Camouflage art, come to life

Back in the late 80s and early 90s, an artist named Bev Doolittle suddenly exploded in popularity on the art scene.

Her paintings are beyond cool. Mostly western-themed, she specializes in "camouflage art," such as her most famous painting called "Pintos":

Or here's one called "Doubled Back":

I mention her work because the other day, we saw our very own Bev Doolittle scenario.

This is a small grove of black hawthorn trees we have on the edge of our property.

We were walking on the road when I noticed something unusual in the rocks at the base of the trees.

Here's a closeup.

Camouflage art, come to life. I see how Bev Doolittle gets her inspiration.

Decorating the walls

In our old house, before we made all the improvements prior to selling, we had lots and lots of oversized thrift-store prints on the walls.

While they were chosen because we like old-fashioned rural-themed prints, their real purpose was to hide the 11-foot-high walls, which were very ugly. That's why we had nothing short of a gallery of oversized prints.

Naturally all these prints were packed up and put in storage during the two years it took us to fix up the house, sell it, and move to our new place.

A few weeks ago when we opened the box truck after emptying the storage units in our old town, the prints were among the first things to come out. What fun it was to see them again! Like seeing a bunch of old friends.

But we also knew we couldn't use them all. Our new home is much smaller, nor do we have 11-foot ceilings in the living room as in our old place. Bottom line, it was time to assess our prints and determine which ones to keep.

So we wiped them down to remove the dust, and spread  them all over the house to get an idea of which ones we wanted to keep.

For a little while, our place resembled an art gallery.

Complete with canine art critic.

Eventually we got everything sorted, and Don installed hooks on the walls for hanging. We each selected a print to hang over our respective desks...

...and other prints are scattered around.

Eventually (probably over the winter) we're going to remove the upper kitchen cabinets (since they're too high for me to reach anyway) and that will allow room for artwork on the kitchen walls. So we stacked some of the prints aside for this purpose.

Other prints will eventually get hung on the bedroom walls.

We have one large print that will get hung in the larger bathroom...

...and we put a smaller print in the smaller bathroom.

With the exception of a signed print by the wildlife artist Sir John Seerey-Lester that I bought long before Don and I even met (probably worth about $250)...

...not one of our wall hangings has any value whatever. We just like them.

It's the little things that make a house a home, y'know? Including pictures on the walls.

Amazing chainsaw art

I don't normally go for chainsaw art. While I recognize the skill behind the hewn-out bears and such that often characterizes western-style décor, it's just never been my "thing."

But this is amazing. A reader sent me this short YouTube clip showing a tree stump carving from start to finish.

Here's the "before" stump:

Here's the "after" product.

Pretty amazing, all right. The artist's webpage is here.

King of the compost pile

A few months ago, in mid-March, I took this photo of our white rooster on top the compost pile.

Well, the neatest thing happened. A regional artist by the name of Andy Sewell saw the photo and asked permission to paint it. I sent him the high-resolution version, and this morning he sent back this!

This is just too cool for words!!!!

I've been an admirer of Mr. Sewell's work since 2003 and we moved to Idaho, when I first saw his landscapes. I'm honored beyond belief that he chose to use one of my photos to paint.

He named the painting "King of the Mountain." The rooster is actually king of the compost pile, but that's not nearly as catchy a title. It did, however, inspire a name for this formerly-nameless rooster: King.

Mr. Sewell is selling prints of the painting here, or even the original if you're interested.

Interviewing an artist

As some of you may know, I write a monthly article for The Crafts Report Magazine, a really cool-beans publication. One of the advantages of this gig is every so often I get to take a field trip to interview a regional artist.

Last Monday I did just that, traveling south to the little burg of Viola to talk with an astoundingly talented artist by the name of Andy Sewell.

I've seen this gentleman's art for years, pretty much since we first arrived in Idaho in 2003. What caught my eye was his paintings of the Palouse, the hilly and largely treeless terrain that defines our corner of the west. It is an unspeakably beautiful landscape, and Andy's paintings captures that beauty.

So I drove down to meet and talk with him. Even in drear winter weather, the vistas on the Palouse are fabulous.

Andy has a handsome little gallery tucked beside the highway.

It's here that he offers classes, displays his paintings, and works on new creations.

It was pretty amazing, looking around at his work.

I have all the artistic skills of a first-grader, so talent like this always floors me.

On the left is oil, on the right is watercolor.

He paints oils on a vertical canvas, but watercolors flat on a table. Yes, that's a real canvas.

Of his many different themes, it's the landscapes I enjoy the most...

...though I'll admit the florals are pretty spiffy too (especially when the glass isn't reflecting the background).

He also branched out into mugs, a practical way to enjoy his art.

Altogether it was a very enjoyable way to get to know an artist of amazing caliber.

Pretty pix

As a break from all the serious stuff we've been discussing lately, I thought I would offer a virtual tour of some of the pictures we have hanging in our house. Every one of these pix (with one exception) are thrift store finds. I think you'll find there's a common theme in them.

My favorite:

This painting (shown below) deserves special mention, because it's just that: an original painting. An older woman in our church -- quiet, unassuming, recovering from a hard life -- hides the most astounding talent as an artist. She is forever giving her art away and doesn't believe anyone would ever want to pay her for her talent. Instead she donates most of her art toward community fundraisers (raffles, etc). She agreed to paint a picture for us in exchange for -- are you ready for this? -- fresh ground beef. This was the result.