L. Gruger Whimsical Art and Travels Blog

July 29th, 2010

“Leaning into Starlight” Whimsical Acrylic Painting

We have these cool starlight lanterns hanging outside on our deck. We bought them a few years ago in Mexico on one of our trips down there. I love them in the daylight and I especially love them in the evening. I was going to wait till this evening to take a pic of them but I couldn’t wait.

starlight lantern

These starry lanterns seem to have made their way into one of my paintings, hanging in the branches of whimsical trees.

I’m really fond of this painting below. It’s one of my favorites of the one’s that I’ve done recently. It’s titled “Leaning into Starlight”.

Leaning into Starlight

Leaning into Starlight
20″ x 30″
Acrylic on Wood
Unframed, $750

My favorite part of the painting are the trees leaning into each other and holding the star lantern. When I was painting it, I was thinking about the two trees being a couple and I liked that they leaned together, sharing the light.

Leaning into Starlight Detail detail

I found out after I had painted these recent whimsical woodlands, that aspen trees grow in colonies and share the same root system underground. Wikipedia says “Each individual tree can live for 40–150 years above ground, but the root system of the colony is long-lived. In some cases, this is for thousands of years, sending up new trunks as the older trunks die off above ground.”

Sometimes you’ll see a stand of trees that have turned color but another stand that has not. I was told it was because the one’s that have their leaves all yellow share the same root system with the others so they all turn color at the same time. That surprised me to hear that because I’d never thought of that before. I like this.

I’m now calling my whimsical tree paintings aspens rather than birch. I read online that birch don’t like hot, dry areas and since we live in the high desert I’m sure these are aspens. Although mine have no leaves. Yet. Maybe I’ll try some with leaves. What do you think? Do you think my trees need leaves?

Soon I’m going to make a greeting card of this painting as well as some for my other magical woodlands paintings. When I have them ready, I’ll list them in my Etsy Shop. You can find an 8.5″ x 11″ print of this painting in my Etsy Shop now. Hope you enjoy “Leaning into Starlight”.

July 20th, 2010

Prayer Flags in my Art

Prayerflags2

“Prayer flags are colorful panels or rectangular cloths often found strung along mountain ridges and peaks in the Himalayas to bless the surrounding countryside. Unknown in other branches of Buddhism, prayer flags are believed to have originated with Bon, which predated Buddhism in Tibet. Traditionally they are woodblock-printed with texts and images.” -Wikipedia

Our neighbors down in Baja had prayer flags attached to the railings on the top level of their home. It’s a tall brown house. The flags were very colorful and hung right off their upper patio. They would flutter in the wind and when I would paint in my studio, I could see them.

They were a happy reminder of peace and good will. I liked seeing them there.

But after a few weeks, they took them down. Don’t know why. I have to say I missed them. So I painted my own. They made their way into a small 16″ x 20″ painting.

My Prayer Flags hang in a whimsical, magical woodland. They flutter in the wind, blessing everything around them. I’ve read that the Buddhists believe that every time the flags flutter in the wind, a prayer is released up to the heavens above. I like that.

Each color of the flags symbolize natural elements of nature – earth (yellow), water (green), fire (red), air (white) and space (blue).

On prayerflags.com they say, “The ancient Buddhist prayers, mantras and powerful symbols displayed on them produce a spiritual vibration that is activated and carried by the wind across the countryside. All beings that are touched by the wind are uplifted and a little happier. The silent prayers are blessings spoken on the breath of nature. Just as a drop of water can permeate the ocean, prayers dissolved in the wind extend to fill all of space…”

You can read more about prayer flags at http://www.prayerflags.com/download/article.pdf

PrayerFlags

“Prayers Spoken on the Breath of the Wind”
Acrylic on Canvas
16″ x 20″
by L. Gruger

July 16th, 2010

Horse and Rider

We watched a cool video on PBS called Horse and Rider. It was on their Nature channel. We found it really fascinating because both Greg and I have owned horses in the past.

We think they are magnificent animals. Watching the video confirmed my belief in that. I know many of you feel the same way.

When we were in Todos Santos, there were a couple times that horses would go running down the road in front of our casita. No rider. No nothing. Just horses running free. I’m sure they belonged to someone. It just seemed that noone was too worried about them.

We found it sorta funny to see them roaming with no one after them or riding them. I would always go get Greg to tell him if I saw them first.We both enjoy watching horses…especially ones that are running around free.

I must have been influenced by them because I put one in my painting while working in my art studio in Mexico. It is titled “Run like the Wind”.

horse1

“Run like the Wind”
Acrylic on Wood Board
24″ x 30″, Unframed, $750

Tell me about a horse in your life if you have one or used to.

July 6th, 2010

We Camped at Playa Escondida on the Sea of Cortez

We’re back in Bend, Oregon. We left Todos Santos on the 25th. We stopped on the Sea of Cortez at Playa Escondida for a couple days of R & R. We love camping on the beach!

We snorkeled and swam and caught the rays! It was hot! About 105, maybe more.

We built a great little camp with a palapa hut.

camp

The views were beautiful!

The water was my favorite color! I call it mediterranean green. But maybe I should be calling it Sea of Cortez green.

View

I liked this painting overlooking the beach.

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It was way up there. I like surprises like that…when you’re looking around and then you notice something way up in the rocks and you have to squint to see it or get your zoom camera like I did.

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Our friend Heidi traveled up Baja with us. This is Greg and Heidi enjoying dinner by the sea. I had to stop and go get the camera and I snapped their pic.

There was a full moon that came up over the mountains. It was so orange and gorgeous! Hard to capture by photo just how spectacular it was!

fullmoon

Greg fixed us killer margaritas. He’s mastered the recipe!

gregfixinmargaritas

He also mastered the art of relaxation!

Greg

Heidi and I were pretty happy relaxing too!

happycampers

And Greg and I were especially happy because one morning on a walk along the beach, Greg proposed and I said yes! Here we are celebrating with big, happy smiles!

gregandlindy

Now we’re back home but we sure have good memories from our camping and road trip!

I hope your days are bright and blessed!!

Got any fun plans for the summer?

June 24th, 2010

Furball and Art Auction Painting

My artist friend Beth Parker made the sweetest painting titled Barbados Beach Shack. I love that painting and I have a card of it in my art studio. It inspired me to create my own little beach shack. Mine is titled “Little Blue Beach Shack” and it is a donation painting I’ve created for the Todos Santos Furball and Art Auction that will be held in February 2011.

Little Blue Beach Shack by L. Gruger

Detail

The Furball is a fundraiser that has been held over the years and is organized by our friend Angelique in Todos Santos.

A quote from the Baja Western Onion says, “These funds are used for the on-going effort to spay and neuter the dogs and cats of Todos Santos and Pescadero. Local vets perform these operations weekly, both in Todos Santos and at El Refugio in Pescadero. In addition, there is an annual clinic when U.S. vets come to our community and perform surgeries on two hundred or more dogs and cats.”

Angelique’s passion is the animals and especially the kitties!

catsign

Angelique runs “Kitty Heaven” which is a refuge for homeless cats in the Todos Santos and surrounding area.

kittyheaven

The cats run freely in a sheltered area that she had built. They are well cared for, spayed or neutered and their shots updated. All are up for adoption.

Inside

But Angelique needs help with maintaining Kitty Heaven. She can’t do it alone.

catwalk

There are about 25-30 cats at any one time at Kitty Heaven being cared for.

kitty1

Angelique knows them all by name. She knows each of their stories. Where they came from and for how long they’ve been at Kitty Heaven.

kitty2

kitty3

kitty6 If you can make a donation to help Angelique with Kitty Heaven, it would be greatly appreciated! See the link below. Thanks!

CLICK HERE TO DONATE ONLINE VIA PAYPAL!!!

June 21st, 2010

Spent the day in Todos Santos

We played tourist today. You can see my friend from Seattle below with Greg. She flew in on Sunday and we picked her up in Cabo. Today we wandered around Todos Santos showing her the sights.

First, we stopped at the Cultural Center and looked at art and learned some history of the area. I like this Frida Kahlo painting below.

There are lots of little galleries and shops to explore. This carved door below is at artist Charles Stewart’s house and gallery. His website says “Charles was the first and founding artist of this rapidly growing colony of very talented, professional artists. He was the only working artist who had a gallery in Todos Santos up until 1995.” Now there are lots of artists in Todos Santos.

One of my fav artists is Jill Logan. So we went down to her gallery and checked out the latest paintings.

Then there was one little shop that gave us tequila shots and Greg tried on this poncho and mask which made us laugh. We had fun!

I love this purple building with the red bougainvillea in front of it.

You can look around and see art everywhere. In the color of the buildings, in flowers, in the architecture. I love the way certain buildings have sweet details, for example, this saint below.

We wandered around looking at stuff. We bought a couple things. Stopped for a taco and then ice cream at Happy Cream.

Soon the sun was beginning to set.

TodosSantos1

We stopped at the Todos Santos Inn for a cerveza before we headed home. They have beautiful garden areas there and it was peaceful and relaxing after walking around all day.

Then we headed back to the casita. Tomorrow we’re headed to the beach to show Heidi some sun and surf. On Friday we start our drive back to Oregon.

June 15th, 2010

Painting and Making Whimsical Recycled Garden Art

One way to bring a little color into your home is to make colorful garden planters using paint and recycled washing machine drums.

I painted the one above last year. It’s great for cactus because they don’t need much water.

I made a bright flower motif one this year.

I’ll show you the progression of one I decorated with a cactus design below.

I started with an empty washing machine drum that I cleaned up to look like this.

Next I added a layer of color using oil paint and let it dry.

Then I used black paint and sketched out my design from some drawings I made beforehand.

Then I started filling in with color what I’d sketched.

I’m able to get different shades of color by adding white or other colors together. For instance, the green is made with a yellow and blue mix. One shade has more blue in it and one has more yellow and white in it.

I tried to add a little dimension to it by layering some lighter shades over the darker shades.

Then the fun part comes in when I get to add the details. In this case the needles on the cactus and the border along the top.

I especially liked the little cross needles on the below cactus.

This one was a fun one to paint and I especially like the way it came out.

While I was painting whimsical garden planters, Greg was making this rustic chair. The back is made from palm stems that he recycled when he trimmed the palm trees. He had to cut the barbs off each stem or else one would get their clothes stuck on them.

The stems will eventually turn brown as the wood dries. We like the green color though, so he’s thinking of staining the legs and arms a green tint. We’ll see. Either way, I think it came out really cool and it’s comfy to sit in!

Have you made something lately? Would love to know what you’ve made.

Happy creating!

June 12th, 2010

Going Bananas in Baja

Last year we transplanted some banana trees in a new garden in front of our casita. It was one of the last things we did before we headed back to Oregon last year.

Before we arrived this year we wondered how much the garden had grown.

Everything really took off and especially the banana trees!

I didn’t know much about how bananas grow before we had banana trees. So I thought you might like to know more about them too.

First there’s a pod that develops. I swear this one was not there yesterday and now today it is. The pod grows very fast!

Then comes some long flowery bud-like things off the top of the pod.

They attract lots of bees.

Then they start forming bananas.

It makes a long stem with the pod at the end. I’m not sure how it gets this long. It sheds petals and grows new flower buds similar to the first photos.

The bananas are small but there’s lots of them!

We chop the bunch while they’re still green and hang it off the patio to ripen. Within a week, we have lots of little yellow bananas that taste wonderful!

It’s pretty cool.

Oh, and this planter box I painted last year is a recycled washing machine drum. In another blog post I’m going to show you more planter boxes I painted.

A couple weeks ago we met a man who did some welding for us and he had a few spare washing machine drums at his shop. I asked him and he gave me two. One I painted with bright flowers and one with cactus. Stay tuned for pics.

Enjoy your weekend!

Lindy Gruger Hanson

Inspiration