Attention All Fine Art Pig Collectors

Just getting ready to pack this up in a box to ship off to Georgia

I just love it when my art finds a new home.  There really is no greater compliment you can pay an artist than to actually make a purchase.  It may be for your own collection or perhaps a special unique gift, but when someone is willing to spend their hard earned money to buy your art, than you just know it was worth it.  

In the five years I have been seriously painting, this feeling never gets old.  Here you see a collector that fancies pigs and approached me via Facebook regarding my sketch that I did a few months ago that I titled "Portly Porker Pals".  Since I knew that I had a cowbell that also featured a chunky swine, I was able to talk her into buy both.   I threw in the two greeting cards free to show my appreciation.  

I snapped this picture just before I boxed it all up and got it ready to ship out tomorrow.  They will soon be on their way to Georgia and I really think they will be appreciated when they arrive.  If you like my artwork shown here you might just want to take a closer look at the rest of my "Down Country Roads Collection.  You can view it on my website at JulieTownsendStudio.com.  This particular piece makes a great greeting card or art magnet to give as a gift.  Just send me a message if you are interested in a specific piece.

BACON...it's What I had for Breakfast

Portly Porker Pals

I was just reading this morning that there are 73,150 pig farms in the United States, (Purdue University) While I can confirm or deny that fact, I do recall spending a little time on my Grandparents pig farm in Woodlake, MN., so I guess I have a little experience with these misunderstood and under appreciated livestock.

I also read this morning that pigs are smart, social and are very clean animals.  WOW!  I know that the smell that filled the air when the breeze was blowing from the direction of the barn could make your eyes water and nearly take your breath away.  I guess that is just the price to be paid for the smell of agriculture.  I can recall driving past the stockyards in Western Kansas as a child and that smell wasn't much better. (Pig Facts)

With that many pig farms, I would be amiss if I didn't draw or paint a picture or two of happy hogs for my Down Country Roads series.  Here is my newest sketch that I just finished this morning and I have to say I think these two turned out pretty cute.  I'm calling this one "Portly Porker Pals".

Both of these pieces are available on both my Website and in my Etsy Store so you can go there and check them out.  I have a number of other farm or country themed artwork pieces that you might also want to see that are part of my Down Country Roads series.

Lunch and a Spa Treatment

I will just end this blog today with a quote from the wise Winston Churchill.  Mr. Churchill once said that, "Dogs look up to man. Cats look down to man. Pigs look us straight in the eye and see an equal.”

Stipled Smiling Swine

"Lunch and a Spa Treatment"- Pen and Ink w/Colored Pencil

I will never give up painting but I have to confess that I am finding more and more pleasure in sketching.  This week I had a blast drawing this smiling pig standing in the middle of a mud puddle while chopping on a tasty apple.   Her eyes are closed in anticipation and you can see a slight smile across her face as you know she is imagining the crisp crunch and sweet flavor that will soon be her experience.  If this little sketch of mine has brought a smile to your face then I have accomplished my mission.

Sketch in Progress

I started her in the morning, worked on her for a few minutes during my lunch break at work and then couldn't wait to get home to finish her up.  She is drawn on a 9 x 12 Canson Bristol paper with pretty much using my Prismacolor Fine Line Markers exclusively and the .005 size the most.  It is a lot of inking but I find the process relaxing, probably much in the same way that those adult coloring books have gained in popularity.  I just love using the stippling technique but it is rather time consuming when you think of the thousands of little dots necessary to fill in a sketch.  I will be adding just a little color to the scene by adding red to the apples, a light tint of green to the grass and some shading to give her depth.  I will probably use my Prismacolor colored pencils to add the coloring.  

The whole time I was drawing this I had a smile on my face as I kept thinking of funny captions and titles but I think I've settled on "Lunch and a Spa Treatment".  I can't wait to add this gal to my new line up of greeting cards and prints for my "Down Country Roads" series and solo show coming up in April at the Boulder City Gallery.  The original of all my sketches are available until they are sold. Prints and greeting cards are available at JulieTownsendStudio.com and I'm also have an Etsy Store.

Finished sketch before I added color

Just Another Snowy Day

Beautiful Kawich Mountains East of Tonoapah, Nevada

Clifford Mine- just off US6 before you head up into the mountains to Bellehelen

The ruins of Bellehelen

I'm the type of person that you could classify a planner...I often stress over the details and worry too much about the small things in life.  You can probably say I have a need to be in control of my environment.   Occasionally, God just steps in a throws me a curve ball..or in this case... should I say a SNOW BALL.


For months, I have reserved vacation time to add to the already 3 day Memorial Day weekend so that we could make the trip to our favorite remote camping spot far in the Kawich Mountains, east of Tonopah, Nevada. I don't know many people that would drive of 245 miles just to spend a couple of days of solitude and relaxation but that is what Brad and I like to do.

The camping spot is perfect for us and to our great pleasure we found the creek that has been dry on our other visits, flowing with water from the snow melt and so we were greeted with a symphony of bull frogs.  For a Missouri girl, transplanted to the Nevada desert this was sheer music to my ears.  My artist eyes drank in the beauty of the mountains, rocks, trees and abundant wildflowers.  Painting for me, in that setting was pure joy and I found myself hesitant to stop even though I was obviously getting sun burnt.  But it was only Saturday and I had another full day to enjoy my new plein air experience, so I made plans to spend the next day painting at the ruins of Bellehelen ghost town. 

But now to the God sized snow ball part of my adventure.  First kink in a perfect camping trip is a sick rat terrier throwing up all over the camper at midnight.  There is just something about sharing small quarters that bring a family close together but when you are in a 23 x 8 foot box and 1/2 of it is covered with greasy dog vomit you find yourself questioning many things in life.  Like, why didn't I secure that bacon grease in a better location?  Why didn't I put the dog in the crate like I do every night?  Why did I bring the dog in the first place?  Okay...I can deal with this.  I just cover stuff up and wash the disgusting stuff of my right foot because I didn't have my glasses on and stepped on the wrong 1/2 of the camper floor.  Just a little extra effort on my part and I'll be painting away again before too long. 

The sunrise found me with a resolve to tackle the tasks before me and get that camper whipped into shape so that my day would be as I had planned.  But low and behold..I open the camper door to find that 6 inches of wet, fluffy snow was covering everything.  Now I might be from Missouri but I moved to Nevada when I was only 16, so driving in the snow is something I have only experienced twice and both times the experience wasn't exactly positive.  I was frankly, very nervous and the idea that we were beyond any human assistance and we're now faced with the possibility of having some real issues to get back to the safety of civilization. It was hard not to think about how just a few weeks prior, the news reported the story of a Canadian woman that had been stuck in her van in Northern Nevada for 7 weeks living only on melted snow, trail mix and candy. 

I felt the panic welling up and I just said a prayer and decided that I just needed to trust my Montana husband to get us out of this situation that we found ourselves in.  With the wonders of 4 wheel drive, my husband was able to pull us all to safety.  This experience makes be mindful of the scripture found in II Samuel 23:20  "Benahiah, son of Jehoiada, a VALIANT fighter from Kabzeel (is that in Montana), performed GREAT exploits.  He struck down Moab's two mightiest warriors.  He also went down into a pit on a SNOWY day and killed a lion."  Brad might not have been a fighter, a warrior or have killed a lion, but he sure was my hero on a Snowy Day!

5-6 inches of fresh snow that fell surprisingly during the night

Heading back to Las Vegas-My Montana husband saves the day!

Let me just share a few of my paintings that have snow as a focal point.  I love to painting snot but as you can see by this story I'm not to fond of spending much time in the cold, wet stuff.  If you like my work and would like to see more, please visit my website at http://www.julietownsendstudio.com/.  These paintings and many more are featured there.