Sheep Paintings and My Westie Dog

Baa, baa, little westie, have you any wool? This doggy boy of ours is always at our feet. He hangs out with the sheep when I am with them like he is a little lambie. The sheep have no fear of him and vice versa. I worry about him getting stepped on though because the hooves of sheep are sharp (like the prying side of a hammer on your foot) and they are a little heavy. Some were bottlefed so they want to get as close to you as they can. Plus they think you might have a little treat for them.

My new landscape/tonalist painting is now up
for sale on ebay

How to use the photoshop FILTER tool

The photoshop filter tool is an artist's dream tool. I just discovered it yesterday when I went to crop a new photo for a little bio. I started with my above plain photo. Someone told me I could blur it slightly if I wanted with a filter tool for an artsy look. I actually didn't like it, but went on to find so many fun other options under the filter tool. The one below is the neon glow. You move your mouse to filter and it opens other options...scroll down to artistic...which opens to more options and scroll down to "Neon Glow". This is the result. Pretty wild.

The next one is the embossed option. Again go to Filter...scroll down to Stylize...then scroll down to "emboss".

This one is a quilter's dream. I always wondered how they did this. Go to Filter...Scroll down to Texture...scroll down to "patchwork".

Another fun one for artists is the mosaic style. Go to Filter...scroll down to Pixelate...then scroll down to "mosaic."

Crystalizing a photo? Yes. This is it. Go Filter...scroll down to Pixelate...scroll down to "crystalize." Now this one is difinitely a blur. ;-)

My all favorite of the day was this one called, "Notepad" I have seen people sell notecards similar to this of bikes and animals and other cute things. A person could start their own desktop publishing business! Go to Filter...scroll down to Sketch...scroll down to "Notepad."

Stamp effect. This one is also under stylize. Anyone want to make a rubber stamp or have that look? Go to Filter...scroll down to stylize...scroll down to "stamp."

This one makes a beautiful abstract sketch. Go to Filter...scroll down to Sketch...scroll down to "Charcoal."

I've only touched on a few options. It's amazing how you can simply change your photo with just a few clicks and photoshop. There are many, many other filter options that you can utilize and play with. I am excited because I have only used photoshop for resizing my pictures for my ebay auctions and my blog. I feel like great opportunities await!

**A note about the picture. I wasn't going to let Sir Salty, our westie doggy boy, get in it because he had just ran through the tall wet grass and our red clay soil jumps on him. He had other ideas and went up the hill a ways and got in the photo...which I am glad he did!

Butterfly Candylei Folk Art Painting

Just step outside and the butterflies are all over our butterfly bushes. After trying to take some pictures I decided to come in and paint my own butterflies...little people butterflies. Here is one painting that I just listed on ebay. You can click on the link below to see the others and the art I have for sale. Enjoy looking about.

http://shop.ebay.com/colorist_painter/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=

Parking Lot Hot Zone Gardening

This is proof that you can grow a garden just about anywhere. This is among the hottest, sunniest location in Maryland. They amended the soil, added some fertilizer (organic, I hope), added plants and then they water occasionally. Here in Maryland we get heavy rains a couple of times a week.

If you have a place in your yard that you think gets too hot or the soil terrible...Think again, it can be done with a little work and the results are so worthwhile. This area was just mulch before and now it's alive and blooming. Yes!

How to Meet Almost Anyone-Stress free

Wow. I have the proven-inside answer on how to meet anyone. I took our westie, Sir Salty, with me to Lowes and put him in the cart and he was a magnet to people. I visited with everyone in the garden nursery. Not just any people, but talking, friendly people.

And I found out quite a bit about these friendly people. One nice lady came up and told me how well behaved my terrier was. I stood a little taller at that. She told me she couldn't bring her terriers out because they would be barking like crazy at everyone. That is one problem we don't have with our westie. She has two Norwich terriers and one wolfhound. "I have the big and the little," she said softly. Sir Salty was smiling the whole time listening right along with me except that I did not have my tongue out like he did.

One good thing about Lowe's and Home Depot is that there is a Pets Mart right by and quite a few people bring their dogs by to pick up supplies especially the outdoor gardening area. Sir Salty was a little hot so I put a large shade tree in the top of the cart for instant shade. One hand holding the tree and the other holding his leash.

The bottom line is get a westie and go out and people will walk right up to you and start visiting. I guess any puppy might work, but I have fun with a rascally westie.

First Day of School-Teary Moms

Today I saw quite a few mother's who were teary-eyed. One such mother was sending off her youngest to school and the office ladies were giving her hugs to help her. While waiting for the kids to come out after school another mother was telling how she was fine until they took her son's hand and led him inside. Then she said she felt like she couldn't breathe. "I felt sick to my stomach all day," she told a group of other anxious mom's who were all watching the door thinking, "Where is my child?"

Now quite a few dad's took the day off to witness the event, too. I didn't see any tears just dad's standing tall... and chests out, proud as can be. They were high fiving after school and then going off to eat treats with their new students who were going to be the brightest and the best!

A number of older kids gave their previous-year teacher a hug as they passed them. The teachers were happy to see them all well, and back at school.

What a beautiful sight.

The Cutest Pet Sitter of kittens, rabbits, westie & corgi

I read that "Art is not something we learn to do but instead is a search to uncover and express that which already exists within all of us. We are the art." That is a quote from Dan McCaw. I am a self taught artist so I love that it, art, is within all of us. Just pull it out and put it on canvas along with your emotions and play with colors. Never give up just keep expressing yourself through art. The things I love are in my paintings.

This is a new painting that I just listed for sale on ebay. It's yours if you want it. If you saw my last post you will see I added the beautiful picket fence with flowers to this painting. Thank you for stopping by and hope to see you again here.

Very Sleepy Westie Dog

Sir Salty is very sleepy...I think the heat does it to us all. He may be sleepy, but he is still happy and smiling as you can see in his sleep.

White Picket Fence Flowers

I love picket fences. They say "home sweet home" in a country way even though most picket fences are on little city-main-streets. These little sunflowers, above, are glad for the support and they are a bee-buzzing-yellow-froth.

There are so many choices of picket fences..short...tall or vinyl and the old fashioned wooden ones. Fences and hedges are like a frame around your garden. They don't always keep all the wild little animals out, but they add beauty and a meeting spot for talking neighbors and for talking birds. They need a place to rest and sing along with us gardeners, too. La la la.

Tomato Heart A Garden Treasure

Look what grew in our garden...a real cheeky gem in the shape of a heart. We have a few of these in the yellow variety and the black heritage groups too. Why don't they put a picture of the heart ones on the seed packages? I think they would have more buyers and growers. And they taste delicious...even warm eaten right in the garden. Tomato juice at it's perfection.

Play Date with the Cat

Everyone loves their pets. This girl Vera, in the painting, loves her siamese cat and they have a masked play date. The unusual, but fun part, is that they made masks of each other and they look as cute as can be.

This painting is for sale now on ebay. Just type in candylei in the ebay search box to find my paintings...both westie and other fun ones. I always put a bit of myself in each one whether it's humor or my cat or my westie or whoever stands still long enough for me to paint them.

Westie spot figure on horse

We saw this beautiful horse here in Virginia that carries a spot that looks like a running westie! Can you make it out on his chest?

He also has the most dazzling blue eyes!

He was very friendly and concerned about another rider and horse outside the electric fence. You do not have to be a teenage girl to be crazy about horses.

You know you are an artist when...

You know you are an artist when you order breakfast and you look at it and want to paint it! Of course, I would crop it different. Simple everyday objects are really paintable and we can relate to them because they are familiar. We just exaggerate the lighting or the planes, angles, colors and have fun.

Bella Lugosi and Burgundy Foliage Perilla Gardening

My burgundy flowering Bella Lugosi daylilies are still blooming into August! I put the burgundy leaf perilla plants behind them and what a show. It's a rich color combo...and they can take the dog days of our August heat.

The coloring of the bella Lugosi is stunning because of the contrasting green throat. There are so many colors within the flower itself. Burgundy, pink, orange, and lime green. Gorgeous harmony. The perilla is a deep burgundy but the light bounces off of it and it becomes blue, lavender and burgundy. As an artist I could look at the colors all day. That is if I didn't have other chores around waiting/begging to be done.

Play around with your color combinations and tell me what you have found to be stunning plant combinations. I love playing with foliage colors and textures in the garden.

Canna Foliage Gardening in August

Heat waves are hitting. 100 and high humidity. Phew! Oh well, if your soil is properly amended, fertilized and moist....you can stand back and relax. That is laughable because weeds take over instantly, but with foliage plants the show goes on and on and on! (But you would be somewhat ahead of the game plan because your plants would be lush...even the weeds.) Cannas are really having their debut now. Everyone cannot miss them. "Look at me I am almost six feet tall!" They love moist, rich soil. They look super with other foliage plants and grasses. They still have August, September and part of October here before the frosts take over they retreat to their very toes.

The above photograph I took shows cannas with New Zealand flax which is an added bonus for me because of their burgundy leaves. Love those burgundy colors...which there are a number of cannas with burgundy leaves, too, as you can see in the upper left corner.

Pretoria canna is the variegated canna and bengal tiger. They are like bright sunrays in the borders. Very graphic. We can't get enough of these fleshy large leaved plants.

Nationals Baseball Game

We were given guest tickets to the Washington Nationals baseball game Tuesday night against the Florida Marlins. Woo-hoo Nationals won. We had GREAT seats...6 rows up above the Nationals pit. The ticketed price for the seats were $60.00 and the parking pass was $30.00. Four of us went so that would have been $270.00 if we had to pay for it. But we didn't, we were guests. The stadium is huge and they said there was a little under 20,000 people there. All having a good time and the weather was perfect. Let's play ball.

The top picture is after the presidents race. See George Washington and Teddy there? Abe Lincoln is out of the picture. He was running away from the camera. One always seems to trip another during their races.


Here is one of the NatPack girls and she along with 3 other girls tossed out 2 shirts each. My husband caught one of them. Yes! It has a nice red "W" on it for "Washington Nationals" obviously, but it could also stand for "Westie!" Thank you!

No fly balls or foul balls came our way. Above is when Nationals changed pitchers.

After the game I had to take this picture as we sat in traffic. See the capitol above the freeway in the center? You would never know it is sitting in a beautiful green landscaped area from this picture. Then when I got home I could not go to sleep so I painted. No surprise there.

Life is Good

I need a sign like this because this is exactly how my westie dog and my siamese cat feel. Sir Salty carries around sticks and wouldn't he be overjoyed if there was a marshmallow on the end of it? I really don't give him sweets. He sneaks them. He thinks a little bit of peanut butter is candy!

Summer Beach Girls and Westies Art

Have you ever been to the beach when it is not windy? At least a little breezy? There is a calmness to the sound of the ocean and the sand under your toes.......the fresh salt air. It's invigorating.

I listed this new Summer at the Beach acrylic painting for sale on ebay. The girls stroll along the beach in the evening with their westies. They are all like clouds shifting about on the dark sand. Soon school will start again. For now their days are still carefree!

The Perfect Westie Cookie

I have found the best frosted westie cookie. To see this baked/frosted cookie click on the link below:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/becheery/2257148376/in/photostream/

This is one of Jenny's photos. Aren't the cookies fantastic? And yes, she has a westie named "Mr. Magoo."