It's Picture Monday!

Today I'm sharing pictures with you all. This is an art blog of sorts so there is artwork to share, naturally. And also critters from my own personal zoo. And pictures I've taken over the years that have an interesting story attached to them or are just some of my favorite things.

I'm kind of agitated with the artworld at the moment. Not exactly the artworld, but some of those who dabble within it. I won't go into specifics cause tomorrow (which is less than an hour from coming on) I may be completely content with the artworld once again. I don't stay mad about anything for long enough to eliminate the triggers that start me on my mad streak to begin with. I'm just too damned easy going for my own good sometimes!

Alright! On with today's entry! Get yourself a cup of coffee or whatever and settle in. We have, I think, 20 pictures for your enjoyment today. Let me know what you think if you happen along to read today!

As some of you are aware, my house burned three and half years ago. This butterfly painting went the way of all the other artwork that was on the walls of my deskroom at that time. I painted this picture with alcohol inks and acrylics on cardstock sometime in 2000. Not too many weeks ago I was sitting at my painting table, staring out the window at nothing in particular when a swallowtail butterfly, just like those in the painting landed on the weeds outside the window. I got up from my chair to get a closer look at it through the window. It stayed around for almost 15 minutes, fluttering around out there right by the window. It was a great visit from one of God's creatures! I collect insects but never butterflies cause butterflies are so much prettier flying around on breeze than they are pinned to a chunk of stryofoam, dead as door nails!
This is Patches. She has gone to meet her maker. She simply did not come home one morning. She was given to me back in 1998 by an inmate in a maximum security prison. I had known David for a couple of years before he somehow managed to arrange that she become mine. When I brought her home, she was but a little fur ball, tiny enough to fit in the pocket of my jacket. RW and I went to Leavenworth to fetch her home in April of that year. She went missing in June of 2000. She loved to have her picture taken! And as you can see, she was quite photogenic!
Pay no attention to the mess you see in the background of this photograph! It was taken less than a week after the house burned and we were in the process of acquiring new things in a rented house in town at the time. We are focusing on Miss Blue there and that cut crystal bowl with the sterling silver rim on the floor (those are leaves from the trees outside beside the bowl-thanks to the dog for that present!) in the dining room of the rented house. Notice that bowl is empty and Miss Blue doesn't look to happy about it! That's cause that cut crystal bowl is the cats' food bowl! I have had Miss Blue since 1995. She's an old critter! And she's still around now. So obviously that bowl isn't empty too often. It is, however, empty at the moment cause someone (wonder who that was?) didn't make it to the store to buy a bag of catfood before there was none left to fill that bowl with!
And here we have the bag of bones that RW dragged home about a month after the fire. He's filled out nicely from the bedraggled vagabond he was when RW and Dougie came traipsing in with this handsome grey fellow in tow. RW says, "We brought you a friend!" We didn't even have a house anymore and this kid's bringing home strays to live with us! He always did bring strays home though so this didn't surprise me too much. Billy is a wonderful cat! Tall and lean. He has a very long tail! He looks like he's always dressed to go to the opera or out to a fancy resturant. And he has the pretties gold eyes of any cat I've ever known! He and the dog you'll meet in a few are the best of buds!
Anyone who has ever seen a field of sunflowers in bloom will agree it is a gorgeous site! Here's the proof! These are oil sunflowers, grown for the oil produce for cooking and what have you. That flower was over a foot wide and over five feet tall. I am 5'7" and it was taller than me!

There is no rhyme or reason to the order these pictures are in. You all know I haven't exactly figured out how to put these pictures in this blog anyway! Be thankful you get pictures, period!

This is a pen and ink drawing that lives in British Columbia now. It is Bob Seger, Stucky's heart throb. Stucky, AKA Maureen, loves Bob Seger! I sent this one to her back in 2000. She framed it and hung it above her bed, "Like Jesus" she said! :) I miss my friend, Stucky. I haven't talked to her in the longest time!
This is Ronnie Van Zant done in pencil on newsprint. I no longer have this drawing as it was on the deskroom wall when the fire raged through the house. I like it though and wanted to share it with you all. If I'm correct, Ronnie Van Zant is associated with the band .38 Special. They are an excellent band and I listen to them while I'm in the van driving to destinations far from home. The dog doesn't like .38 Special near as much as I do! He always sits in the passenger's seat if I've no other person along for the ride, but when I put .38 Special into the tape deck, he goes to the back of the van in protest. Tape deck? Yep, I'm not up to speed with the newest contraptions for automotive music! No cd player, just a tape deck and FM radio in that '97 Ford Windstar! I believe Ronnie Van Zant is dead as well? Correct me if I'm wrong on that point. CLARIFICATION! I've been told this isn't Ronnie Van Zant but Johnny Van Zant instead. Doesn't surprise me at all that I have gotten this information wrong! Thanks to the person who set me straight! His/her remarks are in the comments section below. They have given me much information that was not known by me and I do thank them for that education!

Another painting gone the way of fire. Fire does terrible things to wood, paper, books, just about anything one can concievably have inside a house. Not a trace left of this acrylic painting inspired by a failed photograph my sister Susan took at the Omaha Zoo. I really liked this painting though.
In the sidebar of this blog I added the Grassroots Art Center link yesterday. This is the cat stone that is in the Post Rock Limestone Courtyard out behind the Art Center in Lucas, KS. Lucas is a town in love with its eccentric art community. Go check out the site and you'll see what I'm talking about. You'll find decorated, painted, sculpted toilet seats on that site! Visionaries most certainly abound in Lucas!
Another piece of artwork that went the way of the fire. This one is a pen and ink drawing of my mother's late cat, Chipper. Least that is what everyone who knew Chipper and saw this drawing thought! It wasn't drawn with Chipper in mind but it does indeed resemble him quite well.

A deer sighting. My sister, Susan, and I had gone for a drive to Phillipsburg one afternoon. We took the back roads home that day and saw 19 deer along that 13 mile stretch of backroads in Phillips County. This fella had a harem of four does with him. Not a great picture but we did capture him on film(?) that day. I am a magnet for deer along the road. I've hit five of them with vehicles over my course of living. This one was quite a long way from the road. We were stopped at a stop sign when we noticed him and his harem up on the hill to the north of us.
And there is sister Susan and me at Webster Lake in Rooks county on a rather blustery summer afternoon. Aren't we the gorgeous babes??? No? Alright I'll give you that one. We really aren't looking our best in this picture. I can't remember just what it is Susan is pointing at in this picture. Her son, Justin, took this picture. Seems to me we saw pelicans that day at the lake 8 miles from home. Could of been pelicans she was pointing out. Had to be a bird of some sort, she's pointing and we are looking skyward.
My sons, RJ and RW. RJ is sitting in the rocking chair wearing Courtney's sunglasses. Rhinestones really aren't a good thing for a strapping young man! Such goofy boys these two are! Love them dearly though, that I do~! This one was taken shortly after we moved into the new house after the old one burnt. That would make this picture about three and a half years old. Both boys still look pretty much the same. As this is an art blog (of sorts) I wanted to show you some art that is accesible to anyone driving down Highway 24 in Rooks county, Kansas. This metal sculpture is about a mile east of my house. See all that yucca growing in the field where this family is perpetually going nowhere? One doesn't usually associate the great state of Kansas with yucca, but it grows everywhere in the northwest corner of the state. Beautiful when it's in flower, useless the rest of the time unless you're inclined to dig up the roots for what some have told me is a nice root vegetable, similar to potatoes. And there's your cooking tip for the day that you gleaned from an art blog. Go figure!
A fella by the name of Pete Felton carved this draft horse that stand in front of the Rooks County Historical Museum in Stockton, KS. I've no clue who built the pedastle the horse sits on. The horse is life size. A fella by the name of Robert Wise did the etching of the Thomas Barn on the black granite plaque on the pedastle. I am associated with this statue as well. I worked for the monument company that made the plaque. I proofread the text on the plaque at least a dozen times before the plaque was sandblasted. I also helped to clean the stone once it was sandblasted. It is a very nice statue, the nicest one in Stockton. Not that there are many to choose from in Stockton, but this is a nice one!

The sumac is beginning to turn as you're reading this. There is a deer in the picture above. Good luck finding it though! This was taken at The Rooks State Lake in Rooks county. The lake has been dry for years now. I don't believe there was any water in it when this was taken a few years ago.
More sumac. It turns the most beautiful colors of red and rust when the weather changes to winter. Indians made a type of beverage quite similar to lemonade out of the berries of the sumac plant. I've never tried it myself but I keep telling myself that I should give it a shot. I've read about it in edible plant books and know how it's done. Lord knows there is plenty of wild sumac aroud these parts, I could make gallons of it and never put a dent in the available sumac berries!
Sunrise in Kansas

Here's that dog I promised you'd meet somewhere in this post. That's Fred doing what Fred does best...being lazy!
This is two does from the harem of the buck you saw earlier in this post. They were farther up the road than the buck, but still in the same field he and the others were in. Trust me when I say it is no fun to run into one of these gorgeous critters with your vehicle! It isn't any better on a peice of steel than it is on the deer. Probably worse for the deer! It's amazing all the hair that flies off a deer when struck with a car going 65 mph. It isn't good on mothers-in-law either!

I hope you've enjoyed the show today and will come back for another entry in the future. If you've been here please leave a comment for me.

Have a fantastic week ahead. Go out and see some wildlife, take a good look at the plants along the side of the roads you travel and take notice of those special people in your life. Nothing sticks around forever and if you don't pay attention today, tomorrow may be too late!

Peace

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