Creative Spirits Soar!

No. 24 .... Courtyard of Texada

Courtyard of Texada

6 x 8 Oils on archival-quality panel, $95

Children re-enactors lost all control and started playing in the fountain of the courtyard at Texada. It was more realistic then standing around being quiet. I found it oddly authentic.

Receiving Guests

Receiving Guests

6 x 8 Oils on archival-quality panel, $95

Roosevelt of Monmouth

Roosevelt of Monmouth

6 x 8 oils on archival-quality panel, $95

After driving all day to reach Natchez last spring, my friend whom I met in Natchez whisks me off to one of the most beautiful homes I've ever seen... Monmouth.

This home is now a luxurious, historic Inn and Restaurant owned by Nancy and Warren Reuther. Their dinners are served in five courses and reservations are required. Thank goodness they have delicious "bar food" and took care of us, including treating me to a mint julep by Nancy herself, a kindness this weary traveler will never forget.

"One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well." Virginia Woolf

One of Monmouth's many treasures is Roosevelt, a sweet, smiling gentleman who makes the most delicious juleps.

Historic Tableaux ... The Hunt

The Hunt

6 x 8 Oils on archival-quality panel, $95

 

At each Pilgrimage the people of Natchez perform the historic Tableaux to showcase in living vignettes and dance the rich history of Natchez. I happened to be there on the last night of the Tableaux known for its spoofs and hi-jinx. I was expecting the hounds to be released during the scene called "The Hunt," but no. The cast behaved.

Study of William Edward West's portrait of Stephen Minor, Spanish Governor of Natchez in 1792

Study of William Edward West's portrait of Stephen Minor, Spanish Governor of Natchez in 1792 

6 x 8 Oils on archival-quality panel, $95

1941 Natchez Garden Club Pilgrimage Queen at Lansdowne

1941 Pilgrimage Queen

6 x 8 Oils on archival-quality panel, $95

Julia Devereux (Hendrix) Stone (born and died in Natchez MS 1921-1997), wife of Charles Henry Stone and mother of the owner of The Stone House bed and breakfast, at Lansdowne in 1941 as Pilgrimage Garden Club Queen.

Jimmy the Cricket

Jimmy the Cricket

6 x 8 oils on archival-quality panel, $95

"Spring Pilgrimage, Fall Pilgrimage, Historic Tableaux, Steamboats, Cotton Prices...such a grand life!" spoken by my Natchez friend and newest, lifetime member to the Pilgrimage Garden Club, Jimmy the Cricket.

Jimmy delights and enlightens guests to The Towers, The Burn, Texada, Reuthland, Brandon Hall, and more.  And shares some of the finer points of living in Natchez from the 19th century to today, including Old Paris China, Punkahs, and Mammy's Cupboard.

 

American Gothic

Frank Beacham writes,

"In 1930, Iowa artist Grant Wood painted American Gothic. The models he used for the painting were his sister, Nan Wood Graham, and his dentist, Byron McKeeby. Here they pose by the original painting.

American Gothic is now in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago. Wood's inspiration came from a cottage designed in the Gothic Revival style with a distinctive upper window and a decision to paint the house along with "the kind of people I fancied should live in that house."

The painting shows a farmer standing beside his spinster daughter. The woman is dressed in a colonial print apron evoking 19th-century Americana, and the couple are in the traditional roles of men and women, the man's pitchfork symbolizing hard labor, and the flowers over the woman's right shoulder suggesting domesticity.

It is one of the most familiar images in 20th Century American art, and one of the most parodied artworks within American popular culture."

Fun with the Palette Knife

Oprah says God speaks to you in whispers. But what she failed to add is if you don't listen, he raises his voice.

A year ago Diane C. May recommended that I paint in simpler blocks of color, eliminating the unnecessary to tell the story. James Richards recent lesson was on simplification. Then I inherited an assortment of palette knives. And then yesterday I was inspired by several palette knife painters.

Could it be my style is meant to go in a different direction??

Here is this afternoon's attempt at Simplified blocks of color with palette knife. Inspired by more artists than I can possibly name, but specifically a study of e. h. potthast's painting "In the Surf."

And the Croquet Players...

This morning I challenged myself with painting the beautiful Crawley sisters in front of Highclere Castle. How do you simplify that??

Sans Pearls

Sans Pearls
8 x 16 oils on canvas, $270