Red Badge of Courage

"What is that distinctive trill I keep hearing from over in that ditch?" I wondered every time I took my five year old daughter to gymnastics.  After some investigation, I discovered that it was a male red winged blackbird, which I had never been aware of in forty years on this earth (along with how good cashews are, which is another story altogether).  I love its call, and whenever I hear it for some reason, it brings me a sense of divine spirit. Its bright red and gold epaulet against shiny black feathers is so striking, easily spotted in meadows and among cattails around the outskirts of Noblesville.  So he is also my little soldier and represents courage and hope.  Look for him; he's everywhere.

Solo Duo
Good Evening Art Land!  I am experimenting by posting two photos at once.  I tried three, but it wouldn't work.  1.  "Jumping on the Super Bowl Bandwagon"  I am going to make prints of these which can be personalized by writing whatever you want on the cup with a Sharpie.  2.  "Sunday Brunch Solo Cup"  Three guesses what is in there.  The first two don't count.  Next week-drippy horse paintings.  Stay tuned.  Lesley

Red Solo Cup

Good Morning Art Land!  In an effort to make my paintings relevant (actually I just wanted to have a little fun), I bring you the "Red Solo Cup" inspired by the song by Toby Keith.  When I first heard its lyrics "Red Solo Cup, You Fill Me Up", I thought, "you've got to be kidding", but I couldn't get it out of my mind. Then, yesterday as I pulled up to my studio/husband's office, there, by the curb in the parking lot was something shiny and bright red, glistening in the grayish snow like a beacon. I ran back to the Village Pantry and grabbed a bag of Doritos and voila-a painting was born.  So my wish for y'all this New Year is "May the road always rise up to meet you, and may your Red Solo Cup always be full!"
ChEeRs, Lesley

p.s. If you like this, site please click on Join this site

The Hippie Wedding

Good Morning Art Land!  I swear this little guy has not been out of the driveway since I started painting at the nearby Art Center, about three years ago.  Upon closer inspection, I noticed its license plate says GLOW.  Could it possibly be a VW Beetle Time Machine?  If I summon up the courage to climb inside, might I be transported back in time to 1969 when my parents loaded all us kids in the Ford station wagon for a trip to cousin Ann's Hippie Wedding in Vermont?  That weekend was the closest I ever made it to Woodstock. Cousin Ann was about 20 and her whole wedding party (friends from Goddard College) were literally camped out in her parent's living room floor.  There were beads, guitars, granny gowns and long hair flowing all around. When the parents all left for dinner out and the little kids were tucked in bed back at the hotel (I was 12 or 13), the hippies gathered in a circle, lit some candles and well, that's not all they lit.  My eyes grew wide as saucers as the needle hit the vinyl and Jim Morrison started crooning "Come on Baby Light My Fire".  Whoa dude, I couldn't get out of there fast enough, so I sneaked  into the next room where my more conservative cousin and her boyfriend  were watching "The Partridge Family".  Ahh back in my comfort zone.

Chinese Fire Drill

Good Morning Art Land! This is a painting of my neighbor's son-in-law's bug, which was parked in front of their house for a few weeks last summer.  Story was he couldn't get it to start til he found the right part.  I knew when I saw it, I just had to paint it.  Anyway, it reminds me of the beetle that my friend from Broad Ripple High School, Candy McCreary had back around 1972. Our group of "gal pals" would see how many of us we could pile into that thing; I'm thinking there had to be at least seven of us all screaming, laughing, jabbing and singing kind of like the beginning of "That 70's Show" with and added twist--at the stoplights on many occasions someone would yell "Chinese Fire Drill" and, well there you have it.  Whatever happened to the Chinese Fire Drill, Streaking and other random acts of wackiness?  Oh yeah, I just remembered my sister's house got TPed last week.  PeAcE Out, Lesley

Orange You Glad I Didn't Say Banana

Good Morning Art Land!  This is a little painting of, well, a beetle's butt.  I like to approach my subject matter from all angles.  This particular bug reminds of my good friend from Purdue, Cheryl Liska.  She had an old beetle just this color, and her parents had an A-frame cottage on Sweetwater Lake south of Indianapolis.  We used to tool around the hills of Brown County in that beetle. In fact, that is exactly what we were doing when the announcement came on the radio that Elvis had died. Was it in August of 1977?  I'm not sure. Back to the car-one particularly cool feature was that the floor had rusted out and I could watch the street fly by as Cherly drove along.  PeAcE OuT  Lesley

Classic Bug

Good Evening Art Land!  This is my first post, so it is very experimental. My goal for the New Year is to do a blog about my journey through the art world, or art land, through my paintings, experience with creating art and maybe some fun people I meet along the way.  I paint to express myself, but I also like to paint images that I hope others will relate to, so my first post is of a painting I did of a vintage Volkswagen Beetle that I saw parked in the Carmel, Indiana Arts District one evening in mid August, 2011.  If you have never owned a Beetle, like me, you may have wished you did at one point or another in your life.  They are so artsy and have so much personality. So this is my 8 x 10 oil painting of a "Classic Bug".   PeAcE OuT   Lesley