Second Victim in the Family Faces Series

Hey Y'all! Here's another one. This one is based on a 1950's black and white photo of my big sis when she was a tyke. Tomato Boy is my grandson.
These are mixed media. I take a photo and blow it up to the size I want, then "wash it out". This takes a lot of the detail out of the face. Then I add it back using Prismacolor pencil and acrylic paint. Doesn't always work. This one gave me a heck of a time, but it WAS my sister.
Then, I cut out the photo and create the painting around it. The result is, it's hard to tell what I did!



Painted the canvas yellow this time. Then painted on this sharp little red dress. I did most of the work on the face before putting it on the canvas. But worked on it more as you'll see here....
Painted her eyes blue. Gave her a Brite Smile treatment, more color on her face, added the bows and got the pie basecoated. Lots more lettering to do. Blaahhhh.
Sorry, I got carried away and forgot to take pictures. Almost done here. This took a bunch of hours!!!
Here she is finished with white distressing added which I wonder if I like. I guess I can tone it down.
That's it for today. I have to clean my house. It's a holy wreck! And my husband will give me that look when he gets home.
When that's done I'll start number three. Weeeeee! Have a great day bloggers.
Ronnie with a stiff neck in Georgia
WOW! She just SOLD on etsy! Hip Hip Hooray!

New Painting in stages! First of a Series I'm working on.

This is the first of a series of painting I have in the works. This is my working sketch done on tracing paper. Later, I transferred my drawing to a 18"x 24" base coated canvas.
Here's the basecoat! Using Golden acrylics, Chrom Oxide Green. The big head in the chair is a hint of things to come. Yes, that is Sandy Mastroni's clock hanging under the Big Biddy. Click on the clock and it will take you to her very cool stuff.
Here, I've transferred my drawing and painted a few letters...Toronto, maybe?
Nope, TOMATO! More letters and a basecoat for my tomatoes...
More basecoats for hat, shirt and face....
A lot of work done at this point. Hat and tomatoes are complete and THERE'S THAT FACE! A bit more lettering and stripes to do and...
I added a tad of age and rust for that old tin sign look and it's finished!!! Still on the easel. This is my clearest photo, so click the picture for the Zoom look.
Dang! I forgot to sign it! Just couldn't wait to hang it up and get it on the blog for you to see.
I have several more ideas percolating for this series, which are due to fall out of the brain later this week. So, stay tuned for more!!
Have a good day, everybody.
Ronnie

Almost as Good as a Leg Lamp

I have been given a major award!
My dear longtime friend , of at least a month, "B" of Simply B has chosen me for a really sweet award. I wish I could do it justice, but this has been one of those rip-your-hair-out exercises from hell. I received this award as I was in a creation frenzy (read in warp speed mode for a mag interview and photos so I'll trick 'em into thinking I'm somebody you'd want to read about) and once I redirected my attention to my award, found it was STUCK like tacky glue to a corrupt place that my computer was afraid to go. Stupid Chicken Computer! I kept throwing stuff in and it kept sayin', nope! nope! nope!
So, "B" I have done what many would do in a crisis...I improvised!!!
The hearts you see above are a lame substitute for what you'll find if you go see the real award at "B"'s. She is an extraordinary writer and young mother and sew wizardress. She goes to places with her sewing and photo tutorials that are certifiably swear worthy. Go see for yourself! Here!
This award serves a beautiful purpose as it will continue to connect us far and wide in blogger land.
I humbly accept this award....thanks B.

"These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers. Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award."

Therefore, I extend this award to bloggers I love to read and who are just the sort of folks this award describes. I'm fairly new to blogland, so my list is a tad short of eight....
Leslie - Flowers of Life
Renee - Circling My Head
Shelagh - Alice in Paris Loves Art and Tea
Liz - Jumble Sale Rabbits
You guys hop to b's to collect your award right Here!

A Few More Toga Pix, then it's on to 2009!

This year's New Year's Eve party was held at my 82 year old mother's house. She hung in there with us til we rang in 2009. This cardboard monstrosity is our GRUMPH. He is built each year usually out of the Christmas debris. As the evening progresses we stuff the Grumph with little notes which contain all the things we want to let go of and leave behind from the previous year. The guys then fill him with firecrackers and roman candles and other pirotechnics that were illegally purchased across state lines in either Florida or Alabama.
This is the result. The Grumph behaved very well this year. Last year Andrew stuffed him so full of fireworks that we were running and jumping to avoid being hit by shooting bottle rockets. I love this kind of crazy chaos. Such fun!
This is young women and children doing our ritual dance around the Grumph before we set him on fire. For some reason, unbeknownst to any of us we chant "Oh, we love the old one." as we form a parade from the house to the yard. One of the older women, that can still walk, usually heads the procession with the Grumph held high. Is this weird or what!?
This is my take on a Gone With The Wind Southern Georgian Toga. Yep, that's me as Scarlet O'Ben Hura with my faithful attendant "I don't birth no babies" Prissy. Two curtain panels and a rod from my son's room. You'd have to be a fan of the old Carol Burnett Show to get this.
and then there were frisky goings-on for the camera and the goddess and vertically challenged gladiator sword fight that was instigated by the goddesses. That's it folks just a snippet of our 2008 send off.

Party's over! No more slacking!

I survived the toga party. It was small potatoes compared to past bashes, but still worth being there. I left my camera as I fell out of there, so no pix today!
Perhaps tomorrow!!!
As a consolation prize here is a photo from last year's PIRATE party. Burry photo to protect the innocent!!!!!
I have to get to work. I know that! Way behind after all that holiday slacking.

Back Home For New Year's!

Red Sky at Night. Sailors Delight!
This is our omen for the New Year!
I took this a few sunsets ago during our week in St. Marys. I'm back home now, ready to ring in 2009 with the family.
We choose a theme each year for our year end party. Last year it was Pirates! This year it is TOGAS! Hopefully I can take some unblurry photos for the blog next week. Have a great New Year's Folks!
Ronnie - in a small town in Georgia

Have a Great Holiday!

I'm outta here. Gone to St. Marys, Georgia for a week.
Have a great Christmas!
Ronnie

A bit of info on the car painting BELOW:
I was worried about how this one would turn out. It's for a great guy who has done more than "above and beyond the call of duty" for my son, Andrew. Randy is a professional race car driver that has been in racing for 3o years.
I didn't know a race car from a turnip until Andrew got involved and considering I paint Chickens and Fruit, this was a stretch for me. I wanted this to be something that would show Randy how thankful I am for all he's done for 'Drew. I hope I accomplished that.
Here's to you Randy! An intentionally dirty car painting!
Interested, in the least bit, about auto racing? Check out this video of Randy driving an APR Porsche. Once at the site, type into the search box - Randy Pobst 911.
He's a Champion in more than racing.
Thanks for listening.
Ronnie

I finally finished Randy's painting.

Figuring it out...
Getting the car done, which I dreaded. Never painted a car before...
and here it is framed!

Have a great one. I'm glad this is finally finished!

Later gators,
Ronnie

Just after sunrise this morning

It was gray and overcast this morning, but so warm that after brewing tea and seeing Joe off to work I took a walk in the backyard in my pajamas. There was a fog on the lake. I thought it might make a nice picture.
This is my rosemary plant still blooming.
Halfway to the lake I startled two white tailed deer in the woods. Too quick for me! I heard them rustle, lifted the camera, but by that time the two were nothing but white tails flying through trees and leaves that matched their colors perfectly.
tree tops...
Another tree down! This is the second in a month. Sawed off artfully by our friends the beavers.
And then, the very loud SQUAAAWK- Haaaank of a heron had me jumping out of my slippers. He must have been 15 feet from me, as he lifted his big wings and headed down the wooded shoreline. How wonderful! Some days I get lucky.
This young deer is one of the pair I saw this morning. I caught this shot of him in October. He was heading toward me, seemed very eager to meet me, but his mom had better ideas.
Well, that was early morning here. Have a great rest of the day! Oh, wait! Check out Rebecca Ramsey's post this morning. Good stuff!
Ronnie

Another Big Biddy Painting

It seems the thing to do here in blogger land. So, here is the latest Big Biddy thing. It's painted on a 12x12" x 1 1/2 " gallery wrapped canvas. I had fun with this! I covered the canvas with an old vintage feedsack using matte vanish. Then, I painted my biddy and the words. To finish it off I added burnt umber and burnt sienna to give it that old rusty ad sign look.
If you haven't discovered Cedric Smith from Savannah, I have a link to his site on the right. He has been a great inspiration to me.
This Big Biddy is for sale on my etsy site.
I know, don't remind me. I have to finish the race car painting. After I load the dishwasher and throw in some laundry and go to the post office and make Shelagh's soup, then I'll get to painting the race car.
Have a really nice day.
Ronnie