Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Road Less Traveled

"Road Less Traveled" 6x6" oil on canvas panel, inspired by the photo "Curve in the Road" by: Angela Fletcher


"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference."

— Robert Frost, The Road Not Taken
   
I have to say this has been the story of my life, although not always by choice. Somehow I just never could find the path of least resistance. Life has not been easy but discovering all of the not-so-ordinary along the way has made my travels profoundly rich in experience. 

There is an old Zen saying, "To a man who knows nothing, Mountains are Mountains, Waters are Waters and Trees are Trees. But when he has studied and knows a little, Mountains are no longer Mountains, Water is no longer Water, Trees no longer Trees. But when he has thoroughly understood, Mountains again are Mountains, Waters are Waters and Trees are Trees." 

As an artist my personal goal is to grow in my capacity for perception of nature's inexhaustible supply. I hope that never changes and that this road goes on forever.

Thanks for joining in my journey today and for viewing my painting. 
nancy
To view all of my available paintings in my gallery click here http://www.dailypaintworks.com/Artists/nancy-parsons-122  * Sold pieces are marked with a red dot.
My blog: www.headondownthehighway.blogspot.com
My graphic design business: www.graphicdesigngroup.net
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Monday, April 23, 2012

Making Tracks

"Making Tracks" 6x6" oil on canvas panel 

“Time goes faster the more hollow it is. Lives with no meaning go straight past you, like trains that don’t stop at your station.” ― Carlos Ruiz Zafón, The Shadow of the Wind

 
We had stopped for gas in a little town outside of San Antonio. The late afternoon sun seemed to be dripping warm golden honey all across the landscape. I snapped a photo of a train passing by on the rickety tracks that stretched all the way to the focal point looming on the horizon. This is where all lines in perspective converge. This train is hardly empty, sea-land containers stacked one a top the other, no doubt loaded full of all the stuff we import, most likely from China or Indonesia.


"Art is the outward expression of the inner life of the artist and this inner life will result in his personal vision of the world." — Edward Hopper

Trains always appear alone and haunting to me, as they race against the clock, huffing and puffing to arrive somewhere in the end on time. Our lives are like trains, we tug and pull all our linked cars packed full of the physical and emotional baggage accumulated over a life time. Clickety-clack we race along on our own set of tracks, under deadlines and pressures, slowing down now and again to add more cars to the heavy load. All aboard! Clickety-clack, clickety-clack, clickety-clack.

I could see in my mind how I wanted this painting to come out and was really happy with the resulting mood and color. 

Thanks for boarding today and stopping long enough to view my painting. 
 
nancy
 
To view all of my available paintings in my gallery click here http://www.dailypaintworks.com/Artists/nancy-parsons-122  
* Sold pieces are marked with a red dot.
My blog: www.headondownthehighway.blogspot.com
My graphic design business: www.graphicdesigngroup.net
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Sunday, April 22, 2012

"Seeing Summer" 6x6" Oil on Canvas Panel 



Summer is knocking at my door with color! I've been noticing the Ruby-Throated Hummingbirds are back from their winter migration in Mexico and South America. They're lapping up sugar water at my feeder like it's nectar from the gods. 
Hummingbirds along with the sight of zinnias, found at my local nursery, puts me on high alert that summer's right around the corner. When I see zinnias I always think back to my childhood and memories of my grandmother's yard. She had a huge garden filled with these sun loving performers. Hot summer days at her house always included running through her sprinkler, filling up the bird bath, sucking on ice cubes made from Kool Aid, and picking zinnia's for an awaiting vase. 
Did you know that zinnias are a part of the daisy family? Zinnias can be found in a wide assortment of colors and all with meaning. For instance the magenta zinnia denotes "lasting affection", orange "constancy", white means "goodness", yellow "daily remembrance", and according to my sources, a mixture of zinnias—like the ones I have planted on my patio and in this painting—implies "thinking of the absence of a friend."
Thanks for memories and for viewing my painting. To view all of my available paintings in my gallery click here http://www.dailypaintworks.com/Artists/nancy-parsons-122  
* Sold pieces are marked with a red dot. 

nancy




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Sunday, April 15, 2012

Softly Silent

"Softly Silent" 6x6" oil on canvas panel

"In silence we must wrap much of our life
because it is too fine for speech."

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

Silence really is golden! Unless I am in the company of others, or stop to answer my phone, or slow down occasionally to watch a movie, I live every day—all day—in treasured silence. Call me weird, but it's the only place I feel as if I can actually hear! It's in that inaudible space of silent interior whispers, where imagination and creativity succeed in coaxing beauty out from her place of hiding. It's a place mostly overlooked by us, too distracted to hear.

Over the weekend, I was strolling along the tourist-filled Riverwalk in San Antonio where I met a beguiling and towering maiden. She was wading on the water's edge, adorned in delicate white chiffon-like blossoms, that swayed gently to the tune of morning's murmurings.

I stood there mesmerized at the sight of her slender graceful boughs which shimmered above mirrored reflections of crisscrossing leaves and limbs, dividing landscape and firmament into silky mosaic patterns with watercolor edges. Now that was a rock concert!

Thank you for listening and viewing my painting. 
nancy



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Thursday, April 12, 2012

SOLD -Winging It



"Winging It" 6x6" oil on canvas panel


I read an interesting article recently about the life cycles of monarch butterflies, and suddenly realized that the gorgeous red and yellow flowers growing right outside in my sunny garden were butterflyweed, mentioned in the article as perfect habitat for attracting butterflies on their returning migration from Mexico. My clustered perennials, literally bursting with nectar-filled flowers, were especially lush this year due to the mild winter here in Texas. I jumped up grabbed my camera— ignoring the fact that I was still in my pjs — and bolted out the backdoor in search of local diners in my open-for-business cafe.

To my total delight, I quickly spotted over 25 plump caterpillars — easily distinguishable by colorful yellow and black bands — munching down on the spiked leaves. They were in a fury, rabidly chewing their way across leaves in perfect unison as if it were corn-on-the-cob and making perfect returns like those of a precise typist at the end of a row. Here's a photo of a couple of the parasites wearing their striped pajamas.



I began inspecting my creeping crop of crawlers daily but never could find a single jade chrysalis. However here are a couple photos of the transformation process.

Over the past week, I have been noticing lots of newly emerging monarchs fluttering about from their empty tombs, warming their glorified newly found wings in the sun. My beautiful butterflyweed is gone, stripped bare of all leaves and flowers, but it was more than worth the offering. 

Thank you for landing here today! I hope you enjoy the painting and my science fair project! : ) 


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Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Three-lips

"Three-lips, 6x6" oil on canvas panel


"When my arms wrap you round I press
My heart upon the loveliness 
That has long faded from the world."

—Yeats

While picking up ingredients for the Easter dinner I was preparing for our family of 20, I decided to purchase some flowers for a centerpiece. I was on a tight budget, but discovered some very ripe pink tulips, crammed into the overflowing slashed-price bucket, stuck against the back wall at Kroger for $2.99 a dozen. They were hidden from view by the more marketable, young buds with firm tight lips who were much richer and vibrant in color then these paling rejects.

Although my mid-life beauties were a bit faded and sagged a little with mouths agape, I decided they were perfect! After all, Eleanor Roosevelt said, "Beautiful young people are accidents of nature, but beautiful old people are works of art." Now, I am sure she would agree this truth applies to flowers as well.

Unfortunately this bunch was catty and rude, whispering secrets to each other behind my back. These three-lips lasted just long enough for me to finish the dishes and paint them before they took their final bow and were tossed into the trash can. 
Thanks for "tip toe(ing) through my tulips" today!
nancy


My graphic design business: www.graphicdesigngroup.net
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Shedding Light

"Shedding Light" 6x6" oil on canvas panel

Click to Purchase


The scene reminds me of a song from my childhood that goes, "In a cottage by the wood, little man at the window stood, saw a rabbit hopping by knocking at my door. Help me! Help me! Help me, he cried! Lest the hunter shoot me dead. Little rabbit come inside, safely you'll abide."

Shedding a little light on the subject, this shed engulfed in the warm rays of morning light, seems pretty glorious to me, especially the day after Easter. However, now that I think about it, I don't really see a window, a little man, or for that matter even a rabbit? Actually, now that I am look closer, I am not sure if it's a shed after all? Heaven forbid! It may very well be an outhouse? Oh well, I just see what I feel is there. 

"Imagination is the eye for the inner world...When our eyes are graced with wonder, the world reveals its wonders to us." "When the imagination awakens, the inner world illuminates. We begin to glimpse things that no-one speaks about, that the outer world seems to ignore." —John O'Donohue, The Invisible Embrace Beauty

Thank you for viewing my shed with the red roof with or without the rabbit.
nancy


My graphic design business: www.graphicdesigngroup.net
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Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Iris With Laughing Eyes

"Iris With Laughing Eyes" 6x6" oil on canvas panel
Click to Buy Now

Look familiar? It's another chorus of the same song. I wanted to try the iris from last week again but more abstracted. I started off with a very dark under painting rather than the usual red tint that I customarily use. Instead of painting wet into wet, this time I let the under painting dry completely, and then went back in with all of the other colors which popped against the dark background. This approach kept my colors cleaner without picking up any of the background color. I left some of the dark to peek through. I can imagine this as a stain glass window. I really like the way it worked out. 

Early bird catches the worm! I have decided not to use the auction style to sell my paintings for right now, so if you'd like to purchase, simply click on the link to pay with a credit card.

Thanks for viewing my purple model in her new get up!

nancy

My graphic design business: www.graphicdesigngroup.net


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