Future Wine – Watercolor
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I’m not a wine expert or even close, but I do like a glass of dry wine every once in a while. The Biltmore wines (Ashville, N. Carolina) is some of my favorite. If you have never visited the Vanderbilt home known as the Biltmore… It’s a must! This home (Castle) is not only the biggest home in the U.S., but built amazing collection of history, arts, furniture, and grandeur of architecture. First indoor bowling ally, 70,000 gallon indoor heated and lighted pool, instant hot water through out the entire home, which is a 179,000 square foot home… 179,000 square feet. I have been there 4 times and simply amazed every time I go. You can google it, but believe me everything photo found, will not do the actual room, garden, wood working, furnishings, and art pieces justice, it’s a must see in real life to appreciate it.
So take a trip and visit this beautiful home and winery, and have a few taste test glasses for me!
Nothing like a Longneck – watercolor
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This is one of three Wildlife mom and babe paintings that I will be doing for small notes and prints. I will be using various colors including greens, purples, reds and other colors to bring a little flair to each. These giraffes have purple, reds, orange and blues to make the spots and shading. I have a full schedule of shows and commissions, but I hope to maintain the blog the best that I can.
The parents and babe series came from the realization that my own children our becoming adults and how I miss them and the tender moments when they were little. They are still full of love, but are working, and going to college, so very little time to see us, but when they do, it’s truly a joy. When my parents warned me that time flies by even faster when you get older and I didn’t think that was possible, but I realize now… it’s true!
Small projects – Watercolor
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Had time to play on a few small paintings, and decided to do one from a photo that a friend had sent to me of a tree at a university which held memories for her. The tree is a pen and ink, with watercolor greens and yellows. The other is from a beautiful photo found on paintmyphoto.ning.com. A great place for reference photos and subjects. This painting is all watercolor on 140 lb cold press paper. I hope to have more soon to come if time allows. Thanks and everyone have a great week.
Going Old School – Watercolor
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I’m not sure which is older and in worse shape, this old school building or myself! This is a one room school building here in southern Indiana that a friend has located in her backyard. This 5″ x 7″ pen and ink, watercolor painting that I did was painted from a photo that she had taken earlier.
It’s funny to me, when I think of all the brilliant people who was taught in schools similar to this. Abraham Lincoln for one, actually grew up just miles from this school, and that’s not counting the great Philosophers, Engineers, Inventors, Astronomers, Physicist, etc. that we’re taught and excelled in classrooms similar to this. I hold education so important seeing that I wasted mine earlier in my life, but my question to you is why is it that we keep spending more and more money, millions upon billions on improving our schools and yet getting horrible results. A local high school has received millions and looks like the best of any small college in technology, and yet the graduation rate is less than 75% and minority rate is even much lower. Maybe it isn’t the money spent, but what has changed in the areas of discipline (in schools, but more importantly at home), pride of both the child and parents, the respect for elders, parents and teachers from a child, and hard work, and that flat-out means stop being lazy America, whether your a child or an adult. I think it’s time we stop using money as an excuse for our problems and start looking at ourselves for the answers. A new computer can’t teach life lessons to a child, like that of a person who loves them. Time to step-up, be the person that you were meant to be. Yes it’s hard work, time-consuming, and sometimes heart breaking, but like I have always told my daughters, most things that come easy aren’t worth having, and the rewards that are received after so much effort… is worth millions (or something like that).
Everyone have a great weekend, and let’s make a change for ourself and others that we touch this weekend!
St. Paul church in Santa Claus Indiana
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I will be at a arts and craft show in near by Santa Claus, Indiana this weekend and this is a small church that was going to be demolished but the owners of Holiday World Amusement Park saved it by moving it near the park. Hopefully I will be able to make cards or prints of it before the show. I have been extremely busy and haven’t had a lot of time for blogging, but I hope that my blog friends will keep in touch and hang in there with me. Happy Holidays and God Bless you all!
Greens in Winter – Watercolor
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Even though I am a warm weathered person, I love the heat, the sun and the oceans, there’s not a lot of things in this world that is more calming and beautiful than a walk through a woods with fresh snow on the ground. It has a refreshing smell of pines and fresh air when you breathe it in, and to see the wildlife flying or running around as though they have a new lease on life. I love the convenience of the city, but the man to earth relationship of the country. I have always been an explorer at heart and the finding of foot prints, nest, bones, shells, and other wonders of the woods, just make it more exciting to wonder. There used to be a tag line on the Indiana license plates that said “Wonder Indiana”, they must have created that by watching my actions. I can start a walk early in the morning and absolutely get lost in time and explore the woods an entire day. I know I have written about walking before, but a walk on concrete and asphalt isn’t what I was talking about. Sure it’s physically healthy to walk on streets, but the walking through nature, especially a woods or around a lake, is both mentally and physically healthy. This is great time of the year in the midwest to do so, the bugs are almost nonexistent and it’s cool and refreshing, just make sure that you where bright orange or go to a park to avoid the deer hunters like myself. As you walk take time to look close at the shape of trees, the formation of the stones and landscape, and stop every once in a while and give time to fool the creators in to thinking that you’re not there and listen to them communicate with song and chatter. I hope you have fun and think of me and this painting while doing so!
Have a great weekend!
Santa Sleigh – Watercolor
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Ho Ho Ho, with a frost-bitten toe. His face is red, and he’s been way over fed. But still delivering the goods, whether you live in the city or in the woods. Okay, I know, that’s enough of that, so I’ll stop. But what I was getting to is each year some of us receives gifts for Christmas and I was wondering what have been some of your favorites Christmas gifts in the past. This is my Santa print for 2012 and will be available soon.
Some of my favorites;
1. Red Rider BB gun, that’s right just like in the movie. With red rider on the side and a leather strap hanging from a ring… loved it!
2. My first official nice stereo with high-speed dubbing cassette recording, with speaker past the hips in height… that’s right, the bigger the better in those days.
3. Anything hunting and fishing
What are some of your favorites?
Christmas and Lace – Watercolor
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Ryan, painting lace, I know and yes it’s true, of course I wanted to add some camo to it, but fought the urge. This Christmas still life is a 8″ x 11″ watercolor image, framed in a 11″ x 14″ antiqued frame. I know it’s early for Christmas and winter paintings, but I’m actually running late on them for upcoming shows. Prints are yet to come back from the printer and originals still need to be painted. I wanted a lot of lace and white cloth contrasting with the dark background, and most of the color high on the paintings edge. Please leave a comment letting me know what you think or what you would have done different.
Price: Original 8″ x 11″ watercolor, 11″ x 14″ frame $225.00 plus SH
African Bull Elephant – Watercolor
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I had this beautiful frame and needed a painting to put in it, and elephants sell so fast I thought the texture would be perfect for it. Sorry for the poor photo, but I had it framed before I could get the picture. The watercolor image is a 4 1/2″ x 4 1/2″, the frame outside edge is 11″ square.
With the blowing dirt and dust around his trunk, and by using blues, greens, golds and other colors to the skin, I hoped to bring a little life to such a small painting.
Price: Original watercolor, framed $125.00 plus shipping
Jingles the Snowman – Watercolor print
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Burrrrr! It’s getting a little FROSTY (the other guy) around here in southern Indiana. The temperature has dropped, the leaves are turning golden orange, red and yellow, and yes, winter is just around the corner. This is one of four watercolors that will be made into Giclee prints that can be matted to fit a 11 x 14 frame. The photo is a temporary for my blog only, but will be professionally taken for the prints. I will only have about a 100 prints of each scene, and will cost around $15.00 depending on printing cost. Of course the whites and colors of the painting will be much better when taken professionally. I hope to have them available in a few weeks along with another Santa print, The church steeple and the winter nighttime barn scene. I hope you enjoy Jingle the snowman and will check in soon to purchase for yourself or someone for a gift for the holidays.
Winter Steeple – Holiday Card
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This watercolor painting of a lovely old church steeple, will soon be available as prints and Christmas cards. I’m thinking of adding a cardinal in the trees just to add a touch of color, but not sure yet. I did a barn last year that I really liked (sold) that I added a wreath, the wreath was the only item with color. I’m hoping to have a snowman, another winter barn and possibly another Santa Claus. The print of last years Santa sold really well (artbyrhayes.com), I have a few left if you would like to purchase one. They are signed and numbered, and will fit a 16 x 20 frame once matted. I hope to have the cards soon of this years watercolors.
Blowing in the wind
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Sitting in a clover field searching for a four-leaf clover, burning leaves and small insects with a magnifying glass, making new roadways through the grass and roots for the matchbox or hot wheels, or simply picking a dandelion seeding and waiting on a breeze and gently blowing the seeds into the wind, how sweet was life when this filled your day. Life has been a rush lately, not the rush as in adrenaline but a rush from here to there, do this and that, and an emotional roller coaster. I have been trying to slow it down and spend more time with family and things that I have been wanting to do, but as always, it’s just not working out. This is the time of year in Indiana that makes these days seem worth it. Temperatures are in the 70′s and low 80′s (F), a gentle breeze and flowers are still blooming. So as I’m going to do the next few months, I hope you try to do the same, slow down, take a picnic with someone you care for, and appreciate the things that we have and those loved ones that we have. Have fun, and blow a dandelion in the air for me… if you have one!
This watercolor is a 5″ x 9″ on watercolor 140lb paper, with a salt technic used for parts of the dandelion and air movement behind it.
Robin, but where’s Batman?
POW! BANG! BOOM! (old School Batman Lingo) This painting really doesn’t fit any of the sound effects unless he had a really bad landing. This was a 15 minutes Miniature Watercolor, measuring in at 1 3/4″ x 1 3/4″. Just doing a little goofing off and thought that a small painting was due. The smallest that I have done was a 1″ x 1″ but lost it…. seriously hard to keep track of the darn things. Anyway I hope you enjoy looking. The reference photo is from Gary Jones at Paint-my-Photo. http://paintmyphoto.ning.com/photo/robin
Night-time winter barn – watercolor
I’m not sure that there is a more peaceful moment than taking a night-time stroll, while the ground is covered with brilliantly white snow. The really cool thing is, that a flashlight or any other form of light isn’t needed, because the snow and moon creates its own illumination. The only few sounds that are heard, is the crunching of the packing snow under your feet, and the whispers of the wind blowing through the trees. I also think that you feel a little more alive, when you can feel the freshness and the crisp air entering your lung, and the visual of life, when you exhale. I think this is important now days because we seem to be just living life, not appreciating being alive! I have a wonderful friend, with a wonderful family, that just lost a wonderful brother. He was young, but cancer didn’t care, and took his life just this weekend. He found out about his cancer less than a year ago, has battled strongly, but lost that battle Sunday. So the next time that you see your kids, parents, siblings and friends, squeeze a little harder on the hugs, grab their necks and wrap your arm around them a little more, and feel the love between your touch and their heart. And this winter if you are in an area that receives a white winters blanket, breath in and feel life entering your lungs, and breath out and see the air that God has given us, to enjoy the time that we have on the Earth.
This painting is dedicated to the memory of Larry, a brother of a friend, a son, father, husband, outdoorsman and a friend. Prayers for Larry’s family, and prayers for those who are still battling this awful disease.
Little green apples
A little bit of red,
A splash of Green,
Eat to many,
A bathroom will soon be seen.
Covered with sugar,
surrounded by a crust,
The best way to eat,
an Apple pie is a must.
Just watch out for the seeds,
for those you don’t want to swallow,
for if you do,
a tree inside you will soon follow.
It’s Friday,
and I’m not much of a poet,
But for those who know me,
already know it!
Have a great weekend! Oh, the painting is a 5″ x 7″ watercolor wash, with ink line work. I’, showing 2 stages of progress together. Just incase you wanted to know.
Orange Boats – Watercolor
This was painted from a wonderful photo by Ruth Archer from Paint-my-photo. I have had very little time in the evening for large detailed paintings, so these small quick paintings have been fitting in perfectly for me. I have paintings lined up for both commission and for prints to be made, and hopefully I will start on those soon. This year I hope to have more Christmas prints, Holiday cards and possibly a calendar of some of my work… I better get busy!
Thanks all for commenting, I love to see new faces and their comments, but also appreciate and love all that has followed my blog for years!
Cottage – watercolor
Just finished a watercolor over lunch of a wonderful photo from Steve Lyddon which is located on Paint-My-Photo. This site introduced to me by Leslie, has a huge amount of beautiful photos from photographers for the use of artist as references. I will be using often and hope that you’ll do the same. Thanks Steve and Leslie!
The Bachelorette – The Rose
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Emily! Sweet, sweet Emily! Could you get any sweeter? Call me what you want, but I hunt, fish, do all the redneck stuff that you can think of… and guess what, I’m caught up in this season of The Bachelorette. I usually will watch the show kind of, off and on, and really not be that interested, but this year, Emily (the bachelorette) is so freaking sweet and gorgeous, that she has to be fake or acting, so I FORCE myself to watch it. But my wife has been a pretty big fan most of the seasons and has consistently watch each show, along with several of her friends at work. Every year, or season, my wife have several ladies over for the final rose ceremony and I made the mistake the one year of surprising each lady with a rose when they came through the door… MISTAKE! The next time they arrived for the final rose ceremony, they all were upset because they were expecting roses again, and I had failed them. So this Sunday is the final show again, and I figured all the girls would be over again for my wife’s party, and last night I painted this for my wife to give away to one of the girls. Great idea right, wrong, several are on vacation and others can’t come over because of prior engagements… so I failed again! Oh well at least I took the time to paint again, I just haven’t had the time lately.
Have a great weekend! and Emily, I’ll see you sunday! LOL
A long walk to no where!
It’s a freezing cold night, with the brisk cold air leaking from every crack and seems of both the windows and the floor. The wood furnace cranked up so hot, that the wood stove itself is red hot, and will take the skin right off of you, if touched. But that stove is several rooms away, and although 80 degrees in that room, it’s only 40 in your bedroom. The only thing keeping you from freezing, is being sunk down about 2 feet in a feather bed, with three grandma made quilts on top of you. But that’s when it hits you! All that ice tea that was sweetened with 5 scoops of sugar, is now weighing hard on the old bladder and you need to visit the John, Mrs. Jones, Privy, Outhouse, or for you younger kids… the bathroom or toilet! Now, I’m only 49, but both of my grandparents had an outhouse when I was younger, barely old enough to remember, but I do remember them. You know how hard it is to get up from underneath those warm blankets in the winter now and walk a few feet to a inside, heated bathroom, just think when there was very little heat and the bathroom was outside and a mile away! Okay, maybe not a mile, but it seemed like it. First you would have to determine whether or not you could hold it until the morning, but if not, then you would have determine whether or not you were able to climb out of a mountain of a feather bed around you. Once you have worn yourself out lifting the 100 pounds of quilts off, and climbing over the feather bed, putting all your clothes on, grabbing a flashlight and head out the back door for the long trek to the shack. My grandparents lived in the country, so the night was as dark as you can get, so before entering the shack, you would peak in with your light making sure that there isn’t any wild critters such as raccoons, possums, snakes or wasp (in the summer), rats and spiders or other crawly creatures. Once determined all is clear, you would go in with hopes that all goes well, and you’re out of there quickly. Now, my grandparents were rich… because they had toilet paper awaiting, instead of the Sears catalog or news paper, sorry, not everyone can be so privileged. Now that “the deed is done” as we would say, you would sprint back as fast as possible because of the fear from all the noises that you heard around you while sitting there, and the freezing cold. Running in, throwing your clothes back off and diving back under those wonderfully thick heavy quilts and on top of that wonderfully sinking down two foot deep feather bed! Those were the GOOD OL’DAYS!
or option 2: Use the large metal pot with a lid underneath the bed! Gross!
This is a 10″ x 10″ watercolor that I painted while waiting in a hotel room in West Virginia. My brother and I visited Gettysburg and other battle fields and I hope to post some paintings of those sites later this week or next. Have a safe fourth of July! And thank you all that is fighting now, in the future, and in the past for our freedom!
Water Please! Water!
I know in Florida right now you people are hating me, but here in southern Indiana and several other states… we are as dry as a bone! Seriously, are grass which at this time of the year is vibrant green and alive, not now, it’s like walking on hay, and a single spark, are setting off field fires. So I had a little time today at lunch and thought of my grandma’s house in Illinois, that actually had and used a pump similar to this one. I’m not sure if the ground well would have even had water in it now, or if it would have been just as dry.
This is a 8″ x 8″ watercolor on 140lb cold press paper.
Please check out the gallery at the top of my blog and I hope to update it soon, along with new paintings.
I hope the rain balances out and the south gets a little dryer… and we get a lot wetter!
On the Fence – final
Well I felt good enough to pretty well finish this painting last night. I’m pretty happy on how it turned out, but i wished that I would have handled the weeds differently, not sure how different but different. We’re heading out this morning to check out colleges for my youngest so I don’t have time to write much, but wanted to at least post the painting. Thanks and everyone have a safe and fun weekend!
Please visit the gallery on top of page for other paintings or scroll down and go to older post.
Amber – Watercolor
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Well, I had a little break in the action last night and even though I several commissioned paintings to start, I had very little time for a major project, so I found this photo of Amber that I had wanted to paint for awhile now and this is the end result. Amber does amazing photography and is creative in all that she does. A lot of her photos to me have this rich look to them and I didn’t capture exactly what I was hoping for, but I hope she approves. She has beautiful skin and the rich colors and at terns of the cloth draping her brings a wonderful contrast. Thank you Amber for allowing me to paint from a beautiful photo of yours!
This is all watercolor on Crescent hot pressed illustration board. The image is 5 1/2″ x 8″
Don’t Forget to visit the Gallery at the very top of blog and also visit my other blog artbyrhayes.com (updated soon… I promise) Thanks Everyone!
Spring Break – Watercolor
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Just got back from Spring Break, and a break was needed. Between health issues and the craziness of my work place, a little R&R was appreciated. We went with some wonderful friends, which we have been best of friends now for at least ten years. Their kids were in the same classes as ours, so that works out perfectly and their kids (now young adults) have wonderful values and ethics. They are one of only a few couples that I would even consider staying in the same place for that many days. Dr. Frank and myself have a lot in common. He loves to read… I don’t, He’s a doctor… I’m not, O.K. so we have some differences, but he loves the outdoors, hunting, fishing, hiking… and so do I. Our wives, well they have talking in common, and they do it well! LOL
This year was our youngest girls high school senior year, so we let them pick on where they wanted to go. A lot of their friends were going to Panama City Beach Florida, so that’s where we went. Being about a 11 hour drive from our house, it wasn’t to bad of a drive, I’m just not sure why Florida hasn’t figured out the direct route idea. We zoom down to Montegomery, Alabama, but then it’s back road and stop lights from there to Panama City. Hello! can anyone say direct interstate or major highway to Panama City! You have hundreds of thousands of northern white legs each year trying to get to Panama City to spend millions of dollars, and you can’t build a direct highway. Anyway, we had a great time and enjoyed every minute of a week of beautiful weather.
I didn’t have a lot of painting time but the watercolor above was one that I painted while laying on the white sands of Florida. I hope you enjoy and don’t forget to visit my Gallery at the top of the blog.
I could have DIED! funny friday
Click on image to zoom in, and don’t forget to visit other paintings in my gallery in listings above.
So many near death events in my life… you laugh, but it’s true! How does a kid make it through so many years of stupidity and bad judgement. The unfinished stream above looks fun, cool and wet, but one similar to this one almost killed me, and my grandfather. Well, I decided to list a few, and feel free to list some of yours in a comment.
Here we go!
1. It brings fear back into my mind just to relive this in words. It was a beautiful summer day at Spring Mill Park in Indiana. The heat was beaming down, the humidity was so bad, fish could live out of water, and of course I was barefoot and shirtless. My family was gathered around the stream picnicking, the streams temperature was so cold it would make your feet numb if you stayed in it to long. That’s when this shirtless, shoeless kid decides that the moss, slime covered rocks would be a blast to play on in the stream… Bad Idea! Being about 6 or 7 years old (I think) I started across this death stream with balance and agility, so I thought, with in seconds my feet were in the air above my shoulders, my butt following my feet, and my head and shoulders were where my feet had begun the journey. Bam! Whack! (a little batman lingo) I hit the rocks right between my shoulder blades! Air shot out of my body like a gun, both lungs collapsed, ribs cracking, and death was near! Actually the wind just got knocked out of me, and the embarrassment did more damage than the fall. BUT I COULD HAVE DIED! You ask how this nearly killed my granddad? His air left his body as fast as mine, although he wasn’t in the stream or hit any rocks… it was from laughing so hard! That’s right, my granddad nearly laughed himself to death that day and everyday after that when he often reminded me of that day.
2. Another time, was when I thought that I was Evil Kenevil and decided that it would be a good idea to make a home-made bike ramp… wrong! Back in my days (sounds like my dad) we didn’t have these fancy BMX bikes, we had sting rays, with crouch killing banana seats! And whose idea was it to make the boys bikes with the cross-bar… a woman! I think it was women that decided to pay back men by designing a bike with the man killing bar across the middle. But it wasn’t the bar that got me… at least not this time, it was the amazing, blistering speed that I reached while flying down what seem like a mountain, hit the ramp, and of course just when leaving the ramp, you pull up hard and spring your legs to get more altitude. Sounds cool! But if done just right, your bike leaves the ramp and continues on a circular motion. Now days the pros do this on purpose and continues into a flip… I WASN’T a pro and continue into a flip anyway, and proceeded to once again land on the back of my neck and head… I COULD HAVE DIED! But I didn’t, after my lungs decided to work again, and oxygen was once again reaching vital organs, I sprung up and looked around in fear of someone seeing just how stupid I was.
3. The mini bike, that’s right, a mini bike. These were small motorcycles with a pull string starter and a frame made for war. They weren’t like the pansy scooters now days, these were death traps waiting to happen… and I had one. The seat was a crappy piece of foam with about eight layers of tape wrapped around it for a custom upholstery look. Foolishly we decided to load this mean machine up and take it to my Uncles… bad decision once again. My uncle standing in his front yard, cranked the string and roared the engine and said Ryan jump on and take it for a ride. Now remember as I’m telling the story, that I had already rode it a few times before. I jumped on like the manly, 60 pound, Harley Dude that I was, cranked the accelerator and off I went. Oooooh @#$%! my mind panicked, my brain shut down, and everything that I knew to stop, went blank. Zoom around the house I went… to the side… to the back… to the side… and back to the front yard! My uncle laughing and standing in a defensive basketball stance, ready to grab me as I slowed down. The problem is… I didn’t slow down, I sped up! My eyes were as big as baseballs and my uncle’s got just as big once he realized that there was no stopping me. I flew towards him, he dives out-of-the-way like a stuntman in an action movie, and past him I zoomed. About half way through his corn field, my brain clicked in, and I released the throttle and pulled the brake… that’s all it took! BUT I COULD HAVE DIED! And then there was the Spark Plug from this machine of death zipping past my and my brothers forehead at terminal velocity… Nearly killing us… but that’s another story!
The watercolor and ink above isn’t finished yet but I wanted to post something today. I hope to finish it next monday. Have a great weekend!
