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Archive for the ‘Small Town Life’ Category

Farm Animals

Posted in daily painter, Small Town Life, tagged daily painter, daily painting, donkey, farm animals, jackass, pet portrait, Virginia Artist, West Virginia on March 29, 2010| 3 Comments »

For some time now I have been addicted to a blog that I read everyday called “Chickens in the Road”. It’s by a marvelous writer turned farmer about her experiences on a farm in West Virginia. Her photographs are wonderful. She has lots of animals and many adventures that she writes about in a way that makes you want to come back and read more. Be sure to take a look at www.chickensintheroad.com . (And notice that her blog is listed in my favorites links on the right column of my blog so you can click everyday and look at it from here. I just love the internet!)

Because of her terrific photos, I have been wanting to do a series of farm animals and Suzanne McMinn, aka Chickens in the Road lady, gave me permission to use some of her photos as reference for my paintings. So over the next few weeks I’ll be posting the Farm Animal series based on her animals.

One of my favorite animals that she talks about is Jack. Meet Jack.

Photo courtesy of Suzanne McMinn

My version of Jack is an oil on canvas panel measuring 6″x8″. How can you not love that face????!!!!! SOLD.

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Red Pandas and More….

Posted in daily painter, Small Town Life, tagged cheetahs, Conservation Research Center, National Zoo, Przewalski Horse, Red Pandas on March 12, 2010| Leave a Comment »

More from my trip to the Conservation Research Center…. I saw Red Pandas. These rare little guys are just beautiful and so sweet looking.

It would be hard to resist those cute little faces. They look nothing like the pandas you normally think of at the national zoo.

I saw the Przewalski Horse, the last of the wild horses and on the red list for endangered species. Much more info on them can be found at this National Zoo Link.

I also saw some very lazy cheetahs.

They were enjoying the first bit of nice weather in awhile so they wouldn’t even get up….just laid there and swished their long tails around…three beautiful, but lazy, boys.

Then I saw a Ferret. Look closely in the black tube. His little head is poking out. He’s very shy. These guys are being reintroduced to the wild.

And then I saw the strangest thing….Maned Wolves. They have a fox looking face and a hyena looking back-end. Very odd when they got up and walked around with very long legs.

Aren’t they funny looking? They were enjoying the sunshine that day too and were pretty lazy laying there. But one did get up and you could see the strange legs and their funny gait.

Once again, many thanks to Jessica for inviting me. A private tour of such a magnificent place is a rare and much appreciated opportunity. I would hope that given the chance people will come up and see what interesting and important work the folks at the CRC are doing. I know they have an open house in the Fall. Make a point to go.

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Conservation Research Center

Posted in daily painter, Serendipity, Small Town Life, tagged Conservation Research Center, National Zoo, Smithsonian on March 11, 2010| Leave a Comment »

One of the really cool things that I get to do from time to time is go somewhere unusual to take photos that I might eventually paint. Yesterday, the unusual place that I went was right here in our own backyard, Front Royal.

I was invited by Jessica Kordell, one of the animal keepers, to the Smithsonian’s National Zoological Parks Conservation Research Center that is located right here in Front Royal to take pictures to paint.

This text is directly from their website…

“The Conservation and Research Center started primarily as a breeding center for endangered birds and mammals. Today, the black-footed ferret, Eld’s deer, and several species of Pacific island birds are being bred to maintain genetic diversity and provide reserves for highly endangered species.

The current priority for CRC’s animal collection is veterinary and reproductive research. By living in controlled environments, the birds and mammals—most of them little-known and endangered—provide ideal subjects for intensive study and the rapid acquisition of urgently needed information. Findings from these studies provide critical information for the management of captive populations and valuable insights for the conservation and management of wild populations.”

I took photos of the Clouded Leopards first. They are beautiful. I wish you could see them without the cage but you will get an idea from these shots. Their feet are huge and their tails very long.

But it is their gorgeous coloring that gives them their name….huge “clouds” of spots or markings on their bodies.

The last photo gives you a better idea of the size of those paws.

I will share more of my photos from the CRC visit with you over the next few days. It was such a terrific visit and many thanks to Jessica for inviting me.

Tomorrow Red Pandas!!!

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More snow and more crochet…

Posted in Crochet, Small Town Life, tagged backets, bags, Crochet, crochet patterns, daily painter, hats, Virginia Artist, yarn on February 9, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Here is a better view of the variegated yarn basket that was in the background of the photo yesterday. This is the second one I made from that same pattern.

And I just kept crocheting. There is something addictive about it. I don’t really understand it but I can’t stop.

I made hats! I’ve never made hats before. But I found this terrific website where they have gobs of beautiful patterns that you can download and I found so many great things to try.

If you like crochet check out www.crochetpatternscentral.com and from there you find many links to other places where there are great patterns available including the website for the yarn makers.

I did paint a little yesterday too but this is such a refreshing change that I am planning more for today and with the call for another 8-12 inches of snow tonight I just hope I have enough yarn laid in the carry me through to the thaw. 🙂

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A Different Creative Side

Posted in Crochet, Small Town Life, tagged Crochet, daily painter, hobby, yarn on February 8, 2010| 1 Comment »

Sometimes when I’m feeling creative I want to do something other than paint. With all the snow around and not being able to go out much I picked up some yarn and a crochet hook and went to it.

These are yarn baskets with handles that I made this weekend. They happen to be stuffed with yarn just so you could get an idea of how they look and their size.

I love to crochet. And I forget how much I enjoy it until I pick up a crochet hook and go to work. My granny taught me how. When I was very young she would be working on something and I would beg to help. So she taught me how. I was way to young to grasp the total concept but I could chain, which is the foundation stitch for all crochet. And I could chain from here to the moon.

But it took me awhile before I could put it together and actually make something. I think I must have been around 11 or 12 when I really started making things.

I love trying something new. So this weekend with all the snow I had my opportunity. And here are the bags. And thanks Granny for helping me not be bored to death this weekend. I wish you were still here to see what I made. 🙂

Tomorrow, who knows???!!!

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Snow Snow Snow Snow……

Posted in Dogs, Small Town Life, tagged Dogs, snow on February 6, 2010| 1 Comment »

We are in the midst of our second really big snow fall of this season. The first one gave us a couple of feet of snow. And that was fun for a south Georgia girl like me who has never seen loads of snow before.

But here we are again. It started yesterday about 9 a.m. with a faint little light misty snow and it hasn’t stopped. It only got harder. And when I measured a few minutes ago we were up to 30 inches!!! That’s a lot of snow.

Truman is not a fan of snow.

He will go out and take a look if you make him.

And I make him because he can’t hold it forever. But he said let’s turn around and try the other steps off the deck to see if that is any better.

Gosh, it’s like a maze in here. How do I get to the other steps???

I don’t think it looks any better on this side, he says. Where are the steps???

Jed comes out to encourage Truman to go down the steps.

Truman turns back AGAIN!

You think it looks so easy, you go first!

I don’t have to go that bad. I think I’ll hold it a little bit longer. 😉

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A Walk in the Snow

Posted in daily painter, Small Town Life, tagged Art Class, daily painter, daily painting, impressionism, Landscape, oil painting, Shenandoah Valley, snow, Virginia Artist on January 6, 2010| Leave a Comment »

A Walk in the Snow is an oil on 9″x12″ canvas panel that we did in art class. It is available by contacting me at kwalker@doubledogdesigns.com .

If you have ever wanted to learn to paint let me remind you that we have classes at the Blue Ridge Arts Council on Wednesday at 5 p.m. each week. All levels from beginner to advanced are welcome to join us. And if that time doesn’t suit you, just contact me to work out a time that will. I’d love to work with you so that you can enjoy creating paintings as much as I do.

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The Snow Storm

Posted in Small Town Life, tagged Dogs, Shenandoah Valley, snow, snowstorm, Virginia, Virginia Artist on December 21, 2009| Leave a Comment »

The snow storm hit us here Friday night. It snowed all evening and most of the next day.

By the time it stopped we had about 26 inches around my place.

That’s when the digging out started. Yikes!

Luckily, Allen has a snow plow and came by and pushed out most of the driveway. What a big help that was!

But we still had to dig out the Explorer….

And Sandy’s car. Sandy is my friend and dog sitter. She was here to work at Delilah’s. (She’s also and excellent photographer and has her work at the shop.) Sandy was snowed in with us so we had to try to get her car out since she has to go to another petsitting job at the first of the week.

Look! There is a driveway under all that snow. Imagine that!!!

Even Truman and Jed has a little pathway dug out. We called it the pee pee path. 😉

Stay in and stay warm until the roads are cleared and we’ll post a new painting tomorrow.

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Congratulations Charlee!

Posted in Art Class, Small Town Life, tagged Art Class, art lessons, daily painter, self-portrait, Small Town Life on December 17, 2009| Leave a Comment »

Congratulations to Charlee, my art student who did this self-portrait as part of a contest at her school. They chose one student from each grade and will be putting their portraits on the front cover of their yearbook. Charlee won!

Great job girl and keep up the good work!

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Art Receptions

Posted in daily painter, Small Town Life, tagged daily painter, daily painting, impressionism, Landscape, oil painting, Opening reception, Shenandoah Valley, Virginia, Virginia Artist, Virginia wineries on November 16, 2009| Leave a Comment »

One thing that I hope to do with this blog, “Life of a Daily Painter”, is to honestly describe what it is like to be a full-time painter. Today’s post will describe preparing for a show and reception.

Yesterday was the opening reception for my daily art show that is currently underway at Philip Carter Winery. First, I must say many thanks to Donna Johnson who called me some months ago and invited me to show at the winery. It is such an incredible feeling when that happens….someone actually thinks you should display your art for people to see!

Next begins the panic; can I have enough paintings that I like ready for the opening. So you work to pull together what you hope will be an interesting collection.

Art Reception at PCW Then the preparation for the opening; the announcement; the invitation. And then the day arrives. It’s time to go and you are so scared that no one will come to see your work. Always the self-doubt. But people start arriving and they like the art. Yeah! Success. It is always so rewarding when people enjoy what you enjoy doing so much. It’s hard to describe but certainly other painters will understand. Many thanks to everyone who came out to the reception. It was a beautiful day and a nice afternoon.