Ranch Style Beans ~ Black Bean Salsa ~ Blog Artist Food Network ~ Nancy Standlee

10" x 11" Watercolor on Fabriano 140 lb. paper, Pen and Ink
In a previous post on my art blog and on the Artist Food Network I talked about the De Leon Peach and Melon Festival that is held the first full weekend each August.
To read the rest of the post please click on the Artist Food Network and you will find the recipe.

Kitty Wompus ~ Uncertain, TX ~ Wompus Kitty

$65.00
11" x 15" watercolor on 140 lb. watercolor paper

This was painted from a cat photo I'd taken at the Upstairs Gallery, Arlington, info@upstairsartgallery.com. where some of us meet to paint at J. T.'s and for while I called the painting J.T.'s cat. Several cats rule at the TUG and I don't know their true cat names or if they even have a name, but they pretty much take over the workshop area while we are there, coming and going as they please and ignoring us completely.
Now about that title. There are many word search results on Kitty Wompus. I found kitty-wumpus, catty-wompus, catty wampus,and catawampus (and this may be the one as it's a variant of mountain lion. It has come to mean askew or crooked and first appeared in print in 1843. (What about antigogglin'? or is this even how to spell it?) Anyway it brought to mind how my Daddy used the word with a slight inversion. If he ever said, "She's an old Wompus Kitty", we knew that was not good and might call into question a female's character.

The wild colors came about from taking my second workshop with Ken Hosmer and it was held at the Mossy Brake Gallery in Uncertain, Texas . Several of us rented cabins in the area and spent an enjoyable week painting on the Caddo Lake. I went to my first Hosmer workshop in Oklahoma by myself. I took his videos and my portable tv/vcr combination and ensconced myself in a local motel and painted by day and watched his videos some evenings. I'd found his web site first and loved his use of color and wanted to see him paint and take a workshop.That's usually my modus operandi when I discover a favorite painter. On the Ken Hosmer website he gives a watercolor demonstration of painting a calico cat.

After some consideration, I felt like with the wild Hosmer influenced colors my kitty could be a Kitty Wompus or a Wompus Kitty, just take your pick.

More cat humor can be found at I Can Has Cheezburger.com.

Other blogs where I post:

http://artistfoodnetwork.blogspot.com

http://canvasbycanvas.blogspot.com

http://marketplace-daily-art.blogspot.com

TO PURCHASE PAINTINGS: Go to Paypal on

NANCY STANDLEE ART BLOG

Eat Well ~ Paint Your Food ~ Laugh Often

Main Show Room

Size: 18"x24 gallery wrapped canvas
Depth 1 1/2"
Acrylic mixed media on Canvas

I have succumbed to the siren sound of the blogosphere. I’m a Texas artist who will discuss and digress about art and her art life with friends and fellow members of www.Canvasbycanvas.com. We have been on an incredible art journey this past year and my regret is not starting Nancy’s Art Blog at our inception. The painting, Main Street Showroom, has been entered into the Creative Catalyst Summer Art Show. The entry deadline is August 30, 2007 and Ann Baldwin is the juror. The acrylic, mixed media on canvas painting is 18" x 24" on gallery wrapped canvas. The theme is Telling Stories with Art and this is my story about Main Show Room.
Cowboys - Fort Worth – Cowtown - Stockyards - Longhorns ..
All of these words evoke memories of early Cowtown and the old stockyards district is today

a center of daily entertainment and Western-style nightlife.
The Stockyards were developed in the 1880’s and grew to be the largest in the world. Now Exchange Avenue is lined with restored nineteenth-century buildings. Cowboys can be found driving a herd of longhorns through the historic streets each day and we can get a glimpse into our past and heritage. Close by is Billy Bob’s Texas with real bull riding in an indoor arena. It was built in 1910 as an open air cattle barn and now can hold 6000 people for a concert. This north side area of Fort Worth tells a little of the Cowtown story and still has the Wild West atmosphere.
I can hear a “big Texas whoop” from my Canvas by Canvas group.