Everything has beauty but not everyone sees it - Confucius

Happiness is the meaning and purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence. - Aristotle

The Quick Draw donation is coming up ... I must keep practicing. This is a scene from Bowers Mansion... the site of the Quick Draw.... looking South.

Oil on Gesoed Masonite 9x1

Experience

Experience is that marvelous thing that enables you to recognize a mistake when you make it again. - Franklin P. Jones

Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first, the lesson afterwards.- Vernon Sanders Law

Humor is everywhere, in that there's irony in just about anything a human does.- Bill Nye

I feel like a tiny bird with a big song! - Jerry Van Amerongen

Oil on canvas 6x6

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

It is the nature of all greatness not to be exact.

Love is a great beautifier. - Louisa May Alcott

It is the nature of all greatness not to be exact. - Edmund Burke

I was born not knowing and have had only a little time to change that here and there. - Richard Feynman

Interestingly, according to modern astronomers, space is finite. This is a very comforting thought-- particularly for people who can never remember where they have left things. - Woody Allen

Not to be exact and not knowing much at all I present to you .....

Oil on canvas 3.5x7

There is no remedy

A heart that loves is always young. Greek proverb

No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted. Aesop

I expect to pass through this world but once; any good thing therefore that I can do, or any kindness that I can show to any fellow creature, let me do it now; let me not defer or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again. Ettiene De Grellet

There is no remedy for love but to love more. Henry David Thoreau

Oil on Masonite panel 9x12

Real Security

Your real security is yourself. You know you can do it, and they can't ever take that away from you. - Mae West

That man is the richest whose pleasures are the cheapest. Henry David Thoreau

Natural ability without education has more often attained to glory and virtue than education without natural ability. Cicero

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

To me old age is always 25 ears older than I am - Unocchio

Oil on Masonite panel 9x12