Deck The Halls Christmas Carol by Pomplamoose

Lately I have enjoyed watching the Hyundai car commercials (really!) and recently learned that the singing was done by two people in a "group" called Pomplamoose.  Say that really fast several times!  Anyhow, Nataly & Jack do all of the singing and play all of the instrumentals!  I guess they use some electronical musical gadgets - DUHHHHHHH do ya think?

Here's a link to their Hyundai car commercial and a link to their song.  (Use your browser "back" button to come back here!)  At the end of their song they talk about giving away some MP3 tracks of their songs if you buy a book(s) for the Richmond, California schools from Amazon.com.

Here's a link to their rendition of "Up on The Housetop".

Nataly and Jack

THE CROSS GUY - A WORK IN PROGRESS

Work In Progress

THE CROSS GUY  8 x 12  Oils on panel

A WORK IN PROGRESS

12/27/2010: With help from a friend, I renamed this painting from "A Mean Dude" to "The Cross Guy".

I woke up early (4 or 5 AM) and I got this far by 9 AM more or less. It's rather small so it didn't take long. DUH!  :-)

I saw this photo on Jilly Bennett's blog Menton Daily Photo a while back and the fellow was . . . . abrupt(?) and Jilly took his picture so that he would move on.

I'll work on this tomorrow - probably. Or I might work on the painting with the boys running. Maybe not.  :-)

UPDATED December 21, 2010.  I still need to do something more - or maybe something less.  Anyhow the photo of the painting is "shiny" and I'll work on that as well!  :-)

Boys Running In The Countryside - WORK IN PROGRESS

WORK IN PROGRESS

Boys Running In The Countryside   16 x 20  Oils on canvas panel

WORK IN PROGRESS

This is a combination of four (4) reference photos:

The background ground, trees and sky are a photo of the neighborhood where we live.  The boys are two photos from Jilly Bennett's blog Menton Daily Photo.  The dog is patterned after a photo from the internet.

Lady With Sunglasses

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Lady With Sunglasses  8 x 10   Oils on canvas panel

UPDATED - December 20, 2010.  I glazed some blue and violet on the sunglasses.

This started off as a "landscape" (orientation and subject) experiment and when that went bad, I made it a portrait (orientation and subject) painting of a lady with fancy sunglasses.  You can imagine the landscape if you look at the painting in landscape orientation. There's a blue sky on the right with snow flakes, a brown shoreline in the middle and blue water on the left side - or that's what I was trying to do.  When I put paint thinner on the "landscape" the paint sort of shmeared, dribbled and ran from top to bottom.  I thought that it looked sort of nice then I left it and went inside our house for the night.

The next day I decided to make a portrait and ta-da! There was the canvas panel already "prepped" for an off-beat portrait of a lady wearing "fancy" sunglasses.

I'm going to leave it alone for now. Maybe it's finished, maybe NOT! :-)

The Rogers Art Guild Holiday Party

December 13, 2010.

Each year our art guild has a Christmas Party then we visit a local Assisted Living home. The members exchange gifts and we have gifts for the residents at the assisted living home. 

This year we ate at a restaurant instead of having a pot-luck lunch at our regular meeting-place.  Our wrapped gifts for each other in the Guild were placed on a table then each member could choose a gift from the table OR "steal" a gift that another member had chosen. It's a lot of fun with some "serious" (wink wink) threats of retribution if the gift is "stolen"!

After our luncheon party we went to the nearby assisted living home where one of members and two of his friends played and sang some Christmas music.  The band played almost an hour and we were all sorry when it was time to leave and go home.  One of the band (Dave) is an artist and a member of our guild - he makes really good paintings as well as singing & playing guitar very well!

Please excuse my translated wishes for a Merry Christmas. I used a free online translation program and I meant well! :-}  I hope that you all have a:

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all! 

Feliz Navidad  y  Feliz Año Nuevo  para  todos! 

圣诞快乐，新年快乐给大家！ 

Prettige Kerstdagen en Gelukkig Nieuwjaar voor iedereen! 

Joyeux Noël et Bonne année à tous!

Fröhliches Weihnachten und Gutes Neues Jahr zu allen!

Buon Natale e Felice Anno Nuovo a tutti! 

С Рождеством Христовым и С новым годом все!

Some photos of our holiday day are posted below. 

Most of our members and guests before the party started

The band (Joe, Dave and Roger) playing at the assisted living home.

A view of some of the residents and staff

Another view of some of the residents and staff

Cat - (Fantasy painting)

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Cat - (Fantasy painting)  8.5 x 11  Oils on panel

This is the second in what is apparently going to be a series. The first "fantasy" cat painting was posted on Wednesday, October 20, 2010.  You can see it here.  I used the same drawing as the first painting.  I changed the color scheme - a lttle! (In case you're wondering)

As usual, my camera and I couldn't agree on focus and blah blah blah whine whine whine. So this is the photo I chose to post. Not the best but definitely NOT the worst, either!  :-)

Merry Christmas - Happy Holidays to all!

I have to share a sad, sad story with you.  Yesterday I baked  about two dozen bread rolls and put them on our kitchen counter to cool before storing them in a bag. A VERY BIG MISTAKE on my part as it turned out!  :-)

Our Boxer, Simon, sneaked into the kitchen and ate most of them off of the counter!  When I confronted him about it he totally denied eating the rolls. He blamed the missing rolls on the boogey critter (a chipmunk) that lives under our back yard deck!  I know it wasn't the chipmunk because Bella, our Miniature Schnauzer, pointed her paw at Simon and told me that Simon was the culprit. 

As it turns out, those rolls weren't all that good anyhow.  I made another batch today and these are much better tasting and they are SAFELY put away so that neither Simon nor the chipmunk can get them.  Simon finally apologized this afternoon - too late though!

You can see the guilt in his eyes!

Cowboy

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Cowboy  14x24  Oils on canvas panel

I liked the thought of doing a cowboy and I have done painting of a cowboys on horses but I wanted to do a "portrait" of a cowboy.

SO, I came up with this cropped "portrait" of a rootin' tootin' cowboy. No attempt at a time period. It could be now or in two centuries ago.  Who knows?  Who cares?  :-)

Lady in Yellow scarf 2

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Lady in Yellow scarf 2   9x12  Oils on masonite

I posted this once before (I thought) in February 2009. Now I can't find it!  It seems that some of my posts and pictures have been seen so often that they've worn out!  :-)  NOT!

This is the other attempt to make this painting. The other is posted separately.

Being a person of the male gender, I understand that the fabric on this lady's head is probably not called a "scarf", but . . . .  Scheeeesh!

Lady in Yellow scarf 1

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Lady in Yellow scarf 1   9x12  Oils on masonite

I posted this once before (I thought) in February 2009. Now I can't find it!  It seems that some of my posts and pictures have been seen so often that they've worn out!  :-)  NOT!

This is one of two attempts to make this painting. The other is posted separately.

Being a person of the male gender, I understand that the fabric on this lady's head is probably not called a "scarf", but . . . .  Scheeeesh!

104 Pearl Street

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104 Pearl Street  11x14  Oils on masonite

This building is in my neighborshood. I recently noticed (duh) that the address is 104 Rose Street!

I think that this was once a church but is now a cabinet shop.  I added the people. :-)

Jake Carter

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Jake Carter  9x12   Oils on masonite

Jake is a purely fictional person that I made up after seeing the hat in another photo.  The hat is worn well and lovingly.

This photo was posted a year or so ago but it seems to have been lost? :-)

Some of the photos in some of my posts are "empty", also.  What the heck!  Do posts get old and disappear?

Alain

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Alain  9x12  Oils on canvas panel

This is a fellow featured in one of Jilly Bennett's posts in her Menton Daily Photo blog.

He is part of a street band (orchestra) that was preparing a meal, making music and being playful with the audience.  I'll try to find the post but . . . .

This was painted in February of 2010 and I'm just now posting it!

QuietlyThinking

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Quietly Thinking  12x16  Oils on canvas panel

Several titles went through my mind but "quietly thinking" resonated and fit the mood of this young lady.  Her gaze is steady, not troubled, not elated. Just thinking.  Ask a youngster what they're doing or thinking about and they'll tell you "NOTHING".  At least that's what my parents heard most of the time.  And what I heard as a father of two girls. Who grew up to be nice people to know, by the way.

I suppose that I could paint a cell phone into her right (our left) hand but that would be too much of a cliche.

This young lady isn't a child and she isn't yet an adult by definition. Young folks today have more to think about as teenagers than I had to think about when I was in my teens. The fact is, I didn't do too much serious thinking when I was a teenager, I guess.  :-)

I apologize for the photo of this painting. I've taken several dozen photos and either the glare is strong or the photo is blurry. The colors in the painting aren't represented very well.  I'll keep trying, though. My camera is sometimes surly and won't cooperate with me.  :-)

The Invisible Diner

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The Invisible Diner  16x20  Oils on canvas panel

I don't know the story about this lady. But most of us choose not to "see" the homeless people and pass them by without looking at them or even acknowledging that they are there.

This lady has a lot of baggage  (physical and psychological) to carry with her. And don't we all?  I've heard that most Americans are one or two paychecks (if they're lucky enough to have a job!) away from living on the street or in their car.

Maybe we could spend less on fighting and more on feeding . . . . . ?  Who knows?

Man On The Subway

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Man On The Subway  16x20  Oils on panel

11/14/2010 - updated photo

This fellow is trying to use his cell phone but seems to be hesitating while he decides which button to push with that poised forefinger.  All the while he's listening to his MP3 playing Aerosmith's Greates Hits.  The music volume is turned up enough so that the other passengers have moved away.  Or does he need a bath? hmmmmm

He has a courier pouch in his lap and a backpack on his back. Taking some work home or . . . . . ?

Surprisingly I completed this painting to this point in about five hours! I don't know what happened, my brushes worked well today. They've been "inoperative" lately. Couldn't make a painting worth a hoot no matter how I fussed at it.  Good grief.I'm going to stare at this one for a while something in it is bugging me - I don't know what yet. Do you?   :-)

An Owl

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An Owl  7 3/4 x 12   Oils on canvas panel

I wanted a "little" different owl's face so I put a photo of an owl into my Corel Paintshop Photo Pro X3 (say that five times!) and did some cropping some "effects" and came up with something that looked almost like this painting.  I added more yellows and greens. A "normal" owl is a bit boring as far as plumage goes I think.

The actual painting is much more colorful than this photo, by the way! Halloween is this weekend, maybe I'll dress up as an owl high on LSD.

Invited For Dinner

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Invited For Dinner  10x16  Oils on canvas panel

I was watching a Modern Marvels program about EGGS on the History Channel on TV and (duh) they showed many chickens in the program (DUH).

I got a bit cutesy with the title. I remember one of the Hannibal Lecter (SP?) movies Silence of The Lambs where Hannibal told someone that he had invited a person to his home for dinner. Hannibal, of course, literally ate the person - Hannibal The Cannibal? Get it?

So this chicken has been invited to our house for dinner anytime it's convenient for her!  :-)

A Boy And His Grandmother

S O L D

A Boy And His Grandmother  2 Paintings - Oils on canvas panel

The Boy painting size is 8x12

The Grandmother painting size is 7 3/4 x 12

These paintings are preliminary or studies to a portrait where the boy will be sitting with his grandmother. The grandmother passed away in 2007 before the grandson was born. There aren't many reference photos of the grandmother and I had to "wing it" when I created her hair. Many apologies!

The final "portrait" size will probably be 16x20 and this is my first commission - if the parents approve.

Girl In A Red Coat

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Girl In A Red Coat  12x16  Oils on canvas panel

I saw an image much like this somewhere on TV or the internet but seriously, I don't remember which or where.

For some reason I had a hard time making this photo with my camera so the colors are only "close" to what the painting looks like.

I don't know if the young girl is looking AT something in the distance or looking FOR something. But she appears a little timid or apprehensive about walking from the tree line into the open area.

Rogers Art Guild 2010 Fall Exhibition

Tuesday October 19th  through Friday October 29th

Rogers Public Library

711 S. Dixieland Rd, Rogers, AR

Telephone (479) 621-1152

The Art Exhibition hours are 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM Monday through Friday, October 19th through October 29th. A portion of all proceeds from the art sale and all cash donations go to the Rogers Art Guild High School Scholarship fund.

Two donated member paintings will be raffled at this Exhibition to raise funds for two scholarships; one for a Rogers High School graduating senior and one for a Heritage High School graduating senior. The Rogers Art Guild is a 501(c) (3) nonprofit organization and all donations are eligible for Federal Income Tax deductions.

The public is invited to the Guild Art Exhibition Open House Reception “Meet the Artists” Sunday October 24th from 2:00 PM to 5:00 PM.

There are NO admission fees.


My entries are pictured here.

A Waiter Making Change

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A Waiter Making Change   9x12  Oils on canvas panel

This subject is suggested by another of Jilly Bennett's posts in her wonderful blog Menton-daily-photo.blogspot.com. Naturally I can't find her post right now, but I'll make a link here when I find it.  You'd think that by now I would know to make notes! But that requires a brain and I'm working on that.

UPDATE: 10/21/2010 - I couldn't find the reference page in Jilly's Menton Daily Photo blog because it's in her Monte Carlo Daily Photo blog!  DUHHHHHH!  Paying attention isn't one of my strong points, obviously!

I made a few changes from Jilly's photo but it's substantially what you see is what you get! :-)

I'm wondering if the waiter is making change for his customer taking his time hoping for a tip.  In Jilly's photo he appears to be perspiring quite a bit - probably working very hard.  I worked a few summers in retail when I was a teenager and vowed then to never again be on the cash register side of a counter NO WAY, NO HOW!  I never have and I appreciate very much those folks that can do it. Especially waiters and the like.

Black Cat

PRIVATE COLLECTION

Black Cat  8x10  Oils on canvas panel

This is NOT an accurate portrait of a kitty cat and it is NOT intended to be!  I've played with colors a "bit" - having a little fun.  I think that I'd like to make a larger version - maybe 9"x16".  Maybe, maybe not.

Sure enough, this image does not represent the painting very well. Something gets lost in the transition from the painting into my digital camera into my computer then into Corel Paintshop Photo Pro X3.  Anybody that follows my blog knows (or should know) that my camera and I have a love-hate relationship going.

My automatic digital camera is sometimes surly and pretends that it can't focus. I on the other hand am absolutely clueless about photographing paintings. Or anything else for that matter.  Point, click = photo.  DUH!

Sunflower from our home garden

PRIVATE COLLECTION

Sunflower from our home garden  8x12  Oils on canvas panel

We have a small vegetable garden in our back yard where we (attempt) grow tomatoes, potatoes, purple hull peas and sweet peppers.  I'll plant seeds for almost any vegetable and wait to see what happens.  Our cucumbers started out really well then - decided to not do really well.  Our Brussel sprouts aren't brusseling but our dill is looking good.

Enough horticulture.  This painting came from me seeing the sun shining from the back of the sunflower blossom and I tried to capture that bright yellow against a dark background. I continue to battle GLARE in photos of my paintings. I'll be that I couldn't get the glare if I were to TRY to make a photo of the glare.

Squirrels and I plant sunflowers among the veggies. I buy my sunflower seeds from the store, the squirrels get theirs from our bird feeders.  When the sunflower seeds are ripe, I put the seeds into the bird feeders and the squirrels plant some of them.  A form of recycling I suppose!  :-)

Fly Fishing No. 3

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Fly Fishing No. 3  16x20  Oils on canvas panel

I should probably be more imaginative with naming my paintings, but this happens to be the third fly fishing painting that I have finished lately. So. . . . number three!

This guy has rafted down the river and will have to row upstream after he has caught his limit or the end of his fishing day. I'm not sure but I think that he has a companion that has wandered a little farther downstream and isn't in this painting.  Maybe he/she will be in painting Number Four? hmmmmmmm

Fly Fishing No. 2

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Fly Fishing No. 2  16x20  Oils on canvas panel

This is the second of three (so far) fly fishing paintings I have done. I have never tried fly fishing so I'm not sure why it fascinates me. I have done much fishing from the bank of a lake or river and have fished from boats.  Whatever.

This fellow is wading in a creek enjoying the warmth of an early morning in summer and really isn't interested in having to catch a fish. People that fish will understand that.

Girl in the Monaco Flower Market

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Girl in the Monaco Flower Market  16x20  Oils on canvas panel

Another painting inspired by a Jilly Bennett blog. This time it's her Monte Carlo Daily Photo blog. What a rich resource her blogs are! AND they're INTERESTING to read as well as to view!

Anywayyyyy - I took some liberties in making the painting from Jilly's photo. So what's new? 

I had done a painting a while ago of a vendor in a Flea Market Flower Stand and had fun trying to paint things that looked like flowers. I struggle with plant life-forms for some reason. Trees, shrubs, flowers and etc. make my palms sweaty. Some research into some "how to paint green things" seems in order! :-)

The Pose

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The Pose 8x12  Oils on canvas panel

The inspiration for this comes from Jilly's blog Menton Daily Photo  You owe it to yourself to spend time browsing through her photographs and commentary of her hometown of Menton, France.

This is actually a "study" for a 16x20 painting that I would like to do. I've made some artist's choices in that I changed her straw hat to a solid material. AND I turned her around to face left instead of facing right. 

I can't seem to eliminate the glare or the highlights on my brush strokes.  Any of you photo gurus have some advice? I've tried using opaque and translucent "light blockers" but . . . . .  I have even put my painting in a long (deep?) cardboard box. Zip, nada, zero eliminating the glare.

Fly Fishing No.1

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Fly Fishing No.1  16x20  Oils on canvas/masonite panel

I have another fishing painting that I will do soon thus the "No. 1" in the title. As if that needed an explanation! I never know.

 I attempted a serene, calm image with a man fishing by himself not worrying about catching a fish. He's just enjoying the peace and quiet and if a fish decides to strike his line, he'll just have to deal with it.

Updated 10/10/10 (don't you just love that date?) It was REALLY cool at ten minutes after ten this morning!

Carrots From The Farmers Market

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Carrots From The Farmers Market  8x12  Oils on masonite panel

Five carrots in this bunch isn't going to go very far in that pot roast waiting to be cooked. Maybe the guy is going to stop for a banana split on the way home to compensate for all of this healthy stuff?  

I had a bunch of blobs of paint from painting the homeless guys and the "thinking man" so I painted this. I still have some rather big blobs left.  I'm going to buy some empty paint tubes so I can save these blobs that I seem to mix time after time only to throw away when they crust over and dry up.  I've tried several ways to "save" the leftover paint but when that crust forms, it's just plain unusable (in my humble opinion). It's all glumpy and lumpy - YUK!

:-)

Happy Guy

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Happy Guy   8x12  Oils on canvas/masonite panel

I guess that this guy is happy. Maybe he's sort of happy or just not unhappy? I don't know. :-)  If I say that he's happy then he's happy. So there!. 

I did this rather quickly - in about 2 hours. I may call it done or fuss with it a little bit. I think that I'm done with the "small" paintings and will move on to 11x14 or 16x20 for a while.

What If

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What If  7 5/8x115/8  Oils on canvas/masonite panel

This fellow seems to be 'way off in a daydream or "remembering when" or wondering what if he had - - - - instead of - - - -. You can fill in the blanks. I guess that we all wonder what our lives would have been if we had done this or hadn't done that. Would we be any more or less content with ourselves?

Some of the saddest words are "I wish that I had/hadn't....".  Life is about choices and we do the best that we can at the time with what we have and what know. Most of the time!  :-)

Another one of those "el cheapo" canvas/masonite panels. Waste not.

Homeless

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Homeless 1  7.75x12  Oils on canvas/masonite panel

Another painting of a homeless person. The stories this fellow could tell! He's relatively young (compared to me) and could probably do "well" if he could get a helping hand and some good advice.

The unusual size is me being a bit lazy and plenty cheap. :-) I used this piece of masonite as-is nstead of cutting the masonite down to a "conventional" size such as 6x8 or 5x7. If I cut those sizes then I'd have smaller pieces of scrap to get rid of.

France - Menton - Creole Beauties - update

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 France - Menton - Creole Beauties - update

I initially posted this as a "work in progress" (sort of) with two other Creole dancers on August 20th.

The first painting is the "improved" version. I added the flowers to her head scarf. I also added some of her beads that are in her costume. I DO HAVE MORE WORK TO DO! :-(

I haven't captured the spirit and enthusiasm of this young woman. That's really elusive for me.  One small, tiny brush stroke can change an eye from happy to not happy.  (GREAT BIG SIGH!)  :-)

I hope that Jilly (Menton Daily Photo) will bear with me while I putz around.

Serenity - update

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 Serenity - update

I posted this painting September 1st and some of my blogger friends made some suggestions that I tried to implement. 

The first photo is the "adjusted" painting. 

I didn't change the background - the camera and the lighting played with me.

Homeless

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Homeless 2  8x12  Oils on canvas panel

How close are any of us from being homeless? Without family support I've heard that most Americans are one or two paychecks from being homeless. Scary stuff.

This fellow is resigned to the fact that he will most likely sleep in an alley. If he's lucky he'll find a large cardboard box for cover from the elements. If he's really lucky the gospel mission will have an empty bed and a hot meal tonight. He isn't going to worry about tomorrow until tomorrow.

My wife & I don't have to worry about much any more. We're on a "fixed income" now that we're retired but live a VERY good life with our two dogs, our hobbies, good health and each other.  How and why does this fellow not have what we have?