HEADACHES

Dear Headache,

     Can we break up now?"

"YOU LOOK LIKE A HEADACHE
I'M ABOUT TO HAVE ."

6 x 6" Acrylic

For more informatin on this piece, Please click HERE

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CLOUDS OF THE DAY ...

There are clouds, but they are not the focus today.  This old windmill, and newly renovated barn, used to be part of an old farm.  This is right across the street from the grocery store where I do my shopping.  They are both now part of a new, upscale housing development.  Progress.  But, at least they did still keep them both.  A blending of the old and new.  And, with the fall colors in full bloom, I thought they were worth sharing.  A painting maybe?

Have a great day!

Charleen

'Progress is man's ability to complicate simplicity'

~  thor heyerdahl

LITTLE SISTERS . . .

The Little Sisters are at it again ...

"I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU SAY.
 I KNOW GRANDMA LOVES ME BEST."

"UH, OH.  MOM'S NOT GOING TO BE HAPPY!"

Both Pieces are 8 x 8 and come nicely framed.  They can be found on my Website HERE under Figurative.

A Sister is like yourself in a different movie, a movie that stars you in a different life.

~ deborah tannen

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Instead of Clouds of the Day ...

Let's try the Teleidoscope again.  These two photos I took with the camera, held up to the lens of a Teleidoscope, viewing one of our evening fires.  Every breath the flame takes creates a totally different scene.  I find these fascinating.

Charleen

DO YOU REMEMBER THE SPIRIT GUIDES WE FOUND ALL OVER AJO LAST SEASON WHEN WE WERE HERE ...?

WELL, HERE ARE TWO NEW ONES WE JUST FOUND LAST WEEK AS WE DROVE AROUND AJO RECONFIRMING :) OUR DECISION TO SPEND OUR WINTERS HERE.  i THINK THERE WAS SOMETHING LIKE OVER 80 LAST SEASON!

BECAUSE I REALLY DON'T HAVE A STUDIO AT THE MOMENT MY WORK TIME/SPACE IS SOMEWHAT LIMITED AT THE MOMENT.  WE HAVE BEEN WORKING ON THE STUDIO SPACE (AS A FRIEND SAID ... OUR SHABBY CHIC WHITE HOUSE WITH THE HUMMINGBIRD FEEDER!) ALMOST DAILY.  THE INSIDE IS NOW AT LEAST HALF GUTTED. (yes, this is a BIG job!)  TODAY, FOUNDATION REPAIR WORK IS BEING DONE.  ANYWAY, I DID MANAGE TO GET A FEW RAVEN PIECES DONE SPECIFICALLY FOR A GALLERY DOWN HERE CALLED 'THE RAVENS NEST-AVITA BOUTIQUE'.  I HAD SPOKEN WITH THE OWNER JUST BEFORE WE LEFT FOR HOME LAST APRIL ABOUT POSSIBLY CARRYING SOME OF MY WORK.  SHE WAS ESPECIALLY INTERESTED IN, WHAT ELSE (!) MY RAVENS. SO, I AM PLEASED TO SAY SHE NOW HAS 7 OF MY RAVEN PIECES IN HER GALLERY.  THIS FELLOW BELOW IS ONE OF THEM ...

'HE WHO LISTENS.  SOMETIMES.'

6 x 6" Acrylic over Acrylic Pour

THE RAVENS NEST GALLERY-AVITA BOUTIQUE

AJO, AZ.

A CLOSE-UP OF THE RAVEN ON THE BUILDING

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CLOUDS OF THE DAY . . .

NOT REALLY ANY CLOUDS BUT THOUGHT I WOULD SHARE THIS AJO SUNSET WITH YOU.  THIS WAS TAKEN 2 NIGHTS AGO, JUST FROM THE OUTER EDGE OF TOWN.  I LOVE THE SUNSETS (AND SUNRISES) HERE.  THEY ARE A TREAT FOR US BECAUSE IN IDAHO WE ARE SURROUNDED BY MOUNTAINS.  WE DON'T SEE MANY SUNRISES OR SUNSETS.

I believe cats to be spirits come to earth.

 A cat, I am sure, could walk on a cloud without coming through. 

~ jules verne

Charleen

A TRICK HERE, A TRICK THERE ...

EVERYWHERE A 'TRICKSTER'

'THE TRICKSTER'

5 x 5" Acrylic painting over an Acrylic Pour

For more information on this fellow Please click HERE

This is the original Pour below.  I've been trying to keep the integrity of the Pour while creatively adding to it.

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This fellow showed up at my grandson Ryans birthday recently.
 I felt like he was watching me the whole time . . .

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Here's another small Pour that I did and then added Roses to it ...

FIORI ROSSI  (Red Roses)

4 x 4" Acrylic Pour

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CLOUDS OF THE DAY ...

I took this last night from our front door.  Being in the mountains we miss out on the real spectacular sunsets but this was too pretty to pass up.  

'We all have bad days

but one thing is true;

No cloud is so dark

that the sun

can't shine through.'

                                ~  b.c.

Charleen

STRUT YOUR STUFF!

WELL, THAT'S IF YOU HAVE STUFF TO STRUT!

LIKE THIS GUY . . .

'STRUT'

5 x 5" Acrylic painting over an Acrylic Pour

More information on him can be found HERE

And this is what the original pour looked like before I added Sir Strut . . .

Strut original pour

I've given myself a  little challenge to do at least several of these.  I have another waiting in the wings to show you next time but for now I thought I would introduce you to Lars.  I did not get to meet Lars personally.  He showed up at the Depot Museum (where I work one day a week) and my friend, who also works there, asked if she could take his photo.  It seems that this young man, who is from Germany, has taken it upon himself to skate across the U.S. from one coast to the other.  

Evidently he did not want to carry a backpack, so he devised this carrier to pull behind him as he skates.  Since I wasn't there to ask any questions, I'm not quite sure how this works.  I'm guessing it attaches somehow to his waist because I would think you would need your hands free as you skate.  However it works, if this young man has skated all the way from New York (where he started) to Wallace, Idaho, and is still smiling like that, then all I can say is he must have an indomitable Spirit.  Many kudos to him and a safe journey.

(WHAT FUN!!)

"Strength does not come from physical capacity.  It comes from an indomitable will."
                                                            ~  Mahatma Gandhi

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CLOUDS OF THE DAY . . .

photo by Indy Behrendt

My friend, who took the photo of Lars, also sent me this photo of a 'Bird Cloud' that she took.  It took me a minute or two (or three) to see it, but once I did, it was pretty evident.  Especially the head and beak.  Appropriate since I've been on a bird kick in my painting this week. :)

Charleen

P.S. If you are interested in seeing and/or bidding on, Art that has been donated by Artists to help the Victims of both Irma and Harvey, then you can just Click here at the DPW AUCTION

TO TEXTURE OR NOT TO TEXTURE ...

I painted the top Piece 'Nature laughs in Color' several weeks ago.  Un-textured on a blank (black) canvas. I just painted the smaller Piece 'On a Summer Evening' yesterday, on a textured (black) canvas.  I thought it would be fun to do two that were similar in content and color but on 2 totally different canvas bases. 

I used a brush to paint both, but the bottom Piece was finished it off with a few 'swipes' of the Palette knife. :)

'NATURE LAUGHS IN COLOR'

12 x 12" Acrylic on Canvas

'ON A SUMMER EVENING'

6 x 6" Acrylic on Textured Canvas

For more information on either of these Please visit my Website at:

www.charleenmartin.com

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Clouds of the Day . . .

To semi-quote our daughter, who took this photo, "This was a cool cloud thingie she saw on the water recently, and she thought of me." :)  I actually think she may have been out 'Orca scouting' when she saw this.  It is a cool cloud thingie.  It reminds me of a Great White shark ... probably hovering out of the water and away from the Orcas.  The Great White may be the school bully (all talk, sharp teeth, just mean but no substance) but evidently the Orca is the Star Football player in this match up.

Charleen

ITS GOING TO BE A HOT ONE MARY ...

BUT NOT HERE.  NOT YET ...

IT'S GOING TO BE A HOT ONE MARY ...

6 x 8" on  Wood Panel

For more information on this Piece

Please Click HERE

We may hit 70 by the end of the week.  That would be very nice.  After spending several months down in Arizona and then coming back to snow and 30 degree temperatures has not been fun.  Here it is the beginning of May and there is not one Tulip or Daffodil to be seen.  That's just cruel.

These are both 6 x 8's.  I like doing these little landscapes.  Half the fun is imaging what life would be like actually living in or near these places.  I could just see Grandpa standing on the front porch, coffee in hand, looking out past the barn, and saying to Grandma "It's going to be a hot one Mary."

Of course, my grandparents lived in a brick row house in New York when I was young, so this definitely wasn't them.  Imagination is great.  :)

LILAC MOON

6 X 8" Acrylic on Textured wood panel

For more information on this Piece

Please Click HERE

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CLOUDS OF THE DAY . . .

This one was hard, even with all its dark and light, fluff and depth.  But, I finally found a face up in the right corner.  He looks a little mystified and I don't blame him.  I would be too, if someone was invading my privacy and putting my face all over the internet!

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Artists live in unknown spaces and give themselves over to

following something unknown.

~ Kiki Smith

Charleen

A LITTLE MORE OF DESERT LIFE ...

O.K. LET'S SEE HOW MANY OF YOU CAN GUESS WHAT THIS IS ..

I'll give you the answer at the end of the Blog.  I'm going to guess most of you will figure it out.  :)

Here are are a few more 'Ghost Figures of Ajo'  that I thought you might enjoy seeing. These first three are along the highway coming in to Ajo. 

These next three are actually posts from a backyard patio that I happened to spot. They are holding up the roof over the patio.  :)

   

And, for the unusual, how's this for a house ... !

This is two EXTRA LARGE culverts, connected by one smaller culvert, (you can't see it in this photo) to form  a 'house'. This definitely has to be a winter only home because there is no way you could survive in this during a normal Arizona desert summer! :-)

'THE LAST DRIVE-IN'

 (Wood and metal pieces used are from an actual old drive-in!)

12 x 12" Mixed Media Collage

And, yes, I just did give you the answer to the photo at the top of this page!  :-)  The metal post was used to hold an old drive-in movie theatre speaker.  We take morning walks with our dogs through a field, long ago over-run with cactus, mesquite trees and a surplus of weeds, near the RV park we are staying at.  There is a shell of an old pink Adobe building in the middle of this field and for several days we tried to figure out what it could have been. It wasn't until we stumbled across one of these posts that we finally figured out what the building was ... the popcorn, candy, soda fountain , and ... the bathrooms for the drive-in!  And, as life normally is, once your eyes are opened to one thing, its amazing what else you see.  Once we found the one post and looked around us, we realized we were surrounded by these rusted old soldiers who were hiding behind, and under, all the surrounding greenery. It was an eerie feeling actually.   A call from the past begging not to be forgotten.

The authentic 'Last drive-in'

For more information on this Piece Please visit my Website at

www.charleenmartin.com

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CLOUDS OF THE DAY ...

These were all from the same evening so I thought I would share them all together.  Sunrises and Sunsets are all beautiful here. Living in the mountains as we do back in Idaho, we don't see the Sunrises and Sunsets very often. They are obscured by the, uhhh ... Mountains.  :)

So, in the first photo I see the silhouette of a sleeping woman and the face of an old woman.

In the second one I see Oscar and The Cookie Monster after they've had one too many  'spiced' cookies. :/

And in the third photo I see a baby wind cloud trying his best to look adorably ferocious.

Your turn ...

"I had a dream about you last night ... I think I've realized why drive-in theatres are going extinct; you can't yell at the guy in front of you to sit down."
       Marshall Ramsay, Dreaming is for lovers

                Charleen