It has to be largely my grandmother’s influence that I love living with history. She had an antique shop for a while, and would often tell stories about various pieces of furniture, who owned it, where it was from, and what wood was used to make it. She had stories about dishes and silverware, paintings, and music boxes. She had picture books on her leather top coffee table of beautiful historical homes in Kentucky and Virginia. She talked at length about her childhood home in Mississippi and little by little, I came to love the things she did, which is why I was so excited to win four tickets to the Galveston Historic Homes Tour courtesy of West University Buzz magazine.

As one might imagine, it was a bit of a shock to visit Galveston back in 1985 as my 21 year old self after growing up in Hawaii. At the very least, I was stunned to see cars driving on the beach! It didn’t take long, however, to learn to appreciate the charm of Galveston. Back then, with a young family in tow, we were always in a hurry to get back to Houston after a long day at the beach.

As our daughters grew up, however, I jumped at the chance to chaperone  field trips to Galveston. They were usually when our daughters were studying Texas history and we toured the tall ship Elissa, the Menard House, and the Old City Graveyard. All these years, though, what I always wanted to do was go on the Galveston Historic Homes Tour. But just because I love things like this, doesn’t mean that my loved ones love it, too. Not wanting to coerce anyone, but really wanting the companionship, the Amazing Reese, daughter Anna, and dear friend Erin, all, bless their hearts, agreed to go with me.

With a picnic lunch sandwiched between our tour of six of the ten wonderfully interesting homes, with Bishop’s Palace thrown in for good measure, it was a full day. Longing for more, it should come as no surprise to regular readers of this blog that I’ve spent a great deal of time these last two days researching historic homes for sale in Galveston. It’s certainly not practical and only vaguely realistic, but I have grand dreams of the Amazing Reese (and Tilly) and me loving a historic house in Galveston back to life.

Even at the end of a long day, the Amazing Reese was a good sport. He went on this tour only because he loves me, and never complained about it once…..not that he’s a complainer, he isn’t, but still, he could have complained, but he didn’t. Thank you, Reese — just another example of why you are so AMAZING.

Once upon a time, all four of the Hazel daughters went to Presbyterian School. Those days are long gone now, but the memories of that place are sweet and strong. Erin was our first to attend, back when Betty Baxter was the head of school. With a simple handshake and personal greeting for each student every morning, Betty instilled a deep sense of belonging while teaching manners, respect, and common courtesy.

As a young family, we couldn’t afford such an education for our daughters, but felt that we couldn’t afford not to go, either. With scholarships and squeezing an already tight budget, we made it work. Lucky for us, Presbyterian School reinforced our ideas of what early education should look like. Which reminds me, several of our teachers were some of the most beautiful, kind, gentle women I’ve ever met in my whole life.

One of the teachers, Mrs. Henricks, still there, was a feisty, adorable woman who taught our third graders Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing. Who does that? Third grade! Years later, when Joy and I ran into Virginia (Mrs.Henricks) at Target, she remembered that Joy had tried every trick in the book to get out of doing her homework. Mrs.Henricks loved a rascal, she’s one herself, but schoolwork was schoolwork and she expected (with some mercy thrown in) for the kids to perform. And they did.

Back then, the music teacher was a brilliant woman who composed musical plays for the kids just to supplement a lesson on Abraham Lincoln. I can still sing the opening song, and I wasn’t even in the play. “Happy birthday Mr.Lincoln, happy birthday Abe, happy birthday Mr. Lincoln, it’s your birthday!” (<–singing it to myself)  Mrs. Fish could play the same guitar left handed or right. I’ve never seen anything like it. The kids would crowd around her while she was playing. If a kid got too close to her left hand, she never fussed….she would turn the guitar around (and upside down) and play it upside down and backwards. Who does that?

Mrs. Livingston nurtured our daughters and their fondness for science with hands on gardening. The kids worked to build a garden on campus and they worked in a garden at the Children’s Museum after which they made power point presentations of their work.  Power point presentations in elementary school! Who does that? (The day lilies and fig tree still growing in our back yard are from Mrs. Livingston’s own garden.)

Besides the loveliness of the campus, art classes were at MFAH’s Glassell, the chapel teacher had the voice of an angel, the students learned Spanish, ate nutritious lunches, learned that gifts could be thoughtful handmade creations….which brings us to this sweet painting.

This Presbyterian School commissioned piece was a gift for someone who, according to the grapevine, really loved it. Several things were included in the painting to make it unique for the recipient and for Presbyterian School, though the image is universal. The girls’ backs are toward us, so that we can all identify with the schoolchildren. They are in the blackwatch plaid dress uniform and running toward the office part of the school, which includes those windows, the top portion of which is the emblem for the school.

Maybe power point presentations are the norm in elementary school these days. Maybe third graders all over the globe study Shakespeare. Maybe all schools have a world class museum and art school part of their daily life….I don’t know. For us, these things were extraordinary. For Presbyterian School and what it was for our whole family, I will ever be grateful. This painting reminds me of that, plus more, so much more.

This oak tree in the Rose Garden evidently intrigues me well enough to paint it a third time. This is a 30″ x 40″ oil on canvas and was done in the studio from a photo taken earlier in the week. (Hurray for air conditioning!) It took two days of painting and erasing before I was happy with the initial sketch. And only because Tilly and I had Friday off from pet therapy did I have time to work on it.

I’m actually on the hunt for interesting trees around Houston. If y’all have any favorites or recommendations, please let me know.

It’s true. I’ve been painting a lot of trees lately. Trees are so fascinating, so full of character. And they generally stay still when posing. The only thing that changes is the direction of the sun, which slightly alters the tree as it is painted. Well, the tree isn’t altered, just the light, shadows, and colors.

This is a 14″ x 18″ oil on linen.

For whatever reason, I’ve been a little more scatterbrained than usual lately. This is the point where keeping a list would come in handy. I used to do that all the time, but have gotten out of practice. It’s time to start again. The easiest place to keep track of a list would be here, which I’m reluctant to do because the right people might read it, and correctly assume that I’m thinking of them, and it’s just not the right time to reveal those things that are on the list. One thing that is OK to say is that there are nine unthought of paintings to be painted for different events, the last of which culminates in August.

Also, I keep forgetting to take my camera when out and about, and have missed several photo opportunities because of it. This was especially a bummer last night because even without an art car of my own, I was invited to the Art Car kick off party at the Continental Club. The people watching was spectacular!

 One of the things on my bucket list (more list talk) is to make an art car of my own, and drive it in the parade. Before I can even think about creating an art car, there’s the issue of having an extra car just for fun. We’re not really the type of people who collect cars, whatever that means. But, I have a few hundred dollars (unspent as of yet) in the art budget….maybe it’s time to put up or shut up. Anyone know of a good used car that can be purposed as an art car that I can get for next to nothing?

Week after week, it felt like being stuck in purgatory. I couldn’t think, much less paint or write. Like a dirty sponge, even a simple task such as folding laundry absorbed all of my concentration. I don’t know how or why it started or why it lasted so long — whatever it was, I’m just glad it’s over. After a very prolonged bout of creative limbo, an idea finally percolated in my brain, and voila! A painting was born!

These trees have been featured in several of my paintings, this being my favorite spot in Hermann Park. Lately, for the first layer of paintings, I’ve used a half half mixture of linseed oil and turpentine. That way, I can lightly sketch either an outline of an image, or rough in some shapes of where things should go. Because the oil paints I use are thick, it helps to keep using some the turp/linseed blend to help the paint spread without clumping. Clumping isn’t the right word….um, well, to help the paint not be too hard to spread. (?) Does that make sense?

With oil paints, it’s not uncommon to build layer upon layer, sometimes with drying time in between. For this painting, I put in blocks of color where I wanted the trees to go with thinned cadmium red two days before painting. The second day I used thinned cobalt and cerulean blue to sketch the outline of the trees and branches. Then on the third day, I started with dark colors, and put in shadows and then the white in the sky, and then started building the trees. At this point in the painting, one of the neighbors knocked on the front door to invite me over for early happy hour margaritas.

Now, I’ve mentioned on this blog several times that people are more important than things, or doing things. But, have you ever smelled the rain before it actually started raining? That’s how I felt with this painting. I could smell the rain, creatively speaking. Hoping to take advantage of even a small sprinkle in this recent creative drought, I temporarily (and sadly) declined an opportunity to visit with neighbor friends. If anything, that’s how this artist suffers for her art….because painting is a lonely pursuit, and isn’t congruous with the personality of an extrovert. Toward the end of painting this, I was using my fingers to get everything where I wanted it, which, incidentally, is another way to suffer for my art, as all of the art supplies I use are extremely toxic. Days four and five were spent tidying up the sky and cleaning up a few trees. A photo was used as a beginning reference, and toward the end, I painted from feeling (literally and figuratively) and memory.

This painting is 30″ x 40″ oil on linen.

I’m a big picture kind of person, always have been. When painting, I purposefully leave out details, partly because my eyes literally can’t see tiny things, and partly because I get bogged down with so many little things and can’t focus on the picture as a whole.

Same with writing. I write and write and write, and subtract most of it. What’s left is a bare bones small narrative of my very small life.

That is why I was intrigued by something I read on a blog this week. The back story goes something like this: On a dare, Ernest Hemingway once boasted that he could write a compelling story in six words. There’s no evidence that it’s true, but like good fiction, it could be. For our story here, he wrote this:

“For sale: baby shoes, never worn.”

Your assignment? Write a six word story to share. With several examples, I’ll go first.

– Another month passed. She wasn’t pregnant.

– Desperate for respect, he overlooked courtesy.

– “Don’t call or write,” he said.

– She prayed. The pain was overwhelming.

– He slammed the gate and left.

– Desperate for attention, she sold herself.

– It was summer. She was cold.

Considering that I didn’t win the lottery, it’s been back to work as usual.

The biggest use of my time these last few weeks has been working on a commission, that is to remain a secret because it’s a gift for someone. What I CAN say is that I worked and worked and worked and worked on it. AND it’s finished. (There was much rejoicing – yay.) In about a month I’ll share a photo of it.

First, (maybe, perhaps, if I remember) go buy a lottery ticket, pick some winning numbers, win, and then figure out how to spend the money. Joy and I discussed spending mega millions at length this morning. It’s a bucket list of sorts. Here are some of the highlights.

Sarah:
1. go to Paris
2. go to a friend’s wedding in The Netherlands
3. go to a friend’s wedding in California
4. visit the erupting volcano on the Big Island in Hawaii
5. re-model the house which would include:
a. new kitchen
b. new plumbing
c. new bathroom
d. new windows
6. go to Aspen
7. visit all family members
8. walk the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela
9. hire a maid and
10. personal chef
11. pay all educational expenses for our daughters
12. new car for Reese
13. see the migrating monarch butterflies in Mexico
14. host a big party at Saint Arnold Brewery
(OK, I might not hire a maid and personal chef, but it would be nice if someone else cleaned the bathroom every now and then.)

Joy:
1. go to school
2. new bicycle
3. reliable car
4. buy lots of outdoor equipment such as
a. rock climbing gear
b. camping equipment
c. hiking gear
5. buy a lake house
6. go skydiving and
7. bungee jumping
8. buy a boat
9. and a jet ski
10. donate money
11. buy new clothes
12. give money to family members
13. decide where to live and buy a house there, probably in Austin

These are dreams. With hard work, dedication, and perseverance, most of these can actually come true. But if a bunch of extra money fell in our laps RIGHT NOW, these are some of the things we would do without having to sweat the small (big) stuff. How about you? How would you spend your mega millions?