Another Video Creation

 

Creating short and entertaining videos has been a thing I do for many years now.  I watch a lot of YouTube videos myself at night just before going to sleep.  They say the computer screen lights are not a good thing as it can disrupt your sleep, but it has never seemed to bother me.  I love to watch videos on art, interior design, but especially on quiet living, minimalism, or living with intention.  It often inspires me to take the thousands of videos and photos I take while out and about and put them to good use.  Like using them to make this little video.  It is about a two minute nature walk through one of our local parks here in Kansas.  

If you are a YouTube subscriber, you can find my channel under Lisa Graham Art.  I post new videos periodically on painting, drawing, hiking, and lifestyle.  I would love it if you subscribe to my humble little channel.

Until next time.

The Most Beautiful Autumn

Farm House
oil on panel

This Autumn was the most beautiful I can remember in Kansas.  I probably walked over 150 miles in November alone trying to see as much color as I could, and there are still trees that are glowing yellow and red and orange.  

Bartlett Arboretum
Belle Plaine, Kansas

I created this video to try to capture both my art and the events and sights of the month.  I hope you enjoy it.

Country Drives Are So Inspiring

 

I drove to Peck, Kansas yesterday, a small town not far.  I was on the search for colors and textures and I found so many.  Here are a few from the trip.  I always find myself wishing I could plop a blanket down in the middle of a field and just take it in for a while.  Maybe take a nap while listening to the birds and the quiet breeze.  Perhaps one of these days I will stumble onto a public place where I can do that.  

Sometimes when I go on a photo shoot, I take a lot of video and then make a video out of it all, using videos and photographs.  Most of the video was too shaky this round because it was so windy.  If you want to see the nature videos I make, you can see them on YouTube.  The link is HERE.  It is just another way I like to create.  I used to just share them on my Facebook, but I am going to start uploading them to YouTube from now on so that I can keep them in one neat place.

Paintings and Back in Kansas

 

Camping Under Trees
oil on cradled wood 9x12 inch

I have heard that campgrounds are full and campers and RV rentals are booked solid.  It is no surprise with Covid.  So for now I will go camping with my imagination.  

We have moved back to Kansas and it has been wonderful to be with family again.  This is my son and daughter in-law on a warm and muggy evening.  We were taking their photograph for their piano studio website and we were melting and fighting mosquitoes.  I had forgotten about those.  There are no bugs in Colorado if you can believe.

River With Fish and Geese
oil on canvas 10x8 inch

Since we have moved back, I am finding a lot of inspiration in the gentle river landscape and in the neighborhood we are renting in.  I am still selling by paintings on Etsy under Lisa Graham Art.  Even with Covid,  people are still buying art and I am so grateful that many of my paintings have been finding homes.  If you want to see my current paintings the link is HERE . 

Riverside Duplex
oil on cradled wood 12x9 inch

Boat Dog With Girl 
oil on cradled wood

Last winter I was asked to do an interview for Colorado Homes and Lifestyles magazine, then Covid happened and things were delayed.  They caught me almost literally going out the door...chaos and boxes everywhere, ready for our move back to Kansas, but it was a delightful photo shoot and phone interview.  I am not very comfortable being in the spotlight like that, but they made me feel at ease.  What an honor it was to be asked.

Well I am off to paint.  Stay happy and healthy.

Lisa

Great Grandma's Kitchen and Around Here Lately

Great Grandma's Kitchen
oil on panel 16 x 20 inch
available here

A while back I painted an image in my sketchbook of my great grandmother's kitchen from memory.  All I really remember is that there was this very bright red and white checkered floor that felt like you were stepping into some sort of candy land or something.  I also remember there was a dark back room where there was a bed and coat rack that always had a hat on it and it scared me enough that I never went into that room.  My older siblings said that my memory was pretty close to the real thing so I decided to do an actual painting of it.  I did not make the back room a scary one though.

Gabriel's

Yesterday was my birthday and Vic surprised me with a dinner reservation at the most romantic and quiet restaurant I have ever been to.  It is called Gabriel's and it is only a 15 minute drive to the small town of Sedalia, Colorado.  The food was amazing.

Chandin's cows

A couple of weeks ago I went back to Kansas to watch over my grandson for a week while his mom traveled.  I took him with me on a photo shoot with one of my friends and loaned him my little Powershot camera.  My friend and I like to roam around in her truck looking for interesting things to photograph, hopping in and out each time we see something.  After giving my grandson a quick lesson on the rule of thirds, finding interesting subjects, and paying attention to light, we meandered along backroads all the way to Douglas, Kansas.  He really got some great shots.  Once we got home he picked his favorites and edited them after I showed him how to use a simple program on my laptop.  He is only ten years old and is very artistic.  I asked him if he enjoyed photography and his reply made me laugh:  "yeah, but it really isn't my thing".  He prefers to draw marvel characters.  :)

I love this kid.  He was a trooper for going along and joining in the fun.

Chandin's woods

Chandin's closeup  of growth near the river
(his favorite)

Here are a few of  the photos that I took.  It was a very cold day.

Until next time!

♥ Lisa

On a Lazy Day in Matfield Green: The Second Finding Faith Project Complete

After the incredible response that our first Finding Faith project received, I was really eager to get to work on the second, and we nearly pulled it off in record time. The video and photo shoot went perfectly.  So perfect in fact, that it seemed the "art gods" were with us once again...a funny saying that Faith and I have started to say whenever things are going very well. But then life happened...not in a bad way, but in a busy way...and the painting came forth like a slug.  I never thought I would get it done and was tempted so many times to just "call it good enough", but the perfectionist in me won't allow such an ending and I HAD to keep going until it was right.  Even though I am not striving to be a realistic painter on this project, it is important to me to capture certain details and moods and emotions in the painting that are present in the short videos that we create as well as the photographs.  For those of you that paint, you KNOW this does not usually come easily.  We have to work for it.

A little bit about our setting...it was shot in a very teeny tiny town called Matfield Green, which is a little over an hour away from Wichita.  This little place is nestled in the beautiful Flint Hills of Kansas and its population is 50.  That's right...50.  I did not forget any zeros!  It would be easy to miss it, except for the hilarious signs they have along Highway 177 reading "Matifield Green Next 3 Exits".   But they are not exits, they are just streets.  The 50 people in Matfield Green have a great sense of humor.  :)

We filmed at a place called Pioneer Bluffs which is a gorgeous public property with many uses.  It consists of lots of tall trees, a creek, an old cabin from 1859, which you will see in the project, and many other interesting buildings and barns.  We were lucky on the day of the shoot because there was not a soul there.  It was early Spring and Pioneer Bluffs was operating  on their Winter schedule, which means it was basically closed (thank you, art gods).  

Modeling for this project are my beautiful niece Faith and her handsome fiancé Sam.  They did such a fantastic job at the shoot.  It is not always easy because there is a little bit of acting necessary for this, and they have to put up with me constantly saying things like "turn your head this way...walk that way...no, other way...look at me, now look away", etc.  Their patience was extraordinary the entire time.  They moved with grace and their expressions were brilliant as you will see in the video and photos.  I could not have asked for an easier pair to work with!  Thank you again Faith and Sam!

So here we go with a simple story told in film, photos and painting...

******************

On a Lazy Day in Matfield Green

On a Lazy Day in Matfield Green
oil on canvas
24 x 30 inch

***********************************

Thank you all so much for your incredible enthusiasm for our project!  It has been a joy to create these and the fact that they bring joy to others encourages me to do more.  Thank you again!

♥ Lisa

Painting, Painting, and More Painting

WIP
16 x 20" mixed media on canvas panel

I have four paintings in the works right now...2 oils and 2 mixed media.  I love to work in oil, but it's easiest for me to allow the layers to dry somewhat before going on, otherwise I mess up and cost myself a lot of time.  Since I am not much of a sitter, I decided to try something new and work on acrylic and mixed media pieces while the layers of the oil paintings are drying.  This routine seems to be working pretty good and it allows me to work in all the mediums I love.  It dawned on me that nursing had taught me to be pretty good at mulitasking, so I decided to apply that skill to my art too.  So far, so good.

Eva at Twilight
8 x 10" mixed media on canvas panel
SOLD

Sunrise from our front window the other morning

 This winter, I am in awe of the bare trees and since discovering the charming red shed by our house, I have noticed dozens of others all through the neighborhood while on my walks.  I want to start knocking on doors and asking my neighbors if I can photograph their shed, but they would probably think I was a weirdo.

In honor of this shed discovery, I painted this little one set in a wide open Kansas field.  Doesn't that green make you long for Spring?  It does me.   

Little Red Shed
4 x 6" oil on paper mounted to mat board
SOLD

Thank you for dropping in and have a lovely weekend!

♥ Lisa