October 20, 2012
Twelve Stories
I have never told the stories that have always gone with the paintings. I like the viewer to make up their own story, what it means to them. This year is different because the first story means a lot to me. It is my mom's story.
For fun, I decided I would tell all the stories.
January
The Golden Dress
One year ago the doctors told my mom she didn't have a lot of time. When I got to Florida in the spring, we did our annual shopping spree. She loves Saks and she bought several beautiful dresses, as always. This year however she debated on a gorgeous gold dress. "It's for New Years Eve, and I might not make it that long" she said. I told her how stunning she looked in it and if she liked it she should just "get it". "Okay" she said, "I'll do it, even if we're in Iowa and I have to wear it to the Pizza Ranch, I'm wearing it!" And she will. Even if she is in Iowa amidst all the farmers in their jeans and overalls, my mom will stand out wearing the golden dress, which is so much more than a dress, it is the symbol of her spirit, courage and belief.
The quote from Mary Oliver says it so poignantly, "Tell me, what do you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?"
Good question for the beginning of a new year. Good question actually anytime.
February
You Have Seriously Great Legs
Years ago I stayed at The Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas. To me that hotel is quintessential Las Vegas from the 50's. The colors, the style, it reminded me of an era gone by. I loved the little, colored square tiles around the edge of the pool. I created a flamingo design based on the hotel for my line of clothing. I thought it was one of the cutest designs I had made. I have been partial to flamingos ever since.
February is the month of LOVE. I hear the boy flamingo, in a Antonio Banderas voice of course, asking the girl flamingo out on a date, but being a bird he really can't remember if he has dated her before, the conversation goes something like this;
Do you want to go on a date?
Or are we already married?
Do we have children together?
Do you want to?
Was that an inappropriate question?
You have seriously great legs!
March
A Cat For All Seasons
Silliness. All you have to do is ask yourself anysilly question like,
"what would a January cat look like....oh, and what would I name him?"
Duh, it snows in January and his name would obviously be Snowflake. Then of course all the months must follow....and some of them were Tricky, (which was not one of the cats names, but could have been). There were a lot of choices, and on a long drive to my sister's house in Iowa, I certainly had enough time to think. My favorite is Buster, because pun is so bad you just roll your eyes.
April
Babycakes
"Babycakes," how many times have you said or heard that word? A year or so ago, I wondered what 'babycakes' would look like, and I painted a single little sweet baby sleeping in a yummy pink and white cake. My little daughter loved it and asked me to repeatedly draw it for her so she could color it. I started drawing more babies and more cakes in the pictures. Coco especially loved the naughty babies I would draw for her. The ones falling out of the cakes, the ones with frosting on their faces, the ones covered in chocolate. Since in my mind, April is related to spring and the time when the birds and animals have their babies, I usually do a theme around new life and springtime. This year, it is with real babies. Of course my favorite is the little red haired baby with chocolate all over his face and tummy, NOT taking his nap.
May
Jill's Garden
My friend Jill has an amazing organic garden that she has invited me to work in for years. In exchange for labor I get food and talk therapy. Beautiful, gorgeous, healthy, fresh, colorful food. Last May I had a pile of fresh food laying on my chopping board and it looked so pretty I had to take a photo. The photo then turned into this painting.
Fresh like spring itself.
June
Cherry Trees
I grew up picking cherries from my parents cherry orchard. I love cherries and all they represent. Not only do they taste wonderful, they remind me of the wonderful summers I had as a child. In the end, I loved my summer time job as a cherry picker. It was piece time work, the more and faster I could pick, the more money I made.
When I grew up I used that model for my own business. Cherries will be forever a lifetime love. And the month of June always seems to be related to something cherryish.
July
The Boat
Mark's boat. It was built in 1964 and has an Mercury outboard motor from 1956.
After experiencing a 30 mile ride up Lake Chelan this summer to our old camping site at, Moore Point, I fell in love with the boat and the experience.
The boat is a risk to ride in. It was a risk for me to paint.
I haven't ever painted a picture like this for any of my calendars.
But I said to myself, "why not?"
And the answer was, Hello Little Boat!
August
Happy August
There are no holidays in August, but August is my birthday month, it also happens to be my dog Belle's birthday month. We are both Leos. As a gift to myself I usually paint Belle in August, but my little love passed away last May. I was very, very sad and had to do something. As a reminder of her beautiful life, and the good times we shared, and the good times that would come again, I painted myself a gift,
I painted myself HAPPY.
September
Alphabet in Geometric Shapes
I challenged myself to create animals using simple forms, squares, rectangles, circles and triangles. I liked the result and went on to create an animal alphabet.
X never marks the spot and is always the hardest to figure out.
October
The Charlie and the Clock Owl
I have a black crow that lives near my house, and I heard an amazing story on NPR about how smart crows are. How they can recognize cars, and people, and I decided I wanted to paint my friend Charlie. (I thought if the bird was that smart I should give him a name, so I have been calling him Charlie ever since). But Charlie seemed a little lonely in the painting so I gave him a cute friend (I love the shape of the owl on my kitchen clock, I used him as a model to make Charlie's pal).
November
George in the Kitchen
As you may know from previous blogs, George is my cousin's little Yorkie. After my beloved bichon, Belle passed away this May, I didn't know what to do with myself. I began painting my walls. I began painting my furniture. I decided to make a happy place for myself, the inside of my kitchen cupboard, in the colors I love, pink and more pink. (If you go to past blogs you can see my cupboard for real, and the real George)
At my 30th highschool reunion, my cousin Jeanine brought her little dog in her big purse, and asked me to paint him. I didn't have time. I got to thinking that my cupboard was lacking something a little humorous, so I popped George into one of my favorite coffee cups. When I look at it I laugh. I think George is just the spark my cupboard needed.
December
Matrushoka Dogs
I imagined a Matrushka of different breeds of dogs, all wearing the clothes from the countries they came from, and of course I tried to use pets owned by people I know. Hence, a French poodle, who also belongs to my friend Mary Kay. Peetey, who is wearing a Bobby uniform and belongs to my friend Donna. Maxime, the Great Dane is in a Royal Danish Guard uniform, belongs to my sister Elizabeth and her husband Devin. George, is dressed in traditional English riding clothes and is my cousin Jeanine's adorable little Yorkie. Then we get to the the Chocolate Lab, which I needed to be brown because there was already a black poodle, so Leonard, my brothers black lab was out. I don't know any chocolate labs, yet, or any German Bulldogs, but size and color dictated at this point in the drawing, so I had to fill in with some unknowns.
Next year, I will have a little contest and have people send in photos of their pets to be in the "Dog Month".
Those are the stories that go along with the paintings.
Thank you for indulging me and my silliness. It's all about having fun.
My goal is to make people smile with my art.
To order the calendar click on the orange link below
