Keep Clam!

October 29, 2015 ~ thepurpledogpaintingblog ~ 4 Comments

Zeus is itchy.

It’s his yearly Autumn Itch.

So I bought him some itch relief stuff.

Let’s read the bottle..let me see..we have

Deep skin cleansing….splendid, that’s much better than shallow skin cleansing.

Complete body cleanser..even better, not much point only cleaning part of it.

Soothes ….great stuff, nothing better than a soothing soothe.

Clams.. sure a good clam is..What?…I mean..Pardon?

Hmmm..Yup that’s what it says..

Soothes and clams…

I’ve never had my dog clammed before.

Shellfish of me I know.

I wonder if it’s good for his mussels?

Sorry I’ll scale back.

I know it’s getting ruff.

It’s load of carp really.

Llama get back to the point.

It’s not like this happens aviary day.

It’s dragon on…

No use hanging around.

Or lion..

I’m just kitten..

Sea ya!

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©Virginia Spencer, thepurpledogpaintingblog.com, 2015

Public Service Announcement

October 28, 2015October 28, 2015 ~ thepurpledogpaintingblog ~ 2 Comments

This is a public service announcement.

Do not run with apples in your mouth!.

Stop it!

Put that down!

It looks ridiculous.

Much as I appreciate the art of meditation that doesn’t look much better.

“Thpbfft!”

How rude!’

Now everyone..

Jump!

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©Virginia Spencer, thepurpledogpaintingblog.com, 2015

Please click here for available prints.

Thank you!

Wandering

October 16, 2015October 16, 2015 ~ thepurpledogpaintingblog ~ Leave a comment

Recently I was at Fort Erie, across from Buffalo, New York. It sits on the shores of Lake Erie, near the mouth of the Niagara River.

From it you can see the gorgeous Art Deco building that is Buffalo City Hall. The City Hall was designed by architect John Wade and finished in 1932. There are triumphant arches and columns and reliefs and sculptures and mosaics and a bat signal on the roof.

Fort Erie was originally built in 1764 during Pontiac’s Rebellion. Pontiac of course had been overtaking the cart market which the British did not appreciate. Soon after, the Brits sold Jaguar to Ford who sold it to the Tatas, a group of entrepreneurial strippers and a couple hundred years after the Fort was built, Pontiac ceased productions.

Okay, that may not be quite what happened.

However at one point during the War of 1812, the Fort did blow up..

What happened was that the British were led by a general so inept, his subordinate officers including his own nephew settled their affairs and gave away valued property before following his battle plans. They knew they were doomed.

They were right. It turned out that firing a cannon over top of a large powder magazine was not a great idea. The explosion threw the two tonne cannon over one hundred yards. Hundreds died or were wounded and more than 500 soldiers simply disappeared in the initial blast and the ensuing fires.

Brutal stuff.

General Drummond, the man responsible for the whole mess had a road named after him in Niagara Falls.

It’s still there if you’d like to go stomp on it.

The tour was quite interesting.

We found out that some people during the 1800’s used old suits of armor as a sort of tactical vest. Pretty clever, not comfortable but clever.

They shot off some muskets which was fun to watch.

They did not however let me use the cannon.

*Sigh*

This is an acrylic of the monument marking the grave site of 153 soldiers. 150 British and 3 Americans. 8×10 inches.

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©Virginia Spencer, thepurpledogpaintingblog.com, 2015

Please click here for available prints.

Thank you!

Butterflies and Bees

July 24, 2015July 24, 2015 ~ thepurpledogpaintingblog ~ 4 Comments

“Hail the Monarch

King of the Flowers!”

He says to himself… Himself, that is.

“Bzz!” says the bee

“Buzz Off!

You Are Ruining My Photo Shoot!”

(Monarchs always enunciate and capitalize Their Words)

“Bzzz, the nerve!”

“I Beg Your Pardon!”

“Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!”

(Oooo, the mouth on that bee!)

“Hmph!

Now Where Were We?

Hmph! I Say Again.”

“Ah Yes, I Remember”

*whistles Mr Williams’ “Imperial March”*

“Hail the Monarch!

King of the Flowers”

He says to Himself.

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©Virginia Spencer, thepurpledogpaintingblog.com, 2015

Please follow this link for available prints.

Thank you!

Clouds and catching up with arty stuff.

June 25, 2015June 25, 2015 ~ thepurpledogpaintingblog ~ Leave a comment

It’s been a heck of a stormy month.

It has rained and rained and rained.

The clouds have been interesting at least.

These clouds were followed by a really loud thunderstorm.

I love storms but this one made me leery.

Of course I still went outside and took a photo.

Silly silly silly.

Personally, I prefer Zeus clouds like this one.

At least the weather gave me a chance to do some arty stuff.

This is a field near my house in acrylic, 4×6 inches.

A view of the river. Acrylic, 4×6 inches.

This is a house on the road to Galena, Illinois. Acrylics, 4×6 inches.

This door knocker was done in acrylic, it’s about 4×4 inches or so.

(from a reference photo in the RIL of WetCanvas)

This is a barn that is falling to pieces.

Ink and watercolor, 4×6 inches.

A watercolor of an egg and cups, a bit messy, it was done on scrap paper .

(from a reference photo in the RIL of WetCanvas)

And a study of hats with watercolor.

If you have any arty questions, please feel free to ask in the comment section.

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©Virginia Spencer, thepurpledogpaintingblog.com, 2015

Please follow this link for available prints.

Thank you!

Toad in the hole…

June 14, 2015June 14, 2015 ~ thepurpledogpaintingblog ~ 2 Comments

Ba dum tss!!

😀

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©Virginia Spencer, thepurpledogpaintingblog.com, 2015

Please follow this link for available prints.

Thank you!

Happy Turtle Day!

May 23, 2015 ~ thepurpledogpaintingblog ~ 2 Comments

We recently saw a few of our reptilian friends at the National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium in Dubuque, Iowa.

This one in particular seemed glad to see us.

Such a nice smile!

These ones were lazing about on the boat launch railings. I’m guessing they were trying to get somebody to take them out on the big boats. Turtles love yachting.

These ones were having a spa day complete with mud baths and natural moss scrubs.

This one appears to be stuck.

His friend seemed to find that amusing. Turtles are like that.

This is a green sea turtle who was rescued. The blue bean bag thing is a weight pack/buoyancy device which helps her swim. She was hit by a boat and her back flippers are partially paralyzed.

This is an octopus.

This is a quickie sketch of a house in town. 4×6 inches.

This an acrylic painting of a mason jar from a lesson in the book “50 Small Paintings” by Mark Daniel Nelson, a great book for everyone from beginners to professional and all in between. 4×6 inches.

This is an acrylic of a farm near my house. 4×6 inches.

This is Sammy playing Frisbee.

This is the moon.

Because it’s time to say Good Night.

See you soon.

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Please follow this link for available prints.

Thank you!

Happy May Day!

May 1, 2015 ~ thepurpledogpaintingblog ~ 5 Comments

Tiptoe through the tulips.

Dance with the daffodils.

And have a wonderful day!

Happy Birthday to my May Day sister, Sherry!

Please follow this link for available prints.

Thank you!

Squirrel!

April 30, 2015 ~ thepurpledogpaintingblog ~ 5 Comments

There once was a cheeky squirrel

who was driving my poor dog mad

He mocked and he laughed and he chortled

Oh! He was such a cad.

He used diabolic acrobatics

To show me his tummy bare

Hanging about on the feeder

He masticated without a care.

And yet he is saved from my revenge

By a fact of no dispute

Thief and bandit he may be

But aw look, he’s just so cute!

Please follow this link for available prints.

Thank you!

Seeing Red

March 14, 2015March 14, 2015 ~ thepurpledogpaintingblog ~ 6 Comments

Last week while we were still in the deep freeze I heard a knock at my window.

As I was on the second floor, I was a bit startled.

I looked around and there on the ground was a very woozy cardinal.

Now I know, it’s not a good idea to mess with nature even if you mean well and normally a bird after hitting a window will be okay after a rest but it was so cold the cardinal was starting to stick to the ground so I had to intervene. (Now there’s a good example of a run on sentence. I haven’t written one in awhile, I’m so glad I haven’t lost my touch!)

He really didn’t seem to mind the open box with a hot water bottle in it.

He stayed there for quite a while, I was starting to get worried.

Fortunately, he was just really comfy.

After a couple hours, all was well!

He’s still hanging around. I think he’s waiting for me to put the hot water bottle back out again. Maybe I should add a little bird spa to the front porch. I could call it “Chic Chicks” or “Pique Your Beak” or “Fly and Dry”. On the other had we already have many “Seed and Feed” franchises around the yard. No body ever pays but we like the company.

Here’s an ink drawing of a church in the woods. (thank you to the person who put the reference photo into WetCanvas, Reference Image Library). This is 3×5.