Majestic - Part 3

Late yesterday when I took my dog, Hazel, for a walk, we came upon a Speedo in the sidewalk. Nothing else. Just a Speedo. I remembered my commitment to pick up the snuff can and dispose of it properly, but I neither wanted to pick up a Speedo nor did I have any idea of what the proper disposal of such a thing would be.

And by the way, Google is of no help with this quandary. I suppose I'll see if it's still there tonight. Perhaps something will come to me.


I finished "Majestic". What an honor it was to paint this. I hope it makes a chunk of money to support elephants when it's auctioned off. Elephants are definitely on my "paint more of this" list.

Here's the completed painting and final stages below.

"Majestic"

I filled in more of the background with varying greens.

I added branches, some flowers, and more grass.

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

Majestic - Part 2

This morning I made a quick trip to the grocery store. I use my phone as my shopping list and I orally dictate the things I need to pick up. Well, today when I got to the store and was going through my list I saw, "inch a lot of sauce". I stood there for a minute sure that there was something I absolutely needed to get, but that that was not it.

And then I got it..."enchilada sauce"!

Whew! Lunch was saved!


I'm continued working on my elephant painting. I'm not quite done yet. I want to add details to the background (some branches and such) and the more I look at the elephant I'm quite sure the trunk isn't long enough. And, gosh, since I'm totally into flowers these days the foreground simply must have a few here and there.

Here's where I am at this point.

I added lighter shades of gray.

And then I went back in with black. I also
added details to the trunk and gave her eyes.

I painted her tusks (this elephant's tusks
have been trimmed) and added grass.

I moved her eye to the right and began
widening her face.

I widened her face even more and added a couple of
colors of green to the background.

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

Majestic - Part 1

Dave and I have been super busy today getting ready for our reception tonight (Saturday) at the Alternative Space Gallery where I have paintings hung, and he and my mom have photos hung. I hope you can join us from 6 till 8 tonight! If not, the exhibit will remain there until the end of August.

I've only gotten a tiny bit of painting done on a new piece that's going to be auctioned to benefit elephants. I'll be sure to post all the details when I have them.

Here's what I've done so far.

I started with a green background and the
basic lines of some trees.

I added the basic shape of an elephant walking
toward me and some dark areas on the ground.

I'm super excited to continue working on this piece. I've been wanting to paint an elephant for a while so when I was asked I was absolutely thrilled!

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

Inspired by Matisse and Hafiz - Part 1

I completed this painting...with only one major flub along the way. One. That's not too bad, right? Here's the finished painting and below are several images on its way to its final stage (including the flub one, of course).

"Inspired by Matisse and Hafiz"

Once the positioning of the figures had been decided upon
I painted a quick rendition of them.

I gave the figures bodies.

I darkened their tones and left their bodies featureless
because my goal was to keep them racially and gender neutral.

I painted the words to the poem...and...Doh!
I found out I'd left out one line.

So I painted over the lines above where I'd missed a line
and repainted the poem. And done!

What a truly wonderful painting to work on. I love doing commissioned pieces. I feel like I grow with each one.

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!

Inspired by Matisse and Hafiz - Part 1

I was commissioned to do a piece that is in a different category than the other commissions I've had. Rather than being given a photo to base the painting on, I was given a poem and a couple of concept ideas. And it has been so much fun getting out of what was more of a comfort zone for me and into abstract interpretation. Seriously...fun!!!

The lovely person who wanted this piece thought that perhaps Matisse style figures and a house would make a lovely background for the poem. So after loading a page of Matisse paintings on my computer and reading the poem by Hafiz a number of times for inspiration, I got started.

My first step was to paint a horizon and then add a house
in the background and some trees in the foreground.

I added details to the house and the ground.
Are you seeing Matisse in this yet?

I added more details...trees (I added one in the background, too),
the house, a walkway, and a stone pathway. I added some figures
as well and sent it to my client to see if I was on the right track.

She wanted the figures to be bigger, so before I painted them
I created a bunch of mockups to check on positioning.
This is one of the mockups.

This is another mockup. There were nine total.

I should have the finished piece ready to post tomorrow. I'm so grateful for my client's fabulous eye and ideas with this project! I think she's been totally right on. Loving how it's progressing!

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!

Into the Woods

My dad, my little guy, and I went to a quadcopter class today. The two of them know a lot as they fly one fairly often. I know just the teeniest tad as I usually just chauffeur them around to the flying locations, though I'd piloted briefly a couple of times.

Well, today before they let us fly they mentioned that they knew that most of us were just learning and crashes might happen. Oh, and that trees tend to not move out of the way if your quadcopter is heading right at them. Truth.

After all the safety and info talk I finally worked with an actual instructor who took me through the process of turning it on, calibrating the compass, getting it up in the air, doing a few jazzy things like making it fly in a circle shape, and then landing.

And while the woods were right there and I could tell that the quadcopter gods were seriously thinking of sending me into its depths, my instructor only had to say something once.


"Don't forget about the pole with the transformer you're heading towards!"


I didn't hit it, happily, and good times were had by all.

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!

Save a Tree

I'm sure you all have canvas or some sort of other reusable bag for taking to the stores, right? Most of mine were either given to me or I purchased for three dollars max. Well, this morning this happened.

Trader Joe's checker: "This is the bag I want."

Trader Joe's bagger: "That's the one everyone wants."

Me: "That bag?"

Trader Joe's checker: "It's the perfect shape and they don't make them any more."

Trader Joe's bagger: "I've seen them for sale on Craig's List for $35."

Me: "People are nutty."


Saving a tree suddenly seems like it may ned to be part of my retirement plan.

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!

For the Love of Trees

I love trees. I always have.

When I was a kid I counted the trees in my yard amongst my best friends. The Chinese Tallow tree in the front yard was where I'd climb up with all kinds of gear...a pillow, a drink, and a book, of course...and plan to stay for many, many hours. The loquat tree in the corner near my room would hide my late night escapes and early morning returns. And the tree, more of a bush actually, of unknown type on the side of the house, well, behind that is where I'd meet boys and try out kissing.

Yes, trees are wonderful. I painted a couple of trees a week ago and really loved paying tribute to these wonderful creatures, so I thought I'd do a series of trees.

Here's a sweet little cluster of late spring or early trees. They remind me of Crepe Myrtles when they're not in bloom.

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!

And this is how I Ruined the World Cup

Yup, hard to manage, but somehow I did.  Innocently enough, though, I assure you.

Here's the thing.  I don't watch TV.  The only thing I know how to do with our set-up is to turn the TV off with the remote when someone in the family leaves the room with it on.  Beyond that, I'm completely ignorant of all the details and capabilities.

So here's what happened.  I was sitting at the kitchen table painting and mindlessly scanning through facebook (yes, I can do both at the same time) and all my guys kept roaring and cheering and making all sorts of other strange game-watching sounds.  One big cheer over a play erupted just as I'd read a post with a video from one of my little guy's fabulous former teachers who happened to be in Germany right at that moment.  Cars were honking like crazy and fireworks could be heard in the background.   

So, thinking that the Germans in the video were also excited about the play my guys had just seen, I say, "You should see this video of folks celebrating in Germany!"

They all stopped cheering, looked at me with their jaws dropped, and then glared.

Me:  "What?!?!"

Well...apparently Dave had DVR'd the game and they were watching it just fifteen or so minutes after real time and I just totally gave away the ending.

Technology...jeepers, right?

Click here to purchase this piece.

 

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

Trail Lovin'

I do so love hitting the hike and bike trail.  It's one of my favorite things about summer mornings.  It never fails to surprise, please, and leave me in awe.

Some cool stuff I encountered...

• A man sitting in the shade of a bridge playing his harmonica...I gave him a nod of thanks, he gave me a nod of welcome.

• Two women talking about ovulation timing...so not the part of life I'm in!

• Four fellow teachers who were walking looking super cute-n-sassy.

• The scent of bat guano...oddly enough, once I settle into the scent I almost find myself enjoying it in an "I love Austin" kind of way.

• Many pigeons who seem to overly assume that I'll go around them rather than them needing to fly the heck out of my way.

• Super, duper happy dogs off of their leashes bounding into the river.

• Beautiful turtles swimming in the water below the bridge I rode my bike across.

• An older couple walking very slowly on the trail...when I caught up to them I realized that the woman was totally engaged with whatever was on her iPhone...she absolutely looked like the hip young folk I see so often strolling the streets.


Wishing for many more summer days of surprise, pleasure, and awe...and an earnest hope that whenever I'm on the trail in thirty some odd years that I'll be totally engaged with the people, pigeons, and pooches.

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