Animals – Accidental Truths

June 1, 2023June 1, 2023

A Dental Exam And A Block Game

My next two participants in my women portrait series are both strong women and passionate about their work. They’re both in caring professions but that care involves different species. One works with small animals, our cat and dog family members, while the other is focused on our children, testing them for various conditions that can affect their learning and behavior.

Full disclosure. I take my pets to Dr. Rennie Church so I know her skill, compassion, and love of animals personally. I first was recommended to her when my dog, Isabelle, started developing symptoms of Cushing’s Syndrome and needed an ultrasound which my vet at the time didn’t have. Beyond doing the scan, she became so invested in Isabelle’s unusual case that I decided to switch to her permanently for Isabelle’s care, as well as my two cats. And I’ve never regretted it. She always has the time to answer questions and go the extra mile, even on her off days.

“Open Wide ! — *Rennie C, Veterinarian” —* Watercolor on Paper, by Stefanie Graves

In my portrait of her, she’s examining my cat Chaplin’s teeth that had a build up of tarter during that visit. Chaplin was an old gal, perhaps 16 or 17 at that visit. She was still perking along, but Rennie wasn’t keen on doing a full dental on her with her advanced age. However, some manual dexterity to get rid of some obvious hunks of tarter would help to keep her teeth and mouth healthier as time went on. In her portrait, Rennie bends over Chaplin, intent on getting some of that nastiness out of her mouth, even as Chaplin wasn’t very happy with it, digging in her back feet to resist.

I don’t have any children so I have no personal experience with Aloha Ramey, a psychologist here in Paducah. I met her through friends and a group we both belong to on Facebook. She struck me as both serious about her work but also endeared me with her crazy and wry sense of humor. She also brings a different perspective to our community, growing up in Venezuela, with family still residing there in all the chaos. Her journey here to the US was due to her choice of graduate programs in psychology at Murray State after receiving an undergraduate degree in clinical psychology from Universidad Rafael Urdaneta in Maracaibo, Venezuela. Murray State couldn’t have been more different than Venezuela and probably not what she’d heard about the United States. We’re the lucky ones for her choosing to stay here.

I met Aloha at her office not really knowing how I wanted to capture her in her work environment. With privacy issues it’s not possible to watch her in action testing kids, so we did the next best thing. She set up one of her tests in front of me at a little table in her testing room. It was a small, windowless, nondescript place with a filing cabinet, the table and two chairs, and a few small paintings Aloha had made. As I sat opposite her and we talked about her work testing kids for such things as ADHD and autism, I took pictures of Aloha to capture the vantage point and feeling of those who would be actually taking the test.

If I were a kid sitting opposite her playing with those blocks I’m pretty sure I’d be at ease with her.

Next up: a chef and a seamstress!!

June 29, 2013

Making A Splash

I’m getting ready to teach a beginners’ watercolor class that starts in a couple of weeks and goes through early August. This is a first for me to teach this many people at once. But it’s a good start since Dave and I hope to do more of it as we spend more time in Mexico in the future.

So I’ve spent this week putting together my “curriculum,” deciding on what concepts to include and what I want to demonstrate. How do you distill 30 odd years of experience into 6 classes that give people the basics and enough confidence to continue to try more? That’s the challenge.

Looking through our photos I found this guy from our trip to the St. Louis Zoo last year and thought what a fun subject he is.

I love him for so many reasons, not the least of which is he has sun-lit hairs that make me smile. So I’m deciding whether to put him on the menu. He’s a little challenging but he’s got a lot of elements to show what you can do with watercolor without getting too fussy.

My class is at Ephemera, our newest addition to the Lower Town Arts District. Kristin Williams, the owner, has been doing a super job with marketing, and the class is about full! Looking forward to starting this new adventure!

April 9, 2013

Painting My Muse

Black and white cat at rest staring into distance — Chaplin

I’m still at it, painting portraits of my kitties. This week it has been Chaplin, the mama of the pair. She’s my muse with those emerald eyes that stare mysteriously into the inner and outer distance. Chaplin is just pure love, all about affection, both getting it and giving it. If she could spend her day plastered to my face, she would, endlessly washing my cheeks and chin.

And I would have no skin left.

She’s in one of her favorite haunts here, on her sheepskin bed in my studio. Today, both she and Dove are luxuriating in the early Spring breezes coming in the open windows. That’s a real treat after the winter cold.

Maybe she’s looking forward to Spring. I know I am.

March 13, 2013March 13, 2013

Quick Draw

My two cats have always spent a lot of time together, sleeping curled around one another, sitting side by side on the chair in my studio looking out the window, or playing, running wildly through the house. They’re mother and daughter, whom we rescued soon after we moved here. They groom each other adoringly and adorably, pushing my repressed maternal button something terribly. They’re the cats I always refer to when people ask if I have children. No, two cats — which always draws a laugh.

So, this past week I put them to good use, as more than my surrogate children and unruly minions, and used them as creative inspirations. Maybe they’re my muses. I’ve always said, “I should paint them.” But I’ve never gotten around to it. With nothing else on my plate and feeling less than inspired, I decided to look at them as a challenge and try to draw and paint them freehand and without much thought, giving way to the looseness of my preferred medium.

None of these are meant to be polished or complete as a formal painting. They’re just quick little sketches that took me no longer than a half-hour at most. My biggest challenge was to draw fast enough to complete the pose before they stretched or turned a head in response to a truck rumbling by. Only the first was done from a photo. The rest are from life, catching them in the moment.

They’re perfect models; their only fees are a few crunchies each morning and evening and lots of love and kisses. Those are my kind of prices.

This post is dedicated to my friends who inspire me with their encouragement. What else are friends for? Thanks, LeeAnn.

February 19, 2012

A Mighty Sun God

What do we know about creating gods? The ancient Egyptians marveled at the little curiosity of a dung beetle, rolling its portion of what it considered wealth into a perfect sphere to traverse the landscape and be placed in a more opportune local, and were reminded of the sun. They fashioned their Sun god Khepera after this lowly beetle, believing that the sun was pushed across the sky in a similar manner.

From dung sculptor to god is a mighty leap indeed. Maybe it’s no wonder since it can pull over 1,100 times it own body weight, making it the strongest insect on earth. Perhaps that should be “push” since the dung beetle pushes its ball of poo around with its hind feet, periodically stopping and clambering atop to get its bearings. I guess I can see where the Egyptians’ logic might have led them to believe that there must be something fantastically strong to move the sun from one side of the sky to the other.

I’ve taken a mighty leap myself this time around in using acrylic metalic paint to give this little guy some extra glow and invoke the sun. He’s out there searching for his life source unaware of the great import we mere mortals have bestowed upon him.

Title: Golden One

Size: 10.5″ X 14.5″

Media: watercolor and acrylic

Price: $250 unframed

January 8, 2012

A New Day, A New Year and A New Series

I’ve managed to fall behind in this blog as usual. But Dave and I put our heads together today and decided to cast off with the old habits of sloth and take charge of our art once more. Nothing like a new year to bring out the resolution-making in all of us, though I’ve never put much stock in that.

In this case it makes a good deal of sense as looking back at this year just come to a close I find I have not nearly the accomplishments I would have liked. No one to blame but myself.

So, off we go. Page turned and heading down a new road.

This little painting was actually completed in the Fall but I’ve been so dilatory that it never got posted. A-hem. This must stop! But however belatedly, it is the first in a new series I got the idea for from a book I read some years ago, The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency. It made a very scant reference to a belief in Botswana that the first thing one sees upon entering heaven is white cows. The idea struck a cord such that I knew I had to paint it. And then later this past year it dawned on me from another reading reference about animals and myths that this could be a painting series.

I’m still feeling my way as to what the series is all about and what to include. For this initial painting I believe it speaks to me of a curiosity of my search for God. How do others define God and what do they see when they speak of heaven and the divine? White cows immediately brought to mind the Brahmans that we see in Mexico with their soulful eyes and graceful gate. Much larger than the Jersey or Herefords I’m used to from here in the States, they command a presence that I find quite singular and mystical. So I have painted them as my vision of those Botswanian cattle from on high.

I can think of so much worse to find awaiting me on the other side.

“Cows In Heaven”

Image size: 14″ x 10″

Price: $250 unframed