Past, Present , Future.. 2012

Last year and the year before I wrote about the new year, the last year ... dreams, goals, likes, dislikes..
 Past?  one word ..Painful losses, one could not be helped the other still has no sense to it... 
  Present?  one word.. Today.  Make it the best, for yourself and others.
Future?  now theres a word... Goals, plans, hopes and dreams.
  Of course I still have them,  I always have,. without that what is the sense to waking each day...
  Goals I set for last year?  Join an art guild was one . I did and it was a positive step for me..
Hopes and dreams? some worked out, some did not.
   The next few months will be a health issue for me, surgery is in order, after that?  then I'll plan..and not until....
  Painting ?  always will be my agenda , no matter what...  
 I wouldn't feel right if I didn't mention my Angie, she's still here, well in body anyway,  (she's forgetting where she put things.)  LOL !  I think we are losing it together.   She is here for me, I for her..  
   So I wish all of my friends, old and new, A Happy New Year.!
and see you all in 2012.   BJ

This Morning in Florida

Just as I got up, and looked out the back door.  The sun had not yet come up over the horizon .  
Even though parts of my life are not worth a dime, this is the sort of sight that makes me want to live forever.

 I've done nothing to enhance the photo.. BJ

To All of You ~

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all my friends.. thanks for all your support during the past year..  Many times, I've been tired, moody, not feeling well, and I read your blogs and get inspired by your art , your words and your spirit.   Barbra Joan

Some Christmas Thoughts Again.

 
I wrote a Christmas letter to my Dad a few years ago and published it on my blog last year.. I had so many comments and emails from it.. some said it helped them to try and be a better father. I hope so .  I'll post it again for this Christmas Season. It's a small part of my relationship with my Dad.. He left me in June 1997 and as I like to say I've tied the memories in a bow, put them aside but never forgot. For the most part, I write it as a tribute to him but your certainly welcome to read it.  BJ    
----------------------------------------------------------------
    ~ The  Christmas Letter ~ from 2010  
Although I've thought of my Dad often in the past thirteen years...its this week that I've missed him most, so I write this to you Dad.
When I was a little girl  you took me everywhere with you, deep sea fishing off the coast of New Jersey, and were always so proud that your daughter never got sick no matter how rough the ocean would be.   You brought me to NYC to see everything from the Empire State Building, Radio City Christmas Show, the Statue of Liberty, and when we went to Coney Island I'd make you ride that Cyclone roller coaster with me over and over . You never said no.
   You taught me how to ride a bike, fly a kite, build a snowman,  and made me that real little house in the backyard. I put curtains on the windows.
   You taught me my love for animals and all living things.. We took care of injured wild birds and rabbits, you'd make a box for them and if I cried when they didn't make it, you'd say " Barbra , you can't save all of them,  you just do what you can".  I still do .

   On Sunday mornings you'd drive out to that little airport and we'd watch the planes take off and land..
  One Sunday you managed to get a pilot to take me up for a ride in a small plane. And when Mom found out she had a fit. !

    We'd hike in the woods and go target shooting. I'd get poison ivy every time.
 You'd take me to the christening of the new big ships at the shipyard when you still worked there.

  We'd go to your welding shop on Saturdays and you showed me how to weld. Then taught me to drive my first car and bought a red convertible because I liked it.. And Mom had another fit !!
You were the first one I saw when I woke up in the hospital .. more than once.
   I thought you had the strength of 10 men, you could do anything and make everything alright. I remember the night we lost Louis, you looked right at me and said,
 " This is the ONE thing I can't do for you". And I knew you were right because you never lied to me. .
    I learned so much from you Dad. Any good that I am it was from you.. and the not so good ... you were still there for me every single time.
   Every Christmas you and I would go and get the tree.
 I'd bother you for weeks ahead of time.. I was good at that !... finally you'd  say 'ok, time to go and  get the tree,' and then with all the patience in the world you'd help me put it up and decorate it.
  I remembered something new this year, the time my new kitten went behind the kitchen stove and you spent hours taking it apart to get him out.. oh, all the kittens I brought home and said 'they just followed me" and you let me keep them..
   This time of year brings back lots of those memories, and I haven't forgotten a single one .
   If I were given just one wish for Christmas, I would ask that every little girl be blessed with a Dad like I had. What a beautiful world this would be.
from your daughter Barbra
   Merry Christmas again, Dad

Poinsietta

Merry Christmas ~  Happy Holidays

 and the 

best NewYear to all my friends in Blogsville. 

BJ  

A Tribute to Kelly ~

   Less than 2 weeks ago I drew and posted  what I called "Eye of the Horse".  .In fact the real name was 'Kellys Eye.'  Her owner had taken the photo and posted it on a copyright free site for artists.
  After seeing my drawing on that site yesterday, her owners who live in the UK, contacted me to say how much they liked the drawing but that sadly Kelly, their beautiful grey mare passed away suddenly just a few weeks ago.. it seems I had just drawn her at almost the same time of that happening. I needn't tell you how sad my heart felt all last night. 

   What started for me as a drawing is now a real soul to me , and I will  not forget her name was Kelly.   .   Barbra Joan

A Great Time !

The art reception  was fantastic, packed with people .. and was just for 3 hours this evening .. Strictly an exhibit for Christmas inviting local people .. Even Santa was there. 

   Thanks to my friends for the encouraging words that give me the confidence to do this.. .  BJ

Christmas Art Show

    

 Tonight is the Christmas Art Show.. 
 I've chosen 3 watercolors to bring .
   This is not so much a  show to sell, but more of an exhibit of local artists.. I'll take photos . remember camera!  BJ  
      

Watercolor~

I couldn't resist painting this Jack Russell terrier.   Done on Arches 140lb C/P paper.  11x14" .  

'Eye of the Horse ~ aka~ Kellys Eye ~Pencil~

 This piece was finished this morning.   Well today I have art hanging in the library for December (forgot about that), the Christmas Exhibit thisThursday.

P.S.   This is my rendition of the photo of Kelly .. unknowingly she had just passed away.  Her owners saw the drawing on another site, and sadly told me what happened... Coincidence or mystical,  I don't know, but Kelly and I have a bond.. Just the way it  feels . 

p.s. I'd like to add that this drawing has won a ribbon at the Art Show in Plant City, and yes Kelly we did good! .

BJ

My Choices

My art guild has asked that we exhibit some of our work at the Walden Lake Country Club for the Christmas Art Show.  Dec. 8.  

  I'm glad to do it and have made some choices ..  They aren't final yet, but I know I want to put in three watercolors and one drawing so I may change it.. These are photographed framed under glass which has reflections if you can get past that.  BJ    

Happy Thanksgiving!

 From me and Angie ...
To all my friends in Blogsville, USA Happy Thanksgiving and to the rest of you Have a Great Day!  BJ

Batter Up!!

Not my usual subject, style or anything about it that says Barbra Joan..Painted from a photo on PMP  (I believe) .   It was mostly the lighting that said 'paint me'.            
                                         WIP

Almost finished !

  Using 3 colors, raw sienna, indigo, and venetian red.
 Happy to report I'm back in Blogsville ! .
 BJ

Blog Problem

I've been so frustrated with my blog trying to post and comment.  For the past week every single time I try to go onto something I am asked to sign in, then password, then change the password , that doesn't work...

I've all but given up on it... and tonight is the last time I'm doing this .. if it starts again.. I will put the lights out. If I'm not logged into my blog I don't know how to get to others.. so therefore theres been very little comments from me to you.  I hope it gets better.. I am always happy to see you all and your blogs..   ok. off the soap box .. and onto  my other blog to apologize.. I have painted a pink poppy ( for a change) lol !  sometimes we have to stick to what we know..

 BJ

"Sunshine On My Shoulder'

I have a few small exhibits coming up .. Tonight is a 2 year anniversary celebration at my local gallery for which I've been asked to bring in a few paintings.. to hang. I may exchange some time in the gallery.

This is one I'd done a few years ago, it's about 18x24" and hangs in my bedroom..  it was done for just that purpose. 

Now I think I might share it  and along with it a few smaller ones.

BJ

I NEEDED ~LIFE~!!! IN MY LIFE !

I'm  not sure I've EVER painted something like this... it was a copyright free photo I found, oh and I think it's Kale? and the photo was taken at the vegetable department of a grocery store..
   I have no idea what it is, maybe the cabbage family... LOL! the painting is awful but the color gave me the life I needed today. !
  Hey who knew veggies could be so lively !!   I'm dancing ! BJ  

For Today

'Redd' ~ Watercolor

 

'Angie' ~ Pencil .

'Cats Eyes' ~ Graphite and Colored Pencil

The Lioness ~ Pencil

Hi all, I was asked  by my Art Guild to hang some pet portraits in a local Pet Resort.. I don't know why they call it a resort now,, but it's also a hospital for the animals.  They wanted 3, I brought 5 and they hung all of them.. They will stay there for 2 months, until the end of Dec. The Tiger was one ( below in the last post.) and these are the others.

Ok, so I've had another birthday, and it was a 3 day celebration!!

Friends came and stayed for it.  Of course Ray (my cousin/brother)was there too.

One photo was taken in May this year and one  during one of the  past three days,, but can't remember which day, and that's water I'm drinking...  lol!   BJ

Happy Birthday!

 A birthday card that I made last night and will get into the mail today.   BJ

Check out my best weekend at Art Hearts Journey 
BJ

Angie

Angie W/C .  She's a mixed breed, (spare parts)  . I tried to capture her in this painting, but have the nose somehow too short.  She has a big 'shnoz' as I tell her. Short legs, longish body, honestly she is comical looking but lights up my life every day. Now 16, I rescued her from the shelter at 5 years old and was thinking she'd never bond with me.. because she'd had a previous owner.. I couldn't have been more wrong.. below, is where she was while I painted her.  BJ    

Art in the Park Day

Although the only sales I know of was from the Pottery man. It was my first 'outside'  art event  The last one was a demo thing..  What lacked in sales  today was made up in the experience and all that I learned,  too much to tell here, but from my grids being backwards, oh yes,  needing stakes in the ground,  pricing, where to get prints made, framing,  meeting so many nice people and finally realizing that yes,  maybe I am an artist? !! ..and being accepted by my peers that is the best part. 
  My art was so well received that even I  was surprised.  Just when you reach an age where you think you know everything .  Who would have thought?   
       
    As to the weather today,  it was the absolute best day of the whole year, no kidding, low 80's , under the trees, lakeside and who could ask for anything more...? 
  For sure, not me.    hugs, BJ
 

Maybe

Neither of these show the contrast  dark/light  graphite from my bad photography, but possibly will take them to the art exhibit.  They are large 18x24 and the woman 22x28 . 

Art in the Park ~ Oct 1st

Next Saturday Oct 1st. is the annual 'Art in the Park'  show.. Not a judged show and no prizes very small , but a chance to exhibit ... I already had committed myself ( yes I know I should be committed ) that's for another post..

I've been framing,  making some choices, not necessarily  what you see, have to start somewhere though,  and trying to have some sort of method to my madness.  We'll see how it goes.. I have a whole week to angst about it..        BJ

Pears, Pears, Pears,

What is it about pears that's so fun to paint?  An amazing thing happened today concerning pears.  I posted a pear (colored pencil) to the JWJarts website .. a challenge so to speak, and not an hour later what do I receive in the mail.. a card  from the UK  and tucked inside a beautiful watercolor of a pear.!!  Hmmm! Coincidence??

It was from Pat Elliott and it isn't even my birthday! or Christmas !  What did I do to deserve this...???  Pat I can't tell you how you made my day. !!!

And the colored pencil pear that I'd done and  posted almost at the same time to the forum at JWJarts.  

Woo Hoo !  Yes, Gypsy at work !!!!    BJ

Nasturtiums

This was one of those headed for the trash and decided nothing should wind up there. Sometimes we  think that just because something took 20 minutes that it's not good, can't be ... finished already?     BJ  

From a photo by Gillian Mowbray

Today

I chose to write about my feelings for today on my
Art Hearts Journey  blog,   If you care to see it click on the name..
  I'll be back with some kind of art here soon..  BJ

THE HIPPIE CHICK !

Had to get something on paper. Not so much 'have to' but I wanted  to.  I took a break from other 'stuff' and did this quick watercolor from a photo I took some years ago.  I intend to  do a larger one  but whenever I plan, and think and ponder it never comes out the way I want.. Yes,  my daughter.  BJ   

Doodling with Paint

Sometimes I will do something quick and this was on a sheet of paper that I was doodling with paint...  It's just card size..   First one to send an address  ( on the comment page.)  or em me can have it  mailed to them..     Go ahead you can pick  the flowers.     BJ

Johns' Fuschia

I still didn't get this right but never will.  Gave it my best effort though.   BJ  

Happiness Is !

Well I need to pick something  positive for today, so how about my brand new business cards that just came in the mail.. !
I designed it myself, then went to Vistaprint online and I'm happy with them.  So now when people ask for my website, I'll just say " Here's my card."  
 After making art all these years  my card. !! They will probably outlast me.. LOL !     BJ  

What I've been doing

 

   I've been working on a series of watercolors,  of women...   they're not portraits, they just represent a softer  feminine touch to this otherwise world in turmoil... They aren't even good , ,but news of the day is bad and it gets worse ... I want to do something about it,  but can not...  so I'm painting pretty things.  No, not hiding out , just frustrated, disappointed in the state of affairs  both here and around the world.  What a mess!
I'm beginning to wonder who and what we are .  Oh,  let me just go paint   .  It  saves  my sanity.  BJ

'Gillys Flower'

    This was painted from a reference photo on a website  forum that  I belong to  called JWJarts  .  click on to the  link to get there..   The name of the flower  is not in my head right now.. so I named it Gillys' Flower since she is the artist who posted it there.   Enjoy!       BJ  

Watercolor~ Life Is a String of Beads

~

  

I did a piece like this in colored pencil a few years ago, and decided to paint it in watercolor. 
As I was working on it, I started to think how  much our lives are  like this string of beads.   Large, small, bright, dull and dark , one continuous line with no beginning, no end that you can see. 
Life has big events, small ones, happy bright times and dull somber dark days. 
   It goes on in a perpetual line, but has detours, over and under, ins and outs.  We don't  really know where it begins, we don't know where it ends.   I think I'll name this  'Life is a String of Beads'   BJ    for  jj
 

~Colored Pencil~

One of the many seashells found on Florida beaches,, I believe this is a Florida Cone.
    
 

Today

  Today was the day that I had to put paint to paper.. no doubts about that.. so I drew three circles, wet the entire paper , put some permanent rose in those places, and we know it looked like flowers to me.. so adding a little New Gamboge to the mix, and some Sap Green it turned into a bouquet.. I just let the water do the work.. (I was too lazy)   I admire the work of Fabio Cembranelli and I think it was influencing my thoughts today.. 

I'll try this again, using some thought to placement and color and composition and it will turn out  awful...  It never fails... !!   BJ   

Hollyhocks

Done quickly on inexpensive watercolor paper... .. 

The Tropics

For some reason, my photos are not good at all .. color , sharpness, etc..    but you get the idea. 
It's HOT in Florida !!!!       Bird of Paradise.

A Letter Re-posted

 Today  (the 29th)  is a  rememberance day  for me..  My dad passed away 15 years ago, and at Christmas 2010 I wrote a  'Christmas Letter ' to him  and posted it on my blogs... While reading it tonight I went to correct an error and somehow it's been deleted.   Today I'd like to re-post it and remember these good times with him.. He was a very special man in my life.  
 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 A Christmas Letter ..
Although I've thought of my Dad often in the past thirteen years...its this week that I've missed him most, so I write this one time to you Dad.
   When I was a little girl, you took me everywhere with you,  deep sea fishing off the coast of New Jersey ..  to NYC to see everything from the Empire State Building, Radio City Christmas Show, the Statue of Liberty, and  when we went to Coney Island I'd make you ride that roller coaster  with me over and over .  And you never said no. 
You taught me how to ride a bike, fly a kite,  build a snowman,  and  made me that real little house in the backyard. I put curtains on the windows.
 You taught me my love for animals and all living things..  We took care of  injured wild birds and rabbits, you'd make a box for them  and if I cried when they didn't make it, you'd say " Barbra , you can't save all of them you know, you just do what you can".
 On Sunday mornings you'd drive out to that little  airport and  we'd watch the planes take off and land.. Somehow you managed to get a pilot to take me up for a ride in a small plane. And when Mom found out she had a fit. 
We'd hike in the woods and go target shooting. You'd take me to the christening of the  new big ships at the shipyard when you still worked there.
   We'd go to your welding shop on Saturdays  and  you showed me how to weld.  Then taught me to drive my first car and bought a red convertible because I liked it.. And Mom had another fit !!  You were the first one I saw when I woke up in the hospital .. more than once.
 I thought you had the strength of 10 men , you could do anything and make everything alright. I remember  the night we lost Louis,  you  looked right at me and said " This is the ONE thing I can't do for you". And I knew you were right because you never lied to me. .
   I learned so much from you Dad.  Any good that I am it was from you.. and the not so good ...  you were still there for me every single time.
  Every Christmas you and I would go and get the tree, I'd bother you for weeks ahead of time.. I was good at that...  and finally  you'd  say 'ok , time to get the tree ',  and then with all the patience in the world you'd help me put it up and decorate it.
This time of year brings back lots of  those memories,  and I have not forgotten a single one .  If  I were given just one wish for Christmas, I would ask that every little girl be blessed with a Dad like I had. What a beautiful world this would be.
  from your daughter Barbra,
Merry Christmas Dad