Hope

My hope for girls and women of all ages...that they may fulfill their dreams, find happiness, soar to the highest heights, and shine ever so brightly...and that they may do so feeling they can trust in this world of ours.

"Hope"

Original available here for $85.

16"x12" on watercolor paper

Prints available on request.

(Printed image may be slightly cropped for printing purposes.)

My original paintings are available in my online gallery.

Prints of many of my paintings are available in my Etsy shop. 

Let me know if you're interested in prints of my paintings.

  I welcome commissions.

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Shine

She was the stars and the space between them, the darkness and the light...and she chose to shine.

"Shine"

This is an 9.5"x7.5" piece in my art journal. Prints available on request.

(Printed image will be slightly cropped for printing purposes.) 

All works are copyrighted and all rights are reserved by the artist.

My original paintings are available in my online gallery.

Prints of many of my paintings are available in my Etsy shop. 

Let me know if you're interested in prints of my paintings.

  I welcome commissions.

Please click the links below to share my blog.

I'd love to hear from you...feel free to leave me a comment.

Once Upon a Time he was but a Twinkle in his Father's Eye

I've got a soft spot in my heart for father/son relationships.

"Once Upon a Time he was but a Twinkle in his Father's Eye"

My original paintings are available in my online gallery.

Prints of many of my paintings are available in my Etsy shop. 

Let me know if you're interested in prints of my paintings.

  I welcome commissions.

Please click the links below to share my blog.

I'd love to hear from you...feel free to leave me a comment.

Notes to my Teenage Self

I started this painting with the intention of letting go of parts of me and my life that were no longer serving me well. It quickly became a nurturing piece feeding the soul of my teenage self. I suppose letting go of things needed to start there. It's filled with words of wisdom, encouragement, and love for a seventeen year old who had just lost her grandmother. Though my outside appearance at that age absolutely did not look like this, the girl in the painting is a 17 year old representation of what I look like today.

I placed this painting on top of the piano my mother recently gave me. It had been my grandmother's. It felt right.

"Notes to my Teenage Self"

This original painting is available in my online gallery.

Most of my paintings are for sale and I welcome commissions.

Please click the links below to share my blog.
I'd love to hear from you...feel free to leave me a comment.  

 

This painting was inspired by a class taught by Tamara Laporte.

 

 

An Uneasy Hope

I've been inspired by angels lately. Their mystery and beauty fascinates me so. I imagine that if they're there they are watching and waiting to see how this new year unfolds...perhaps filled with an uneasy hope.

Personally, I'm filled with an abundance of hope. For me there's no other choice. May everyone's 2017 be filled with love, learning, joy, fulfillment, and reflection. xoxo

"An Uneasy Hope"

This original painting is available in my online gallery.

Most of my paintings are for sale and I welcome commissions.

Please click the links below to share my blog.
I'd love to hear from you...feel free to leave me a comment.  

Click here to purchase my paintings.

Moonlight Dream

OK, it's quite possible that I'm not really that great at going all the way through to the end with multiple day challenges. I had intended to go to 15 days, but here I am at day 8 and I think this painting is finished. I considered pushing through, but I'm rather fond of this composition so I choose to stop and let it be. I'm super excited to start another. It's such fun revisiting a piece day after day.

And the price of this painting was calculated following the method established in previous posts about this challenge.

"Moonlight Dream"

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Most of my paintings are for sale and I welcome commissions.
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Best Friends

I was commissioned to create this sweet piece featuring this trio of best friends. I adore them!

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Most of my paintings are for sale and I welcome commissions.

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A Secret Kept

I don't know why exactly, but I think she's got a secret.

 

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Most of my paintings are for sale and I welcome commissions.

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This painting is inspired by a year-long online art class (instructor Lisa Viger).

Travelers

When I was little I stumbled upon a baby opossum. Literally, I stumbled upon it. It was directly in my path. We took this scared little one home, found out all there was to know about rehabilitating it, and I proceeded to love it with all my heart. I was asked to find an animal that would accompany me on my art journey this year and since opossums are my favorite animal and I find so much wonder in them, it was such an easy choice. I think they're so clever, resourceful, beautiful to behold, and utterly and completely misunderstood. 

I painted this opossum on the girl's shoulder (she represents me...makes me miss when I had blue hair in my early twenties and was nicknamed "Smurfette"). Like this opossum, my opossums (yes, I had two during my childhood) spent a crazy wonderful amount of time riding around on my shoulder. They'd hang out there during chores, while I practiced french horn, and as I read chapter after chapter of my Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazines. 

So off on this artistic adventure we go, my opossum on my shoulder and all our art supplies strapped across my back. 



This painting is part of a year-long online art class (instructor Tamara LaPorte). 

"Travelers"

Click here to view my gallery 

Most of my paintings are for sale and I welcome commissions.

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"Surrounded by Sparkles" Part 3

I've been celebrating my crazy wonderful little guy. On Saturday he let me know that he simply had to have some holiday pajamas. So off to Target we went and found him elf PJs. He wore them all that day (including to two parties), and then he wore them to school Monday and today. I can only hope and assume that he'll wear them the remainder of the week, too.

Way to bring some levity to finals week, kiddo!!!


I finished this little painting. I love its sweetness.

"Surrounded by Sparkles"

I gave her a neckline.
I added arms and a flower.
I also painted the stars yellow.

I painted the stem and leaves green,
the center of the flower yellow,
and her arms a flesh tone.

Click here to view my gallery.

Most of my paintings are for sale and I welcome commissions.

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"Surrounded by Sparkles" Part 2

We got a new refrigerator yesterday. It turns out that when the ice cream won't stay frozen it's an emergency situation. So yesterday Dave went to get us a new one. And after taking the doors off of our old one so we could get it out of the house reinstalling the doors so we could give it away...and taking the doors off of the new one so we could get it into the house and reinstalling them once it was in place...it was time to dash off to a party.

A couple hours later we were missing our new fridge so much that we had to head home to hang out with it.


I continued working on this little whimsical painting.

I sketched out the basic features of her face.

I gave her shoes and painted the outlines
of the features of her face.

I gave her rosy cheeks and painted her lips.

I gave her green eyes and highlights on her shoes.

Click here to view my gallery.

Most of my paintings are for sale and I welcome commissions.

Please click the links below to share my blog.

I'd love to hear from you...feel free to leave me a comment

"Surrounded by Sparkles" Part 1

Had my own "cat on a hot tin roof" experience yesterday...well, maybe more like "cat on a warm steel roof". I was getting in my car to head to the gym and my goofy cat, Tommy, was lounging on top of my car. I gave him a little scratch, got in, and started backing out. When I didn't notice him jumping off by the time I got to the end of our driveway I got out to check. And there he was, still lounging. So I plucked that precious little guy off of the roof, gave him some sweet snuggles, and set him in the grass.

As I drove away I realized that I had likely just totally reinforced his "cat on a warm steel roof" behavior. Sigh.....


I started working on a tiny whimsical piece. I love using small canvases as paint palettes when I'm working on larger canvases. Then after they're thoroughly covered in paint I use them as wild and wonderful backgrounds to small paintings. That's what this is.

I sketched my figure on one of my
small palette canvases.

I painted white on the figure and some stars.

I changed my mind about the body shape
and went with a dress shape.

I began adding some color.

Click here to view my gallery.

Most of my paintings are for sale and I welcome commissions.

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A Handful of Daisies

In the car today...a delightful one-sided conversation.

"Do you know how to get people to smell your farts?

Say, 'Do you smell popcorn?'

That's all it takes...and they won't be smelling popcorn."

My little guy. Gotta love him!


Here's my version of a whimsical girl with some stars as supporting characters.

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Most of my paintings are for sale and I welcome commissions.

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Supporting Characters

How do I know that David and I are perfect for each other?


Appliance repair guy commenting on our fridge's coils: "Your bottom looks good."

David and me: "Thank you."


Oy, you can't take us anywhere...even our own kitchen.



Today I worked on some "supporting characters" for my future whimsical paintings (as part of this class).

Click here to view my gallery.

Most of my paintings are for sale and I welcome commissions.

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The Many Layers of Frida - Part 4

It's been a lovely rainy morning in Austin, Texas. I opened the windows, made some tea (over and over), and painted to my heart's delight. Just outside the window by my easel, a sweet little squirrel was on a mission. He ran to right below the window sill, grabbed something, an then dashed out in the rain to a bush. He did it over and over and over. I suspect that precious little guy is fully stocked up for winter by now. Hope he remembers where he buried his goodies when the time comes.


I was able to finish this painting this morning. I think I finally found the whimsy I was looking for when I started this project. It dove into a deeper level than I'd expected, but this morning I found myself returning to the bright colors and fantastical land that I find so appealing. And having completed this wonderful taster for the year-long class I was considering, I've decided that I will definitely be signing up for it. I'm so excited to start in January!

Here is the finished painting and below are a number of stages leading up to it.

"The Many Layers of Frida"

I painted the hanging ornaments and added
white accents to the thorns.

I added a reflection to the ornaments, darkened
the canvas on the left of her cape, and added
some whimsical dots to the side of her neck and head.

This shows the dots, the writing on her chest/neck
and that she is, in fact, smiling. When I look at the
photos of the painting as a whole it's hard for me
to see that expression on her face...but there it is!

I added more whimsical dots and some flowers
at the bottom of her cape. The flowers and dots
are reminiscent of my early art work. Fun!
I also added more yellow here and there.

I outlined the flowers and leaves with white.

I added stars. I kept staring at this piece knowing
it was missing something and the stars were it!

 Click here to view my gallery.

Most of my paintings are for sale and I welcome commissions.

Please click the links below to share my blog.

I'd love to hear from you...feel free to leave me a comment.

To Infinity and Beyond

We love rockets! My little guy and his grandpa (my dad) have been building rockets for the past three years. They started with little ones no more than a foot tall and worked their way up to a big daddy rocket that is over ten feet tall. Since we love rockets so much, my dad likes to have some small rockets around so that the little kids can fly them, too. We print them out, cut on all sorts of dotted lines, glue them together, insert a motor and 3-2-1-BLASTOFF!

Recently he asked me to design the artwork for these special little rockets that are called qubits and I finally got around to doing it. You know how I love to use canvases as paint palettes, right? Well, this is an example of what I create using one of my palette canvases. My apologies for not taking any photos of my process...I spaced. (See what I did there?)

"To Infinity and Beyond"

Click here to view my gallery.  Most of my paintings are for sale and I welcome commissions.

I'd love for you to share my art and blog with the links below.  Thanks!

I'm running a big sale on my paintings through the end of August. Almost everything in my gallery is 60% off. I'm only keeping my most current work (paintings on page 1) at the listed prices. If there's something you'd like, please let me know by message or comment so I can manually adjust the price. Thanks!!! http://www.dailypaintworks.com/artists/kali-parsons-3935/artwork

Dancing with the Stars - Part 2

It's so much fun painting a super loose painting like this. Going for pure whimsy is a delight! After starting my day with a full face collision with a newly formed spider web, I finished working on this. After I apologized to the spider, of course. Sweet little thing had clearly spent hours creating what I managed to destroy in a fraction of a second.

Here's the completed painting and a couple more steps I took before it was finished.

"Dancing with the Stars"

I added more stars and some color accents on top
of the yellow. I think they look like comets now.

I thought it needed some red here and there to balance it.

Click here to view my gallery.  Most of my paintings are for sale and I welcome commissions.

I'd love for you to share my art and blog with the links below.  Thanks!

Dancing with the Stars - Part 1

I have this thing about wasting my art supplies. I can't stand to let it happen. When I cut watercolor paper down and have scraps left over, I hold on to all of them and make little gift tags or bookmarks. When I'm using acrylics I use a canvas as my palette. After a canvas palette is completely covered I use it as a background for a new piece. I think they make the most wonderful starting point for new art. 

This is the palette I used from my painting "Fourth of July" so you'll see the colors I used for it.

Here's the palette canvas I started with for today's painting.

I added a couple of figures, some stars, and other white elements.

I added black lines over the figures and added yellow accents.

I'm excited to finish this one tomorrow. I've had a day full of professional development for my wonderful teaching gig (I teach three and four year olds with disabilities). And the funny thing is, since I was thinking about school again after a bit of a break, I dreamt last night that I showed up to the training in something I'd never leave the house in. Oy.... And, yes, I dressed with care this morning to make sure it didn't turn into a reality.

Click here to view my gallery.  Most of my paintings are for sale and I welcome commissions.

I'd love for you to share my art and blog with the links below.  Thanks!

Under the Night Sky

It's how it feels right now, sitting in my house looking outside. This Central Texas storm is so fully blocking the sunlight this mid-afternoon. When the clouds first crept in my inner voice whispered that it must be closing in on bedtime.

I've always loved a dramatic storm...full of thunder, lightning, and Noah-worthy rains. As a teenager I'd run out to my car during a storm, sit inside it listening to that Black Sabbath song, you know, the one that starts with the storm sounds, and I'd listen to it until the storm outside out-volumed the car speakers' capability.

Always in awe of Mother Nature....

Click here to view my gallery.  Most of my paintings are for sale.

I'd love for you to share my art and blog with the links below.  Thanks!

Behind

I had the oddest dream last night. I was a back seat driver. Now outside of my dreams, this is actually a bit of a reality...just ask my husband. I twitch, grab the elbow rest, and I "helpfully" offer suggestions.

But while I was a backseat driver in my dream, it was nothing like real life. I was, literally, backseat driving. As in I was the backseat of a car, all alone, yet I was in control of the driving of the vehicle. And I must say that it's a very odd thing sitting in the backseat of a car whilst controlling its every move. But that strangeness isn't what stuck with me. No. It was the odd wondering about how on earth I was managing to reach the pedals from the back seat with my short legs.

And I've been pondering that all day long.

Click here to view my gallery.  Most of my paintings are for sale.

I'd love for you to share my art and blog with the links below.  Thanks!