Saturday, September 27, 2014

Honey Crisps

To Bid

A Children's book on edible 'weeds'

I don't know why I remember this.  Maybe it is because I was the new girl in class and was pretty shy in the 6th grade.  I remember our teacher asking the question, " what is a weed?"  Being in a farming community, hands went up all over the room.  Mine stayed in my lap.  "Dandelion," one shouted.  Another suggested another common weed.  The teacher kept saying, "No.  No.  No."  Until I raised my hand and was called upon to answer.  I said tentatively, with a question at the end of my statement, "Any plant that you don't want to be there?"  I beamed with pride that my answer was the one he was looking for.

I have long ago had a relationship with the "weeds" in my yard, garden and in the untended fields around the places I have lived.  My mother passed down a great recipe for dandelion green salad and from there my meals of late have included, wood sorrel, purslane, poke weed, dandelion, lambsquarters and non traditional parts of traditional garden plants such as the leaves of sweet potato, the shoots of peas and radishes, the leaves of carrots, beets, broccoli and more.

I have decided to create a children's book on the subject.  Here is the first painting for the book.  It is unfinished but I couldn't wait to share it with you.  The little girl character, Claire, is holding purslane.

Her Jedi Knight 11x14 oil

I was on facebook the other day and saw this adorable photo of my neighbor and her little boy.  I loved the way she is looking at her brave knight and the way the son created halos around them both.  It was such a sweet moment that begged to be painted.  I really love this painting.

For those of us who have been lucky enough to have children who have not had to see the inside of a hospital, I choose to donate a portion of the funds from the sale of the painting to St Judes, for the children and families who have not been as fortunate.
To Bid

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

My son, Dylan's latest record

For those who love to listen to ambient, transe like music while you paint, you should check out all the record on http://scissortailrecords but in particular the new one...
Read the review here:
http://bigtakeover.com/recordings/talk-west-all-worries-at-once-marmara

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

A Walk on the Wild Side

This painting was inspired by the ever present, dramatic skies we have out here in Oklahoma and an old photo of my niece at the beach wearing a sarong that was flying up behind her as she walked.  Add some red boots, a few dress straps and you have an Oklahoma girl at the edge of the prairie watching the storm roll in.  She kind of becomes part of her surroundings with her hair joining with the cloud forms.
To Bid and enter my Ebay Gallery Click Here

Monday, September 15, 2014

Hardworking Americans up for Americana Music Award. Congrats Jesse Aycock!

2014 AMERICANA HONORS & AWARDS NOMINEES
 
ALBUM OF THE YEAR
Build Me Up From Bones, Sarah Jarosz
The Lights From The Chemical Plant, Robert Ellis
The River And The Thread, Rosanne Cash
Southeastern, Jason Isbell
 
ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Rosanne Cash
Rodney Crowell
Robert Ellis
Jason Isbell
 
DUO/GROUP OF THE YEAR
The Avett Brothers
The Devil Makes Three
Hard Working Americans
Lake Street Dive
The Milk Carton Kids
 
SONG OF THE YEAR
"Cover Me Up", Jason Isbell
"A Feather's Not A Bird", Rosanne Cash
"Ohio", Patty Griffin
"Only Lies", Robert Ellis
 
EMERGING ACT OF THE YEAR
Hurray For The Riff Raff
Parker Millsap
St. Paul & The Broken Bones
Sturgill Simpson
Valerie June
 
INSTRUMENTALIST OF THE YEAR
Larry Campbell
Fats Kaplin
Buddy Miller
Bryan Sutton
 
The Americana Honors & Awards, presented by Nissan, returns to the historically cool Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, TN on September 17, 2014 (as part of the Americana Music Festival - September 17-21, 2014 at venues throughout Music City). The iconic Jim Lauderdale will once again host the Honors & Awards, while the phenomenal Buddy Miller will lead the All-Star Band. Described by Paste Magazine as “the worlds best awards show” the Americana Honors & Awards have featured once-in-a-lifetime moments, unforgettable performances and legendary collaborations.  Tickets for the Honors & Awards show come with the purchase of Americana Music Festival & Conference Registrations.

Icy Hot

My nephew who is studying to be a mountaineer sent me this photo of a rarely visited place on the planet.  He had to climb up icy mountains and camp in the snow in order to get this rare photo.  I thought it looked both freezing cold and somehow, warm with that brilliant sun in the sky and reflected back on the icy snow.
To bid click here 

Monday, September 08, 2014

Peonies

To Bid or Purchase
In person the background is a bit more brilliant.  It is sometimes hard to get the camera to be accurate and then to adjust the photo so the reds are right ( which they are more brilliant as well ) takes the blues in a different direction.  Ok, so enough excuses...It is just because I really love this painting and want to show it in it's best light... but I am also lazy and do all my photographing myself.  :-)  Anyways I love the time of year that I can paint peonies.  I paint them as if they are going out of style and in a way, they kind of are as they are around for such a short time that one must paint quickly if you are to capture their beauty before they fade.  This one and several smaller ones are on auction and fixed price on my ebay gallery site this week.  to bid, click above

Friday, September 05, 2014

First Fridays in Tulsa

I am excited to announce that I will have 3 paintings in the Gilcrease Museum downtown location this evening and 1 painting in the AHHA Tulsa Artist Coalition show.  I might make mention of the fact that Scott ( my husband and prize student ) also has a piece in both shows.  I am very proud of him.  And speaking of Scott, this very week his new book arrived on our doorstep.  He will be doing a book signing next week at Decopolis Book Fair in Tulsa. 
This is the piece that I have in the AHHA show.

SOLD! Nude Back oil on Wood

To Bid

A friend of mine was in the process of moving out of his woodshop and loaded me up with scraps and random door projects.  This is a small door that he built (7x13ish) which I thought looked like a frame waiting for a painting. 

Tuesday, September 02, 2014

SOLD! .....RAINY UMBRELLAS

TO BID

This painting was a very fun study that I did with my class.  We took a not too interesting photo, fiddled with figure placement and added an impressionist touch and came up with a very pleasing composition.



 

Sunday, August 31, 2014

FREE DOWNLOAD TODAY ONLY

download Scott's book, These Stones for free today at Amazon Kindle

Tuesday, August 26, 2014

Moon Flower Violin

To Bid
To Blog

I have a friend who builds musical instruments and repairs them.  A couple of years ago he gave me a blank violin to play with.  This is what I came up with.  It is available for sale and will be completed upon your order.  I thought the Jimsonweed flower would be a great idea as a subject to paint on it as it always, in my mind has magical qualities and of course, is intoxicating in it's scent and beauty... but you have to be awake to see it as it begins to open as the lights go down... Moon Flower.


Saturday, August 23, 2014

These Stones, Poems and Lyrics By my husband, Scott Aycock Free Download!!

Congrats to Scott!  Put this on your schedules.... Next weekend, Friday through Sunday Scott's book of poetry will be available for a free Kindle download on Amazon.  Anyone wanting a hard copy can contact us, of course but in the mean time, want to read it for free.... Download it next weekend.  It is a book of both poetry and lyrics that have been compiled, revamped and organized from poetry and songs written over the course of about 30 years or so.  It also includes some artwork and photos at the chapter divisions by local artists, Darren Dirksen, Louise Higgs, Scott Aycock, Margaret Aycock, JoAnn Young, Dylan Aycock, Rachel Ann Dennis. 



Friday, August 22, 2014

Yellow Tree

To Bid
I am having a back to school sale... you know, everything you need for back to school... like a new painting :-)  This painting was done actually at my school.  I took my students out to the west side of the campus where we were able to look into the deep woods and actually saw a small group of deer that day.  This was just a little oil sketch but thankfully time did not permit going any further with it.  I love it.

This week I have reduced several paintings and placed them on auction for the low price of $135 ea.  There are some real gems among them, several reduced from over $200.
To shop at my ebay gallery click the link above and see if you can find something that strikes your fancy.

Tuesday, August 19, 2014

Air BnB at our house

For any of you who might come to Tulsa to visit the Gilcrease or Philbrook Museums, the arts district downtown, or take in a concert.... you might consider staying at our house.
We have a cute basement apt with a private entrance that we rent out through airbnb.com
For those of you who love to buy art..... Please don't hesitate to schedule a tour of the studio upstairs.  Would be happy to have you pour through the stacks of oil paintings that line the studio. 




Olive Grove in Provence

This is a painting that I did from onsite oil sketches from our trip to Provence last year.  We were fortunate enough to be able to stay in the heart of the area with a friend who is a nun and lives in a beautiful abbey there.  We stayed in the guest house and only had to walk out the side door to the poppy fields or the back door to the almond groves.  There were beautiful fields and woods everywhere.  Always in the background was the beautiful blue mountains that Van Gogh, Cezanne, and countless others have painted.  This one is on auction this week in my ebay gallery.  If you click the link below you can visit the auction and this will also give you access to my other paintings in the gallery and other auctions.
To Bid