TELLING THE TRUTH…

"Oh' What a Beautiful Mornin'
ELEPHANT EYES

Sometimes things just get away from you. The day. Time. The weather. A swear word (or words) that is or are supposed to be silent but end up being  out-loud swear word(s). Really LOUD out-loud swear word(s). Don’t you just hate that when it happens? Occasionally I do, but most of the time not so much.

The day started out fine. I had a plan and it should have gone this way, and you’ve probably guessed by now…it went that way. In case you’re wondering yes, it was a bad day for hair, too. My Reader is looking for an explanation and I don’t think I have one…other than I thought drawing corn cobs was a good idea.

Glorious corn.

Beautiful corn.

GREAT corn.

I’ll be in touch…

57 thoughts on “TELLING THE TRUTH…”

    1. Got you on that one, Shakti. I’m sure referring to “bad hair day” is an American colloquial expression that relates to having a a rough time of it…one’s day is not going as planned…hence the very informal and familiar reference to “bad hair”. It is usually said in jest…or, if you please, a light-hearted reference to one’s mood or frame of mind. Does that help?
      Thank you for stopping by and commenting.
      Raye

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  5. Love the corn, brings to mind the closing of autumn with winter around the corner, and that fact alone may have me letting out a stream of seldom used words as well 🙂 Wish you a great coming week ahead ~

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    1. Same back to you R…a thankful reflection on all the beauty and good in people who share the planet. Your images provide those reminders. Thank you.

      Pacific Northwest colours in the fall…yes, letting us know winter is just around the corner. The day I finished this painting…Mother Nature put on her best Colour Coat and sun-smiled at us Portlanders. Explosive energy! Back at you with sincere wishes for a Great week…
      R.

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    1. You are one of the artists who keep me going. Love the field and fence paintings you execute. Keeps me saving my $ for another trip”home”. Might have to come to your part of the country and see your fields in person. Thank you for your comment.

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    1. I continue to look at your oils and just soaked up your illustrations, and am enthralled by your creative process…how you get from here….to there! So inspiring. Thank you for stopping by and commenting.

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    1. Bring my woolies?….I’m already wearing them! It is still freaking cold in Portland so unusual this early for us.

      Darling, you are too kind with your compliments because I know you draw, as well, and are really accomplished. You have to come to me (again) for longer than our previous 10 minute flash and dash meet up. Bring your barn boots….no getting out of chores this time…..

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  10. OK, so you are incredible. Everyone knows that. You can draw, paint, and write…. all very well, and I’m in. I will learn a lot from your posts, and let me say thank you up front. It never ceases to amaze me how much talent there is in this Internet World, and how circuitous a route it usually takes to find it. But here you are. Now, what’s this about an “eye?” I looked closely and found several – some open, some closed – but is there a mystery that Lesliepaints knows that I don’t?

    Kudos to you for this great blog.

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    1. OK, so here we are. We’ve done the handshake, the hug, I’m looking at your stuff and you are looking at mine. We good? I explained to Leslie (it’s below…see comment thread) how Elephant Eyes became to be titled. As I said to her, and now you…and what do I call you? WT? Ms. Topia? What?….my sense of humour oft times comes back with a vengeance and bites me in the bum. Actually (and also she whispered) it was a test….to see if anyone else besides moi got the reference to….”the corn is as high as an elephant’s eye…..” (I’m singing it for you by the way) (yes, I’m done now). No one “got it”
      Bit in the bum…again.
      You good with that?

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      1. Absolutely. I’m ready to give you my phone number. My name is Patsye. The “e” is superfluous and very anglo because I am an anglophile, and not just because everyone in England paints.

        I failed the test, but then it’s part of my morning constitutional to read those I follow (and there are several)(and no I am not on the john.) Some I read fast; others quite slow. I normally look deeply into other’s art to figure out how they painted it…. like I might do in a gallery. But I didn’t catch this, and I have no excuse besides I am old and mentally feeble.

        I think there’s a reality show in your future. Or a talk show. Or at minimum a radio show. You are the Dave Barry of watercolor. This is going to be good.

        (Do I know your name and have already forgotten it? And where are you? I’m in Western NC.)

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        1. Oh Raye… I like this one! Now I’m going to have to go see what “she” Ms. Patsye with a superfluous “e” has to write about – she sounds just like us, doesn’t she?

          Sorry, Ms. Patsye, I don’t mean to speak of you as if you are not there… I am just tickled by your comments and now feel compelled to “check you out”!

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        2. Talk about internet circuitous magic (thank you Al Gore)…no! serendipitous more like…I checked you out yesterday because of your gravatar because I did a selfie-sketch yesterday in that same exact pose but alas…it was crap. I’ve studied yours forwards and backwards and have decided instead of me trying to do another of myself…will use yours. You good with that?

          I’m better than an Anglophile. My “other” life continues to live there along with my two best girlfriends and their husbands. Having lived in England once I’ve often thought I could become a “kept” woman to some UK kilt wearing, once red-haired lad, castle owner with indoor plumbing and central heating, and who’d be willing to give me a wing all my own, pay for my art supplies and…leave me be. Similar to Rapunzel…but not locked in a tower or having long blonde…braided…hair…well, not exactly similar to Rapunzel at all because I’d have to have a car, too, and a key to the moat and front door. So far…that little blip in my fantasy life hasn’t bore fruit….I just paint figs and pears instead and call my life good. Really really good.

          I’m two years younger than Helen Mirren and two years older than Bruce Springsteen. Which makes me drop dead gorgeous and one hell of a sexy singer. Yes, yes I know…another blip….

          I’m not sending you my telephone number but have posted my second born to that Western NC address. That is total affirmation that I like your work and all that other stuff. My address Northern Oregon…the Pacific Northwest…we like a lot of stuff here…mostly birds, rain, food, bikes, food, bikes, rain, birds, rain….I could go on but you quit reading two paragraphs ago…so I’m done.

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          1. You go Helen Springsteen, sexy singer. I have had a crush on Ms. Mirren ever since Excalibur and White Nights. I think I missed a few chapters, but what is this about Western NC?

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            1. btg….that is where Patsye of wimseytopia lives in Western (is that a city? close to you?) NC…her comments are above…at the top of my comment page. I have a crush on Helen Mirren, too!! *snort*
              However…Bruce is lovely, too, isn’t he? But…since you asked (you did didn’t you?) I’m still madly bonkers over Lyle Lovett…..please don’t tell anyone.

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              1. Lyle Lovett is a smooth singer. He was on the Austin City Limits 40th anniversary the other day and did well. Sang with Willie Nelson and others. I am a Bruce fan. Too many great songs to pick a favorite.

                Let Patsye know you have this crazy old fart blogging friend down in Charlotte who does a Don Quixote impression trying to chase wind mills. Western NC is huge, so she could be anywhere, but we love going to Asheville, which is a very eclectic community about two hours plus from Charlotte. I fit right in. Amaya from The Brabble Rabble is in Asheville, as well.

                Take care, BTG

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          2. Roger that. First, just square up the glasses and add bangs and help yourself. We could be twins – or I could be your mother, or your grandmother. You pick.

            I can imagine your connection with England. It’s my favorite country and I have a surrogate son (a good friend of my own son’s) who lives there with his Brazilian wife and two children. Besides all the colloquialisms that charm me, they are wonderful people and I visit them often. They live in Hornchurch, Essex. Hazel Soan is a British TV personality with a program on watercolor. I’ve bought her DVD’s and am trying to bring her to America for a workshop. And you know I love the weather over there. !

            Of course you live in Oregon. What a beautiful, earthy, artsy place, full of intellectuals and good looking men with beards (and yes, bicycles). I’ve lived in California and would not go back. Oregon, on the other hand, would be a different story but I doubt my numbers will ever come in. Western North Carolina will have to do for this life. And you have all that English weather (only colder.) Ummmm, rain.

            I’m going to snorkel your site later this evening. I can’t wait to see more of your art. I will share my discoveries with both my online and offline friends.

            I know every word to Rosalita by heart. I can hear my husband groaning because I regale him with this clever trick every time it comes on the car radio.

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            1. Patsye,
              I’ve looked at everything on your site already. I want more. Hurry. If you don’t work well under pressure…fake it.
              Rosalita? I’ve Googled “Rosalita” and even those smarty pants keep coming up empty. Am I the dimmest nutter in our small but new and improved group? Who/what is Rosalita?????

              Al Gore is really smart for inventing the internet but I don’t think he’s smart enough to make two people the same age become anything else but the same age. As in…each other being the same age….like twins…your first suggestion. That works.

              My favourite British artists are Mary Fedden and Michael Morgan. David Hockney was a student of Mary Fedden’s when she taught at the Royal Academy. He’s a favourite, too. Will look up Hazel Sloan. I lived in Richmond, Surrey but travelled all over and go “home” as often as my pocket book says I can. My two girlfriends and their husbands plan [our] week long holidays together. Was just there in May celebrating a wadge of birthdays with girlfriend Penny and her husband, Stephen. I miss them terribly. We Skype…not the same as being there.

              See you on the drawing board….
              R.

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              1. Rosalita is Bruce Springsteen’s first hit (early 70’s and available on Youtube), and in those days I was a “spinner” at The Beowulf in Washington, D.C., as well as a sub at the Bottle and Cork in Dewey Beach, Delaware. A guy by the name of Joe Buc and I used to play the song and then do this stupid mime (only out loud). Everyone was drunk so naturally we were a big hit. I’ve sung that song a million times. I couldn’t forget it if I tried.

                Before you look up Hazel, it’s “Soan,” not Sloan. She too is on Youtube. She’s good but not great. It’s her personality I like so much, and though she’s heavily British, with words like higgily-piggily (and no, I am not making that up), she does break the medium down to parts anyone neophyte can follow. I will look up Fedden, Morgan and Hockney, though only Fedden sounds familiar to me.

                I keep stopping to watch Jeopardy. It’s the only TV, besides sports, I am addicted to. I will try to paint more, and more often, but I’m just not that good. I aspire to get to your level, and I can’t wait to learn from you. Thanks for sharing and being so funny (and talented). Patsye

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      1. Hi Jots,
        I honestly wasn’t trying to be funny. I like your title. I don’t know that there is a type of corn called elephant eyes. I recalled the saying, carefully studied the line work, that I like so much in your imagery, and see and elephant’s eye in it. Not by my chair.

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        1. Originally, I was going to explain the title/imagery: the corn and the explosive nature of colour, it was an explosive beautifully rendered morning yesterday, and as I worked to finish…the painting reminded me of the song….Oh’, What a Beautiful Mornin”, from the play OKLAHOMA. The lyrics….”the corn is as high as an elephant’s eye….” was thrown into my mental mix…and I thought my deliberate obscurity more tongue in cheek than anything else. Sometimes my sense of humour gets the better of me…..and I did think your comment was a witty counterpoint to my well-hidden elephant eye.

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      1. i enjoyed the post, the bright and colorful corn, and your reply here made me chuckle!

        it’s lights out for me, and i am grateful to have enjoyed the humor in the queue of comments! i’ll be smiling as i trade my waking state to the dream world. zzzzz

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  15. Raye, I love the colors, flow and sense of the corn and stalks. My exposed arms started to itch by the sensation of brushing against the stalks. You can curse all you want. Take care, BTG

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    1. At one time, in a long-ago-life, we had several acres of field corn…grown for silage for our dairy herd. “Changing pipes” (irrigation pipes) in the summer was never a fun chore. How well I remember the slapping leaves of corn stalks on arms as I waded through the field. You, too? Some memories you hold on to. Some not. More curses then…..!
      Continue to look forward to your focus pieces….thank you for including me. Raye

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      1. Corn stalks in the summer time do make me itch. We would spend time on my Uncle’s farm. He and his sharecroppers would grow peanuts, watermelon, etc. a Thanks for reading my focus pieces. It is always nice to know people do take a look.

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    1. Patsy…you keeping that guest room ready for me? It won’t be real soon so no worries. We’ll have ample time to perfect our works of ART, no? I do so admire your style and the images you capture. Just say (after me) Thank You….

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  17. I don’t care what self-solace you need; as long as you keep posting your gorgeous water-colours ( ? ), R. Rieder, I’m happy ! 🙂

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    1. Absolutely right, M-R…no one (moi) need explain why I’ve elevated cobs of corn to an elevated status…ART! Wow…thanks for that. I’ve received your pat-on-the-back and appreciate it very much.

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  18. I love this! THIS went right… 😉

    I know what you mean… some days, to just wish we could press “reset” and start all over; or, sometimes, “fast forward” so we can have the day be done with, go to sleep and start afresh!

    Hmmm… better off with “reset”, ’cause FF would be making time go faster and it is more than fast enough, dontcha think?

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    1. Waaay too fast, Sweet-Tea. With Christmas now FIVE weeks away…what happened to this year? Congratulations on your providing Meals With Feel to your ever growing client list. You could really do something with that, you know. Just a reminder: “you make your own opportunities”…my graduate school art professor told us (other grad studs in class) that. Pretty much everyday. It is now tatted on body parts…*snort*

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      1. Seriously… FIVE!!! Insane. It flew. Zip. Boom. Bye! Thank you kindly. I am quite pleased and, though not likely to become a millionaire anytime soon, I’m OK with that… Just need to get Hubs a tad more enthusiastic but won’t let his doom and gloom affect me.

        I should do that too! *snort*

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  19. You did the right thing by heading to the easel. This painting has a lot of detail, enthusiasm, and a touch of fire. In other words, a toast to you because the corn is outstanding!

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    1. Fire? Oh, yes….referencing cobs of corn on the grill. Olive oil. Sprinkles of pepper and salt. Oh…YES! Looking at the weather now…you are due for an Arctic Blast? Ours came and stayed but no snow…I think you are getting what we could have had. Stay warm, aFA. P.S. Would you be so kind to send me one of those Fig Newton commercials…I can’t seem to find the ones previously sent, and am working on what? Three guesses….. Thank would be a please and thank you. xoxR

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      1. The Arctic blast has been slapping us around for about a week … and about another week to go. The coldest of the cold is here now … single digits last night, high in the low 20s today, back to single digits tonight … so yes, it’s a big YUK right now. Meanwhile, I’ll track down those videos for you. 🙂

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  20. I love the way you blend those colors. The only thing that went right today was my hair! My printer conked out right in the middle of a huge project and it was downhill from there. This lovely painting is a welcome boost of gorgeous!

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    1. Ms. Sam, We should probably have a sit-down and have a wee chat about bad hair. Over coffee. Thank you so much for your affirming words regarding corn on the cob…[place grin here].

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