Blue Ridge Parkway Artist’s Latest Painting and The Word Man’s Latest Publication!

Blue Ridge Parkway Artist

Just finished another Ying Yang painting and I think I like this one the best.  Now I am going to move on to another symbol to interpret or another motiff to work with.  Also,  I am almost done with Clyde’s portrait and I have begun plans for another floral landscape.  Busy, busy, busy!

Clyde just sent me the link to his latest publication!  Be sure to click on it and check out the Word Man’s work!

Poem in Which They Mine the Sun

 

I am promoting The Inflectionist as much as possible!  It is great to have one of my paintings on the cover and an article on me!  So here is the link!  Please buy a copy!

http://www.shop.inflectionist.com/

 

Be sure to click on the red link to see more of my work!

KENDALL KESSLER ART

 

Yin Yang Fish  Original Acrylic  Painting  NFS

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

Link to this painting    http://kendall-kessler.artistwebsites.com/featured/ying-yang-fish-kendall-kessler.html

 

 

Check out Originals on Etsy at  https://www.etsy.com/shop/towheehillstudio?page=3

If you like my work but don’t have any more room on your walls be sure to check out my paintings on just about anything but the kitchen sink on

Zazzle!

Here is the link!      http://www.zazzle.com/newriverartist

 

One more thing for Local Folk.  Check out my ebay classifieds!  Not everyone has to pay shipping!

http://www.ebayclassifieds.com/user/newriverartist

Be sure to check out my Special Promotions that end Sunday!

Riverview at Dusk is on Special all September

Click on the link below the painting  and click on the 40″x 30″ canvas print for the 40% discount.

There is a money back guarantee that includes shipping fee!

 

Riverview at Dusk  Original  20″ x 16″ Oil Painting $670

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

Link to this painting   http://kendall-kessler.artistwebsites.com/featured/riverview-at-dusk-kendall-kessler.html

Click  on the 40″ x 30″  Canvas print size for the special

Owl Stare  Original 20″ x 16″ Oil   Painting $670

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

Link to this painting   http://kendall-kessler.artistwebsites.com/featured/owl-stare-kendall-kessler.html

Click on the  30″ x 40″ canvas print size for the special!

Sunset on The New River   Original 40″ x 30″ Oil  Painting $136

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

Link to this painting  http://kendall-kessler.artistwebsites.com/featured/sunset-on-the-new-river-kendall-kessler.html

 Click on the 40″ x 30″ size canvas print for the special offer

Thank you for looking at paintings by an artist of The Blue Ridge Parkway

 

Blue Ridge Parkway Artist, Story of the Origin of the Word Hootenanny, and The Word Man gets Published Again!

Blue Ridge Parkway Artist

 

The White Vase    Original 14″x10″ Oil Painting   $295

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

 

Spring Roses   Original 24″x 20″ Oil Painting   $980

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

Two of my favorite florals!

 

Blue Ridge Sunrise   Original Painting has been Sold

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

The Story of Boojum and Hootin’ Annie

Eagle Nest Mountain stands at the southern edge of the Balsam mountain range and was once home to the luxurious Eagle Nest Hotel. Guests at the hotel soon began to hear the story of a strange creature who lived in the area. The thing was not quite a man and not quite an animal — it stood about eight feet tall and every inch of its body was covered with shaggy grey hair, except for its human face. The creature was named Boojum, and he seemed to be harmless enough, but he did have two all-too human habits.

The first of these was the Boojum was greedy and he loved to hoard gems. Rubies and emeralds are found naturally throughout the mountains of North Carolina, and Boojum loved to hunt for these pretty, precious stones and hide them away in his own treasure hoards.  He would then bury them in one of the secret caves on the mountain

Boojum’s second habit  was that he loved to look at pretty girls. Back in those days, a young woman who wanted to have a bath might head off into the woods to find a secluded pond at the base of a waterfall. There, safe from human eyes, she could strip down and bathe. A young woman enjoying herself in the water would often hear a rustle in the bushes and look up to see his hairy face peering down at her.

Now, most of these girls would quickly gather up their clothes and run off back home as soon as they saw him. But one young woman named Annie was braver than most, and one day when she was bathing in a stream deep in the balsam groves on Eagle Nest, she looked up and saw Boojum staring down at her. But Annie didn’t run, in fact, she looked into Boojum’s sorrowful eyes and saw that above all else he was just another lonely soul living on the mountain. Annie fell in love with those sad eyes, and she fell in love with Boojum, and she left her home and her family to go and live with Boojum deep in the mountain woods as his wife.

As much as Boojum loved Annie, and as much as Annie loved Boojum, Boojum still hung on to his love of jewels. On certain nights, he would leave his bride alone and go searching for jewels on the mountain. Annie, growing lonely, would go out in search of Boojum, and she developed a peculiar holler, something that sounded like a cross between a monkey and a hooting owl, that she would use to call out to Boojum. Boojum would use the same cry to call back to her, and eventually the two calls would come closer together until they came together on the hills.

Annie and Boojum calling to each other was often heard by guests at the Eagle Nest Hotel. Folklorist John Parris has said that Annie’s owl-like holler was the source of the term “Hootenanny,” which appeared in the language around the turn of the twentieth century and meant any kind of party or get-together. In the 1960’s the term was expanded by pop artists to mean a gathering of folk musicians.

 

I got this great story from Stories from the Mountains online publication

 

Life with The Word and Bird Man – Clyde Kessler

 

The Word Man really is tearing up the Publishing Turf these days!  He was notified last night of four more accepted poems!

Editor Vanessa Eccles accepted four poems for the Fall Issue of Belle Rêve Literary Journal: A Southern Experience. That is scheduled for November 2014.

 

Poems are “Distances”, “Everything Is A Wager”, “Snow Frogs” and “Talking”.

 

The title of the magazine is from Tennessee Williams’ play A Streetcar Named Desire. Belle Rêve is the name of the plantation home of Blanche & Stella.

 

 

Here is this magazine’s web page:

 

http://www.bellerevejournal.com/

 

I hope you enjoyed my paintings by an artist of The Blue Ridge Parkway

 

Blue Ridge Parkway Artist, Ghost of East Hall, and The Word Man gets Published Again!

 

Blue Ridge Parkway Artist

 

Nan Beau   Original    20″x18″ Oil Painting     $740

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

A favorite portrait of my sister with the only dog she had growing up.  Beau was an exceptionally sweet dog!

 

Tech Duck Pond    Original Oil Painting has been Sold

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

The V.P.I. and S.U. duck pond is a favorite place to walk and fish in Blacksburg, VA!

East Hall Ghost

East Hall Dormitory is on Appalachian  State University.  The story began in the 1960’s.  A student took her life on the lowest floor of the five story section. The cause is not remembered.  She hung her self with a long silk scarf in the basement restroom.

Ever since then students have reported strange happenings. Whispering in the hallways, strange balls of light hovering near the ceiling in the dorm rooms, and one man claimed a ghost toppled him over after he heard the words, “My Dorm.”

The strongest presence of a ghost is felt in the basement where the girl died.  Students have reported seeing a blue mist about the size of a human being moving through walls and always ending the walk at the bathroom.

Whatever is going on, there seems to be an affect on the students that live there.  There have been a lot of psychotic episodes and the school’s mental health services  keep a close eye on the students in this dorm and they are always on the look out for early signs that a student that has gone East!

I got this story from North Carolina Ghosts and Legends on the online publication Stories from the Mountains

 

Life with The Word and Bird Man – Clyde Kessler

Once again The Word Man has published his work!  I am very impressed with how frequently he is publishing his poetry these days!   He is not sure how many times he has been published but he knows it is more than 200 times in small press publications!

This time three of his poems will be in The Kentucky Review!  They will appear in the online publication  soon and the printed publication in January 2015.  Way to go Word Man!

 

I hope you enjoyed my paintings by an artist of The Blue Ridge Parkway

Blue Ridge Parkway Artist, The Moon-Eyed People and The Word Man does it Again!

Blue Ridge Parkway Artist

Here is one of my favorite Kendall Expressions paintings!  See more on my website in the folder of the same name!

 

Owls Electric  Original   9″x8″   Pastel Painting  $174

Prints on Paper or Canvas  Available at   KENDALL KESSLER ART

 

Porch     Original Hand Colored 8″ x 10″  Lithograph   $180

Prints on Paper or Canvas Available at    KENDALL KESSLER ART

 

Autumn Jewels    Original Oil Painting has been Sold

Prints on Paper or Canvas Available at    KENDALL KESSLER ART

One of my favorite Autumn scenes!

 

More Appalachian Cherokee Legends!

 

The Moon-eyed people were, according to the Cherokees, a race of small men that  lived in the southern Appalachians. They were quite different from the Cherokee people in appearance.  Their skin was light and and they were bearded.  They were called moon-eyed because they could only see at night.  Their sensitive eyes were blinded by the sun so they were nocturnal beings that lived in underground caverns.

Cherokee cosmotology is complex.  They believe they live with other supernatural beings but the Moon-eyed people are never described as having other-worldly characteristics so some believe they may have been European settlers that arrived before Columbus.

The stone wall of Fort Mountain, George is said to be associated with these people. According to legend, this great wall is left over from a war between the Moon Eyed People and the neighboring Creek nation. The wall is 850 feet long with varying heights between two and six feet high.  Again, according to legend the Creek nation drove the Moon Eyed People off in a battle at night when the light of the moon was strong enough to weaken the nocturnal warriors.

 

I found this great story from the online publication Stories from the Mountains!

 

Life with The Word and Bird Man – Clyde Kessler

The Word Man has done it again!  This time  his poem, My Granny’s Island has been accepted for publication by Leaves of Ink!  Yea Word Man!  The poem will appear in July’s issue!

Thank you for looking at paintings by an artist of The Blue Ridge Parkway

Roanoke Theater Ghost Store near The Blue Ridge Parkway and Clyde Kessler’s Latest Poetry Publications in Red Rose

 

My Artwork

 

Blue Ridge Autumn  Original Painting has been Sold

Prints on Paper or Canvas Available at   KENDALL KESSLER ART

 

Lake Sunset  Original 5″x7″ Oil Painting   $75.00

Prints on Paper or Canvas Available at   KENDALL KESSLER ART

 

 

Pink Light   Original 30″x40″ Oil Painting    $2425.00

Prints on Paper or Canvas Available at   KENDALL KESSLER ART

Roanoke Theater Ghost Story

The Grandin Theater in Roanoke was built in 1932 and is one of the first theaters with sound.  It was closed for a while in the ’50s and a homeless family lived there. Two of the children died there and some say that late at night you can hear a baby crying in the stairwell.

Former projectionists have stories about strange occurrences late at night.  One time a small boy was sighted at the top of a staircase and the projectionist followed him because he thought the child hadn’t left the theater after the movie. He saw the child walk straight through the doors of the nearest screening room.

 

I found this story on the online version of Collegiate Times.  The article is called  Ghostly Stories, Haunted Sites, and Sinister Sisters Who Scare.

 

Life with The Word and Bird Man – Clyde Kessler

 

Yesterday I printed one of the two poems that Clyde just published in the online magazine, Red Rose.  He is publishing his work all the time now and is included in an anthology.  Here is the other poem that was published.

I hope you like it!  I think his work is great!  It is not easy reading so take your time and think about each word!

Elegy for a Time Freak
Clyde Kessler

I burn sundials on the moon.
Other time freaks are crating the ashes,
naming them all for all their frozen days.

At night, I know my true wish list
is a crater full of rum, a dark
breed of whiskey flowering like stars.

At work, you can trust my lighters
and rolling flints. The noon shadow
on my next bonfire is favoring silver
like a thunder-cloud to brood the Dead Sea.
There are no ratty scrolls here, nor heaven.

---

Clyde Kessler has been published in Silver Blade, Now and Then, Clapboard House, Rose Red Review, and Cortland Review. He lives in Radford, VA with his wife Kendall and their son Alan.

Radford City Ghost Story near The Blue Ridge Parkway and Clyde Kessler Ghost Poem published in Rose Red!

My Artwork

 

Pink Wave   Original 30″x40″ Oil Painting            $2425.00

Prints on Paper or Canvas Available at   KENDALL KESSLER ART

I thought it would be a good idea to put up a Spring painting.  Pink Wave was inspired by the beautiful Cherry blossom trees at the Radford Public Library.

 

View from Bridge at Wildwood Park   Original 30″x40″ Oil Painting   $2425.00

Prints on Paper or Canvas Available at    KENDALL KESSLER ART

Wildwood Park is becoming more beautiful each Spring Day!

 

 

Radford City Ghost Story

 

I had no idea there were so many ghost stories in Southwest Virginia!  Here is another one!

A Former employee of Macados on main street in Radford wrote about a ghost story in 2005.  The restaurant is modern and beautifully decorated on the outside but there is an old basement section with two pantries.  In one section there is a window with glass that is not visible from the outside.  The restaurant was once  The Radford Veterans of Foreign Wars.

Supposedly there is a woman dressed in grey in the downstairs section and employees are told not to talk about her.  Articles fly off the shelf at times and one cook says he did actually see her.  They were face to face and then she faded away!

 

I got this ghost story from ghostvillage.com

 

Life with The Word and Bird Man – Clyde Kessler

My husband is really tearing up the publishing turf these days!  He just published two poems in the online magazine Rose Red!  This is the third issue of this publication that he has had work in!  Yea Word Man!

It is an interesting coincidence that one of the poems he published is about ghosts since I have been having a great time researching local ghost stories!

A Mount Juliet Ghost
Clyde Kessler

An old lady drowned in Nashville.
She was almost ghost of the year, blind.
Somebody heard a twanging in the oaks
and said she’s home by the soul’s voice
dreaming a tree that walks through stars.

None of a moonrise’s gold could fetch
her mind in a séance. A photographer
leased her apartment above a salon,
threw his best camera at a cop car,
it struck and killed a deputy by no luck.

You see vengeance spelled with a flood
is still the soul prying itself from hate.
You can build a new house in Mount Juliet.
You can throw parties that marry you off
imprisoned. The old lady walks you home.

Rock Castle Gorge on The Beautiful Blue Ridge Parkway and More Poems Published by Clyde Kessler

My Art

I am pleased that more and more of my prints are being bought by the public!  My main medium is oil paint but I am extremely versatile and even have a photography folder that I am very proud of.

Yesterday two small prints from my I Love the Beach folder went to a great patron in Veneta, Oregon.

Morning Light at Isle of Palms      Prints on paper or canvas and greeting cards available at kendall-kessler.artistwebsites.com

My Feet in the Sand at Isle of Palms     Prints on paper or canvas and greeting cards available at kendall-kessler.artistwebsites.com

                                                                                    Also, a print of Ridgeland Winter Beauty on a t-shirt went to a great patron in  Thousand Oaks California.

Much of my work can be bought on just about anything on Zazzle!  Here is the address.  http://www.zazzle/newriverartist

Ridgeland Winter Beauty 8″x10″    original painting price – $170.00

Prints on paper or canvas and greeting cards available at kendall-kessler.artistwebsites.com

 Life with the Bird and Word Man

Yesterday my husband, Clyde Kessler, found out he published  “Fiddling in a January Thaw” in Contemporary Haibun Online.  It will be published sometime in March.      This is the ninth poem he has published in this magazine.  Yeah Word Man!

Nothing funny out of his mouth today.  Maybe tomorrow!                                 .

Rock Castle Gorge

A Break in the Clouds is my second best-selling print on my website kendall-kessler.artistwebsites.com

The original painting is owned by a great Virginia patron who has four of my large paintings

If I had to pick a favorite locale on the great Blue Ridge Parkway it would be Rock Castle Gorge.  I have done many paintings of this area and my husband has spent so much of his time there that I told him he should have a mail box on Rocky Knob.

Many years ago the chestnut was the basis of the economy in Rock Castle Gorge but a chestnut blight in 1914 ravaged the trees in the United States and by 1919 the American chestnut trees died out in the Rock Castle Community.

At one time there were 30 families but by 1930 there were only 10.

The Blue Ridge Parkway was created through President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal. Those living in the Rock Castle community had to sell their homes. Young men from the community found a steady paycheck working for the Civilian Conservation Corps(CCC) helping to construct the parkway.

Some of my husband’s ancestors lived in Rock Castle Gorge before the establishment of the parkway.

Every fall he leads Hawk Migration studies and has spent countless hours studying birds and butterflies there.

I gained this information about Rock Castle Gorge from my husband, Clyde Kessler, and from Hike Back in Time at Rock Castle by Eliza Winston.