Through My Art Gallery

What does a mystery writer do when she isn’t writing? Does she slip through darkened streets following clues? Does she listen in on conversations, waiting to hear a phrase or a question to incite the plot of a new book? Well, maybe. But if she really wants to relax and take a brief respite from murder, mayhem, and mystery, she may grab a paintbrush and head for the nearest easel.

oil of Matt

A few weeks ago, my publisher suggested you might like to see some of my artwork, so yesterday, I grabbed my camera and wandered from family room to the hall to the bedroom and back again, snapping pictures of some of those attempts to capture snippets of time in oil or acrylic or colored pencil.

colored pencil drawing of Matt

The first stop was the front room and an oil of Matt when he was a little boy. In fact, my son has been the subject of several paintings. I’ve also painted my grandchildren but their parents have those paintings.

Next, in the family room, there’s Matt again, his expression perplexed, which is exactly the way he looked as he surveyed my backyard and the tangle of fallen limbs and trees after the ice storm several years ago. This picture is in PrismaColor pencil.

oil landscape

An adjoining wall holds an oil landscape, painted when I had just started to experiment with oil paints and canvas.

The squirrel is in watercolors. I love pushing watercolors around with a brush. This painting hung in a jewelry store in Tahlequah for a few weeks.

watercolor squirrel

The mantel holds several gourds done with acrylics for the most part. The other day, Carolyn had nice things to say about the basset hound and and chickadees.

oil of Chief Joseph, Nez Perce

Down the hall is an oil of Chief Joseph, proud hero of the Nez Perce tribe. I painted this when I took art lessons from George Cochran, Cherokee artist.

In my bedroom, another painting of Matt when he was around two, from a picture made one spring at Manos Meadows.

oil of Matt

A pen and ink drawing of a cat who looks amazingly like D. C., Matt’s cat we had for many years. She is buried now at Manos Meadows, under the oak on the east side of the yard.

pen and ink on notecard

A long time ago, Tahlequah held a weekly “Art on the Square”. I’d take my artistic endeavors and troop to the Courthouse Square and set up under some of those stately maples. Many artists showed up for this and it was a great deal of fun to meet people and sell birch oval refrigerator magnets with outdoor scenes on them, and other art work. I’ve painted on just about every surface, including part of an old fence post. Notecards I’ve sold or given away, goose eggs which had become a bell with music box attached, an ostrich egg with a Noah’s Ark scene are some of the things which found other homes.

Painting, as well as music, is a way of expressing thoughts, emotions, longings and just plain joy. Feelings for which there are no words find an expression in painting.

So, there you have a tour through my art gallery and a glimpse into what this mystery writer does in her down time. It’s a welcome break from all that murder and mayhem, breathless encounters and narrow escapes.