Thank you for all the kind people that have followed this blog over the years. I will be moving my blog to:
www.thepeaceartist.wordpress.com
I hope to continue to have your friendship and your willingness to read and consider what I post.
Painting is just another way of keeping a diary. If your life is beautiful you make beautiful pictures. I paint the world I see about me. I paint what I think about it. This determines each brush stroke. If I just repeated the same painting or the same scene, I would not grow. I would be the guitarist that only knows one song. Therefore, I am always doing that which at first seems impossible, in order that I may learn how to do it.
-Photo thanks to:
Eric Poulin
Instagram: @ericmpoulin
Oil on Linen 24″ x 36″
Giving thanks is no longer just holiday fare. Concrete benefits come to those who literally count their blessings.
Gratitude works like a muscle. Take time to recognize good fortune, and feelings of appreciation can increase.
“The old adage that virtues are caught, not taught, applies here,” says University of California, Davis psychology professor Robert Emmons. Parents need to model this behavior to build their children’s gratitude muscle. “It’s not what parents want to hear, but you cannot give your kids something that you yourselves do not have,” Dr. Emmons says.
“I think the most important thing for us adults to realize is we’re not very grateful either,” he says.
Initial drawing for South Falls graphite on Rives BFK paper.
Further, teens who strongly connected buying and owning things with success and happiness reported having lower GPAs, more depression and a more negative outlook. “Materialism had just the opposite effect as gratitude—almost like a mirror,” says study co-author Jeffrey Froh, associate professor of psychology at Hofstra University.
A 2013 study in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin that tracked materialism in 355,000 high school seniors from 1976 to 2007 found that desire for lots of money has increased markedly since the mid-1970s, while willingness to work hard to earn it has decreased. Among kids surveyed, 62% thought it was important to have lots of money and nice things between 2005 and 2007, while 48% had this view from 1976 to 1978.
UC Davis’s Dr. Emmons believes gratitude is actually easier for kids. “As we get older, the give and take of life is driven by expectations around tit-for-tat reciprocity. Kids have a natural affinity to gratitude. They often teach parents as much or more about gratitude than the other way around.” – From WSJ
Painting in the rain at South Falls, Silver Falls State Park (Photo courtesy of Brian Hilgert)
I’m very very grateful to the Universe for supplying me with the ability to paint in the rain, to be an “Artist in Residence”, friends that support my endeavors, and to have produced paintings that others like. I’m thankful for my “village” et al.
Painting a Day “Silver Falls Bridge” WC on Paper 7″x10″ by The Peace Artist
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The Santiam-Albany Canal is an amazing example of the history of Linn County. The canal reflects 19th Century engineering in which gravity, water, and turbines powered industry. It was also used for both cities’ first electrical power and water works. The City of Albany has taken its drinking water from the canal since 1884.
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Painting a Day “Lebanon-Albany Canal” WC on Paper 7″x10″ by The Peace Artist
It had rained the night before. Not a lot, but enough to make your gloves and shoes damp on the morning ride. Cold. An apple off a forgotten tree provided breakfast. In the distance I could hear the blasts of shotguns as the first hunters of the season tried to land their birds. As I passed through this farmland, I watched the sun come up, and the foreboding clouds roll in. The water had soaked into the dry dirt. It made the colors come out in the soil, trees, and distant hills. I pulled over and erected my easel on the side of the road. Despite the attempts of many 18-wheelers trying to topple the painting with a blast of wet wind, road, and gravel, my brushes produced this painting.
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“Coastal Range Sunrise” Painting A Day Oil on Canvas 6″x 12″ By The Peace Artist
My bicycle studio has its advantages. I can paint anywhere just by pulling to the side of the road, and setting up my easel. I am able to notice many things that those passing by in a car would miss. Most of my work is done “En Plein Air” “Alla Prima” or “Premier Coup”.
En plein air is a French expression which means “in the open air” and is particularly used to describe the act of painting outdoors, which is also called peinture sur le motif (“painting on the ground”) in French.
Direct painting [also known as alla prima or premier coup painting] refers to a method by which the artist applies each stroke of paint to the canvas with the intention of letting it stand in the picture as part of the final statement. There is to be no retouching or overpainting after the first layer of paint has dried.
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“Behind Silver Falls” Painting A Day Oil on Canvas 6″x 12″ By The Peace Artist
NYStudios 