Shy Pink Bird

“Perseverance is a great element of success. If you only knock long enough and loud enough at the gate, you are sure to wake up somebody.”
– Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Copyright Beth Parker Art 2013

Shy Pink Bird

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Doesn’t this little bird look timid?  Maybe he really is a white bird…. flushing with embarrassment.  🙂

About Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, a beloved American poet of the 19th century, is best known for “The Song of Hiawatha” and “Evangeline.” He was born in Maine in 1807. He knew Latin by the age of six, and when he taught at Bowdoin College, he wrote the textbooks himself. He courted his second wife while teaching at Harvard and frequently walked the several miles from Cambridge to Boston across the West Boston Bridge. The bridge that replaced it was named the Longfellow Bridge in his honor. He died in 1882.

A Shoeless Yellow Duck

“You don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great.”

—Zig Ziglar

Copyright Beth Parker Art 2013

A Shoeless Yellow Duck

Most people would probably look at that title and think I was nuts….. but we know that in Bethville, birds wear shoes!  😀

I wanted to take a moment to thank everyone who looks at this blog and to those who comment.  I have been unable to reply to the comments lately, but I love every single one!!!  The fact that you take the time to tell me something I painted made you smile…. priceless!

Zig Ziglar is a motivational teacher and trainer who has traveled the world over, delivering his messages of humor, hope, and encouragement. As a talented author and speaker, his international appeal has transcended every color, culture, and career. Recognized by his peers as the quintessential motivational genius of our times, Zig Ziglar’s unique delivery style and powerful messages have earned him many honors, and today he is considered one of the most versatile authorities on the science of human potential. Ten of his twenty-eight books have been on the best-seller lists, and his titles have been translated into more than thirty-eight languages and dialects. He is a committed family man, a dedicated patriot, and an active church member. Zig lives in Plano, Texas, with his wife, Jean.

Businessman Bird – Watercolor

“Failure seldom stops you. What stops you is the fear of failure.”
– Jack Lemmon

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Copyright Beth Parker Art 2013

Businessman Bird – Watercolor

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I painted this bird in a motel during a bad winter storm.  We got 14″ of snow in that storm and we don’t really have snow plows around here.

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I never go anywhere without my watercolors!  🙂

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About Jack Lemmon

Jack Lemmon is best known for the poignant sweetness he brought to comedic roles in movies like Some Like It Hot and The Apartment, but is also remembered for his dramatic roles, including the struggling alcoholic in Days of Wine and Roses. He was born in 1925 into a wealthy Boston family and knew by the age of four that he wanted to become an actor. He won two Academy Awards and was known for his collaborations with director Billy Wilder and costar Walter Matthau. He died in 2001.

Bird in a Pink Hat and Heels – Watercolor

“Man’s mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions.”
– Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.

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Copyright Beth Parker Art 2013

Bird in a Pink Hat and Heels – Watercolor

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I painted this one during an ice storm, at a motel, because our driveway makes it kinda dumb to stay there in icy weather.  Colored outlines are not as effective as black outlines, I think.

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It’s the 29th annual Whole Hawg weekend in Eufaula.   The rodeo started last night and the fun continues through Saturday, with a parade, a boat poker run, a car show, craft vendors, a carnival and a bunch of people cooking Hawgs all over town.  At 5:00 they give away free sandwiches at all the cookers, and there are cash prizes for the best tasting hawg.  Giggles all around.  🙂

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About Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.

Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., one of the greatest American jurists of the twentieth century, was called the Great Dissenter because of the brilliance of his dissenting opinions. He was born in Boston in 1841 and was named for his father, the author and doctor. He was appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1902 and became known for his pithy, quotable opinions. He stood strong on free-speech rights and was an advocate of judicial restraint and objectivity. He died in 1935.

Stripey Boots on a Pink Flamingo

“We have to fight them daily, like fleas, those many small worries about the morrow, for they sap our energies.”
– Etty Hillesum

Copyright Beth Parker Art 2013

Stripey Boots on a Pink Flamingo

I sketched this little bird in an airport a couple years ago.  Goofy… maybe.  Bethville…  oh yeah!

I just finished putting graphics all over a box van for a construction company.  It feels so good to be inside where the air is cool.  🙂

About Etty Hillesum

Etty Hillesum, less famous than her contemporary, Anne Frank, lived a short life of great courage. She was born in 1914 in the Netherlands to a Dutch father and a Russian mother. She studied law, Slavic languages, and psychology. Hungry for knowledge, she cut down on food in order to buy books. She went voluntarily to the Westerbork camp to help fellow Jews interned by the Nazis. Her letters detail her experiences; her more meditative diary focuses on issues of faith. She died at Auschwitz in 1943.

Flamingo in Green Shoes – Watercolor

“Victory is won not in miles but in inches. Win a little now, hold your ground, and later, win a little more.”
– Louis L’Amour

Flamingo in Green Shoes – Watercolor

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If I was a girl who still wore heels…. I would SO wear those shoes.  My hubby would be mortified!  He’s picky about shoes.  😀

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About Louis L’Amour

Louis L’Amour, the author known for his pulp westerns, wrote more than 100 novels in his lifetime. Born in North Dakota in 1908 as Louis LaMoore, he worked across the southwestern U.S. on a string of backbreaking jobs including longshoreman, elephant handler, and cattle skinner. He saw his writing as akin to telling tales by a campfire and wanted to be remembered simply as a good storyteller. He won the Medal of Freedom in 1984 and died in 1988.

A Christmas Egret – Watercolor

“Your vision will become clear only when you look into your heart. Who looks outside, dreams. Who looks inside, awakens.”
– Carl Jung

Copyright Beth Parker Art 2013

A Christmas Egret – Watercolor

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Okay…. hardly traditional, but he did come from Bethville, after all.  🙂

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About Carl Jung

Carl Jung, the Swiss psychiatrist who originated such well-known psychological concepts as the archetype and the collective unconscious, has provided inspiration to people ranging from Joseph Campbell to Bill Wilson, the founder of Alcoholics Anonymous. He was born in 1875 in a small town; he studied with Sigmund Freud before parting ways due to the radical difference in their views of human nature. Jung is considered second only to Freud in his influence on modern psychology, particularly in the area of dream analysis. He died in 1961.

Blue Flowerdy Bird – Watercolor

“Nothing will ever be attempted if all possible objections must first be overcome.”
– Samuel Johnson

Copyright Beth Parker Art 2013

Blue Flowerdy Bird – Watercolor

Another archive bird.  Now days, I’d have outlined it in ink.  It’s fun to revisit these birds, while I try to play catch up.  🙂

About Samuel Johnson

Samuel Johnson, the sharp-witted British essayist, wrote the first English language dictionary; his definitions still form the backbone of current dictionaries. He was born in Staffordshire in 1709. Johnson married a widow 20 years his senior and lived in poverty before achieving success with his essays when he was in his forties. Later in life, he befriended the young James Boswell, whose Life of Johnson became the quintessential English biography. Johnson died in 1784.

Bird on a Branch – Watercolor on Handmade Paper

“Painting is the passage from the chaos of the emotions to the order of the possible.”

—Balthus

Copyright Beth Parker Art 2013

Bird on a Branch – Watercolor on Handmade Paper

I love Daniel Smith’s irridescent watercolors.  The outlines on this are a goldish copperish color.  I can’t remember the name, but it reacted well with the handmade paper, due to all the lovely texture.  Kind of odd, but I like it.  🙂

Balthus (Balthasar Klossowski, 1908-2001) and his elder brother, Pierre (1905-2001), were born in Paris into an artistic and intellectual milieu. Their father, Erich Klossowski (1875–1946), was an art historian and painter whose family had escaped from Poland in 1830 during an unsuccessful revolt against Russia and who obtained German citizenship in East Prussia. The boys’ mother, Elisabeth Dorothea Klossowska (1886–1969), was also a painter and was known as Baladine.

As an eight-year-old, in 1916, Balthus had posed with his pet cat for a watercolor by his mother. Three years later he worked his adventures with a stray cat he called Mitsou into 40 pen-and-ink drawings. The German poet Rainer Maria Rilke, a family friend—who not long after became Baladine’s lover—was so enchanted by these drawings that he arranged for them to be published in 1921 in the book Mitsou, for which he provided a preface in French. At Erich Klossowski’s request, the cover of the book gave the young artist’s name as “Baltusz,” as he then spelled his nickname—which was a shortened version of his given name, Balthasar. At Rilke’s suggestion, Balthus signed his work from then on with this childhood nickname, at some point changing the spelling to “Balthus,” as we know it today. Rilke played an important role in Balthus’s life, as a crucial creative influence and also as a surrogate father following Baladine and Erich’s separation.  More…

I Have My Eye On You! – Bird Watercolor

“You cannot out-give the universe.   Give all you have to each moment, holding nothing back.

When you give, it may not come back to you from where or whom you think it should, but it always does. The energy you put out will always recirculate and find its perfect way back to you.

Trust life.”

Kute Blackson

Copyright Beth Parker Art 2013

I Have My Eye On You!  –  Bird Watercolor

I’m going back to the birds.  I don’t pay a lot of attention to stats (because it’ll make you feel bad on a little blog like mine) but I noticed when I post birds, they go way up.  When I switch from birds…. yeah, they drop way off.  So… I’m guessing you want to see birds.  😀

Kute Blackson is a life coach and speaker. Unlike those who promise to simply help people “get” what they want, Kute’s work instead reveals to people what they have to give, by liberating who they are most truly and deeply. The focus: Freedom. For more on Kute, please visit his website and follow him on Twitter.