Me, the art collector

 So, I bought a couple of paintings from an auction house. 

And then, I was given this painting.

Sculpture

 My son inherited this sculpture. I have it at my house right now. I'm starting to like it.

Front of House with Cardinal

 

So, if you read my previous post, you see that I followed through and created a painting based on that photo. I had another photo that was from a slightly different vantage point but with lots of snow in it. I combined the two and ended up with this.

Front of house on a cold night

 I recently created a paint of birds feeding on my little front patio. It was from the view out of the first window you see. My bedroom. I worked from a photo I took from that window but there is a screen covering the window and I have to hold my phone almost parallel to the window so there is a glare and a distortion. I had the photo printed so I could use it as reference for the painting. That painting can be seen currently on facebook @joelmarksmithart. 

Anyway, I would love to paint the birds feeding from this vantage point. The birds will have nothing to do with that though, and won't come around while I stand there (duh). I am thinking of painting this anyway. I would probably add more snow (add some brighter white). My recent painting had to much gray color in it. I was trying to get a shadowy look and just didn't get it right. 

I like the architectural aspect of this photo. Of course having studied some architecture in college I may be more partial to that sort of thing but, the like the way the lines of the house and bench and bushes mostly all shoot off to the right side vanishing point. As does the patio below. Also, the Crepe Myrtle tree, the way it's pruned back reminds me of some French impressionist painters that have painted either peach trees, or other pruned fruit and flowering trees Particularly I am reminded of one of Vincent Van Gogh's painting. 

And so, the idea of painting this scene comes down to thinking about:

a) the fact that isn't a very interesting painting as most people may not appreciate the architecture aspect as a main theme. It's just a porch, I don't get it.  

b)The colors are darker. This is actually a photo taken at night. The front of my house is basking in the nocturnal glow of a sodium vapor lamp across the street, on the corner. Hence adding some white my help. Most artists painting night time snow scenes typically use the color blue for the shadowy parts. But I like the brown tones of the stone and yellowish white roofline line and window frames . The snow bits truly look grayish to me.

c) no birds, but I could 'fake' them in there. 

which brings me to 

d) would I enjoy painting it? - yes, yes I think so.

Meat Sauce

 If you know me, you know i don't have pierced ears. But, also, if you know me and I did:

The zany adventures of....

 

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

 I went to an estate sale a few months ago, since they were advertising some vintage audio equipment. It was junk but, they had a lot of nice stuff. i felt like i had to buy something so, I came home with this:

Strange but true. You'd think as a pre-teen, I would have been in love with Truly Scrumptious (Sally Ann Howes) but, the scenes that stuck with me were of Baroness Bomburst in her under garments. Remember, I did say I was a pre-teen.

You can call me Timmy

My first Timmy memory may be incorrect. Around 1969-1972, OTASCO (Oklahoma Tire and Supply Company) had some Christmastime TV commercials where a little animated elf hawked their toys. I thought I recalled him saying “Hello, my name’s Timmy” but, after searching the internet, the only reference I found was someone else who had the same memory but, according to them his name was Timothy. I don’t know why that got stuck in my brain all these years. I can imagine me back then going around imitating him. 

About the same time frame, Lassie was a popular TV show and of course Lassie’s owner was Timmy. As in “What’s that Lassie? Timmy fell down a well?”.
I guess from that worn out TV trope, I deduced that it was always Timmy getting into dangerous situations. So, as I became a father with two children to raise, I began to use Timmy as a cautionary tale: “Dad, can I jump off this?” 

”Sure, your brother Timmy jumped off it.” 

”I don’t have a brother Timmy.” 

“Well, there you go.” 

 When I was introduced to my Step-grandson, he was around three years old. We hit it off well since I like to play with kids. I just thought Joel was a harsh name for a three year old’s playmate, So, I told him he coulda call me Timmy. Funny thing though, his other Grandparents think it is hilarious that he calls me Timmy and so they call me Timmy. He calls them Poppy and Gigi but, I guess that’s normal. 

So yeah, you can call me Timmy.

Roger Dean "Badgers" poster

 I put this in a frame that is too long but, at $10 dollars versus no-telling-what getting a frame made would have cost, it will do. I am displaying it in my garage along with several other Roger Dean posters. 

My brother Darin gave this to me for Christmas. He had it stored away in his attic for about three decades. It has corner tears and holes along with some wrinkles and a couple of torn spots but, it is presentable and reminds me of my teenage years. This poster was printed by Big-O poster company in the seventies by the thousands I'm sure. It was never reprinted though. I searched the internet and there was only one for sale. It is on E-bay and the seller is asking $495.

On my Mantle

 The three centerpieces were all painted by my Daughter Emily years ago. Actually the elephants were done  more recently as I had broken the original elephant piece she created.

Glamour shot

 Well maybe not a "Glamour Shot".
Zorro in repose on my bed.

A thing I did

But what does it mean?

My artwork is currently on Facebook @joelmarksmithart ( click here )

My home office since March 2020