Butterfly Dance

3 inch by 3 inch $25.00

The Motor Cycle Accident

It was July 14 and I was drivivng back from my weekly drawing session when I noticed that my cell phone was dead. I had forgotten to put it in its charger the night before. Usually I’m pretty good about plugging it in each night because my husband and I keep pretty close tabs on each other. We are the kind of couple that are turely opposites in almost everything we do. He is usually off somewhere shooting trap, riding his motorcycles or flying his remote control airplanes. Of course I am usually doing something related to art or nature and the outdoors. The cell phones keep us close even when we’re apart. I wondered about my husband Art, ( yes his name is Art …so you see I do love Art, both the man and the discipline) how he was doing on his long ride in the mountains. He and his boss took their high powered racing motorcycles up to Boone NC planning on checking out the highland games and having lunch. It was a beautiful day and I was glad he could get away and have some fun. I figured he would call and check to see how my session went and upon arriving home I when stright to the phone machine.

You can imagine my angst when the first message was from Art saying he had an accident. He sounded very alert and his usual self but his message was rather frightening because he said he was in a ravine and no one could find him. Literally he was calling me from the scene of the accident and he was alone, injured and lying on the side of a mountain. Right in the middle of the message and before I had time to think, the phone rings again. Its Art, he says he’s sure his shoulder is broken, maybe his collar bone too and he has called 911 for help. They are looking for him but without any real landmarks and it being a very rugged rual area, it may be a while. I can hear the blaring of his motorcycle’s horn going off in the background as he speaks. I have a sinking feeling in my chest because I can’t think of a single thing to do or a way to help him. He is three hours away. The poor guy calls me just wanting to reassure me that he is Ok and not to worry. He says he can hear a motorcycle, it’s Jim, his boss going back and forth on the road, looking for him, just 100 feet above him, but Arts says he isn’ t visable from the road and he’s sure he didn’t leave any skid marks. Most likely the sound of his motorcycle is louder than Art’s mototrcycle horn because even thought its blaring, Jim continues to ride by.

We talk and I try to reassure him that help will come soon and he says he is trying to lay still and be calm. its alreadybeen about 20 minutes when 911 calls him back and tells him they have recived a call from a homeowner who can hear his horn blowing, so they know where to look and the search and rescue team will be sent there ASAP. Apparently a woman who has a home nearby was in her garden at the time and could hear a horn but couldn’t see anything from her lower vanatage point. She called her neighbor who lives on the top of the mountain which looks down into the ravine and asks him to go outside and look for a car. He of course does this and can see Art and his motocycle lying on the side of the mountain just a ways below him. These two good samaritans and the rescue team probably saved Art’s life that day. I’ll have to find them and give them all a big hug.

Arts in surgery as I write this note. Its been 6 weeks 6 days since his accident. He has internal injuries and needs to have some blood removed from his chest cavity. He did have broken bones, a clavicle and scapula, shoulder blade and five ribs. He also severed his liver and puncured his lung. He was wearing full body armor and of course a high tech racing helmet or he wouldn’t have made it. He will have a long recovery and will face some difficult days ahead, but I plan to be there for him and will do everything I can to help him be 100 % again. No he will never ride a mortocycle again and it will be awhile before he can shoot trap, kyack on Lake Wylie or mountain bike but when he gets out of the trauma center, I have a recliner at home with his name on it . Maybe indoor sports will be his hobby for awhile.

Deep Red Poppies

4 by 6 $50.00

I have been painting a larger painting... you can see it at... http://h20color.wordpress.com

This painting has influenced my daily painting choice. I painted this small 4 by 6 painting in a deeper red color.
p. s.
My husband is going to have another cat scan today. Maybe the Dr can figure out what is wrong with his right lung and why it is not healing correctly. Thanks for your cards and notes.

Freezia

4.5 by 4.5

This is from an arrangement of flowers I found at the nurses station. After a patient leaves (if they don't take them home) their flowers are placed on a shelf usually there are three or four arrangements sitting up there each day. I borrowed a few sprigs or a vase of flowers to paint. Everyone knows I'm an artist. They find it interesting that I paint these things. They probably wonder why the small format since I've never told any of them I'm a daily painter. Along the window sill, on the TV and behind the bed the little art gems sit.. little daily paintings. Scrapes of paper with a small designs or flowers... Each one sitting there, proof that this man has someone who cares. Someone who likes to remind the world there is beauty outside these walls. Soon, one day we'll walk together and see the flowers growing again. So I keep painting and I keep leaving little flower paintings around his bed. Its like a garden of sorts. Tulips, sunflowers, roses, Daisey's and now a freezia.

Pink Roses for me too

4.5 by 4inches $30.00
This is the companion painting I made for the other small rose bud painting I completed earlier this week. I have tried to sneak in painting whenever I can, usually when I’m waiting or if Art’s (my husband) asleep, it’s a saving grace for me and something that’s helps me get thru each day. Its the one constant. Like an old friend, my palette and brushes are there for me, I find comfort and solace in painting.

I have been a little down this week and I guess its because it has been so long now…going to the hospital everyday and hoping that all will be better tomorrow. Of course tomorrow is the same thing and days have turned into weeks ( six weeks) each day seems to be no-different than the next. The long days and nights seem almost a blurr to me and I’m tired most of the time.
I’m glad have the little dailies to paint, its like a small oasis in an unfamiliar landscape. I’ve tried not to write about my husband’s accident because I’m an upbeat person who likes to be positive. To talk about each procedure, each, situation just seems to dwell on the negative. I’m sure he will be 100% one day, its just going to take time.

Little Pink Roses

I like to paint these small floral paintings without drawing them first. Its gives a person freedom to allow the paint to guide you. I also have a companion piece that I have paintd. This is 4 by 5 and is for sale for $40.00

My husband has an infected liver and he is on antibiotics. In a few days he should be better. These pink roses were part of a floral arangement which was in the waiting room.

Parrot Tulip 3 by 5 inch watercolor

3 by 5 inch watercolor on paper. $25.00 My husband is getting better, Today makes six weeks since his accident. I have tried to keep up with my daily painting but I have been busier then usual. I have been taking a little travel kit with me to the hospital each day and painting these little paintings.

Poppies

I love poppies and they make me turn my head and look at them even while driving thru the mountains. You see… they plant them along the sides of the roads in North Carolina so there will be thousands of them blooming all at once. Hugh plantings usually near the off ramps… Virant green foliage and bright red orange flowers. Individually Standing tall and blowing in the wind. Its more than an artist can take in at one time. Of course in this drought we are in, I didn’t have any poppies to see today. I painted these from my memories of the poppies I saw this spring along side of the road while driving up to Wild Acres. This is a haven for me and I think of this artist community often when stressed. If you have been up that way you know what I’m talking about. It’s very beautiful.

Wooded path

I have painted this painting three times and I think I finally got it right. This is a 15 by 22 and it was painted in the spring. I like to use purple and green and find they compliment each other better than expected.

Aster

Here is a painting I did today while waiting for my husband to get out of surgery.

4.5 by 4.5 $40.00

Waiting

I took some small ACEO size paper and pitt pens to the Hospital yesterday. While waiting to see my husband, I drew this gentleman who was sitting with me and about 50 other folks. He pulled his cap down over his head and tried to sleep. Later when I got home I painted it yellow, it seemed to speak of the mood in that room.

Kitty and color charts

I thought you might like to see my cat Chubbs. She's sitting on top of my flat files near my computer router and my color charts. I made these charts because I like to actually see the colors on watercolor paper after they have dried. I compare the brands and find the best one for me. I encourage all artist to do this and to also learn the properties of their paints. So many times I have found paints may be very much alike in color and value but may have other properties such as staining or granulation which can be used at different times to get certain effects.

Red on Red ACEO

I like to paint landscapes using only one side of the color wheel and this little ACEO was painted with alnalogous colors.

Nude "Ginger" graphite on paper

This is a twenty minute drawing from a model.
$40.00 9 by 11 graphite on paper ...I miss watercolor, Tomorrow I paint!

Sunflower madness

This was painted a a month or so with a companion piece and I had so many paintings it never got posted. 50.00 Watercolor on clayboard

Beagle Boy

$40.00 graphite on paper 8 by 11

I love dogs and I like drawing them. Many times I'll watch a dog sitting under a table at a coffee shop, and just like a person they emote a personaility and this Beagle was such a happy dog. I just had to draw him.

silver and silk

This watercolor I painted a while back but wanted to put it up today for you to see. It is six inches by nine inches, watercolor on paper. silver can be fun to paint but also a bit tidious. Silver acts like a mirror and your actually painting the colors around the pitcher which are reflecting back. I had to actually not paint my own reflection which always appeard in the pitcher each time I sat close to the set up.

Scott a Nude

9 by 11 graphite on paper. 40.00

If you look closely you can see another drawing which is under this drawing, Its interesting that I didn't see it but the camera does.

Nude Candace

This is a sketch from one of my sketchbooks. It was a twenty minute sketch done with a model.

Nude Stella

9 by 11 graphite on paper. 40.00