Remembering the Old Swimming Hole

Swimming Hole- 16 x 24 Acrylic

I have absolutely the fondest summer childhood memories of spending hot afternoons in Missouri playing at the local swimming hole. I had just a few opportunities to swim in a regular swimming pool but I found them to be boring in comparison to the fun there was exploring and enjoying nature that an afternoon at the creek could offer.  You couldn't build dams, forts, hunt frogs or have rock skipping contests at those "Concrete ponds".


My mother would always pack a cooler with cold watermelon, sandwiches, chips and a jug of lemonade.  She would grab the old "River Blanket", air up a couple of old tire inner-tubes that took up the whole trunk and load it all in the Chevy.  She and us three kids would then pile into the car and drive the few miles to our favorite creek so that we could spend the afternoon floating and splashing.

All those memories come flooding back when I see my two beautiful grandsons now enjoying those same childhood pleasures.  I'm so glad they are being raised as "Country Boys".

A couple of weeks ago I actually wrote a small poem called "Swimming Goggles" and knew that I didn't have to look far for the inspiration for the illustration to go with my newest literary masterpiece.  This past week I started working on a painting that is inspired by this amazing photo taken by my son, who is a professional photographer in Leesburg, GA.    I've added a few tweaks here and there but I think I managed to capture their spirit of adventure and childhood innocence in my piece called "Swimming Hole".

Pretty easy to see why I would be inspired by this great shot.

Makes me laugh every time I look at this photo

Swim Goggles

By

Julie Townsend

Fishy, fishy in this brook

Please stop swimming so I can take a look

I want to take a peek at your home below

And these goggles help me see don’t you know

With them I can spend my day

In splashing fun and play

Until my skin is wrinkled and all saggy

And my swim trunks are soaked and all baggy

Seeking out all sorts of lost treasure

Spending time in pretend and fun beyond measure

This vast underwater kingdom is all mine to explore

As long as I don’t get to far from the shore!

To view more of my collection of literary masterpieces visit my website and while you're there, feel free to checkout my other galleries and see if there something that strikes your fancy.  I would love to hear from you.

Sweet Rendezvous

WIP-"Fence Post Rendezvous"

The past two weeks my focus has been on my 5th piece in my series "Down Country Roads" which features the series' signature blue morning glories growing at the fence post along with the lush tall grass that grows extra tall there, uncut by the mower.  With this piece,  I decided to add some farm children.  I have such fond memories of growing up in the country where I could run and play without worry.  We lived down a country gravel road, surrounded by farmers and where slowing down to greet the horses and cows with screams of MOO would be a frequent occurrence.  

Nearly every mother on the road tended a rather large garden where the best tasting vegetables could be found.  I remember my mother often asking me to go out to the garden and pick something that would be served with our evening meal.  Maybe green beans, cucumbers, radishes or squash.  There is nothing better than fresh from the garden snapped green beans, new potatoes and ham cooked up in a cast iron skillet topped off with blackberry cobbler for desert using the blackberries that you labored to pick. Speaking from experience, picking blackberries is no easy task.   

This piece that I'm calling "Fence Post Rendezvous" combines some of these elements of my early childhood memories of country life. These two little towheads have been given the early morning chore of picking carrots for dinner but couldn't help but stopping for a few minutes to share a couple of their basket bounty with the neighbor's palomino. With his head full of curly blonde locks, I used my own 3 year old grandson as a model for the little boy at the basket.    

The debut for this piece is going to be the Elks Club Helldorado Art Show and I have just a few more days to get it finished because the call for art is this upcoming Sunday.  Sorry that this is a poor quality cell phone picture of the piece, but since it is still on my easel, I haven't taken the time to get out the good camera to photograph it.   I guess I was just really anxious to show my progress this morning to my blog readers. Rest assured,  I will be providing better images as soon as I finishing painting in the final details.  

I hope you enjoy this WIP (work in progress) blog.  I would love to hear your thoughts, comments or memories about your own "Country Childhood"  To see the rest of the pieces in this series check out my gallery tab or go to my website at http://www.julietownsendstudio.com/-gallery.html

It's More Than a Painting of a Tea Cup

Sunday was a very special day as my husband and I were the invited guests for a lovely brunch prepared by some dear friends that we have known for many years.  As we entered the front door it was obvious that much care had been taken in preparation of our visit.  The table was spread out in formal fashion with gold tablecloth, placemats and napkins topped with beautiful China and sparkling silver.

My dear friend and co-worker of many years has also recently become collector of my art by having commissioned a piece from me and the purpose for our invitation was to show me where she had hung my painting that I had created for her.  This particular painting that I called "Tea Time" included a number of sentimental items that all reminded her of her mother who was also an artist.

The China tea cup and silver spoon were both painted to resemble her mother's own set that she has recently inherited.  It was that very China that lay on the table in front of us.  Her mother's favorite flowers, roses and hydrangeas fill the glass vase and are the focal point of the piece.  I finished off the composition as she requested with a small bowl of berries.

What an honor it is for me to be able to create a piece of art that not only is pleasing to look at hung there in the center of their room but one that is so full of meaning and sentimental memories.  This experience makes every minute I have spent for the past 5 years painting and improving my skills worth it.  I love the rewards that come from having my art connect with someone at the heart level and to know that I have created something that is treasured and a blessing for a deserving friend.

The day that I presented my friend with her commissioned piece, "Tea Time"

Wanna Build a Snowman?

"First Snowman"- Original Acrylic on an 18x24 stretched canvas

Very often life floods in and takes over when I start to paint a composition.  I'm thinking of my childhood or some life experience that I have encountered along the way.  This piece that I'm calling "First Snowman" is no exception.  This painting is actually based off a photo taken of myself and my younger brother in front of my grandmother's place in Swedeborg, Missouri.  I'm not positive that this is the first snowman experience but because my grandmother took the time to build it with us it is the forever memory that makes this snowman standout from all the other snowmen in my childhood.  

I can still recall picking buttons out of her button box to aid in the creation of facial expressions on what otherwise just a cold blank stare.  Her plaid scarf around his neck and a silly knitted stocking cap finished off his accessories.  The picture snapped that day shows both myself and my brother, red cheeked and squinting from the bright sun but smiling ear to ear because a woman we greatly adored took time to make a memory in the life of a 4 and 5 year old.

The photo of us and the snowman was cute but we are standing in front of my grandmother's house with just a plain window and drab blue-gray aluminum siding as a backdrop so of course I had to make up a charming snowy barn scene.  That my friend is the joy of using artistic license.  

I will end this blog post today with a meditative question to myself, but one that I hope you too will consider.  I have to wonder that now that I am a grandma soon to be seven times over, do I do enough making of memories with my own grandchildren?  I can make my life get so busy that I'm not so sure that I've done the best job in the memory department as I could.  I think it is time to do some planning as the holidays approach and carve out some memory making activities.

Not Another Fishing Story

This week I painted two pieces really that took me down memory lane to my childhood growing up in Central Missouri.  My dear grandmother lived in a tiny community called Swedeborg that had a total population of about 300 I think and we lived there with her several times.  I would also visit and stay with her for weeks at a time.    As with many that lived there, fishing and hunting were a cheap source of entertainment and an activity that many of the residents enjoyed.  My grandmother adored fishing and since I adored my grandmother, fishing was a favorite activity for me growing up.  

"The Fishing Hole"  11x14 Acrylic

I decided to paint “The Fishing Hole” because the reference photo I was using had such great contrast between the sunny bank and the opposite shadowed river bank.  Partially through my painting I got excited when I decided to make my focal point and old forked stick left by some fisherman to hold his pole.   Now my grandmother would never prop up her pole because  part of the whole experience was to hold the rod in such a way that your right thumb had the fishing line resting across it as it came out of the reel.  This gave you the ability to "feel" the fish when they began to nibble at your bait rather than just watching the end of your pole.  If you felt that little tugging on the line you were to jerk your pole upward in hopes of hooking that fish before he discovered your hook.  

I have so many childhood memories connected to this simple activity.  Camping with my family where the Roubidoux joins the Gasconade River in Pulaski County near Waynesville, Missouri.  I can still hear my grandmother calling me her "little fishing buddy" as we sat on the shore for hours on end.  Come evening you could look up on the high ledge above the river and watch as the bats began to fly out of the *Roubidoux Cave.  They would dart around the river looking for their evening meal and I was amazed at their sonic radar abilities yet they often couldn't detect the fishing line and would fly into it. Having those bats flying into your fishing line was both thrilling and frightening at the same time.  My grandmother would tell me stories of men digging guano out of the cave.  Being scared of heights I would sit and stare up at that cave and wonder how anyone could be so brave as to try to climb up there; guano or no guano.

Most children can't sit still these days but if you wanted to be a good fisherman you had to be both still and quiet or you would be rebuked for "Scaring" the fish.  Needless to say that even at my young age I could sit there still as could be enjoying every minute spent whispering with my grandmother and imagining all the BIG ones".  I can't recall any particular birthday gifts I received in my childhood years with the exception of one.  My 9th birthday I was given my very own fishing pole.

My 9th Birthday and a Fishing Rod and Reel all my own!

"At the Rivers Bend"- 16x20 Acrylic

As it is with many of the painting I complete, I find that I make an emotional connection with it as I'm working on it.  Right away it became apparent that it was important for me to give this piece a story.    I could imagine this perfect little spot along this river to spend an afternoon with your favorite rod and a good book or in my case a sketch pad.  Both of these pieces will be available on my website at JulieTownsendStudio.com so be sure and use the link to check them out.

*ROUBIDOUX CAVE (19)

In a vertical bluff overlooking the junction of Roubidoux Creek and the Gasconade River is a cavern with a high, wide entrance giving access to a large chamber which has several smaller but well-lighted rooms opening into it. There was formerly a considerable depth of earth on the rock bottom, but most of it has been taken out for fertilizer. What is left is dry near the entrance, but wet farther in. Although it would make an ideal Indian home, being easy of access and within a few rods of the two streams, there could be found no indications of such habitation; and owing to the small amount of earth remaining, the presence of many large rocks, and the close proximity of a large club house on the public highway immediately in front, no excavation is possible.  A cairn on the point of the cliff over this cave has been completely demolished. (Fowke) (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/18931/18931-h/18931-h.htm)

Sometimes You Just Have to Paint the CUTENESS Factor

Holidays equal decorations, family, good food and lots of laughs for most.  If you're an artist then the "DECORATIONS" parts can make your skills in great demand.  This year I found that out first hand.  As Thanksgiving approached I thought it would be fun to make my own table decoration as a memory keepsake.  It turned out so cute that I then decided the thing to do was make one for each of my kids that would be in attendance so that they had a cute keepsake too.  I decided as long as I was painting all these turkeys that I should also include one for my married niece that was going to be there.  Six turkeys and hours of painting later I was pretty happy with the end results.  I probably painted for 10 hours on this project and not to mention the hours my husband spent cutting and sanding all the pieces.  Thanksgiving was a success at the Townsend house and everyone loved their personalized decoration.

Thankful Turkey- Personalized table decoration- hand cut and painted ($45?)

One holiday down and Christmas is just weeks away.  I put away the bottles of brown and orange paints and immediately began digging for those reds and greens because once again my new life as an artist is being called into duty.  My dear friend teaches 2nd grade at a local Christian school and they have an event called Christmas Around the World.  This year her country to represent is Denmark and so to decorate the booth she wanted a large replica of an old Danish Christmas stamp.  The paper she provided measure about 4x5 feet so I had my work cut out for me.  I gridded out my banner and got to sketching.  The lettering was the most difficult part but I was pretty happy with my end results.  My niece Laura was even able to grab a brush and help with some of the painting.  Here we are standing in front of the newly created masterpiece.  

Now I am visualizing painting another holiday banner but this time painting it on canvas so it will last from year to year.  I really like how festive it looks on my wall next to my Christmas tree.  

Who knows there may be a market for this that I should explore for next year because I received a lot of positive feedback on both of my holiday creations. I can see making something that is actually treasured and has many memories attached that can be kept year after year and then passed down to the next generation.   I might just start by adding a new holiday tab to my website to feature personalized holiday keepsakes and work up some designs.  What do you think?

Christmas Banner- Wall size hand painted on cloth with your chose of Christmas designs and personalized for your family- ($150?)

Merry Christmas

There is something about children and Christmas that brings joy to ones heart.  This makes sense because we are celebrating the birth of a baby, Gods son, born in a manger over 2000 years.  He is the perfect Christmas gift and I pray that His blessing and peace live in your heart and if you don't know Him, that 2013 will be the year that you get aquatinted!  Merry Christmas!

Christmas Memories- this is a Christmas painting I did last year.

If your interested in learning more about my art, please visit my website at julietownsendstudio.com

Something to Think About

As I was studying the book called "Painting Better Landscapes" by Margaret Kessler, I found on page 24 a gem amongst the technical advice.  Even while you are still visualizing and planning your piece you need to consider the WHY of the painting.  Why are you painting this scene and what mood are you trying to convey.  She says, and I quote, "With in the limits of convention, paint the ordinary in an extraordinary way.  Don't just decorate: dramatize.  Exaggerate motion and color; vary the value range and textural quality.  By emphasizing or downplaying objects, manipulate the scene to engage the viewer psychologically."

There is freedom in this statement and as an artist I appreciate that I have artistic license to add or remove certain elements to improve my composition.  Of course I didn't need to read this in a book to know that as the artist the only boundaries that I have are those invisible ones that I myself have created in my mind.  Breaking those chains and tearing down the cobwebs that years of non-creativeness have left isn't always and easy task.  I struggle in my compositions with using colors and painting the randomness of nature.  I can stand back to observe my piece and realize after hours of work that I have once again painted my bushes to have a manicured symmetry and all lined up like little soldiers at attention and all my rocks are smooth round river rocks.

This is exactly why visualizing and planning are SO important.  I must see this painting completed in my mind before I ever start laying out my palette.  Sketching my idea out will  help me steer away from these composition traps and I am ready to begin.  So here is my inspirational photo and I will blog my steps as I work through the teachings outline in this book by Ms. Kessler.

This old homestead photo that we took while on our Missouri vacation is very near to where both my great-grandparents lived.  I recall both of their houses on the main dirt road that parallels the highway 133 between Crocker and Richland.  My mother was born in a house probably very much like this one there in Swedeborg.  I attended the little country school there for both 1st and 3rd grade.  It is this exact feeling that I want to evoke with this painting.  I want to stir up feelings that include memories of a vibrant house that is full of laughter and that now stands in decay because of neglect and misuse.  The memories are still very sweet because they are bigger than the outer shell made of lumber and penny nails.

Old House Ruins located in Swedeborg, Missouri

Ivy covered log located in what is left of the yard of the old house

Quick sketch made of house and log that I will use as my plan.  I am considering adding a old water pump too.

Memories of the Road Home- 16 x 20 Acrylic. This is the final rendition and I am pleased with the end results.  I wanted to inspire self-reflection as one looks back into the past.  I used several photos we took as we visited Swedeborg, Missouri on vacation this summer. This town is where my Grandmother and Grandfather lived, my mom was born and two sets of Great-grandparents lived. My roots are deep in this little town of about 250. When you spend time painting a scene like this you do a great deal of remembering about childhood, growing old, family and those that have gone before you.

In memory of:  Franklin Vail & Claudine Butler Miller (Mauer) 
                          Harry & Hazel (Morris) Miller
                          Clara May (Freeman) McKim 

An Apple a Day

"An Apple a Day" is a 16 x 20 acrylic on gallery wrapped canvas that was inspired by our regular September trips to the Bradshaw's End of the Rainbow Apple Orchard near Caliente, Nevada.  This trip is an annual family favorite of ours.  As I began this piece, I couldn't help but remember all the family memories that are reflected by these three simple apples ripening on the branch.

In the painting, the warm sunlight reflects through the branches and seems to  kiss the apples with a warm glow of yellow and orange.  I know if you listen carefully, you can almost hear the warm afternoon breezes rustling through the leaves as you strain to reach for the really good apples that hang high above your head.  If you ever have a chance to take a drive out on Nevada Highway 317, through the "Rainbow Canyon", and it is during apple picking time you have to stop in at the Ranch, grab a bucket and head off through the tall grasses to hunt these beautiful treasures.


http://agri.nv.gov/Brochures/Nevada_Organic_ReviewJan05.pdf

Small World

I was just thinking today about when you are almost 50, as I am soon approaching...you have an interesting perspective on the world.  I have clear memories of my youth when technology hadn't yet expanded our neighborhood to include the entire planet.  Yet, I'm young enough to be somewhat comfortable with today's technology.  For example.. I love my smart phone, my social media connections like Facebook and twitter and of course, as you can see here, I am trying to be a blogger.

What a contrast to the the days of my youth when I traveled to school in a horse drawn wagon...(Just kidding) but in the minds of today's youth it might as well have been because they just can't imagine a time when the main communication consisted of mailing letters and waiting weeks for a reply.  And who can forget the telephone party line.  In Eldon, Missouri we didn't just share the phone line but we also shared phone rings.  At my house we answered the phone if it was a long and a short ring, but we could also hear the neighbors phone ring.   Maybe it would be two long rings or two short rings.  Believe me when I say, there were no hour long teenage phone conversation allowed.  The world at that time was small and the ability most of us had to impact that world was equally small.  

Today, I'm at lunch, when I received an IM from my Facebook account from a young girl in Saudi Arabia that likes my paintings and is anxious for me to see her newest piece.  Can you believe it... I'm actually encouraging a young artist in a completely foreign culture to my own, with thousands of miles separating us and many years between us and yet... there she is talking to me excitedly telling me about her new painting...Yasmeen, you did a beautiful job on your painting and without knowing it you have greatly inspired a middle-aged, American woman learning to fire that passion for art in her own life.