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

Mango ~ Mango Salsa ~ Calorie-Count ~ Calorie Talk

$100 will be in the FWCAC during December.
9" x 11" can be cropped to an 8 x 10 to fit a standard frame
unmatted and unframed
Watercolor on 140 CP watercolor paper

(This was posted today on Artist Food Network)

I met my first mango in Barbados in the 80's and I've been in love ever since. Today's recipe will feature the mango in the BEST salsa ever. It is delish on a piece of grilled salmon or if you can take the calories, some tortilla chips.. I have a great recipe for salmon to post later and both foods are lower in calories. A cup of mango has about 100 calories plus 3 gms. of fiber, but you will not be able to prepare only one without some bites so buy 2 or 3 and I will usually add an extra one to the salsa recipe. Eat one..Add two.

Mango, Tomato and Avocado Salsa

1 or 2 mangoes, peeled and diced

1 avocado, peeled and diced

4 medium tomatoes, diced

1 fresh jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced (canned is ok)

1/2 cup chopped cilantro

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 teaspoon salt

2 Tablespoons fresh lime juice

3 Tablespoons olive oil

Directions:

Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl and refrigerate for about 30 minutes before serving or just go ahead and have a bowl of it now.

Why all this calorie talk today? The CBC girls were dining at a local barbecue hangout when we observed so many overweight people and then looked at ourselves and decided this was the summer to take action. Some of us are taking more action than others but since the committed ones threw $50 in a pool, weight control has become a little more interesting. We will know the outcome of our weight wars in September and I think I'm in a losing battle so I joined Calorie-Count this morning and set up my profile. There seems to be good support here and the means to enter a favorite recipe to give the nutritional count. I have added their tool bar and it is so convenient to add foods eaten and then the "Eat Meter" will register the day's food intake.

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 at:
Nancy Standlee Art Blog

Eat Well ~ Paint Your Food ~ Laugh Often

Calypso Series Slide Show 1-10 Images

Tomato Soup ~ La Madeleine's Tomato Basil Soup ~ Daily Recipes ~ Daily Painting

$60.00
6 x 8 Acrylic collage on canvas board
(This was originally posted on the Artist Food Network and is repeated here.)
Bonjour! Our CBC group met at Karen's for a painting weekend. I provided this soup that was a big hit and Cindy Campbell made some delicious cheese sandwiches to accompany the soup. This was in 2006 and the weather was cool and we photographed our food. Now Karen has recently moved back to town. We will all miss our visits to the country. She had a large home in the country with a special room with what I called the "Snow White Room" because it had all these beds lined up dormitory style for us to sleep in and didn't mind when we all set up to paint in her living room.
But if we need a quick Tomato Basil Soup we head to La Mad's in Arlington where we can enjoy great conversation and fresh, delicious food. This restaurant opened in Dallas in 1982 and is another Texas tradition and serves classic French country fare. Now there are more than 60 locations across the U.S.
La Madeleine's Tomato Basil Soup
Serves 8
4 cups (8-10) tomatoes, peeled, cored and chopped, or 4 cups canned whole tomatoes, crushed
4 cups tomato juice or part tomato juice and part vegetable or chicken stock
12 to 14 washed fresh basil leaves
1 cup heavy cream
1/4 lb. sweet unsalted butter
salt to taste
1/4 teaspoon cracked black pepper
Combine tomatoes, tomato juice or tomato juice mixture in saucepan. Simmer 30 minutes. Puree, along with the basil leaves, in small batches, in blender or food processor.
Return to saucepan and add cream, butter and pepper and salt and while stirring, over low heat. Garnish with basil leaves and serve with your favorite bread.
Nutritional analysis per serving from the 1995 Star-Telegram: 248 calories, 23 grams fat, 72 milligrams cholesterol, 457 milligrams sodium, 83 % of calories from fat.
If you like recipes, you'll like All Recipes. http://allrecipes.com/ I found this similar Tomato Basil Soup here and rest assured there are not many dishes out there you can't find a recipe for. http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Rich-and-Creamy-Tomato-Basil-Soup/Detail.aspx and be assured if it's gotten 263 reviews and 4 1/2 stars it's a good recipe. But note it gives 1/2 cup of butter hence - more rich and creamy! Hint for printing: Go to advanced options and remove advertisements and add nutritional information.
And I hate it, hate it when someone thinks their recipe is original and won't share it. In my early wifehood (just arthood at present) a guest at a large dinner party served her tomato pudding and amidst the raves said "Oh, I don't give out this as it's an old family recipe that just stays in the family". #$%&#!!. It took me days but I found one similar enough. So much for the only one of a kind. This is just my feelings and I'm sure it's not shared by all, but I feel highly complimented if someone says, "Can you give me your recipe?". "Well, yes Ma'am, I sure can." In fact CBC feels so strongly about sharing, we're asking all our artist friends to share their recipe and their favorite painting so if you like food and art please send your friends an email telling them about us and what we're up to.
Paint Your Food, Eat Well, and Laugh Often!
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 http://nancystandlee.blogspot.com/

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Calypso Dancer Series #10 of 10 ~ StatCounter ~ Daily Painting

7.5" x 5.5" image
Acrylic on 140 lb. watercolor paper
The Calypso series #10

The Dancer will be the last one in the series and then on to a new project. This is the only horizontal piece in the series and she reminds me a dancer surrounded by long swirling scarves. And congratulations to the art collector in Austin, Tx. who purchased 2 of my favorites from the series. Thank you.
If you’re new to blogging as I am, I love the StatCounter, a free reliable program that shows visitor counts to your site. Basically, it will let you know if there is anyone out there in the Blogosphere that ever looks at your created posts. Oh, yes, and that reminds me, we love comments to our posts. That is available directly below the post, close by the white envelope and sometimes it may say 0 comments or if we've done a favorite, it could say 4 or 25 comments.
How to add StatCounter:
*Register an account
*Create a project
*Insert the code on your website
*Analyse your stats

How to add the HTML code from StatCounter to Blogger:
Dashboard/Template/Page Elements/
Add a Page Element/ HTML/Java Script/
Add HTML from StatCounter/Save

Now email your best friends and your relatives about your blog regarding the black sheep in the family, and watch your little counter climb. Hope it works for you.

Other blogs I post to:
http://artistfoodnetwork.blogspot.com/
http://canvasbycanvas.blogspot.com/
http://marketplace-daily-art.blogspot.com/

TO PURCHASE PAINTINGS: Go to Paypal on http://nancystandlee.blogspot.com/

Calypso Dreams Series #9 of 10 ~ Daily Acrylic Painting

7.5" x 5.5" image
Acrylic on 140 lb. watercolor paper
The Calypso series #9

These other worldly figures look as if they were off in their separate dream world of colorful surroundings. One more to go in this series and then I will post all of them in a slide show so you can see them all together. I hope you have enjoyed these impressionist figurative small paintings.

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 the sidebar under How to Purchase a Painting: http://nancystandlee.blogspot.com

Lemons ~ Luby's ~ Lemon Pie

Lemons by Nancy Standlee
$60.00
Acrylic Collage on Canvas Board 6" x 8"
Something NEW...The Artist Food Network... a new blog for artists to share their recipes and their food paintings. You'll see I included a recipe with this painting and that will be the theme of our blog launched over the weekend. If you're an artist with a great recipe and a great painting of an ingredient of the recipe, or recipe related please check out our blog or send it to Artistrecipes@gmail.com and share it with us. You can read more about it on the blog site and you can subscribe to it by email. We hope you like the new blog and hope to see you there. This is a copy of my post that appeared on the site today.

Several of us painted today and when lunch came Cindy Yandell, Barbara Hackney, and I took off to Luby's. Luby's is a Texas tradition and their motto is "Tastes Like Texas, Feels Like Home." Texas families have been going to Luby's since 1947 and their headquarters are in Houston. There are always requests in the recipe section of the Fort Worth Star Telegram for a Luby speciality. That's where this yellowed copy of Luby's Lemon Icebox Pie came from. I thought it would complement my lemon collage painting. I love collage and attaching bits and pieces to my paintings.
I noticed that in this old 1995 copy the recipe called for raw eggs before it was recommended to be cautious in using them for people with a weakened defense system. When growing up the only way to make homemade ice cream was to use raw eggs and nothing beat a bowl of fresh peach or banana ice cream. There are many recipes to be found for a lemon ice box pie and they all will probably follow this one pretty close but now we see a short baking time. Make it if your hips can stand it.
LEMON ICEBOX PIE
1 can (14 oz. sweetened condensed Milk (Eagle Brand)
3 large eggs, separated
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice (3 or 4 lemons) No bottled lemon juice!
1 teaspoon grated lemon peel
1/4 cup sugar
One 9" graham cracker crust
1. Heat oven to 350 F.
2. Combine milk, egg yolks, lemon juice and lemon peel. Mix until blended. Pour crust and bake for 5 minutes.
3. Beat egg whites until almost stiff and add sugar, a tablespoon at a time, while beating until the whites hold a peak. Spread over the filling to edge of the crust.
4. Bake 12 to 15 minutes at 350 until the meringue is lightly browned. Refrigerate until served.

PS: Interesting find. I have the Luby's 50th Anniversary Recipe Collection cookbook and since I'm an Amazon affiliate I thought I'd check if they had this title in used books. They do. Click on my Amazon link "No image available" and you will soon be looking for the nearest garage sales for this loved cookbook. No I won't sell you mine. I couldn't live without the recipe for Date Nut Muffins.

Calypso Celebration Series #8 of 10 ~ Art Blog ~ TSAP

7.5" x 5.5" image
Acrylic on 140 lb. watercolor paper
The Calypso series #8

This may be one of my favorites from the series, a mysterious looking lady with an elaborate headdress or surrounded by flowers. This is acrylic painted on 140 lb. watercolor paper with an acrylic medium as a varnish. It could be matted and framed under glass or framed without glass. On the previous post the photo shows a side view of how the paintings look attached with an acrylic medium or gel to a canvas panel with the edges painted.

If you enjoy painting in acrylic, you might enjoy joining this new Yahoo group.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TSAP_Membership/

Acrylic Painters, welcome to your Yahoo group! The Society of Acrylic
Painters is a dues-free, officerless, egalitarian group of artists working
in the acrylic medium. TSAP is designed to unite acrylic painters world-wide and to have them share their art related events, photos of their art, to meet and greet artists from other areas, to share techniques, to display their art in art shows, and to enter into some fun art contests.

Two members of our Canvas by Canvas group that have blogs are Pat Salazar, Pcasso’s Page and Elaine Schneider with Elaine’s Blog “I Don’t Do Mornings.”

Drop by. There is always a CELEBRATION at one of these links.
http://nancystandlee.blogspot.com/

Ranch Blossoms ~Bestest Blog ~ Bestest Workshop ~ Bestest Art Blog ~ Art Blog

Ranch Blossoms $190.00
16” x 12”, Acrylic on watercolor paper adhered to gallery wrapped canvas ¾” profile
Last summer I had a delightful workshop on a ranch near Marble Falls. I first saw Robert Burridge’s work on the Cheap Joe’s Art Catalog. It was a a series of coffee cups similar to the ones offered on the Amazon link and I was smitten. That is the power of a painting. I had to know more about this artist and his technique. I purchased his book, his cd’s and tapes, and decided I’d go anywhere to take a workshop. Ranch Blossoms is one of the pieces begun in that workshop. We painted in a metal building with the doors open as there wasn’t air conditioning and this was Texas in September. We wore wet towels around our necks to stay cool. It was glorious.

Now I’ve scheduled a figurative workshop with him in October in Mendocino, California. Bob states in his book Loosen Up

“Remember, all this thinking and creating is just
a game. There is no ultimate significance to it all. However, it’s the best
game there is. I only know that I’m happy to play the game and I paint. But
what it is that I am about to paint, what happens, I never know in advance.”

When I was painting that week at Dena Wenmohs Ranch, I didn’t plan this painting. It just happened. I call the painting “Ranch Blossoms” a mystical name for a mystical painting. It was hot and dusty and one of the most creative weeks I’ve ever had. No TV, out in the country with the donkeys who followed you on the short walk to the main house for lunch at Dena’s home, just eating, talking, dreaming painting.

Bobby Griffin over at the Bestest Blog http://www.bestestblog.com/ is setting up a new directory this morning. I will post more about it later.
http://www.blankestblank.com/

Thanks to Peter Chen's Blogger Tips and Tricks article I was able to get the workshop photo in the middle of the page!! Yoo-Hoo!

I just knew "bestest" wouldn't be in the dictionary but surprise at Dictionary.com I found this entry. It's slang and had one entry. It will probably NOT be my new favorite word.

Calypso Burden Series #7 of 10 ~ Backups ~ Email ~ Link ~ FaceBook

7.5" x 5.5" image
Acrylic on 140 lb. watercolor paper
The Calypso series #7 ~ A series of 10 images, all share some of the same vivid colors and technique of acrylic loosely applied onto a gessoed watercolor surface, ready for framing with or without glass as the acrylic has a medium applied for protection.
As I post more images and information on my art blog, I see the need for some kind of backup. I have made a copy of the Template. I am also emailing copies of my blog to myself. I have 2 email addresses and will use one of them for the copies. Here are my steps for Backup:

1. Blogger Template Backup:
Dashboard/Template/Edit
HTML/Backup/Restore Template/Download Full Template
I put it in a blog folder on my hard drive before I removed some of the html code.
2. Email Backup of Posts:
This does not give you a back up of your images – only the
text.
Dashboard/Settings/Show Email Post Links? / Yes/ Save Settings
At the end of the post, there will be a white envelope , click and fill in the
address to send. If you have enabled Google AutoFill you won’t even have to type
the information in. I have my copies archived in my Google Gmail account and I hope it will never be necessary to access them. I email them to myself after all the edits have been done.

I’ve been reading the HELP section trying to find the answer but I didn’t even know how to phrase the question but I tried this today and it works. For example: If I’m referencing something in my email or in another’s in a blog and I want to link to it here's what I do. On the home page of the blog everyone’s url is the same address. But I want to reference a specific post from my friends blog, Betty talking about A Cause for Celebration or Cindy’s post about Pretty in Pink and Connie’s Kick Up Your Heels . or Margie's Nancy’s Red Boots go to their side bar and find the post you want to reference and click on it and that will take you to a specific url when you are taken to that page, copy and paste it into the link button. That works if you want to refer to links within your own blog, also. See below. All of you may already know that but I didn’t.
I tried to register again in FaceBook. See Tuesday’s Post for my FaceBook experience. This time I made it. I registered for the Dallas/Fort Worth area as I overqualified for the high school or college age crowd. Don’t know what I will do now but I’m registered. A message from FB said I’m now able to email my friends and tell them I’m registered but my friends don’t belong to FB and are not in the database so no friends yet. I don’t think I know one person that uses Facebook.
At least there are 3 friends in Calypso Burden painting. I wonder if they met on FaceBook or in a painting class somewhere?

Polka Dot Dates ~ FaceBook ~

Sassy Shoes Series

6" x 6" Acrylic on canvas

$40.00

This painting is available from Canvas by Canvas, a collaborative group, I belong to. There are many benefits of being a member and one is becoming really good friends with 11 people, and it's my feeling you just can't have too many friends. One member, Cindy Yandell, has made a great post on telling about how we work, in the Canvas by Canvas, LLC - Our First Birthday.

This friendship connection topic took me to Technorati to do a search on FaceBook and it's popularity. I found 346,856 blog posts listed when I searched for FaceBook and I looked at several them. I thought this one was particularly interesting at Southeast VC. Jason Caplain has given some surprising statistics. I tried to sign up but so far haven't gotten my confirmation. When you sign up you choose between College/graduate school, At a company, In high school, or None of the Above and your email address and they will send you a confirmation. (I chose None of the Above since they didn't list a 70 or above category) About 3 hours later, my invitation hasn't appeared in my inbox. I looked in my Spam folder and the only thing there was more emails to consider enhancing anatomy that I don't even have. In their Q&A section they give specifics to send an email in regard of your confirmation. I've sent 2 that the Barracuda Spam Firewall has fired back to me. Ok, I give for today and I'll stick with my Canvas by Canvas group.

(NFS) Calypso Market Series #6 of 10 -~ PageRank ~ Wi-Fi

Donated to the Arlington Museum Black and White Gala
7.5" x 5.5" image
Acrylic on 140 lb. watercolor paper
The Calypso series #6 of 10

Good news for my laptop traveling friends and good news this morning for those living along the Thames. Free access is open to a Wi-Fi hot spot for about a 13 mile stretch in London. Yoo-Hooo!
The painting is of two friends enjoying a special moment while shopping. Shopping for what? That’s for you to decide. Maybe it’s for some of those really Sassy high heels they’ve heard about at the Canvas by Canvas site or leaf-green limes, maybe mangoes or lemons. Or they might be conversing about PageRank and it’s importance to a beginning blogger. See more about PageRank with our friend Mr. Wiki at Wikipedia.
Google assigns a numeric weighting from 0-10 for each webpage on the Internet; this PageRank denotes your site’s importance in the eyes of Google. The Google Toolbar has a symbol to show PageRank. The Google Toolbar's PageRank feature displays a visited page's PageRank as a whole number between 0 and 10. The most popular websites have a PageRank of 10. The least have a PageRank of 0. I have a Google Toolbar and I’ve never know the meaning of that little horizontal bar – looks a little like a horizontal thermometer. So now as I find out more about it, I’m curious about everyone's PageRank since I don’t even have the slightest smidge of leaf green color in my little themometer. I have zero page rank. Ohhhhh! I’d like to have at least 1 little piece of leaf green to show.
There are several theories on how to get PageRank. Go to one of my favorite places to look for answers at Peter Chen for Blogger Tips and Tricks and type in PageRank in his search bar. His site has a PageRank of 5 – way to go PC.
This post cautions about who you link to: http://blogger-tricks.blogspot.com/2006/11/precaution-to-take-before-linking-to.html

Peter suggests you do one important thing to increase your PageRank if this is a concern of yours. Register with DMOZ and Google . If you have a blog and want to get a good page ranking read this post: http://blogger-tricks.blogspot.com/search/label/DMOZ
I registered my blog at both places. Read carefully the instructions given before registering.
If you don’t have a Google toolbar and don’t want one, (can’t imagine why you wouldn’t) here is a site, Top 25 Web, (PageRank 6) to search for a web or blog's url to see their PageRank.
For example: I looked for Amazon (PR 9) and Dick Blick (PR 7) – 2 of my most used searches and sites and where most of my expendable income ends up for books and art supplies and listed on my side bar for your convenience of shopping.
Yes, you know I had to search out Google’s PageRank and are you surprised? Yep, it’s a 10, after all, it’s their deal. It’s amazing how popular they have become and most people know exactly what you mean when you say, "Oh, just Google her or him or it…"
My bet is when our Calypso Market shoppers pass a Wi-Fi hot spot; they will stop and check their PageRank.
If you want to see if there is a Wi-Fi hot spot in your area check out this link at Free HotSpot, and put in your zip code, maybe share a laptop/java moment with a friend before plantain shopping.

Sold ~ If You Give A Mouse a Cookie ~ Or How I Got From There to Here

"Always Thinking" self portrait
SOLD to Art collectors in Colorado
22" x 15" image
140 lb. watercolor paper
If You Give a Mouse a Cookie.. by Laura Numeroff
My elementary library students used to love to hear that book read to them and it tells about the circuitous route this mouse takes after he wants a cookie and it gives valuable lessons on cause and effect. Check it out by clicking on my Amazon link button to the above and to the right. I feel like that mouse in search of a cookie this morning. Plans were made to hit the kitchen table to pay bills but after checking my FeedBlitz email, I got all involved in reading the email from Peter Chen on blogger tips on putting a photo at the bottom of your blog . So I emailed him to ask if I followed his directions would that be my photo or his. I’m a newbie remember? So he answered and put it in his comments and that went on for awhile and I always like to check out others’ comments and found this one on Chen's site.
I like to read comments nearly as much as posts and right below one of Chen's posts was this comment posted on 6/25/2007 by
Daniel Thompson and he said on Chen's blog...

I have been reading your blog for some time, but never bothered to leave a
comment. I have found it to be helpful and posted a little article about it
here:
http://profiledirectory.blogspot.com/2007/06/blogger-tips-and-tricks.html

So now I want to go register my profile with Daniel Thompson. That I have done and if you are not convinced to do the same read this post where he lists why profile pages are important… Then at the bottom on his links of Wrong Blog, …
he mentioned he’d won a prestigious award so I was intrigued. Mr. Thompson says: I was surprised, no I was stunned, to receive an email from Bobby Griffin saying that I won the coveted Bestest Blog of the Day Award. I mean, this blog isn't even a week old!

So who is Bobby Griffin and I had to go check out The Bestest Blog of All-Times. Yes, I want to sign up here and I added his link to my blog roll under Blogs I Like.

After reading this interview with him, I felt like he was a pretty good guy and I’d like his Bestest Blog.
Internet interview with Bobbie Griffin about what a blog should be. http://tomasinagunterouw.wordpress.com/2007/07/14/an-interview-with-bobby-griffin/

OK, I’m going to want to join up with anyone who wants to promote my blog. Bobby, you and I are new best friends. So it’s now after noon and no bills are paid and it began when I wanted to read Peter Chen’s one article. If you give a girl a computer, she’s gonna want to email, then she’s gonna want to blog and quickly found out that blogging is like email on steroids. Maybe, eventually I'll get back to the bills.
The book, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, by Laura Joffe Numeroff, gives valuable lessons on cause and effect and is suitable for ages 4-8 or maybe a senior or two..maybe even 71. The first line sets the mood, “If you give a mouse a cookie, he’s going to ask for a glass of milk.” On Amazon it was rated 5 stars and reviewed by 109 satisfied customers. To read more about the book, click on the Amazon link button on this page. Felicia Bond illustrated the book. Other titles in the series: If you Give a Moose a Muffin and If You Give a Pig a Pancake recommended by Oprah's Books for Kid's Reading List. All are wonderful reads.
I found this on YouTube if you'd like to hear more about the mouse and the cookie.

CALYPSO JUDGE Series #5 of 10 More BLOG and PING

7.5" x 5.5" image
Acrylic on 140 lb. watercolor paper
The Calypso series #5

This figure reminds me of a judge. What do you see? I have the bright colors, and lots of splatter, and the addition of the black and white squares suggests a checkerboard. It is dramatic when you have your darkest dark up against the lightest light in a painting and it will tend to draw the eye to this area. I don’t want an exact likeness but just an impression that does not bore.
In yesterday’s post, I reported on a ping site. Today I have another site to add to our arsenal and instructions on how to put it on your blog so as to ping several blog directories to possibly cause some indirect traffic to appear at your blog site. My painting buddies at Canvas by Canvas are calling us "Nancy and the Bloggernuts" and these instructions are directed more at the Bloggernuts than anyone else.
Autopinger is a free and convenient service for all bloggers. Just set it and forget it. It relays your blog updates to blog search engines every 30 minutes or you can add a button and ping after you update. Disclaimer! I’ve been blogging about 2 weeks now (a baby blogger trying to find my way in the blogosphere). Please read your directions for your Ping Me button as given on http://autopinger.com/ as the ones given below are only suggestions.

Gadzooks! Batman!...go for it.
Go to: http://autopinger.com/

Register- Sign up is free
You will receive an email notification, follow
instructions
Sign up by clicking
Go to My Account
Add new blog
Type in the url of your blog - ADD
Set ping services (on the left)
All are set automatically
Get the: Quick Ping Button
Copy the html
code generated (scroll down, left click inside the box, control C to copy
(Here I paste it in a Word document in case for some strange reason I lose
it?) Paranoia?
At Blogger Template, add a page, HTML, and paste in the code
(I had a box at the bottom of my page that I’d put in a stat counter (the long
skinny one) So as not to add another box on my page, I used the stat counter box
and pressed enter several times to put some space between the html code and
added the Ping info into the same box.)
Paste into the Blogger template
(Here grab you a glass of iced tea and bring it back to your computer...Be
careful of spills! or some Sweet tea, sometimes known as Southern Table Wine.
View and Ping the PING ME button...Fun! and Watch what
happens in the pop up window…Drink you iced tea and WAIT and WATCH as your site is pinged to death. Autoping will do this automatically every 30 minutes.

(I can’t believe computers all over the world are being pinged every 30 minutes but then I don’t understand electricity either or even how my coffee pot works!) OR and this is the fun part you can press your Ping Me button when you have an update. BLOG and PING!! Scroll all the way down to the bottom of my page and you can see my Ping Me button and yours should look just the same. I hope so. Happy Pinging!

Sold ~ CALYPSO ANGEL Series #4 of 10 by Nancy Standlee BLOG and PING

SOLD to an art collector in Austin, TX

7.5" x 5.5" image
Acrylic on 140 lb. watercolor paper
The Calypso series #4.

I’m in “blogging infancy” and absolutely enjoy sharing my images each day. Not everyone in our Canvas by Canvas group agrees but Margie Whittington does. Here is her email to me this morning after finding more search items related to her name and the blogs and edited in part,

"****Thank you Nancy for being our R & B GURU ! (Research and blogging guru)
***** Now besides CBC Sistahs, we are..."Nancy and the Bloggernuts"....sounds
like a children's TV show.
Have a good day everyone. I'm off to paint
fairies and flowers in Alyssa's room in Benbrook.
I'll catch up on the
emails this evening.
Margie"

Yes, Margie I agree, “Nancy and the Bloggernuts” sounds like a Saturday morning cartoon. She may be referring to a hint I sent yesterday from morning research I did for getting traffic to your blog. I think others might like to have this information also.
1. Pinging connects or notifies a number of services that update and track your blog by crawling and indexing your site to help increase your blog’s popularity. Why would you want to be "pinged"? In May 2007, blog search engine Technorati was tracking more than 71 million blogs.

2. This service, Pingoat, will ping several services at once. I tried it and so did some of the others from CBC and will it help? We’re newbie’s and we don’t know but here is how I did it. I skipped the first yellow highlighted area, scroll down to Get Started, and fill in your information. I left Xml blank because I didn’t know what it was. This is a little confusing when they say ( Click category title to Select all ;-) You click on GENERAL and all the ones below are checked. I did not check non-English nor Special and then GO PINGOAT!

No guarantees it will work. It’s just what I did. Why? I think blogs are
changing the landscape and I want to be a part of it.
Here is another site that has more pinging information from Quick Online Tips

http://www.quickonlinetips.com/archives/2005/09/one-click-multiple-blog-services-pinging
But I see that this is a 2005 archive and may not be current.

What do you see in this painting exhibited today? Do you see a mysterious lady with wings, an angel perhaps or a figure surrounded by a very colorful sky? I thought of an angel, a supernatural being, a guardian acting as God’s messenger to man. I scraped into the surface with the end of the brush and color shaper tools, splattered paint, and generally just got messy with the painting. This series is painted on a ground of white gesso on watercolor paper.

Click on the Dick Blick icon on the right for more information about the Colour Shaper tools from one of my favorite art suppliers, Dick Blick. Be sure you search COLOUR Shapers.

Colour Shapers are a revolutionary tool for painting, drawing, lifting, and blending. Invented by artists for artists, Colour Shapers combine tradition with exciting new technology. The durable tips are made of an advanced rubber composite. Apply oil or acrylic paint straight from the tube with a Colour Shaper, and then use it to carve back into the paint for a variety of texture and surface effects. The tool easily lifts paint from the surface or draws lines, contours, and edges on the color. With seamless nickel ferrules and lacquered hardwood handles, they offer the quality needed by dedicated artists. To clean, simply dip the tips in water or solvent and wipe with a cloth. Don't worry — dried color just peels away!

BLOG AND PING. New vocabulary? Are angels ancient territory in the realm of man or as new to you as blog and ping? Blog. Ping. Angels.

CALYPSO MUSIC Series #3 of 10 by Nancy Standlee

7.5" x 5.5" image
Acrylic on 140 lb. watercolor paper
The Calypso series began at a paint-out with some of the Canvas by Canvas members. I’ve used the same bold color palette throughout the series. If you asked me if I could paint the figures again I’d have to say “I don’t know”. It was a moment when all senses were synchronized. I am amazed that hints and suggestions of paint can create an emotional response from the viewer and the viewer reads the painting as “I see a dancer or I see a woman with a child”. I read and collect a lot of art books and some titles I’ll share here, but this weekend I didn’t open a book or use a photo for reference for this group of acrylic paintings. I painted until a human form appeared and I kept painting until I could see a shape that was somewhat identifiable.
Camplin left this comment in the painting “Saturday Synchronicity” on my blog.

"Have you seen the Bay Area Figurative Movement artists? Here is a list of
artists for that movement: Elmer Bischoff, Adelie landis Bischoff, Joan Brown,
William Henry Brown, Theophilus Brown, Ann Hogle, Eleanor Kent, Bruce McGaw,
Manuel Neri, Nathan Oliveira, Joe Oddo, Clayton Pinkerton, Hassel Smith, James
Weeks, Paul Wonner.
I think it is important to look at other artists that are
doing similar things."

Because of that comment I ordered the book Bay Area Figurative Art: 1950-1965, by Caroline Jones today. If you’d like to read a description of the book you can click on the Amazon symbol and do a book search. I took a workshop and have a book by Robert Burridge, “Loosen Up” (available from his site) and he lists the figurative book as one of "Bob's Library of Favorites (for now). I ordered Elmer Bischoff: The Ethics of Paint also.
Series #4 for tomorrow or maybe a cupcake or a high heel – I’m flexible.

ANNOUNCING ...Our New Mini Series CUPCAKES

CUPCAKE CELEBRITIES

Cupcake Love by Nancy Standlee

6" x 6" Acrylic on canvas Gallery wrapped canvas 7/8" profile

For purchase go to http://canvasbycanvas.com/ Custom frames are available in single, double, triple or quadruple and can be viewed along with the shoes on our website. Canvas by Canvas

We hope you love these little gems as much as we have loved creating them. All things small and wonderful. These are our newest paintings. We look forward to your responses. When our collaborative painting group began talking about the cupcake series it generated hundreds of emails over night. One CBCer woke up to 150 new emails after thinking the topic had waned and went to bed. She wrote to me “You sure talk slow but type fast.” Others not involved in blogging – YET-- tend to call the rest “Bloggernuts” and I may have to agree. But we’re just “baby bloggers” excited about cupcakes and blogging. I did a “cupcake” blog search on Technorati and oh, well, HELLO! So I need to add a disclaimer here. “No, we’re not cupcakes. We’re painting cupcakes.” Most of us have a history with cupcakes. I don’t think I remember my Mom making them but she did make her share of 3 layer chocolate cakes from scratch: however, I’ve made my share for school parties, but none as cute as our fancy little acrylic cupcake numbers. I found a delightful article in the San Francisco Chronicle by Amanda Gold, called Cupcake Cravings: These irresistible confections bring out the kid in all of us. For a great cupcake blog try Chockylit Cupcake Bakeshop. Now Johnny Cupcakes is another story. Here is part of it about how he started a very successful t-shirt design company
“I began poking fun at pop culture by replacing familiar icons with cupcakes! A Statue of Liberty holding a cupcake instead of a torch, a jet plane dropping cupcakes instead of bombs..and at the time the skull and crossbones was all over the place, so I thought it would be funny to replace the skull with a cupcake. That t-shirt seemed to be the most bold, memorable and admirable t-shirtout of the random shirts I continued releasing.”

So everyone seems to have a cupcake connection. Our cupcakes paintings are whimsical plus a bit of nostalgia, and trendy and we hope you like them. We’ve had a ton of fun painting them.

Sold ~ Calypso Carnival Series #2 of 10 by Nancy Standlee

SOLD to an art collector in Austin, TX

7.5" x 5.5" image
Acrylic on 140 lb. watercolor paper

This Calypso Carnival was painted over the weekend and is presented as the second in the Calypso series. To see how our workspace was set up go to the Canvas by Canvas site.
I posted some photos and decribed our new project that will be presented on Tuesday on our collaborative web site, Canvas by Canvas.

Calypso Family Series #1 of 10 by Nancy Standlee

7.5" x 5.5" image
Acrylic on 140 lb. watercolor paper
The Calypso series was begun this play and paint weekend at a Canvas by Canvas members' home. Scenario: Member's husband goes to Europe, 6 painter friends arrive with cars loaded down with art supplies and food ready to work on Friday. It was late Saturday evening when my CBC work was completed and I began to think about some personal paintings. This series is the result of an intense focused weekend of painting. It is impressionist and painted more from emotions than photos. So as not to suffer from girl friend withdrawal, some members will paint together on Monday at the Upstairs Gallery. Watch our sites and blogs for an exciting announcement of new work to follow after our weekend of painting.

SOLD ~ Women Only Red Lipstick by Nancy Standlee

Women Only Red Lipstick
6” x 8” Acrylic on Canvas Panel

Red Lipstick. On my AT&T/Yahoo homepage this headline and video caught my eye. Since I didn’t think there were very many things left just “For Women” I did a Google search….Wrong! There were millions of hits. I was interested in Pommygranate’s blog that reported this "Women-Only Beach" item. I like the idea of lipstick still being in the female domain. It’s one of my earliest memories of femininity. Your mom making sure your first tube was the palest of pinks and hiding out in the school bathroom to try on the newest shade from a friend. One friend, Shirley, in high school, always wore Revlon’s “Orchids to You” and when she said the name, I always thought she said “Orchid Stew”. Why do I still remember that? I did a Google search on “Orchids to You” and came up with a delightful story, “Harrell: At the beauty parlor”, posted in 2003 in the Carolina Morning News about her experience with “Orchids to You” nail polish and another beauty product, the Frankenstein machine for perms (I’ve had one of those also). Now it seems the newer lipstick names are “Wild Orchid” and “Orchid Beach”. Do you wear “Orchid Beach” lipstick at the women only beach? Whatever the color, it’s better than crushing carmine beetles like Cleopatra as mentioned in Wikipedia. I like Red and red lipstick for women only.

Christian Cross Acrylic Painting by Nancy Standlee

$90.00
10” x 8” 1 ½” profile Gallery Wrapped Canvas
Acrylic on Canvas

This Christian Cross Painting has been a WIP (work in progress) from a class I took from a Canvas by Canvas member, Margie Whittington. Our instructions were to bring a design to class, ready to paint. I found a photo taken at my daughter’s of a wooden cross she had on the wall. I have a photo file of different styles of crosses but since this one is hers, it makes it more special to me. Acrylics tend to darken as they dry, and it seems this painting had become a little gloomy since it was first painted so I decided on this day of celebration I’d brighten up the painting.
The collaborative art group I belong to has painted and sold several larger cross paintings made up of six 6” x 6” squares. The cross is one of the most ancient human symbols and this general shape is used by Christianity. Sometimes it is a representation of the world into 4 elements. For more information on the cross shape, go to Wiki.

Sold ~ Fish City Grill Arlington by Nancy Standlee

SOLD
7.5” x 11”
Pen and Ink on Fabriano 140 cold press watercolor paper

Some friends, (CC, Cindy, and Barbara) and I decided to eat lunch at Fish City Grill in our newest shopping center, the Arlington Highlands Town Center, at Matlock and I 20. I’ve eaten at some of the Dallas sites and have been eagerly awaiting their grand opening in Arlington. Their motto “Friendly Folks. Serious Seafood” certainly was true yesterday. Maddie was our gracious waitress and told us “We were her best table today”. What a nice compliment for customers to hear. Maybe we were her first table for the day? We didn’t want to leave. The food and companionship were a great combination. Too soon we had to be off to DeSoto to hang our Canvas by Canvas exhibit. The invitation and map is at the very bottom of our home page.
Pen and ink is a favorite medium to use in my journals. You can sketch and then come back later to color the image or as in the case yesterday, take a photo, and then sketch it another day. If you are interested in sketchbook journaling may I suggest these books:

• How to Make a Journal of Your Life by Dan Price
  Moonlight Chronicles by Dan Price
  The Creative License by Danny Gregory
  Everyday Matters by Danny Gregory
  Art Escapes by Dory Kanter
• If you are interested in any of these books, click on the Amazon icon and do a search for more descriptions.
  Danny Gregory has a large Yahoo group that has 2549 members.
  
• SOLD to Fish City Grill
  

Red CROCS by Nancy Standlee

$70.00
6" x 8"
Acrylic on artist canvas panel

Red Crocs
I mentioned in a post of my recent experience at Tampa General. Instructions stated to wear something loose and comfortable for admitting. Crocs fit that description and I needed a red something for flash since I couldn’t have my turquoise jewelry or makeup. Soon after I entered their covered pavilion walkway, I was stripped and told to wear their duds consisting of a back tied skimpy gown and blue paper shoes. I would always choose cute red plastic over blue paper in footwear. My comfy clothes were deposited in a large white plastic tote along with my Crocs. I thought the medical profession liked Crocs. (The Crocs company doesn’t call it plastic but a material called Croslite.)
Are my red Crocs the ultimate shoe faux pas – worse than wearing white shoes after September 1? At my age I really don’t need to fall and the Crocs are steadying forces, not unlike my last summer sandals, MBT. I became a little concerned when I was given a dvd explaining how to walk in them after I wrote the check. I thought I had walking down pretty pat. When reaching senior years your kids sometimes take away your car keys, but mine have been threatening to take away my MBTs because of the rocking motion when I come to a stop. Forward is ok. So far they haven’t threatened to take away the red Crocs and I really do feel like a shoe fashionista when wearing them. What artist would not like the wonderful palette of colors in fuchsia, green, purple, yellow and good old red.
The painting style is different today, more whimsical, and smaller in size, fun to paint. I’m not ready to pin down my “style”. After retiring I thought a few lessons would become a nice little leisure activity but it has become a way of life.
May the tread on your Crocs never wear down.