Now that’s a Comment you didn’t hear when I was a Kid…

A lot of people complain that kids don’t get out and play anymore.  Not so in my neighborhood!   They are out there sun up to sun down and chattering a mile a minute.   I just heard one of them say “Well, tell me the IP number and I will tell you all about it!”

Not the chatter I heard when I was a kid but I didn’t grow up with computers. 

They just yelled car!  Glad they are being careful.

 

Blue Ridge Wildflowers  Original Painting has been Sold

Prints on Paper or Canvas and Greeting Cards Available at    KENDALL KESSLER ART

I was so sure they were GONE!

Yesterday I didn’t see any ants anywhere!  Then as I was bending over to do my stretches there was one right at my feet.  It look dead but then it waved and crawled away.  Argh!

Today I was so sure they were gone.  I looked all around on the counters and the floor and didn’t see any.  Then when I was doing the dishes I moved a notepad and a whole group of them were chatting away. 

Maybe tomorrow!

 

Butterfly Bushes   Original   20″x24″ Acrylic Painting    $960              

Prints on Paper or Canvas Available at   KENDALL KESSLER ART

I made him Laugh!

My husband cracks me up all the time with his wordplay but I don’t often get a laugh out of him.  Yesterday I did! 

We are going to have to get on I-81 for a trip soon and we both are getting more and more nervous about traveling that road.  It has gotten so congested and one time a deer decided to walk across in heavy traffic!

I told my husband we are just going to have to gird up our loins and go!

This phrase comes from the Bible, where girding up your loins meant to tie up long, loose clothes so that they were more practical when you were working or travelling.Lion Explosion  Original 16″x20″ Oil Painting    $670

Prints on Paper or Canvas and Greeting Cards Available at   KENDALL KESSLER ART

Blue Ridge Parkway Artist, People Art, and Now I can’t find my Shoes

 

Blue Ridge Parkway Artist

I do not live on the Blue Ridge Parkway.  I live near it and so much of my artwork is about this gorgeous mountain region.  I prefer Blue Ridge Parkway Artist to Southwest Virginia Artist so I am going to stick with the slightly inaccurate one.

 

I have been blogging about so many different aspects of the Blue Ridge Mountains that I thought I would take a break and focus on the other kinds of artwork that I do.  I have never understood what people mean when they talk about artist’s block.  I just wish I had the time to paint all the things I want to paint.  I am never at a loss as to what to paint and I am never bored.  I love what I do and I am determined to get all of it out to the world!

As usual, my main gripe is I wish someone could add more hours to the day!

 

In addition to mountain paintings I also paint people I know and genre scenes so I will blog some about them.

 

I come from a family with many artists and musicians and I play the piano every day for my own fun and to keep my fingers going.

A contemporary musician I greatly admire is the internationally acclaimed violinist David Garrett.  The portrait I did of him is my only celebrity portrait.  It is based on a photograph that was taken at a concert in San Diego.  I contacted the woman that took the photograph and she gave me permission to use it.  I contacted David Garrett’s estate and received permission to paint him.

 

David Garrett     Kendall F. Kessler

 

See more of my work that is available to purchase at  KENDALL KESSLER ART

 

Life with The Word and Bird Man – Clyde Kessler

I spend a lot of time looking for my glasses.  I have to have everything carefully put away or I can’t find a thing.  I usually don’t have trouble finding my shoes but lately I have been leaving them in places that I don’t usually put them so now I am looking for them as well.

My husband has had his glasses on and actually asked co-workers where they were!

We ain’t what we used to be!

 

I hope you enjoyed my portrait of the great violinist David Garrett by an Artist of the Blue Ridge Parkway!

No, I have not lost Weight…

People have been asking me my whole adult life if I have lost weight.  I am the same weight I was when I got married.  I am not over weight and think I am just right.  The only thing I can figure is I am either losing fat and gaining muscle with all my activities or certain clothes just make me look smaller.  

It isn’t a bad comment but most people say it with so much enthusiasm that it is hard not to take it as a criticism since they seem to think I should glad.

Oh well.   I have always been too sensitive.  It is a problem but I think all that sensitivity contributes to the success of my artwork.  Cheers!

 

Cup of Flowers  Original 8″x10″ Oil Painting         $168

Prints on Paper or Canvas and Greeting Cards Available at    KENDALL KESSLER ART

Well, the House is clean but no Swimming today

My husband keeps a close watch on the weather and there was some warning about weather so severe that I stayed home when I really wanted to swim at The Aquatic Center.  Instead I dusted and vacuumed and got some stains out of our carpet.  Now that was not fun!  Oh well, there is always tomorrow!  Of course the storm didn’t show up.

 

Flowing Tulip   Original 24″x18″ Acrylic painting           $884

Prints on Paper or Canvas and Greeting Cards Available at    KENDALL KESSLER ART

Second Stage Done! Yea!

I managed to get the second stage of a Pawleys Island beach painting done yesterday.   I think a lot of people don’t know that most paintings are done in a series of layers going from thin to thick.  It is quite an elaborate process that I couldn’t begin to explain, especially after all these years of developing a style that is unique to me. 

Wildflowers by a Blue Ridge Sunset   Original Painting has been Sold

Prints on Paper or Canvas and Greeting Cards are available at   KENDALL KESSLER ART

As I told my students an artist never gets exactly they they want but if they work hard they will get close.  This one is really close right now!

 

They are Definitely Retreating!

This may be the last post in the Ant Chronicles category!  I think we are finally winning the war!  I saw a few stragglers give me dirty looks as they crawled away.  The numbers are so far down now that I think the nest is dying.  Hooray!  Eagle Fire  Original 16″x20″ Oil Painting      $670

Prints on Paper or Canvas and Greeting Cards Available at     KENDALL KESSLER ART

Beautiful Day and I am in the Studio. Go figure!

It is a gorgeous, hot day and I am busy in my studio working on the second stage of a large beach painting.  Now that is ironic!  Oh well,  I will work hard and then get to the lake this afternoon, I hope!

 

Breakers at Pawleys Island   Original Oil Painting has been Sold

Prints on Paper or Canvas and Greeting Cards Available at   KENDALL KESSLER ART

Blue Ridge Parkway Artist, Thomas Wolfe Ghost Story and Now It is War!

Blue Ridge Parkway Artist

Coneflowers     Original 24″x30″ Oil Painting       $1470

Prints on Paper or Canvas Available at   KENDALL KESSLER ART

 

Blue Ridge Wildflowers  Original Painting has been Sold

Prints on Paper or Canvas and Greeting Cards Available at     KENDALL KESSLER ART

 

Path to Rock Castle Gorge in the Evening   Original 30″x40″ Oil Painting    $2425

Prints on Paper or Canvas and Greeting Cards Available at     KENDALL KESSLER ART

 

Thomas Wolfe Ghost Story

According to the site ,Ghost Stories of Asheville, NC, there are so specific ghost stories about Thomas Wolfe’s home at 52 Market Street but people have reported some strange goings on there. A man sitting in a rocking chair has been seen and a woman in the dining room has also been there. 

Also a face peering from the upstairs window has been seen and on occasion there are sounds of a typewriter.

Also at Riverside Cemetery where Thomas Wolfe is buried a phantom Confederacy regiment is seen marching in formation.  Could this be the one that was preparing for Civil War Asheville Battle that took place in 1865?

I got these stories from Ghost Stories of Asheville, NC.

Life with The Word and Bird Man – Clyde Kessler

 

My husband has told me repeatedly not to kill the ants.  The drops with poison they are lapping up while they play cards are to be sent back to annihilate the nest.  Well, I don’t think the drops are working and we both are wondering if they have built up an immunity to the poison. 

I decided yesterday to stop feeding them.  They can go set up their gaming tables somewhere else.  Today there is a significant decrease in their numbers but I am catching a few trying to get to the food in the cabinets.  One of them had the nerve to crawl on my bread machine that is currently making bread!

That’s it!  Now it is war!  I will kill every one I see.  If they can’t leave my house on their own volition then they will leave feet first!

 

I hope you enjoy artwork by an Artist of the Blue Ridge Parkway.