Watercolor Sketches from Montana

5x7" "Flying the Stillwater"
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7x5" "Wood Ranch, Nye I"
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7x5" "Wood Ranch, Nye II
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7x5" "Wood Ranch, Nye III"
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Heading back on down the highway once again...we were blessed to have spent some time in Montana this month on my sister and brother-in-law's glorious property. These watercolor sketches are some of the views from their lovely home which nestles on a hill along the Stillwater River in Nye, Montana.

I hadn't painted with watercolor in years, but loved the easy setup and no-fuss cleanup. I also love the looseness and transparency this medium provides.

I have a few more sketches from our next stop in Colorado which I'll post tomorrow.

Thanks for following my journey.
—nancy

To see more of my art click Online Gallery • Email  • Website  •  Graphic Design Studio • Fine Art America

To Sit and Stare

"To Sit and Stare", 24x18" oil on gallery wrap canvas, framed

      What is life if, full of care 

      We have no time to stand and stare? 

No time to stand beneath the boughs 
And stare as long as sheep or cows.

       — W. H Davies, Welsh poet and writer from his poem,"Leisure"

I love these lines. No matter if you stand and stare, or sit in a chair and stare, whatever your method, just take time to stare. After all, what is life if we miss the magic? 

I love to stare from my favorite blue chair in spring under pin oaks and crape myrtles on dappled carpet of cool Pthalo and slashes of brightest warm lime. Overhead in a gap of perched sky, edges tatted by lace of leaves, hangs a lingering ghost of moon waiting to be pealed away like a transparent sticker. 

Wren fledglings dart back an forth from low lying branches of budding gardenias, diving again and again, dipping fluttering wings into the shallow water bowl in utter delight. 

Bees sucking nectar, appear mystically suspended midair, as they joust from tips of spindly arms supporting the pink stars of delicate Guara, also known as Whirling Butterfly. 

And there's my dog, laying flat bellied on the warm cement in the largest mat of sunlight he can find. His paws outstretched like a yogi master, deep in meditation with eyes transfixed and half closed to reveal brilliant sparkles of purest glowing white. He knows how to stare. 

  

Today's painting is a larger piece 24x18" and is framed. It will be on exhibit and for sale in the CAL Gallery in Conroe, TX throughout June and July.

Thanks for stopping by for a visit today.

nancy 

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To see more of my art or to contact me: Online Gallery  • E-mail  •  Website  •  Graphic Design Studio •  Saatchi Gallery •  Fine Art America

 

SOLD -Feed the Birds Cheetos?

"Feed the Birds Cheetos?" 8x8" Oil on gessobord

SOLD

"But let there be spaces in your togetherness and let the winds of the heavens dance between you. Love one another but make not a bond of love: let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls." 

— Khalil Gibran

I snapped this amazing photo of my granddaughter last week while at the beach as she was enticing seagulls with her Cheetos Puffs. I hope she didn't turn them all into junk-food junkies. 

I wasn't sure I'd be able to capture—or, for that matter, even paint—all those birds in such a feathery-frenzy-of-flurry motion. But I am happy with the way it came out. Rather than trying to paint all the birds in full detail, I opted to paint only the largest bird with the most detail and then just loosely indicated the rest of the flock. This helped maintain the impressionist quality I love so much, allow the birds to recede in the composition and not compete too much with the foreground figure. 

* Sorry this painting sold to my daughter before I was able to post.

Thank you for dropping in 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

E-mail: njparsons@suddenlink.net

My book: Head on Down the Highway A Blog Book

My graphic design business: www.graphicdesigngroup.net

Shady Characters

"Shady Characters" 6x6" oil on gessobord

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One of the coolest things about summer—an oxymoron in Texas—are the deep cool shadows and dappled light filtering through the leaves. I could sit and watch this light show for hours. 

We have five huge-old-oak trees hovering above our yard spending their days lazily cascading shards of light into silent flickers of colored shapes that dance across my tiny islands of grass and gardens. Their countless wash of winks, mottle the breadth of towering orange canas, coral winding trumpet vines, spikes of scarlet and blue salvia, rose-colored oleanders, a row of pastel-tinted crape myrtles, fiery lantana, white butterfly gingers and powdery puffs of pink hydrangea...the magical oaks taking special delight in waking blushing four o'clocks from their slumber; speckling the wings of oblivious birds splashing in the garden baths.

I caught these two shady Adirondack characters red handed hanging out around the pool, sitting on violet stippled decking looking oh, so innocent! They were trying their best to lure me away from my work. But I knew they were up to no good and not to be trusted, one quick repose and they've got you and won't let you go for hours on end...especially if you happen to have a great book in your hand. 

Thanks for resting here awhile and viewing my work.

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

E-mail: njparsons@suddenlink.net

My books:  NEW 2012 Daily Planner and Head on Down the Highway A Blog Book

My graphic design business: www.graphicdesigngroup.net

"Seeing Summer" 6x6" Oil on Canvas Panel 

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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

My blog: www.headondownthehighway.blogspot.com

E-mail: njparsons@suddenlink.net

My books:  NEW 2012 Daily Planner and Head on Down the Highway A Blog Book

My graphic design business: www.graphicdesigngroup.net