Nasturtiums on tiny canvas'

Nasturtiums are a complex flower. These bright bursts of beauty are like a cross between a morning glory and a tiger lily. They grow in any kind of container, wrap around any object nearby and despite their weed behavior, they have a lot to offer.

My mother gave me seeds over a year ago and I finally had an extra container to plunk them into. As they grew, I learned that they are an effective deterant for aphids. Plant these beauties next to your nibbled on roses and those tiny green guys will be gone in no time. Although they are an effective pesticide, they are edible to us humans. Put the flowers in your salad to beautify your meal, they add a fairly intense but sweet flavor.

It is these things and the way that the plants exploded on one side of my container garden that has fascinated me. So, per the usual, I painted them in oils. All I have to paint on right now are these little 4"x6" canvas boards.

Restoring an Old Watercolor

I don't usually do this but a friend of a friend had some water damage on an old watercolor that they wanted fixed. It took me a lot of time blending, dry brushing and manipulating watercolors on a very old piece of paper. I was unable to use any water, which would inevitably pull all the paint up off the old paper. Here is what I was given to work on:

And here is what I was able to do to fix it:

I might still try to do some more blending, but we'll see. I'm about ready to move on to something more creative.

Music to Paint to

There are two artists that I've been painting to lately. They're addictive, their albums are very long and they seem to get more interesting the more I listen to them.

Cotton Jones:



Moon and Moon has this incredible album, that's really just a singular piece of art in itself. I don't know how it will translate as just one snippet, but here you go:

Corporate Ivy (Updated)

My newfound obsession has already been documented here. I'm finally putting my thoughts into images. I completed this sculpture for my Sustainability class. It combines my thoughts on English ivy with the concepts laid out in the books Affluenza and When the Rivers Run Dry. The basic concept is that corporations like Coca Cola, por ejemplo, are working overtime to manipulate communities of people for a variety of reasons. Sometimes they want to make money off of water supplies that should be free to the people, or sometimes they just want to sell a product. The global offenders that I've glued to these English ivy leaves have all taken part in trying to manipulate the public in some way. They do a disservice to society as a whole and set us back leaps and bounds through money-backed legislation and taking advantage of those who are ignorant to their methods. If you're reading this, I'm sure you know all this already.

The sculpture is made of red clay and is situated on a recycled piece of wood from an old cabinet. No live model was used. The ivy was pulled from the forest around my house. This little guy is about 8" tall, with a base of about 10". He inevitably will deteriorate with time, and I hope to update this post with the continuing status of his decay.

UPDATE: The Decay...

Faith in the Kitchen

I love being in the kitchen. It's pretty much always my favorite room in a house. My sister is a chef, my mother used to be a chef and both my parents are excellent cooks, who have a passion for creating great dishes. I also love to cook and bake myself. When my parents owned The Deer Head Inn, we spent an extraordinary amount of time in the kitchen. My mother was the chef and both my sister and I would either help or just hang out and chat there. That kitchen was the hub of the business and became the hub of our family in a lot of ways. As is typical, this vibe was not lost on our cat. Faith enjoyed perching on high places in the kitchen to observe the action and perhaps see a small scrap of cheese or turkey thrown her way. This painting is 24"x30", painted with oils.