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Evening Delight

A couple of years ago, as I've written before, Jim and I enjoyed a fabulous vacation to the San Juan Islands off the coast of Washington State. We stayed a week in a house on Orcas Island with our friends, John and Linda, enjoying the most wonderful fresh seafood, exquisite views, peace, and tranquility.

One evening we sat at the window of the New Leaf Restaurant in the Outlook Inn on Orcas Island. The food was spectacular and the view mesmerizing as the sun began to lower on the opposite side of the island, creating an amazing changing of the light on the bay. Colors went from blues and grays and greens, to pinks, corals and yellows. 

It was a spectacular display of God's artistry. But, the best was yet to come. After dinner we drove to the the beach where the sun was setting. Many had come out to view the show. It was getting dark but water and sky were on fire with the light from the descending sun. Oranges, reds, violets, pinks consumed water and sky, a sunset unlike any I'd ever experienced.

 

On returning home and viewing my pictures, I found it difficult to pick the first one to paint.  I love all the colors but decided the one without all the brights best suited me.  I chose the one before the show really got going.  The quiet, peaceful blues and grays.  

 I'm not done with those San Juan Islands.  If I can never physically return (which I so hope I do!), my many photos which will provide a vehicle to take me back!  

Take time to enjoy the handiwork of God around you today.  If you let it, it will inspire and bring some peace in this busy world. 

  

Hydrangeas and the Unpainted House

One of my sweetest childhood memories were the flower bushes that graced my Grandma Hall's humble unpainted house out by Bayou Bartholomew near Bastrop, Louisiana.  They rented the house and land, and raised cotton and soybeans.  My cousins who lived there also might want to put their 2 cents worth in at this point and further, but I know those were two of the crops.  

The picture of that house will forever be etched in my mind.  It had a front porch and a screen door which on a Sunday afternoon was forever slamming echoed by the certain "don't slam the door".  To the right of the open porch, if memory serves me well, was the hydrangea bush and a lantana, the old fashioned pink and orange variety.  (cousins, is this correct?) 

To my child's eye, it was just a flower in the yard, but as years have passed the beauty and magnificence of those blossoms have increased for me.  I love them!!  They are so hefty and colorful with lush foliage, their color determined by the kind of soil, acidic or alkaline.  Which makes which?  I think the blue is from alkaline, but I did not Google it.   My pitiful little one is a pinkie.  

Recently a college friend purchased a watercolor from me of Hollyhocks in front of an unpainted house (thank you, Facebook!)  She loved it and wanted another to hang with it.  I suggested Hydrangeas, and she liked the idea.  

Time sure does fly.  It seems like yesterday, in a way, and a millions years ago in another way, that door was slamming and us kids were having the time of our lives out at Grandpa's on a Sunday afternoon.  It's been said a million times, kids today do not know what they are missing, and I'll say it again, they do not.  Some of the best memories of my childhood!

 

The Birds

Sitting here at my desk this morning, I look out my window and before me is a Great Blue Heron.  We live on a golf course which is normally busy with, of course, golfers and their carts, but currently there are no golfers.  A renovation is taking place.  There's a creek/drainage ditch which runs into a pond and it divides two fairways.  We often see herons and cranes visiting that water.  But since there are no golfers we now watch this beautiful great bird, strolling around near our house.  He must be wondering what in the world is going on and is taking full advantage of his territory being fully available without threat of being bonked in the head.  

I do love birds of any kind.  We have a bluebird house in the backyard which houses several families a year.  At our last home, there was  hole way up in a tall pine where screech owls nested several years, and I wonder if they still do.  That was a very fun experience.

So, speaking of birds, a couple of my most recent paintings were that.  I was pleased to paint a commission for a friend from my home state of Louisiana of a Great Blue Heron wading in the Louisiana waters, back-dropped by gaunt, moss draped cypress trees.  The bird itself was photographed at Magnolia Plantation near Charleston, S.C.  

On finishing that painting, I chose to salute Louisiana again and paint its bird, the Brown Pelican.  I love his attitude. :)


One more of my somewhat recent paintings is at the tail end below and has nothing to do with birds.  A still life which sprung from a workshop with my friend artist, Susan Hotard.

What an inspiration nature is.  The beauty of God's creation is unsurpassed at any level.  The Greatest Artist, the Original Artist certainly.  If we only pause to look around each day and observe His works, we can know He is real.

If you are interested in any of my paintings, you may contact me at mjwillis52@gmail.com or comment below.

Waiting for Supper (sold)

Mr. Louisiana

12X12 Oil

Reflections in a Blue Urn

16X20 Oil

This is God's Country

 
Unless you've been sleeping under a rock for the last 5 years, you are painfully aware we are in the throes of a presidential election.  It has been disturbing to say the least.  I believe at the heart of every person is the desire for peace, love, freedom, and prosperity.  It feels like those very things are being threatened today.  


The name of this painting is "This is God's Country".  It is God's country no matter what happens today or tomorrow.  He will still be in control.  In the end, God will allow the person He sees best to be our leader, for whatever purpose/s He has in mind.  I know this.  He desires His church to humble herself before Him.  That is when He hears the prayers of the His people and answers them.

Daniel 2:22 in the King James Version of the Bible says:

And he changeth the times and the seasons: he removeth kings, and setteth up kings: he giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding.

I feel like I want to write a prayer here, and I invite you to join with me.

Dear Lord, we humbly ask you to be merciful to this great nation.  We have sinned against you, and we ask forgiveness, even though we do not deserve it.  Lord, we are at a crossroads, and we desperately need you to do what needs to be done to save our freedoms.  We have our own thoughts about the way it ought to be, but we know that your thoughts are not like ours, they are so much greater.  Lord, please act in your great wisdom, might, and mercy on behalf of this nation.  We are in a mess here, and we need you!!  We ask this in the name of Jesus, your Son. Amen!!

I had not actually planned to expound so theologically...but it came out, and there you have it.  My plan is to spend more time praying about this election in the next few weeks.  We need a miracle.

I hope you enjoy this painting.  I must give credit to my nephew's wife, Wendy Hall, for taking this photo on her walk in Oklahoma recently.  I loved it and offered to paint it.  I'm very excited about how it turned out.  Thank you, Wendy.

And, by the way, this is a 16X20 oil on canvas and will already have a home soon.  I will be painting a couple more similar to this if you happen to really like it!!

I hope we can all take some deep breaths and relax in the presence of Jesus in these coming days.  He really does have it all under control.

Peace.



  
   

The Foot Bridge

I really love to pencil draw.  Over the past few weeks, I've been a bit under the weather (because of this yucky rainy, humid, mildew producing weather) enough to not feel like doing much, but not enough to keep me from being totally bored.  I took that as an opportunity to indulge in one of my favorite pastimes.  

Again, I went to my photos of our recent trip through the South.  At the same place where I took the shot of the Great Blue Heron, Magnolia Plantation, near Charleston, there were beautiful foot bridges throughout the gardens.  As I looked through my photos, this one just jumped out at me and said "DRAW!".  The place gave me the feeling of what I think Monet's Giverny might give, where he painted the various waterlily scenes.

When I draw I can focus so well and lose myself in what I am doing.  I relax and totally enjoy it.  

 Nothing profound comes to me today other than the peace and calm that this place exudes.  May peace and calm be yours...always.

Competition

I'm excited to post my selections to compete in the Conroe Art League Fall Show.  There are some strange shadows on the drawings which definitely don't belong.  You'll have to come see them in person!  From the top down are:
                                                                Chuck
                                                                  Angel Baby
                                                        Anchored in Doe Cove
                                                         Sweet Baby Dreams
                                                        Red Shouldered Hawk

I painted Chuck in a group portrait studio where "Chuck" (his name is not really Chuck) was the model.  This was done in a 3 hour time span (with breaks).  I like the way Chuck turned out.

Angel Baby is none other than our sweet granddaughter, Jodi.  She had fallen asleep shirtless, with diaper only, on top of her snoozing daddy on our sofa one lazy Sunday afternoon.  I snapped the irresistible scene.   She is definitely our little Angel Baby.

I've blogged about the next painting before.  The photo was taken at Doe Cove on Orcas Island in the San Juan Islands.  This was a spot that could entertain me for days, weeks, months, without doing one thing.

The first pencil drawing is of my great great niece whom I've never even met.  She lives in Vermont, and I so hope to meet her before she and her big sister before they are all grown up.  Her mommy posted this picture on her Facebook page and I grabbed it.  Mommy, I hope you don't mind???

One day I looked out my living room window and right there on the deck railing, just beside the bird feeder, sat this Red Shouldered Hawk, and he was not there to snack on the nuts and seeds in the feeder, rather on the small partakers of the feed.  He was beautiful.  What a treat to have him so close and be able to snap this shot, then draw him/her.  How do you tell the difference?

The Conroe Art Show will be held during the months of September and October. The show is divided into the 2 months as follows:

September:  Oils/Acrylics, Drawings, Photography, Digital Art, Studio Fine Art

October:  Watercolor, Mixed Media, Pastels, Abstract, Sculpture

My works will all be on display throughout September.

If you are in the area, I hope you'll take some time to stroll through our lovely gallery and view all the works of many amazing artists in our area.  The gallery is located at...
                                     127 Simonton
                                        Conroe, Texas

Thanks for dropping by and many blessings for you and yours!