Purple Pepper

We're back from vacation, went to a beautiful wedding in Virginia, a family reunion in Jersey, and climbed a mountain to a gorgeous waterfall (in Virginia). That's the way to get over sitting in a car for hundreds of miles. I like exercise that has a payoff, like that waterfall. I haven't painted in over two weeks, and I am itching to get started. This purple pepper is a small painting that I did just before I left.

A Little Garlic Makes Everything Better

Found these vegetables at the produce market, and thought they would make a nice Impressionist painting; however, this one turned out more realistic than I intended. Oh well. We were going on vacation and I didn’t want to throw the peppers away, so I Googled instructions on freezing them. I got many different answers, including one of the most boring You Tube videos I've ever seen. It took a large rustic gentleman four minutes to say "chop them up and put them in freezer bags."

Several sites recommend laying cut-up peppers on a tray in the freezer for an hour or so, then putting them in freezer bags. I opted for that one. This enables me to continue my tradition: Paint it, then eat it. And if there are scraps, compost them. I try to be At One With Nature.

Frangipani

This is a little 6x6 painting of my new flower. Last year my son-in-law pointed out a seed pod on our pink frangipani (or plumeria, if you wish). He said it might produce a completely different flower than the mother tree, so I planted the seeds and got this unique flower. It is not only a different color, but it's larger in size, and much more fragrant.

For some free watering of our floral delights, I went to a rain barrel workshop the other day, and we are now the proud owners of a big blue barrel. It filled up the first day we had it attached to our gutter. Now we can conveniently water the plants on that side of the house without doing the Big Hose Drag. Next I would like one by my compost bin (I told you I was a tree hugger). Saving money and avoiding the Big Hose Drag--what a great idea.

This little lady is a nice symbol of summer. We were at Sebastian Inlet, which has everything anyone could want: a shallow area for little kids to wade in; an inlet from the ocean; a big pier for fishing and just contemplating the beauty of the place; and the ocean side for surfing. There are hiking trails and camping in the area too, if you can stand the heat. A manatee visited while we were there, where the deep water meets the shallows. That's always a treat. All of this is why we put up with living where it's a kind of Hurricane Crap Shoot every year.
Posted by Carmen Beecher at 9:27 AM

Green Lizard

I must be feeling witless today. I can't think of a clever title for this painting. Instead, my mind is wandering in the world of free association as usual, just thinking about the many meanings of the word "mean." Right away, one definition is to explain, or signify, as in what does "mean" mean? Or to have a purpose, as: I mean to get it done soon. Or, humble or shabby or stingy. Or how about malicious, as in "a mean streak." Or used negatively for praise, as in "no mean feat." Then there's its usefulness as a middle position between extremes; or a resource helpful in accomplishing something, as in "a means to an end," or "by all means." A "man of means" has better than sufficient resources. Imagine trying to teach all this to a student from another country. English is complicated. I mean it.

Cocoa Village

I am fresh out of things to write about today, so I will share my Email Lament with you, which I wrote in protest of all the junk that gets forwarded to me.

Email Lament

Please! No more flowers,
No more Bunnies,
No more promises of money!

No more “Send this
To eight friends
Then you’ll have big bucks to spend!”

No more “Microsoft will pay,
They have dough to give away.”

I can pray without restraint,
Don’t need help from clip-art saints.

That kid’s not missing,
She’s just fine.
That scam began in ’99.

I’m sick of scares, so send me none.
Go check your facts at Snopes.com.

Send this on or trash today,
Your luck won't change much either way.

Homage to Dali, Mixed Media

My painting group, Pieces of Eight, has a monthly challenge. One member brings in an object for us to paint. Our first object was a toothbrush. This is my toothbrush painting, an homage to Dali, named TranscenDENTAL. An alternate title could be "Persistence of Tooth Decay." We are painting indoors lately because of the heat. Plein Air is now Hot and Humid Air and we are not into suffering. Speaking of suffering, my husband and I were weeding our yard at the same time our neighbor’s landscaper was working next door. He went on for hours without benefit of jumping into the pool frequently, which is what I was doing. I started thinking about all the tough people who work in this impossible heat: road workers, firemen, landscapers, masons, carpenters, roofers, painters…and our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. They are tormented by the heat, and I don’t know how they do it. Yard work makes me feel like I’m going to explode. To those who are out there, sweltering and miserable, for their families and their country, hot-weather heroes, I salute you!

The Bridge

This is a 36 x 24 oil painting, a commission for the new Cocoa City Hall. It is the Hubert H. Humphrey Bridge, which spans the Indian River, aka the Intracoastal Waterway. During the time I painted this, Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, Michael Jackson, Billy Mays, and Karl Malden died, the governor of SC disgraced himself, and a teenager survived the crash of an airliner into the ocean. And with all that, we have been ridiculously saturated with the Michael Jackson news, since in the world of 24-hour news, enough is never enough. And if you don't have facts, just speculate. And when speculation gets old, interview an "expert" who will gladly drone on and on and on and on...

Lily of the Nile

This is my Agapanthus, or Lily of the Nile, which hardly ever blooms. Butterflies like it, and so do I.
I was listening to an old episode of "Gunsmoke" while painting a large and complex commission the other day. I used to be such a fan. Wouldn't it be nice to have a big tough authority figure in town like Matt Dillon, who always gets the bad guys, and ties up everything neatly in the end? Of course, after another of his successes, he goes down to the Long Branch to have a beer with Miss Kitty. As a kid, I didn't realize that Matt just might have a little problem with alcohol, and Miss Kitty was a woman of ill repute. I'd hate to see how all this would be depicted on TV today. Just let me remember Matt Dillon as a sort of Superman in cowboy boots.

Shameless Self-Promotion

My teenage grandchildren just read my little book, The Story of Cindy Rella, and they laughed out loud. This encouraged me to mention it once more. My friend, successful author Carol Jose, says to always mention the title of your book frequently to plant it in your readers' or listeners' minds, so check out my book, The Story of Cindy Rella, at Amazon.com. Just click here: The Story of Cindy Rella.