Chair Paintings #2

"Spring Bluebird"

4x4" oil on panel $75

© Vicki Ross

I'd better get back to chair painting or I'll catch up with me! The glass bluebird is a product of Terra Studios just outside Fayetteville, AR. You can read about the original "Bluebird of Happiness" on their website. 

This little guy and I are going to have fun! He even traveled over the river and through the woods to Grandma's house on xmas day...

I sat him on my iPad cover and loved how the lime green changed his body color.

Chair Paintings #1

I'll do anything to trick 'Victoria' into painting...she's my alter ego and will stop at nothing to keep me from painting. Can't tell you the devious tricks she uses...reading, research on painting, facebook, WORK that has to be done, too cold out, too hot out. Then there are the downright mean whispers...you'll never be any good, who do you think you are fooling, what a waste of time, just look at all the 'starts', when're you gonna try to sell something?

I've also been haphazard about posting regularly on this blog...and hit and miss on Facebook. I'm going to focus on the blog awhile and see if I can get back into the groove :)

"Bluebird with Cherry"

4x4" oil on panel $75

© Vicki Ross

So, I bought me a present, a Guerrilla mini box. It is only 5x7, cute little thing, with all the bells and whistles that make their pochade boxes works of art. I devised a method of getting around 'Victoria' when she least expects it: Chair Painting.

I can sit in my comfy chair and leave "Victoria" over by the easel...she'll never know what I'm up to :)

Of course, my chair is leopard print (also is a recliner), and my red leopard print socks (thanks, Erika!).

Now, if I could just figure out how to have the new pochade box AND the two hairy kids, Beemer and BJ in my lap :)

MB Challenge Jan 2012

Well, we almost missed this month...but it was a point of honor for Diana and me. We hadn't missed a month since she started the challenge group 2 years ago.

The challenge was something in a plastic bag. I got involved in doing a grisaille underpainting, and was having so much fun I didn't leave time for the color layers. SO, this will stand alone for now!

We also welcome two new members this month, so be sure to visit their blogs!

"Bluebird of Happiness at the Fruit Market"**

grisaille, oil on linen, 5x7"

© Vicki Ross 

**or soon will be blue

"Apples From the Store"

Oil on hardboard, 8"x10"

©2012 Diana Moses Botkin

"SPILLAGE"  

5x7" oil on canvas

©Suzanne Berry

Clearly Decadent

9"x9" oil

© Mary Maxam

Monte Ne, Arkansas

Just finished this commission...two 18x36" oil on canvas paintings.

Monte Ne, Arkansas (east of Rogers) was quite the resort in the early 1900's. Built by William 'Coin' Harvey it was a playground for the rich and famous...a health resort and planned community. Complete with its own railroad and bank, it was built around a natural spring. Other features included the first indoor swimming pool in Arkansas, and the world's largest log cabin...Oklahoma Row.

"Oklahoma Row, Monte Ne, Arkansas"

18x36" oil on canvas

© Vicki Ross

An authentic Venetian gondola was used to ferry visitors from the amphitheater (called the pyramid by locals) to the town. A prestigious girl's camp, Camp Joyzelle, was in the area. Harvey constructed the amphitheater to be the 'lobby' for the planned pyramid/obelisk.

By the time my dad started going to the area in the 1940's, it had already fallen into ruin. When I remember going in my teens the hotels were already gone. Beaver Lake covered the area in 1967; one of the concrete chairs (bottom right) sits in downtown Rogers today. The pyramid is underwater most of the year...the only structure remaining (the tower in the left above) is facing demolition.

"The Pyramid, Monte Ne, Arkansas"

18x36" oil on canvas

© Vicki Ross

"Oklahoma Row postcard"

Pyramid from the 1910 brochure

The tower as it stands today...sometimes partially underwater