Quick Draw 2013

Every year there is a Quick Draw event... artists meet and do a plein air painting which is then auctioned off and the proceeds go for the benefit of Scenic Nevada ... a group that preserves the good things to look at around the State. Last year I was invited and this year I was invited back.... thank you ladies.
Unfortunately this year the event was in the heat of July and not too many people showed up ... but the one's that did had a great time and all the paintings were sold. The food was catered by a local restaurant which serves organic and local food. There was live music donated by a local group.

Stella

I don't think I posted this painting of Stella. Sometime we try new techniques and strokes. This was from a foto last Fall. Always nice to paint the family.

Oil on Canvas panel
11x14 inches

Gardening

 This year I had a small garden in the back year... not much of a back yard but a whooper of a garden. Notice my wooden planter box.... 18 inches tall .... but the tomato plants really took off ... they are huge. The zuccini's are not too small either. may even get something to eat this year. :-)

Desolation Wilderness

Yesterday Baron and I hiked up to the Desolation Wilderness ... at least t the Floating Island Lake. Great Hike... beautiful weather....wonderful scenery . We must do that again..... sooner.

It's me again!

Hi Guys
It's me again. Someone suggested that the blog page was a way to let y'all know I'm alive and doing something so I'm back. July was Reno is art town month... lots going on. ... but I was without my truck for most of the month. I think I got hosed. The mechanic changed an expensive electronic thermostat, the water pump, the sending unit before he figured out it was a clogged radiator ... but then it may not have been a clogged radiator... it may have been a bad radiator hose that was collapsing. I'll never know.
I visited the artists lofts in the old Riverside hotel a week or so ago.  Very interesting. It was converted into apartments some time ago... that didn't really work out so the mad the apartments into artist lofts. Now they are very interesting. Several artists opened their doors for visitors so we paraded thru.
Scenic Nevada held their annual Quick Draw ... a pleine aire paint out session where we sold the paintings at auction at the end.An interesting bunch of artists and a group of fine people showed up. The crowd was not as big as last year and most of the collectors were not there so the prices were somewhat lower. Sold all of the paintings anyway.
The Artist's Coop had their Rockin' Out show. this was a show where basically the paintings wre about rocks. I entered some of my little Arches paintings.... actually sold one.

Urban Roots, which is a charitable organization, had an open house during the Art Town festivities ..... live music, a tour of their gardens and an auction. One of my paintings was there.

The above painting is an artist's view of the pass just South of Gardnerville heading up into the HighSierras.

It's a funny thing about life

A soul cannot live without loving.-Catherine of Sienna

A group of two hundred executives were asked what makes a person successful. Eighty percent listed enthusiasm as the most important quality. - unknown

It's a funny thing about life; if you refuse to accept anything but the best, you very often get it.-Somerset Maugham

If you judge people, you have no time to love them.-Mother Teresa

We're traveling off to Navajo Land again .... Arizona ... land of wondrous piles of rocks and arches. OK... so I did not get to travel there.... but the fotos were awesome ..... still practicing for my trip to Arches National Park in Utah

Oil on canvas board 5x7

Genuine laughing

Genuine laughing is a vent of the soul, the nostrils of the heart, and it is just as necessary for health and happiness as spring water is for the trout.-Josh Billings

 Don't carry a grudge. While you're carrying a grudge the other guy's out dancing.-Buddy Hackett

Success is getting what you want. Happiness is liking what you get.-Anon.

 To be without some of the things you want is an indispensable part of happiness.-Bertrand Russel

This is painted from foto references ... not en plein aire... too bad..... it would have been nice to be there in person.

Oil on Masonite Board 9x12

Navajo-Hopi Reservation

Praise in public. Criticize in private.-Anon
 Some goals are so worthy, it's even glorious to fail.-Unknown
 If your life is free of failures, you're not taking enough risks.-Anon.
 Don't judge those who try and fail. Judge only those who fail to try.-Anon.

As if I went to the Navajo-Hopi reservation I researched the picture files and came up with this interpretation of a rock pile found there.

Oil on canvas board 8x10

Happiness is not the absence of problems; but the ability to deal with them.-Anon.
When you judge others, you are revealing your own fears and prejudices.Anon.
It's not how far you fall, but how high you bounce. -Anon.
Some goals are so worthy, it's even glorious to fail.-Unknown

OK... so I did not go over to Arizona to paint this one ..... it was an inspiration from a foto .. but it is on a 6x8

Oil on canvas board 6x8

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

Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others.-Cicero

Be all that you can be, but don't join the Army.-Paul Guttman

There is no security on earth, there is only opportunity.-General Douglas MacArthur


 so I had to do a self-portrait ... it wasn't fair all those other folks having all the fun :-)

Charcoal on smooth newsprint

An optimist

You have to recognize when the right time and the right place fuse and take advantage of that opportunity. There are plenty of opportunities out there. You can't sit back and wait. -Ellen Metcalf

An optimist is the human personification of spring.-Susan Bissonette

We need men to dream of things that never were.-John F. Kennedy

Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others.-Cicero

 I was the model today ... much fun
Here are the pix ..... of me and what was produced

It is easier to forgive an enemy than a friend

It is easier to forgive an enemy than a friend.- Madame Dorothee Deluzy

Those who are free of resentful thoughts surely find peace.- Buddha

Every gift from a friend is a wish for your happiness.- Richard Bach

 I do the very best I know how-the very best I can; and I mean to keep doing so until the end. If the end brings me out all right, what is said against me won't amount to anything. If the end brings me out wrong, ten angels swearing I was right would make no difference. Abraham Lincoln


 Each Wednesday we head for the Portrait Society of Reno and paint from a live model. Today, it was none other than Renate, the longtime host and manager of the Portrait Society. I say "manager" because she has been doing it for forty years ... opening every Wednesday, contacting the model, setting up the model and then closing down.... quite a spell for doing a great job. There would be no Reno Portrait Society without her.

OK.... I painted her with a knife. Painting can be tough with a knife. Anyway, this actually looks like her... at least that's what she said.

Knife Painting Oil on 11x14 canvas board

The best way to cheer yourself up

The best way to cheer yourself up is to cheer somebody else up.- Mark Twain
Happiness is nothing more than good health and a bad memory.- Albert Schweitzer
 Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first, the lesson afterwards. - Vernon Sanders Law Experience is the name everyone gives to their mistakes.- Oscar Wilde

Thinking of the sea again .... it was nice over there.

Oil on canvas panel  12x16

Happiness walks on busy feet

The habit of being happy enables one to be freed, or largely freed, from the domination of outside conditions. - Robert Louis Stevenson

You cannot be thankful and unhappy at the same time. - Anon.

Happiness walks on busy feet. - Kitte Turmell

You will never be happier than you expect. To change your happiness change your expectation. - Bette Davis

Today I painted a portrait with my knife .... a little bit trickier than with brushes..... and the results are much different ... but the likeness came out ok.

Knife painting oil on Masonite panel 9x12

The secret of happiness

The secret of happiness is curiosity.-Norman Douglas
But what is happiness except the simple harmony between a man and the life he leads. -Albert Camus
That all men are equal is a proposition which, at ordinary times, no sane individual has ever given his assent.- Aldous Huxley
All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others.-George Orwell
If the facts don't fit the theory, change the facts.- Albert Einstein
If you can't look at the other side of the story you are on the wrong side
If your party doesn't want you to see the other side of the story but follow it in blind faith you are trapped in a religion


High in the Sierra Nevada's there is the beginning of a stream, quietly, coolly meandering it's way down to the river below.

Oil on gessoed Masonite  9x12

Happiness is not the absense of problems but the ability to deal with them.-Anon.

 If you always do what interests you, at least one person is pleased.-Katharine Hepburn

But what is happiness except the simple harmony between a man and the life he leads. -Albert Camus

If an idea's worth having once, it's worth having twice. Tom Stoppard

The freethinking of one age is the common sense of the next.Matthew Arnold


Today I went out plein aire painting at the Truckee River.

Oil on canvas panel  11x14

7 Pix

Here are my 7 pictures that are up for the show.
I only need 5.
Please vote for your choices of which 5 pictures you would enter in the show.
Let me know right away.


Thanks

To forget oneself is to be happy.-Robert Louis Stevenson

All happiness depends on a leisurely breakfast.-John Gunther

Be happy. It's one way of being wise.-Colette

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

The mini's continue

Oil on Panel 5x7

Happy is the man

But what is happiness except the simple harmony between a man and the life he leads. -Albert Camus

It is in virtue that happiness consists, for virtue is a state of mind which tends to make the whole of life harmonious.-Zeno

Who is the happiest of men? He who values the merits of others, and in their pleasure takes joy, even as though t'were his own.-Johann von Goethe

 No man is happy unless he believes he is.-Publilius Syrus

Happy is the man who has love

Continuing the paintings for the mini show

Oil on panel 5x7

You can be happy!

Part of the happiness of life consists not in fighting battles, but in avoiding them. A masterly retreat is in itself a victory.-Norman Vincent Peale

 Happiness is not a station to arrive at, but a manner of traveling.-Margaret Lee Runbeck

The really happy man is the one who can enjoy the scenery on a detour.-Anon.

 It takes great wit and energy to be happy. The pursuit of happiness is a great activity. One must be open and alive. It is the greatest feat man has to accomplish. -Robert Henri

Can you be happy?
You can be happy!

This week I enter the Latimer Club's Mini show ... no paintings larger than 5x7.

Oil on canvas 5x7

To forget oneself is to be happy

To forget oneself is to be happy.- -Robert Louis Stevenson Hope doesn't come from calculating whether the good news is winning out over the bad. It's simply a choice to take action.- Anna Lappe Happiness gives us the energy which is the basis of health.- Henri-Frédéric Amiel College isn't the place to go for ideas.- Helen Keller Revisiting old studies and making a few changes makes a big difference

oil on gessoed board 11x14

Nothing’s better

Nothing’s better than the wind to your back, the sun in front of you, and your friends beside you.- Aaron Douglas Trimble

I believe that every human has a finite number of heart-beats. I don't intend to waste any of mine running around doing exercises.- Buzz Aldrin

The absence of flaw in beauty is itself a flaw.- Havelock Ellis

How much easier it is to be critical than to be correct.- Benjamin Disraeli

Behold ... another of the herbs in out herb garden...............

Pen &  Ink with water color pencils 4x10

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