My hsuband wants me to do his mother's portrait and then he can give a copy to both of his sisters for Christmas.
I also want to do my husbands portrait.  I enjoy doing portraits now since I have got back into doing them.

I have another painting that I am working on and have not finished yet and I have a lot in mind that I want to do.
I have two covered bridges that I want to do that I visited in Maryland when I went to see my brother and sister-in-law a few years ago.  Also I want to do more floral paintings as well as some domestic animals such as dogs.  I also want to do a still life or maybe a seascape since I have not done these in a long time.  I really enjoy doing lots of different subjects.

I had cataract eye surgery on Monday August 23rd and doing fine.  I also had a birthday this month.

My two granddaughters have learned to drive and the oldest granddaughter will have her license in a week or so.
The youngest granddaughter can drive but will get her permit and then her license when she turns sixteen.
They are both growing up to be young ladies.

I found some notes that I had for a long time in Self-Critiquing your art work. 

Does your painting portray emotional excitement, or is it dull, strained, and sterile?  Did you capture a mood, or just mimic a scene?  Did you take liberties to communicate the deeper psychological meaning of the scene?  Did you make others feel what you felt inside?  What emotional theme did you portray? Verbally identify it.  Is it cheerful? Somber? Dreamy? How did you portray that theme?  Through the color or value scheme?  Dramatic linear movement?  Textural qualities?  Emphasizing, downplaying, or omitting objects?
Remember:  the color and value of a preliminary tonal wash can set the stage for your message, suggesting the time of day, atmospheric conditions, and even the season.  Did  your preliminary tone work for or against you?

Is the canvas shape and size consistent with the mood of the painting?  Did you select a comfortably rectangular shape for a generally peaceful scene?  A vertical canvas for a forcefully upright composition?  A long, horizontal canvas to complement a flat, barren panorama?  Or a squarish canvas for a starkly solid or angular subject?  Did you  choose a large canvas to enhance a majestically grand subject?  A small format for a delicate theme?  Experiment with various sizes and shapes to find the format that best conveys the mood you want.

How did you divide the space in your painting?  Did you make the scene predominately a landscape, skyscape, or closeup?  Or is your decision ambiguous and unclear?  Did you divide the picture in half horizontally or vertically ___ creating a boring composition?  Is the horizon line decidedly above or below the halfway point on your canvas?  Think in terms of unequal divisions:  thirds and fifths are more intriguing than halves.  Within the compositon, did you divide anything into equal portions with another object, for instance, did you place a tree at the center point of a building, visually dividing it in half?  Also check the spaces between the edges of your canvas and any objects, such as buildings or bridges.  If you placed fence posts or trees within these spaces, did you accidentally divide them in half rather than thirds or fifths?  And have you extended the principle of unequal portions to the lighting____creating a predominately sunny or predominately shaded scene?

Did you guide the viewer along a visual path to the focal point and on through your picture?  Have you created a rhythmic linear movement from side to side and front to back____leading into the picture, not abruptly out of it or into the corners?  Have you chose a definite compositional scheme, such as an L-shape or a coil?  Are your lines compatible with the mood you want____lively, zigzagging diagonals or lazy, horizontal lines?  Is this skeletal framework too obvious?  Did you subtly echo the linear movement using stops and omitting unnecessary objects?  Check how objects meet:  be sure they don't just tickle each other or the edges of your canvas.  Remember:  time spent planning and organizing your painting is never wasted energy.

Did you arrange the objects in the scene artistically____using mostly odd numbers and placing things with rhythm and balance?  Have you echoed the shapes, repeating with variety?  If you used just two objects, is one large and one small?  Have you aimed for an odd number of groups with an odd number of objects within these groups, including any windows or doors in buildings?  (I hope you did not make your openings look like dark holes?)  Remember:  don't center objects.  And take special care in placing animals and people.

Did you attract the viewer's attention and hold it?  Is there a single, clear focal point?  Does anything distract from it?  Have you used contrast (light/dark, warm/cool, bright/dull) to emphasize your focal point?  Squint your eyes, reducing the scene to three values, and look for any spots of contrast that distract from your focal point.  Did you control the degree of contrast at the center of interest, keeping it in line with the mood of the scene?  It's best to reserve strong contrast for dramatic themes.  Did you establish the strength of your center of interest early and then key the rest of your picture to it?  Don't forget the strong psychological effect of people and animals, as well as certain manmade objects.
Is the center of interest well located on the canvas?  Remember: don't center the focal point or place it distractingly close to the edges or corners.  Instead, place it at a point that is a different distance from each edge.

Has the perspective gone awry, making the scene unbelievable?  Or, at the other extreme, did you make the objects mechanically correct, but stiff and boring?  Remember:  a slight distortion can be personable and entertaining.  Also explore raised or lowered vantage points.  If you placed the objects in your picture in boxes, is the perspective on those boxes correct?  Mentally trace perspective lines from the basic geometric forms to their vanishing points.  Is the pitch of the roof correct?  Check the angle with a straight-edge.  Are enough building corners visible to create a balance between the need for mystery and for security?  Are centered doors and windows correctly located?  Do they slant accurately toward the vanishing point?  Are trees and other organic objects properly drawn according to their relationship to the horizon line____above, below, or head-on?  Did you taper the tree limbs correctly from trunk to limb to branch to twig?  If your painting includes a river, road, or path, does it lie down, or is its vanishing point correctly above the horizon line?  Check the perspective on your clouds and cast shadows too.  Finally, are manmade objects and living beings the correct size for their surroundings?

This is an original oil painting by Ruth Housley.  I love the autumn season with the bright cheerful colors in the leaves of the trees as they change colors and the coolness in the air.  The time to walk through the woods and hear the birds and the rustling of the leaves under your feet as leaves fall from the trees. 

The time to bake those fruit pies from apples you have picked from the trees or maybe those berries you saved from the summer and froze so you could make pies.  

The time for harvesting of wheat in the fields and gathering your crops before the winter.
I have never lived on a farm but the farmer has a lot to do in the spring and autumn because of planting for crops that he will harvest at autumn time.

It is still autumn and we had some snow here in Denton on the 2nd of December.  It was so nice to see but was not expected.  A friend got a good photo of the big trees in her yard with the snow hanging on them and it was beautiful.


 

I ran across this article and liked it so I wanted to share it.  A friend sent this to me a few years ago.  The author was unknown.

When things go wrong, as they sometimes will
When the road you're trudging seems all uphill,
When the funds are low and the debts are  high,
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh
When care is pressing you down a bit -
Rest if you must, but don't you quit.

Life is queer with its twists and turns,
As every one of us sometimes learns,
And many a person turns about
When they might have won had they stuck it out,
Don't give up though the pace seems slow -
You many succeed with another blow.

Often the struggler has given up
When he might have captured the victor's cup;
And he learned too late when the night came down,
How close he was to the golden crown.

Success is failure turned inside out -
So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit -
It's when things seem worst that you mustn't quit.

John 3:16  For God so loved the World that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish,
 but have everlasting life.

I have worked in Office Administration for several years.  I am a very organized and neat person and like things to be in their place.  
I worked years ago as a secretary, clerical worker, typist, and a word processor.  I learned a lot in all of these tasks but I enjoy my art more.

I am able to express  myself in my art and hope the viewer can have a sense of being a part of the picture that I depicted.  I enjoy painting Landscapes, have been doing several Biblical scenes as well as Figurative.  Since I had portrait classes years ago I wanted to use my skills from those classes to do figurative paintings. 

I paint by being organized also and some people may not like the way I paint but I have the talent God gave me and I use it to the best of my ability. I have not did any Plein Air painting.

My art has been juried in three times for the show with Timothy's Fine Art that was suppose to be in Las Vegas but now will be in Dallas.

I use Winsor Newton Liquin to mix with my oils for a quick drying medium.  Liquin improves the flow, transparency and smooths brushwork.  It is used for detail, blending and glazing.  It also has a good resistence to yellowing.

I use Winsor Newton oil paints and consists of the color pigment plus linseed and safflower oils. 
The Grumbacher and Gamblin oil paints that I use is color pigment plus alkali refined linseed oil.

 

I am very grateful when I had the opportunity to study art when we lived in New Mexico.  I enrolled in the University of New Mexico at the branch college in Grants.

I enjoy art, viewing other artists work, and visiting art galleries and museums.  It has made me think more about color and what compliments each other as well as perspective and compositon part of art. 

I enjoy painting landscapes, mountains, wildlife, flowers of all kinds, old bridges, gristmills because of the old architecture and waterfalls.

I strive each time that I do a painting to perfect my work as an artist.
 

I enjoy taking digital photos of my art after I finish a painting so I can crop it and load it onto my website.  I always take my photos of my paintings outside.  I enjoy photographing subjects as well as painting them. 

I have Printmaster Gold 17 and also Corel Photo Album 6.  I have used Printmaster for several years.  These are both nice software.   

My husband and daughter influence me and keep me painting when sometimes I think I really don't want to.  Our daughter has seen me grow as an artist as well as my husband and I do appreciate them in all that they do to help me such as critiqueing, what they think I should do to improve the overall painting.

My spiritual life is the most rewarding but my husband and daughter are the next and even our granddaughters look at my work and make their comments.  My oldest granddaughter is following in the art of drawing, pastels, and colored pencil.  She does want to learn to oil paint and wants me to give her some instruction on the techniques of oil painting.  I did show her some things that she wanted to know but she likes to try this on her own.

I enjoy reading the articles that Clint has on Fine Art Views.  He keeps up on all the latest and sends it along for artists to be informed.  He has a lot of interesting articles that I have enjoyed over a period of time since I've been receiving them. 

I have enjoyed the information on doing links as well as doing a blog.  I know they are in the Beta stage but I still enjoy them.  I try to write in my blog often but things don't always happen as I would want them to.  I appreciate all the work that goes into our professional websites and thanks to Clint and his team.  Keep up the good work.  

I enjoy blogging and it has stretched me as an artist to do more then just paint.  I try to post to my blog regularly but sometimes it is difficult to do when you are concentrating on a painting that you are working on. 

I enjoy receiving and reading the "Artist Magazine"  because I do get good information from this magazine from time to time. 

I have a granddaughter that likes to draw and her mother, my daughter, encourages her to continue to pursue it.  I have seen some of the subjects that she has drawn and they are good. 

If I was not an artist I would be a photographer.  I really enjoy photographing places I have visited in this beautiful United States. 

I didn't know that I would become an artist and it has been a long road, but I have enjoyed every art class, workshop, and instructors all along the way.
Since I worked in office administration for many years I did not dream that I would be doing art full time later in my life. 

I have come a long way and I have had some challenges but I have accomplished everything that I set out to do with the help of God.  The most difficult art work that I have completed was "The Last Supper" which was a commissioned painting and a reproduction.  I have completed commissoned paintings in the past but never anything as big as the 36x24 canvas done in oil.  The commissioned work I have done in the past were dog portraits, landscape of old homesteads, and I have done portraits of family members.

I enjoy being out in nature taking photos as well as coming  home and putting on canvas what I enjoyed while being outside in this beautiful world God has created.  With all the natural wonders of the world there are always something beautiful to paint.

I had a good report from my daughter and she is a leader of the Girl Scout Troop in Plano.

They enjoyed viewing all of my prints that my daughter had available to show the girls.  They had interview questions that they asked me about  my art and how I got started and how long I have been an artist.  They had about  seventeen questions that they  asked and I answered them all and emailed them to my daughter for her meeting.  They also asked me what has been my most difficult painting that  I have ever completed and I have to say it is the commissioned painting of "The Last Supper" that  I was working on.  It took me three  months to complete but I did enjoy doing it.

I was asked by my daughter Krista, to be interviewed by answering seventeen questions since the Girl Scout troop is working on their badge for the arts for the next few weeks. I will do this for their troop and maybe someday some of the girls will decide to be artists later in life.  This is a priviledge and it lets me tell all about how I got started in art, what was my favorite art work that I completed, and about my tools as well as other related questions.  I enjoyed doing this for them since my daughter is a troop leader.

I enjoy being an artist because of the love I have for nature and how it renews with each season.  The inspiration I get from the subjects I choose allows me to create beauty, simplicity and serenity in this changing world through my paintings.  Nature definitely inspires me.  I gain inspiration from viewing other artist's work, reading and hearing about their accomplishments as artists, and studying their techniques. 

My goals are to continue striving to do my best work with each subject that I endeavor to undertake.
I feel I have succeeded if the viewer is able to connect with my painting and can view it with a pure sense of apprciation, calm, contentment, and perhaps a little longing to be a part of the scene depicted.  I feel that my works are realistically representative of the subjects I choose to paint.  I feel that my passion for painting shows in the finished products.

The time it takes to prepare and the careful sketches of my subject leads to a good compositon.  The selection of colors and tools to bring to life the masterpiece in my mind.  The passionate creativity that fuels each stroke on the canvas.  The care with which I paint my subject as well as the color and texture that I create.

I use pre-stretched canvases but have used panels to do works of art also.  I use Winsor & Newton oil paints as well as Grumbacher and recently Gamblin paints.  
 
I enjoy nature and capturing its colors and textures on canvas is a challenge I love to tackle.

 I enjoy being out in nature and hearing the wind blow through the trees, see the sunshine sparkle on the grass or the leaves of trees after dew has been on them.   Walking through fallen leaves from the trees with the crunching sound they make and hear the birds singing.  The raindrops on flowers, even an old run down fence, crooked trees that the wind has blown so hard on, a crooked shape of trees which makes for an interesting subject to put on canvas.

Even when it is going to be a rain storm, the formation of the clouds is very interesting and I have taken many photos of sunsets and also clouds before a storm which were very gray and almost black.   
Being out in nature is where I get my inspiration for my paintings and even if I have photos of subjects I want to paint I think of the times I have walked on a nature trail and heard all these sounds that I mentioned. 

We have beauty all around us if we just look for it and realize what beautiful creation God has made and I enjoy being out in nature every chance that I get.

The colors on my palette consists of :  Sap Green, Burnt Sienna, Burnt Umber, Cadmium Yellow Light, Yellow Ochre, Cadmium Red Light, Cadmium Orange, Ultramarine Blue, Thalo Blue and Titanium White. 

I do occasionally use Colbolt Blue, Alizarin Crimson, Viridian Green, Green Earth, Thalo Yellow Green, Zinc Yellow, Naples Yellow and Grumbacher Red.  I make my own black and do not use black from the tube.  The black that I mix has more life to it then the black from the tube.

I have a couple of Joseph (Jerry) Yarnell's "Inspiration Of Painting" and nine other series books on painting written by Jerry

I also have "Painting Better Landscapes" by Margaret Kessler. 

I have a couple of books by E. John Robinson "Painting The Sea In Oils With Special Effects". 

I have "Painting Seascapes In Sharp Focus" by Lin Seslar.

I have some other books as well that I have purchased from North Light Book club over the years.  I have enjoyed all these books and refer to them as needed. 

I have bought two or three prints of Thomas Kincade's paintings in past years.  If you enjoy his art, I have a link on my website that you can go to the gallery that he has over 300 paintings.  I have enjoyed viewing his art for several years.

I enjoy listening to christian or classical music when I am painting.  I like something that is easy to listen to which is calming and relaxing. 

I enjoy all the christian music they play on the christian radio stations for the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex as well.  I also listen to pastors on the christian radio stations.
I also like the jazz station that is on the radio here in Denton, Texas.