Happy New Year!

Sixteen years ago, I painted this  watercolor  of St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church, of Wilmette, Illinois.  This was a gift for the New Year's Eve marriage of a young couple - John Anella,  (son of our good friends - the Steve Anellas of South Bend) and his fiance,  Margie Pelton (her family is very active in this Wilmette  church).  John and Margie and their five children now live in South Bend.


Each New Year's Eve, I think about that wedding, and remember the trip several weeks before the wedding, when Ward and I drove over 100 miles from our home - then in Plymouth - to Wilmette, to search out this church, and photograph so I could use the pictures for reference while working on this painting.    It was early December and we were fortunate to find that an early snow had recently fallen blanketing the ground white and leaving a fluffy snow trim on nearby trees and roofs - a simple classic scene. 

On New Year's day in 1994, carrying the completed watercolor with us, we again drove to this church in Wilmette and found the wintry scene almost identical to our photos.  We attended the wedding and Ward and I had fun presenting  this painting to the happy couple.

The hustle and bustle of  the holidays is subsiding, and now we are shifting gears and thinking about the year to come.  I'm still working on the yearly holiday note card, and when we are ready to mail it, I'll post it here for all to see. 

Greetings to all!  May you have a joyful, peaceful and healthy new year!   from Esther and Ward

Remember, many of our Painter and Poet prints  (including Wilmette Church) are available on our web site: http://www.painterandpoet.com/ 

Winter gallery hours:  Fridays and Saturdays, from 10 till 5, by appointment, or whenever the open sign is out.   
Phone: 574-842-8888.  Address:  307 N. Main St., Culver, IN 46511
Email:  info@painterandpoet.com

Remember - it's easy to subscribe to this blog, and also easy to unsubscribe.  Follow the directions here.  And if you have comments, I'd enjoy hearing them.  -  Esther

A Christmas Cactus "Child" survives!

Hooray!  My son Terry just sent me a photo of a thriving cactus "child" in the same bucket I put it in after the cactus crash! He and Dani transported it in their car when they drove back to New Orleans.   I predict it will root in its water and be safely growing in dirt sometime around Easter.  There are some healthy buds on many of its branches, and it is likely that it will bloom again next year.  I am delighted at its recovery  and congratulate Terry and Dani on their care of the "old lady cactus" survivor.   

Photo emailed by Terry

We have about a dozen small starts on a table in my studio, and I am also hopeful that they will thrive.  A good friend of mine gave me (for Christmas) the  perfect ceramic planter for a much smaller version of this now famous cactus, and I hope to have a newer and sleeker model growing in it before summer.

"Raggedy Family"  ©2000

This image of a Raggedy Ann Family
is available in numbered, signed prints
and as note cards.  Check this out on
our web site in the  "Christmas series" and the "Children's series"of prints.


I'm quite sentimental about this little
grouping.  About ten years ago, we moved from a log cabin located on a
small fishing lake near Plymouth.  We
loved the serenity and beauty of the 
location and the cabin suited us perfectly 
until......Father Time began to catch up with us, and the multiple steps became worrisome and potentially dangerous, so we moved, and are content now in our snug brick bungalow - all on one floor, with our little gallery attached. 


A delightful couple, David and Janet Burke, bought our log cabin and we have the joy of visiting them in this home.  David is a man of many talents, among them - making stick furniture and growing bonsai trees.  The Raggedy dolls in my watercolor were made by his mother, Evelyn Chandler, and David made the chair.  If interested, you can look at this print on our web site, http://www.painterandpoet.com/


Thank you for your encouragement and support.  We enjoy our small gallery, and are pleased to be able to share our painting and poetry with you.  


Am still working on my 2010 Christmas painting, which will be considered a New Year's card, and will be sent out soon.  In the meantime, peace and joy to all of you in 2011.

 

A warm and friendly Christmas from Culver, Indiana!

This wonderful small park is located in Culver's downtown historic district  - our town's post office is just behind this park and a variety of small to medium sized shops, a CVS pharmacy,  offices,  condos, a B & B,and other rentals, two small museums, a bustling library, a bank - across the street.  A  hardware store, a florist, several good restaurants and real estate sales and rental offices are all in close proximity.  Our Painter and Poet Gallery is two and a half blocks north on this same Main Street of Culver, Indiana  - a small town with a huge warm heart!!   Welcome visitors! 


Memorial bricks comprise the walkways inside this park - and benches and flowering bushes create a welcoming atmosphere in the summer and  this park is a fairyland in the Christmas season.  My watercolor of this scene is an attempt to capture some of the winter magic.  Small matted 8" x 10" prints are available in our gallery and on our web site http://www.painterandpoet.com


Ward and I have been slow in getting our Christmas organized - it seems like Thanksgiving was yesterday and Christmas is almost tomorrow.  An almost spooky and freaky incident occurred on Thanksgiving day in my studio - Our huge Christmas cactus, pictured and discussed in an earlier blog  on our website -  flew off its perch on a sturdy table, landed in a heap upside down on the floor, with its shattered branches underneath and its unbroken large ceramic pot bottom-up atop the fractured plant.  I had admired the emerging Christmas buds several days earlier!  (Maybe there's a moral here - "enjoy today"?)


This plant - almost a century old was almost three  feet across - thus trapped in our home and  too large to go through any of our exterior doors !!  My first reaction was shock and sadness.  Then I started to giggle.  "Well, I guess I won't have to worry about that cactus anymore!"


My older son and his family were here visiting when this unusual event happened, and after everybody else was in bed,  I  sat there mulling over what to do with the "remains".  Decided the damage too drastic for repotting,  I settled on hauling out three large empty plastic ice cream "buckets", and cut the intact branches apart, and placed them root side first and down into water.  Ward put some bricks on top of the cactus table to stabilize the weight, and I'm keeping  them watered and in a south window, and attempting  to get some new starts going.  If any of you would like to have  a cutting off this plant, just stop in with your  small water container, and we'll give you a piece of that wonderful old plant!  But in this frigid season, you'll have to keep the fragile branch warm so we'll  need to bundle it up for you! 


Here's a copy of my painting of Mother's Christmas Cactus.  Prints and cards of this also available in our little shop and on our web site. 

Our pleasant memories of this plant live on, and we wish you a merry, merry Christmas with happiness that will extend throughout the coming new year! 


We welcome your emails and comments.  Winter hours:  10 till 5 on Fridays and Saturdays, and whenever the open sign is out.  Or call for an appointment  574-842-8888.   
email:  info@painterandpoet.com
web site:  http://www.painterandpoet.com

A NEW START! November is behind us.

Ward and I are back in our comfortable routine. Shortly before Halloween, Ward suffered with a
large kidney stone, and endured 2 surgeries for treatment. Everything else went on hold while we worked for his recovery. He is now almost back to normal, and we are most grateful - to his excellent doctor, and the concern and generous help from family and kind friends.

Cook Book Mode has been my computer life for the last several weeks, and 22 new spiffy spiral bound cook books - "COOKING, PAINTING & POETRY - from Painter and Poet" are piled on our dining room table. Some of these have been pre-ordered, and the master file for reprinting them is safe on our trusty Mac, and on backup files.

For background on these books - Four years ago, I composed a family cook book preserving only our very favorite recipes for family and close friends - a project I very much wanted to complete. Since then, a few more exceptional recipes have expanded our selective list of favorites , and these are also included in this new book. This cook book centers around three of Ward's and my favorite activities - cooking (and eating), painting, and poetry, so here you have it - "COOKING, PAINTING & POETRY from Painter and Poet."

Contents of this book: over 100 favorite recipes - breads, appetizers, desserts, main dishes, salads, soups and sandwiches, veggies, and turkey dinner basics; almost 90 full color illustrations of Esther's most popular watercolor prints and note cards; and a nice sampling of Ward's poetry. Along with the recipes, the poems and the watercolor illustrations are indexed, and some of the collectors are named. Where possible, we give credit to the generous people who shared their super recipes with us.

This "family" collection is dedicated to our seven children and our grandchildren (+ 2 "grands" for Ward), and the cover image is "Uncle John's Barn", named to honor my dad, John Henry Scobie, who was a fantastic father and a true "gentle man".

We've kept our cook book pricing as low as possible, but cost escalated because of all the full color print illustrations. We're holding the introductory offer price at $49.00 - boxed, autographed if you wish, and including a note card (possibly one of those included in the book's illustrations). When we sell out of our initial printing, orders will be taken, and the price then will be $59.00.

It's fun communicating with you again, and I leave to go back into the living room and into "Christmas Tree Decorating Mode."

P. S. To order our new cook book, call us. Cook book not yet added to our web site. Wide selection of prints and many note cards available on our web site.


For easy ordering, and free shipping, go to our web site: www.painterandpoet.com And for up to date Culver community info, visit www.maxinkuckee.com and www.culverchamber.com










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Magic - Utah Mountains and Stephen Quiller Gallery

WOW Look at these huge rock formations! We were overwhelmed by the majestic beauty. What an awesome sight - our first view of Utah's Arches National Park. We spent several hours driving through a small portion of this huge park, and proceeded on into Colorado, and through more gorgeous mountains, some covered with dark evergreens and others sprinkled with trees frosted in golden fall colors - an irresistible source of wonderful inspiration for a great water media artist, like Stephen Quiller. (and a great temptation to an enthusiastic lesser painter, like me).

And what a grand thrill to finally arrive at the Quiller Gallery in Creede, Colorado! Such terrific paintings! I have admired his work for years, and this was such a very special treat - and I'm most grateful to Ward for navigating all the elevations and curves in this tough by gorgeous terrain.

We were fortunate to be able to visit Quiller Gallery - scheduled to close for the season only several days after our arrival. Burdette Knous was a delightful hostess and Ward and I were thrilled to view so many of Stephen Quiller's marvelous paintings. My absolute favorite is pictured here. It is called "Sojourn with Red Wing Blackbirds" and my photo does not do it justice but does gives you an idea of what it looks like. Check www.quillergallery.com to learn more about him and to view this painting and many others.

Studio Update: All of this gadding around has been stimulating, but also exhausting, and I'll admit to sleeping some long hours to try to regain my energy. Am now putting the final finishing touches on my large watercolor of a Lake Maxinkuckee Home. So will sign off for now and get busy on it.

For easy ordering, and free shipping, go to our web site: www.painterandpoet.com And for up to date Culver community info, visit www.maxinkuckee.com and www.culverchamber.com

Family Ties and Inspiration

We've been home now long enough to have mail opened and laundry almost finished.
Had a delightful journey to Utah where we enjoyed the warm hospitality of Ward's daughter Michelle, her husband Justin and their wonderful family - Elizabeth, Amy, Allison and Daniel.

Ward planned our travel route and navigated with precision and we enjoyed a brief visit to the campus of Kansas City Art Institute, where I studied 60 years ago. Vanderslice Hall looks almost as it did then, and we were pleased and surprised to discover that Lee Piechocki, who greeted us at the front desk, is a South Bend native transplanted in Kansas City. Check out his web site: www.leepiechocki.com

My two+ years there is a distant but very pleasant memory. I remember appreciating my freshman year where I had the opportunity to sample many art forms. Lee told us this format was abandoned for many years with a change for freshman to a simpler study program without the variety I enjoyed. The pendulum has swung back and today's first year students are enjoying the introduction to a wider variety of art forms, much like those that I appreciated long ago. Now students also are introduced to many computer applications - so many innovations with technology! I'm thrilled and challenged to be able to work with some of this wonderful new STUFF!

Will post this with several photos - a lop-sided view of Vanderslice Hall and one with a typical pose of Ward in front of it - (Take a look at the cowboy hat and the suede vest - quite the dude!). Am having a glitch downloading some of our photos from the camera to our computer, and hope we get this solved. Hopefully, I will share more trip details including a wonderful visit to Stephen Quiller's Gallery in the mountains of southern Colorado.

Ill sign off for now and be back in a few days with a photo of my latest large watercolor. Check out our web site - www.painterandpoet.com.

Darlene's Lake Home

We've been bustling around - getting ready to leave for a "car voyage". And I'm within hours of completing an interesting watercolor of a Maxinkuckee lake home. Kept putting off writing a blog - so I could share that painting with you. It is on my drawing board - with a written "to do" list of minor items to correct and/or complete. So I'll send that one for you to view shortly after we return from our exciting car trip. We are (I should say - Ward is) driving us west - close to Salt Lake City to visit his daughter, Michelle, and her family. The car is packed except for last minute items. Ward is snoozing now and I'll be cat napping within 15 minutes from the time we leave ye old homestead.

The painting above is a favorite of mine - this is Darlene and Bob's inviting home on Myers Lake - she asked for a view from the road, and after several futile efforts to take photos that would lure me to paint, I FINALLY took some pictures that got me rolling. With artistic license, I raised the lake above the roof line of their house, and slightly rearranged the trees to emphasize the patterns from this view. The finishing touch was the old fashioned planter in the left foreground. This was her mother's and very dear to her. She located photos for me to use for reference.

By the way, I do have another 6" x 6" original partially done. It's another flag painting - and this time, it is OUR flag, taken from the side yard looking southerly. You'll see it here soon. Do I hear you thinking promises, promises, that's all I hear ? ? OK, I do promise.

Time for me to hit the sack for the second time tonight. Darlene is watching over our gallery while we are away. She'll open up next Friday and Saturday, and will answer your phone calls while we are enjoying our time away. Her phone number is 574-936-4431. Her number is on both of our answering services. We thank her again and again for all of her assistance.

Our web site is www.painterandpoet.com Until we return - have fun, stay well!

Our BIG anniversary

Hi!

Ward and I celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary on Thursday. He made arrangements for us to have dinner at Tabor Hill- a bountiful vineyard with a very good restaurant about a half hour north of South Bend in Michigan. It was a charming place and we ate in an area overlooking a panoramic view of their vineyards. We passed up the wine tasting area, but each of us enjoyed a glass of their great wine with our meal. Such a special event, and such a kind and wonderful man! Am I or am I not an extremely lucky broad? Yes.

Studio Update: I've been busy ordering supplies and organizing our little gallery after the busy summer. And Randy, our computer guru, has recently installed "Snow Leopard", Mac's latest operating system. I kept putting that off, and I'm relieved to have it up and running. There have been a few hectic moments and Randy has come to the rescue. I don't want to brag about any of this because I don't want to tempt fate!

The purple tree image is from one of our larger note cards. This was so refreshing to paint , and I hope to work more in this very impressionistic style. It's usually fun to try something quite different. I'll be interested in your reaction to this "unlike Esther" approach to watercolor.

Will be back with another blog very soon.

Our web site: www.painterandpoet.com
Our blog: www.painterandpoet.blogspot.com
Phone: 574-842-8888

Excellent Culver info on our official Chamber of Commerce site: www.culverchamber.com
And visit www.maxinkuckee.com for exceptionally good Culver info.

Next weekend is Labor Day when the primary special Culver event will be the third annual Lake Maxinkuckee Film Festival.

Painter and Poet Gallery is open on Fridays and Saturdays from 10 to 5, and on Sundays by chance. We will be open over this coming Labor Day weekend. At other times, check for our OPEN sign, or call ahead for an appointment - 574-842-8888.

Uncle John's Barn

It's good to be back blogging. Our summer has been busy in our gallery. Ward and I have been working hard to try to keep up on orders for our collectors, knowing that we will have plenty of time after Labor Day to work on new paintings and poetry.

Uncle John's Barn is featured today. Inspired by an old barn located on a country road several miles west of Plymouth (and about 10 miles from our home), this interesting barn with two silos fascinated me, and this scene tumbled around in my mind for a long time before I tackled this painting. The fence, flowers and weeds are from my imagination.

I've named this painting for my father, whose first name was John. He was beloved by almost everybody who knew him, and adored by me. I grew up on a farm and spent many happy hours with my father.

Last year, I was invited to submit 2 paintings for inclusion in an upcoming book, a continuation of "Hoosier Painters of the 21st Century" by Mark Butterfield of Greenfield, Indiana. Images of this painting and "Culver's Train Depot" are planned for inclusion in this book. (We have prints of the Depot for sale on our web site). Book details unclear since Mark is having difficulty getting his book printed because several printers that he has used before, have gone out of business. The purchaser of this painting will be given a free volume of this book (by me) if and when it is published.

This transparent watercolor, "Uncle John's Barn", is about 18" x 14". Overall size including the archival matting and frame is about 28" by 24". The top mat is a neutral sandy color (between light tan and gray) with a medium brown mat beneath it. Framing is a simple contemporary rustic style - very versatile. The colors will appear different on different monitors, and the picture of Ward holding this painting is included to give you a better idea of the size. Price of this custom framed painting is $1450.00 plus shipping costs. Offered for sale until September 12, 2010 to the first qualified buyer. Cash, money order, PayPal or other credit cards. Call me at 574-842-8888 to place your order and for an estimate of shipping costs. If you buy this without actually seeing it and are not satisfied, we will refund your purchase price.

Studio Update: I'm progressing slowly, but 'getting there" on the large very challenging painting I've been trying to finish, and am at the stage where I always get nervous - about 85% done. I want to be sure it has just the right amount of detail but not too much. Lots of standing back and then trying out small areas on scrap paper before adding to the BIG one. I sure don't want to spoil it now. After it's delivered, I'll post it, so you'll see what I've been up to.

For relaxation, I'm been sneaking away to work on another 6" x 6" blog painting. Subject matter of this is a corner of our house with our flag flying. Working on this one is pure pleasure. Will post it soon in another blog.

Stay cool! And in another 3 or 4 months, we'll be saying - "Stay warm". Never satisfied, but here in the midwest, we do enjoy variety !

Web site: www.painterandpoet.com Blog: www.painterandpoet.blogspot.com
Gallery Phone: 574-842-8888 email: Info@painterandpoet.com

Hello again from Esther and Ward!

Hi - I've missed writing these blogs and hope that you've missed reading them. Ward and I have taken a short trip to visit his sister and her family - near Iowa City. We've been busy with the necessities of living - food, laundry, shopping, gardening, etc. We have taken many photos that will provide me with inspiration for new paintings. Most tempting of these are some local barns, pictures of flowers including breath-taking day lilies photographed in Iowa. High on our " to do" list is getting good photos of "Queen Ann's lace" growing along the country roads - great for details of fence rows.

We've enjoyed busy times in our gallery - a nice increase in traffic from last year. Thus Ward and I have been working hard to get more prints matted and framed. I've stayed busy plugging away on commissions. The painting that I am posting here was done as a study of two flags on a pole and a smaller version will be included as part of the very large and complicated watercolor on my easel at this moment. When it is finished and delivered to our client, I'll post a photo of it.

Flags furling in the wind are a challenge to paint. I wonder how you like this one with the flags "backward". I experimented with flipping it to a more conventional view, but decided that perhaps it was more interesting from this angle. This painting is sold, but I wanted to share it with you.

I promise to write more soon. From Esther.
www.painterandpoet.com