§ If Walls Could Talk, They'd Say...

Another famous Western artist is Charles Russell.  A long time ago, Bud used to collect Jim Beam bottles [thank goodness that craze lifted!].  Anyway, I liked one 'specially because it was female.  The title of the painting is The Indian Maiden The bottle, before it was thrown away, I took the liberty of trying my hand at sketching her.

An acrylic painting done in 1996 I titled Sonoran Sonata . I chose that title because sonata is defined as a composition for an instrumental soloist. The coyotes are definitely 'instrumental', and this happens to be a solo composition!!! It's depicting an area we lived in, in Tucson Arizona, with the jagged Tucson Mountains at sunset. Sonoran, by the way, is the name of the desert in Arizona and Old Mexico. For the both of us, if Arizona wasn't so expensive to live in, we'd still be there, happily...

The longest wall, with plenty of open space, instead of them being strewn around the room, I placed all four very large sketches in one spot. [Bud made the frames!]

Three of the four in Close-ups


Willie Nelson and Val Kilmer [as Doc Holliday]

Update: We are done with the rewiring, the painting, the curtain and curtain rod hanging, the wall decor, etc. All but the backing of the entertainment center...we have yet to get out and buy what we need for that. BUT!! We decided to take a few weeks off from our revamping the interior, and now I plan on some fresh air and birding!!! Yay. Seems I've been cooped up for way too long. In fact, I HAVE.

§ More Art...

Most of the art work is my sketches, framed. A few are purchased [the long horns for one, perched behind a set of real horns on the fireplace hearth -during Christmas this picture is stashed away to make room for holiday garb]. Some hanging on the wall are DIY by Bud!

Each year, for Easter, the City of Corpus Christi has a Sunrise service at a park downtown. One time, I read about it, and saved the clipping, only to use it as a model for a painting done in acrylics. I had intentions of shipping this to our daughter, but never did. So it graces our walls. [1-clipping, 2-painting]

Another, is a wood carving done by Bud. Our son asked him to carve a wooden crucifix [styled by Guns n Roses album cover]. He finished, boxed it up and sent it to him. But, not before I begged for a duplicate!! He carved a 2nd one for me.

Here is mine that he gifted me more than two decades ago. It is one of my most cherished posessions...

Lastly today, another project Bud made with an old west theme. A wreath. He made this out of barbed wire!

My next post will be the end of the 'art work' display case. Two walls covered with my framed sketches [and one acrylic painting].

§ Bev Doolittle Wall...

As with the previous post I concluded with "I'll post some of the art work" in the room...

I will begin with the three framed Bev Doolittle works which I grouped together on one wall. Two are from jigsaw puzzles. One is a real signed and numbered print of hers Bud bought from an art dealer in Colorado [He and I both like her work! This one below is Bud's favorite].

Woodland Encounter

Bev Doolittle

Note: Most of her work is of "hidden" ojects. In this, The red fox is the focal point, among the birch trees are two hidden Native Americans on horseback. Because of the angle I had to shoot the image, the reflections of the room makes it very difficult to find them. Look closely. One is on each side of the fox...to help, look below!

The other two on this wall are framed jigsaw puzzles. MY favorite is titled The Forest Has Eyes. This mountain man scene has 13 faces hidden in and around the entire scene. Look in the rocks, the trees, etc.

How many can you find?

And the last one is actually a set of two done in a series. The puzzle is only of one...

The Guardian Spirits
[in this case spirit] The hidden images are quite noticable...

More wall art coming up!!

§ A Woman's Work [and Man's] is Never Done...

It's been nearly a week since I posted last. Bud and I have been busy with the refurbishing the living room. And it turned into a chore. LOL But, after hanging the curtains, the job is done except for the rewiring of the light sockets. That is the last thing on the list of chores. We've ignored the yard work for about a month or more. Soon, we will have to get outdoors and get the backyard cleaned up a whole lot. A few weeks past we had a light freeze, I covered the potted plants and some in the raised garden bed, but all but TWO froze. Yet, the weeds remain hardy!! :-)

I didn't take many photos of the 'before' but I tried to show a bit of differences in the finished room. We decided to move the entire setting area in the room, which meant to move the HEAVY entertainment center. Before, it was against the front window. And the light was dulled by the monstrous piece. We moved it to the opposite side of the room. Since it was once against the window, the back was open. Now that it is on the other side, the back is still open, but curious Isaiah can now jump up behind the TV and CORDS!!! We plan on closing that in when we can find time to get to Home Depot for the materials needed. In the meantime Bud and I "enclosed it" with a brown bear throw with upholstery tacks. It will be wood backing eventually.

Now, some updated images. I will begin with the painting of course. [we have a system...I paint the low and Bud paints the high]

I will show the arrangement of wall art in next post....

§ Just For Fun....

Sunday morning, it was overcast, and I wanted to get busy. I didn't feel like going anywhere actually. Maybe clean a little bit of the house. Yes, that's what I'll do. I've been wanting to rearrange the furniture in the living room for months now. This time, it was time!! The couch and loveseat haven't been arranged differently from where they were for years!! Seriously. So, in order to get the vacuum under the couch and clean up webs and cat toys, etc., the furniture had to be moved out. Right? But! Once I moved everything out, and rearranged everything, I realized something was amiss [Heck, I KNEW for years, but never did anything about it] something just didn't match the whole scheme. Guess what? I ended up going shopping against my best intentions. I came up with a simple, inexpensive solution...something that 'works' with the Southwestern theme.

Now, here comes the "just for fun" part of the blog...Can you spot the difference from "Before and After" images?

If you didn't catch the difference, I took the rattan, glass top end tables and covered them with two identical Mexican blankets...to cover up the 'tropical look' and make it more "western". Now maybe some new curtains to cover the vertical blinds? Who knows what can of worms I opened up for myself. Of course, for the decades it took me to 're-cover' the rattan, and think of changing curtains, I will probably be 6 feet under.  The bright side of it all is that Isaiah enjoyed the play time!!!