PAINTINGS BY LEE MITCHELSON ~ Daily Brushstrokes from One Artist's Life

I am truly inspired...

2010-11-21T10:29:00.000-08:00

I had the pleasure of spending a day in a home that had beautiful paintings on the walls. I studied them all day.
One I especially enjoyed was seascape impressionism in oil. I admired the brushstrokes, the painting was done with a bristle flat, as far as I could tell. Passages of color, expertly laid down. Kudos, to the late painter, Alfred Wands. I will try to find a photo of that painting and if I do I will put it up.

Love Never Faileth....One year later

2010-11-19T09:16:00.000-08:00

Today is the one year anniversary of my Mike standing beside me and marrying me last November 19th, 2009. Every day I love him more than the day before, every day he looks more like he did 40 years ago, to me. I love that! I still don't know why God kept us apart four decades before we reunited, except, speaking for myself, I had a lot to learn. It is as important in life to learn what you do not want, and what you will not stand for, as it is to comprehend the true desires of your heart and what you will fight for, even unto death. Mike and I had to grow up and we most certainly needed to heal from many emotional scars we already had when we met long ago and fell in love.
I have my prince, my lover, my sweetheart, my champion. I have the companion I thought I could never have in life. With him, I feel like my lonely days are over, in what time the two of us have together. I did okay alone for such a long time, in fact I had become quite set in my determination to remain that way. That was not the plan my Creator had for me. I feel enchanted, as if when Mike and I walk down the street, we are a miracle. We feel miraculous! I have talked about the possible reasons why we are so fortunate, and know that if we had listened to the negativity of some people instead of following our own passionate hearts, we would not be together today. Here is where I must thank those people who really care about me and about Mike, and who supported us and celebrated our opportunity to be together again. We were led to this day, shown a future that can be happier than any past ever was.... I am so glad that we are impetuous, that we plunged ahead with courage and a great deal of faith. Faith we felt strongly, because to have many years pass and then reunite and feel the same love, more even, than we did in our youth, and to feel like we had been apart weeks not decades, to have years of struggling without each other melt away.... it gives you a sureness in your heart. Relief in knowing there was a Masterplan for us, after all.
Seeing us together, my daughter and son laughingly said to each other that now they know what had been wrong with me all those years....half my brain was missing! And it's true, it does seem like Mike and I share a brain. (Which reminds me of our saying around here, that " Two half-wits, make a whole"). I'm grateful my family gets to see me this way. It is a gift to see your parent truly happy and in love.

UPDATE ABOUT ARTISTS UNITED FOR ANIMAL RESCUE (AUAR)

2010-09-26T10:22:00.000-07:00

The group I founded, AUAR, is the sister group to the website www.petloverspromise.com and we are setting up individual pages for each artist there. My goal is to move the AUAR info to PLP, and be able to remove my website activity from the homestead site.

AUAR will be continuing to fund raise for animal charities both from the list on PLP and at each artist's discretion. If it is via eBay listings, and for a PLP/AUAR charity, then the acronym of AUAR and the charity's "hope code" will be in the title of the listing. These are listings for charities we have permission letters from. If we do not have the letter and the charity is hooked up with eBay's Giving Works program, then the Hope Code does not need to be in the title line, but AUAR does! If you as an artist do not put AUAR in your title line, you are not holding an AUAR supporting auction or listing.

AUAR requests that members show some indication of interest in supporting animal rescue via AUAR. If members do not respond to emails etc from me a couple times, they will be removed from membership. If we have an opportunity to have a serious exhibit for one of our charities, and members who are requested to participate, do not wish to do so, they have that option. I am hoping that a certain Sedona gallery may offer such an exhibit to us, and Actors and Others for Animals, one of our charities, is keeping this in mind as well, for possibly a California gallery. Stephanie, dear Stephanie, with AAO, is staying in touch with me about it. Any gallery exhibit of this type will have art selected for inclusion by me and the gallery director and will have to be very professionally presented (framed) or on gallery-wrap canvas and really good photography provided. We probably would go in together with both AAO and the gallery on putting a show display ad in Southwest Art magazine or another superior art related publication that covers the Sedona and California art scene. Cost per participating artist should be fairly minimal for such an ad.

Any artist in AUAR who wants to do an original that a charity can sell "tickets" for and publicize on websites is encouraged to do so. Everyone is struggling very hard right now in this economy. The charities, and the artists. Many animals are losing their homes due to foreclosures and owners not being able to feed their animals. We may not be able to do a lot, but we can do something, and think about what it costs to feed a few animals for even a day. Every dollar helps. Do you want to do something special for your favorite of the AUAR charities? Let them, and me, know. Thanks.

CONTACTING OPA MEMBER, LEE MITCHELSON

2010-09-26T10:19:00.000-07:00

ARE YOU LOOKING FOR OPA MEMBER ARTIST LEE MITCHELSON?

Please visit the new website, http://www.petloverspromise.com/ or write to info@petloverspromise.com to
As an alternative, visit www.oilpaintersofamerica.com Lee Mitchelson

EMAIL THE ARTIST: leemitchelson@gmail.com

MY EYES AND HOW THEY HAVE RULE MY WORLD

2010-09-26T09:48:00.000-07:00

A long time of experimentation with eye health as it applies to every moment of my life, not just as an artist. People, if your eyes are giving you fits, more so after computer work, don't accept it as normal. Go get tested at an opthalmologist office for dry-eye. I didn't. I suffered along with that for 1.5 years, and by the time I knew what was wrong, I had corneal scarring already. Then the experimenting began. Punctal duct plugging. Five attempts. Plugs falling out. Plugs getting infected. Blepharitis. Two cauterizations, weeks of healing, end result: Very good. Top ducts, not bottom. And the two bottom ducts, have smaller plugs that not only do not bother me but have not fallen out. Yet. I use Systane Ultra (NOT regular) drops. I will be using Thera tears night time liquid gel or ointment. I wake up uncomfortable. I have found that using even my pillow, when I am face down, back and forth over the area above my upper lids, below my brows, gently, stimulates my tear ducts and increases production. This is new info I am glad to know. I still have to wash my eyes carefully with T-gel shampoo every day. Just rinse well with splashing. Now, if I can get the right prescription glasses (close focus at 12-14" for artwork instead of the conventional distance) I think I will be doing pretty well. Then as soon as I can, I will do cataracts, if better glasses do not do enough to help me. All in all, this has been a four year long experience with still being able to paint. For the patience this has required of my friends, family and art collectors waiting for what they need and deserve, I beg forgiveness and express my endless gratitude. I am about to be able to go back to work in my life's work as a painter. And, for survival, I am using my licensed/certified status to enable doing home health care, I have just been hired by an agency for the first time -- I always worked private-pay in that field til now. I am not doing medical care, though. I need a break. And I welcome the support of an agency. It is Comfort Keepers, and I have to say, I am very very impressed with them! What a great company and the overall vibe of the people is just superior. Everyone I am dealing with there is delightful. I recommend them highly for an in home personal care agency.

ARE YOU LOOKING FOR OPA MEMBER ARTIST LEE MITCHELSON?

2010-05-28T15:43:00.000-07:00

Please visit the new website, http://www.petloverspromise.com/ or write to info@petloverspromise.com to contact Lee.
As an alternative, visit www.oilpaintersofamerica.com , Lee Mitchelson

LOVE NEVER FAILETH

2009-09-21T12:24:00.000-07:00

In September of 1967 when I was a very young woman with a little baby boy, I met a guy and fell in love.

We rode around Hollywood and up Topanga to the Inn of the 7th Ray and lots of places - on a Midnight Blue-pearl Harley panhead chopper, painted by the one and only Von Dutch himself. We were so reckless. I struggled with knowing I had to change things, a mom cannot be careless with her own life and with her child's future.

We had our jobs, we had four or so various places we lived, we hitchhiked up the coast, we had our horses -- my Gala from my childhood, his Appaloosa, Dolly. We lived and loved and fought and cried and then life just tore us right apart.

On the last day with him, as I drove away I felt a tingling sensation pulling out of my forehead, like something was physically being removed from me. It was some time before I came to know that the sensation was caused by seperating two people who are linked in ways beyond simple human understanding.

For forty years I have felt like a she-wolf howling across a frozen lake for her lost mate. Not a day goes by when I have not thought of him. Not one relationship or romance I have not compared to ours; Not one man's sex appeal I did not measure by how much I still wanted him. I reached out once. To let him know I had not forgotten. There was nothing back. I decided, I love someone who now feels nothing, I really should let this go. But I didn't.

I did still ride a chopper or two with other people, a few times. Big bikes are like a fever that has no cure. But I was restless, unsatisfied, it felt all wrong. It was too painful. Bikes without him? Such emptiness.
Follow along through the years. Two marraiges, but neither my mate. Two wonderful offspring, beautiful grandchildren too. I still look like me, pretty much. But how did I get to be this age?
I prayed, meditated, for answers at night. Why did I have to be alone? I hoped for some answer besides the one I always suspected. I was alone because I only wanted him, and alone was better than that peculiar loneliness of being with the wrong person, someone who does not even understand who you are. That is the worst loneliness of all.
Sometimes I would hear his voice in my head. A certain resonance to it, unlike any other voice in the world. I would remember his laugh, and my face would burn with how it made me feel. How could I be filled with so much emotion for someone, and not have them feel waves of it hitting them....even if they didn't know where it came from. Love like a drumbeat inside me, the heat.... so sweet.
I used to go to Orphans of the Wild, Gordon Meredith's place. I went for the wolves--- it was always about the wolves. My first experience with unconditional love was from a wolf. You don't forget that. Her name was Tammy, and she was a little silver-white slip of a thing -- my angel without wings. And there was one, a huge black male, named Shadow. He was tame enough to have lost his fear of humans, and so, the natural fear of men the wild ones have, in his case, had changed to lethal aggression. He would attack a man, anyone but Gordy, intending serious harm or even to kill. But not women.
He would fix his golden eyes on me, affectionately, and he would walk towards me slowly, like every step mattered. He actually moved more like a big cat, when he did that. Every time I went there and I visited with Shadow and watched him walk towards me, just that way, I thought of my beloved. One day when I was leaving, I climbed in my ancient VW bus, Ely, and got ready to roll down a hill and pop the clutch to start the old boy. But, rising from bass through alto to soprano, was a harmony of mourning. Swelling up from the wolves, beseeching me: Don't go. I laid my head on the steering wheel and I cried. I cried because in my whole life I don't know that I had ever felt such an honor bestowed upon me. It was my moment of worthiness. Don't go, don't go, baby please don't go..... a song from my time with him, began to run through my mind.

Last month after trying for 20 years to remember the last name of someone, it suddenly came to me, like getting hit in the head with a brick. I sat bolt upright, saying it outloud. I hurried to the computer and started looking for her. Within forty five minutes I had found contact information and I wrote. I asked if she was the Mimi who had a sister Jan... Mom, Lorraine.... and I said she might remember me with a different name, and my white horse I had. She wrote back, very soon. It was so exciting, I really had wanted to know how her life had gone, was she ok...all those things. And oh yes she did remember me. It was wonderful to talk to her. Even though she is a relative of my lost love, I wanted only to know how she was, because I had cared about her. And now she wanted to call me her unofficial 'Auntie', and that was fine with me.
I would make no attempt to reconnect with him. As far as I could tell, his past stayed well back where it started, he had moved on.

I have been using Facebook more. I check in. I click on my messages, dawdle a little, then leave. I did it that day, and in my messages, was one that started out, "I can't believe it", and it was from him.
Things have moved very quickly, how could they not, when I have heard him say he looked for me but had my new name spelled wrong and my high school wrong, and had never found me, that he wrote me a thank you note for what I had sent him once, but what happened to it? I never got it... and that every single day for forty years he had thought of me and still loved me as he has loved no one else.

First I had to get past the unfairness of why so much time had to pass with us both lonely for each other. How could this be? It made no sense to me. Then the sensation of living in a dream set in.... no this could not be reality.... I am the only person in the world who could carry a torch for 40 years. Aren't I? But no, it is not a dream. I will tell you what I think. God heard my prayers, and tasted the salt of my tears. I believe the universe, made by God, rewards the pure of heart. Once, a long time ago, maybe 1977, I had a vision after meditating. I was walking across a grassy high plateau, with Jesus. I know that it was Him, it was like seeing someone I knew. I could even smell the light, incense-like scent of his garments, earthy and pleasant. We communicated mind to mind; We didn't speak outloud. I had been asking to understand the "why" of something, and he came to answer me. As He showed me symbolically, while placing some stones, what the missing piece was that kept things from falling into place -- I heard the words, "This, then...is what we will do". The impact of the "we" was not lost on me. Off in the distance, was a city with exquisite golden domes. I never have forgotten the lesson learned in that experience. And now, as I have prayed and meditated again for answers, I have received reassurance.

A good man and a good woman want to be together, belong together, and God has placed them where they could create a future. Maybe people don't acknowledge that anyone in the last third of their life should be concerned about creating a future, but that is erroneous thinking. There is always a future. Now, and even later at the portal of life's end, when it becomes purely a spiritual matter. I hope to live it with someone I have adored most of my life, to be able to show him every day how cherished he is. I have waited so long. I am grateful for what has brought him back. The other half of my heart has been returned to me. But I have to wait a little while longer now. The big wheel spins, life always has it's details and struggles. I pray for his discernment in recognizing the motives behind the words of others, for his confidence, his certainty, his courage and perception. I have seen all these qualities in him. Truly he is one of the rarest people I have ever known. He dazzles me and delights me and makes my heart sing.

And so I have one more thing I pray -- that soon he will be able to walk to me, take me in his arms, and stay.

THE ONLY TRUE BIOGRAPHICAL BOOK ABOUT MY FRIEND AND MENTOR, KARL ALBERT

2009-08-04T13:25:00.001-07:00

Above - Laguna Beach scene by Karl Albert
"Baby Junipers and wildflowers" by yours truly, with Karl watching over my shoulder in spirit.

Here is my little plein air painting of the two baby junipers out back with the purple flowers the horses won't eat. I painted it because I was thinking about my old friend, plein air painter Karl Albert. Karl has been gone a few years now. Soon before he passed, over the phone from his home in Italy, he gave me permission to form an art group in his honor, giving his blessing to The Albert Society of Artists (TASA). At the time it had three members... Karl, me, and Diane Whittman Punteri. A great start. Maybe this next spring, I will see if there are some Flagstaff plein air painters I can hang out with a bit. I would like to ad a few members to TASA and have a group show somewhere. I will feel Karl there, approving.

I have been thinking about Karl a lot, especially because I read some ignorant biographical information about him that irritated me greatly. Karl and I did plein air paintings together both in Alhambra and some years later in Palm Desert California. In Palm Desert we painted en plein air years later than the wrong biographies state that he quit doing so! What a crock! People, there is one and only one biography about Karl Albert you should pay any attention to, and that is the one being written right now, by his daughter mentioned above, artist Diane Wittman Punteri. I have written to her and she replied that I may contribute something to Karl's story, and I am thankful about that. I learned things from Karl that I think about, literally, every single time I pick up a brush, or go outside and see something that I want to paint. My plein air paintings done with Karl have been tucked away a long time.

Karl Albert was a man who painted alongside his colleagues, Edgar Payne and Sam Hyde Harris. They were of The California Eucalyptus School, as Karl would say. California plein air painters. And Masters of it, they were. Karl painted with Edgar Payne and Sam Hyde Harris. It is Karl's paintings of desert washes and such, that I remember best. Karl had the gift of appreciating the simple, even mundane, objects in nature. The man could paint a dry weed elegantly composed with a few rocks and elevate that scrub to an object of beauty. I see the world the same way, noticing those little beauties here and there, and when I do, I remember Karl.

When you paint outside, in my humble opinion, you have to be really really fast. Try setting your timer for ten minutes and theboth recognizing and going ahead and blocking in your composition and key darks and lights. I live in the very high mountains, our weather changes dramatically in a short time, and for lighting to stay the same longer than 15 minutes is rare. I have taken to making "notes" with paint in those 10 or 15 minutes, and then, they come inside with me. I don't mind the cold so much but coupled with the wind gusts around the peaks... what can I say.... I am not that much of a trouper. The wind aggravates my eye condition too much. Before I start to paint I snap some photos of that critical light and shadow just the way it most affected me when I first saw it. Later I can finish up a painting in my studio from those references. It is easy to get lost. You have to remember why you wanted to capture that scene in the first place. It was an emotional response, as well as visual. That is what your collectors will feel too, if you get it right.

Maybe some northern Arizona plein air painters will join me in going out and painting a bit, and of course we will have to do what karl and I absolutely required as part of our routine.... bring cookies. Chocolate chip.

"A LEGACY REBORN" THE WOLF PACK TATOO - JACOB BLACK

2009-08-04T13:19:00.000-07:00

Taylor Lautner as Jacob...... aren't you beautiful, man-wolf.

MY "VOICE FROM THE PAST" - A PHONE CALL FROM ROBERT VAVRA

2009-08-04T13:01:00.000-07:00

Three days ago, Robert Vavra called me. I had not spoken to him since 1988 when I illustrated two books for him. He sounds, of course, wonderful, like no time has passed at all. We talked about his new projects, he asked about my art now, and we talked a bit too about Bill Wheeler, someone we both knew, who has gone to the other side now.

I was glad to get to ask Robert if he thought he would ever consider doing a Pegasus book, because I have painted so many -- but before you think cutesy-poo, I painted most of them with such a sense of reality about them, that their mystical origins seemed rather moot.... horses, real horses.... legends that lived, and live.... winged-equines. I had been working on a kid's book with a very talented writer and doing illustrations for it. I still do that type scene now and again. The concept of a Pegasus foal is tender, and my series working-title was "Still too Young to Fly." I copyrighted that, in fact. Anyway, Robert said no, that the time for books of Unicorns or of Pegasus has passed. He is focusing on a life's masterwork coming out in a couple years which I hope to contribute to, called Remembering Africa. And he has a new book out right now, and also a novel he is writing. I believe he said he has now had 29 books published. Truly the man is a legend.

AND THIS...IS MY FAVORITE THREE-QUARTER VIEW!

2009-08-04T12:57:00.000-07:00

Months pass, and I am still painting Rob Pattinson. I have never painted the same subject so many times as I have him. And I enjoyed painting his West Highland White Terrier also, and sent it off to him so it is waiting there when he can go home to the UK.

MY FAVORITE EDWARD PROFILE I HAVE PAINTED..

2009-05-31T17:15:00.000-07:00

Here is my newest painting of Edward Cullen, finished today, in honor of Rob Pattinson's MTV Awards evening. Good luck, Rob! I admire excellence in creative people and I see that excellence in your work. I know perfection when I see it, and I saw that in how you portrayed Edward. If you see my painting, I hope you like it. It was respectfully done.

"MALIBU, TOWARDS SUNSET"

2009-05-22T13:33:00.000-07:00

This is my oil painting of Malibu beach. I was very excited to find this lovely frame, it is so perfect for it. Yes, once in a while, I do still paint landscapes, usually when I am thinking about Karl Albert my plein air landscape mentor. I miss him.
This has been a great week, as I was accepted to Oil Painters of America, something I have wanted for a very long time.
The Nebraska 200 horse rescue was wonderfully successful, now everyone involved waits to learn how the perpetrator of this heinous crime of starving more than 70 horses to death, will be prosecuted. The court date for Jason Meduna is June 17th I believe.
I going to go paint now, trying to finish a small piece in time to enter it in the OPA western regional exhibit and time is close.

NEBRASKA 200: HORSES NEED HOMES QUICK

2009-05-01T18:29:00.001-07:00

Here is my second art auction painting with 50% going to Habitat for Horses for rehoming the Mustangs. If you want to bid on it, please email me at mitchmts@yahoo.com. The bidding will continue til 6 pm May 3, Arizona time. Your quickest way to find out the background on these horses is to google Jason Meduna arrest, and, go to the websites for Habitat for Horses, Humane Society of the United States, lifesavers, Front Range Rescue, etc.

This 8"x 10" oil painting is called "Bottle Baby". It is a foal that was christened, "Drake". His mama didn't make it.

Two hundred (actually the figure is 220 now) equids need homes. Good homes. Most are truly wild horses, not riding horses.

****As an update, Habitat for Horses, The Humane Society of the United States and several smaller rescues (and hundreds of individuals who donated money and effort) have rescued and removed 220 horses from certain death and relocated all of them.

THE NEBRASKA 200: SAVING HORSE'S LIVES

2009-05-01T15:27:00.000-07:00

I will do another post with more information about this evolving story. Right now I want to show a painting that is being auctioned with 50% of the selling price going to Habitat for Horses, the group now in charge of all these horses.... Mustangs, a couple Arabians I believe, a Quarterhorse I hear, and some long ears too! This painting is a 7x5" original oil, called, "Drake". Drake is one of the Nebraska 200. There is a reserve on this art. If the reserve is not met it is will not sell. The bidding starts at $49.00...... please write me to bid, mitchmts@yahoo.com.

BEAUTIFUL BARBARO

2009-05-01T15:23:00.000-07:00

This is my oil painting done as tribute to Barbaro. I thought this pose really shows what an honest horse he was. And you can tell by his eyes, that he never knew a harsh hand. That is the face of Trust. What a horse.

MY PAINTING OF RUDOLF MARTIN AS "DRACULA"

2009-03-29T15:54:00.000-07:00

It isn't too difficult to imagine why this painting was very enjoyable to do, is it. I hardly need to
say a thing. Mr. Martin's portrayal of Dracula was purely and simply the most sensuous I have ever seen.

MY PAINTING OF "KIGER SOMBRA"

2009-03-26T11:10:00.000-07:00

"AS ONE"

True Performance Of Unity

Sombra, a Kiger Mustang captured from the wild, has captured the hearts of horse enthusiasts throughout the world as he is anually showcased at the Kentucky Horse Park for the Kiger Mustang Breed Weekend.
Loyalty and kindness are Kiger Sombra's outstanding virtues.

For years now I have been deeply enamored with the Kiger mustang horses. All politics aside (the primitive dun mustang people with various herd sources can't seem to find a common ground) I am entirely satisfied with the true-to -type Kiger, their beauty, their fine minds, and their exotic primitive markings. I really have two favorite horse breeds in this world, the Kiger and the Tennessee Walker (Plantation Walkers, no built-up feet for showing!) My own Kiger, sired by Kiger Dundee, is everything I could ask for in a horse.

That said, when I was given the opportunity to paint a prime example of the Kiger breed, Kiger Sombra, I was thrilled.

I GET TO PAINT ARTIS, THE SPOONMAN

2009-03-25T08:40:00.000-07:00

Wow, what a day yesterday. The universe's organizing power is awesome. First, I found out that my musician nephew, Ira Merrill in Seattle, is moving into Artis the Spoonman's old house. (Here is some Ira: http://home.napster.com/ns/music/album.html?album_id=12436923 Google Ira Merrill, dude is all over the internet! )
My sister Jan sent me a link to an Artis youtube. The rest is already a day's worth of history.
Do you know who Artis the Spoonman is? Remember the Soundgarden song, "Spoonman"? That is about Artis.
Artis played with every major rock band and performer from Zappa to Pearl Jam and Aerosmith an endless number more http://www.artisthespoonman.net/
We have connected on a level of understanding, somehow. And I am very grateful for it.
I spent a long time enjoying a bunch of youtube videos of him. Here are a couple, and one of Soundgarden live, singing Spoonman, it's the best, Chris Cornell is dazzling! Here is the one of Artis with Pearl Jam and Soundgarden http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVELOy4hfSs&feature=related and here is the one of Chris Cornell live Spoonman http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TItr8wDWzZI&feature=related and here is a close-up vid of Artis playing the spoons. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3TFkvEmBYM
What matters to me most though is that his heart is open and he wrote me back and now I get to paint him. He is someone who followed his passion in life. There is something so pure about that.

I AM SAYING GOODBYE TO A FRIEND TODAY

2009-03-23T10:53:00.000-07:00

Our good dog, Bodie, is going along the road of life and eternity, to wait for us somewhere up ahead. We love you. We will miss you alot. Play in the meadow flowers in your new healthy perfected body with all our beloveds who have gone before you. In a way I envy you because you get to see them and touch them again and I do not. Until we get there, we remain your loving family here on Earth. I will come back here and put your picture, when I choose the right one. Hugs, Bodie-boo. Such a sweet boy, with such a funny bone. I can see him in my mind running the goofy way he did, like Phoebe, in the Friends episode, where Rachael was embarassed to jog with her in the park because she looked like such a spaz when she ran. That's what you are supposed to do though, right? Run like no one is watching. I am trying to learn from Bodie, a pure soul, without guile.

CURRENT EXHIBIT: THE RICHESON 75 SMALL WORKS INTERNATIONAL

2009-03-23T10:46:00.001-07:00

The show opened March 22. I have two paintings in it, "Cassidy, Contented" (dog art) and "Barack Obama: Portrait of a President". This is a portraiture show, so the paintings are exactly that, portrait style! My website link is not working from one of the pieces, but they will fix it. These two paintings are in the show because they were finalists, but the originals could not be sent for the physical show, so they were not able to be considered for awards, unfortunately. But "Cassidy, Contented" is, I hear, on the title page of the catalog inside, as well as the images being in the show catalog itself. Now I just have to get a catalog :)

"MY BEST FRIEND, SMOKEY" A MINI OIL PAINTING

2009-03-17T12:57:00.000-07:00

Today's oil painting! teeny, only about 3 x 4". Another painting of grulla Kiger, Smoke. If I could have a whole herd of grullas I would!

NEEDLEWORK FROM MY ART IMAGES

2009-03-17T12:49:00.000-07:00

My friend Jamie of White Willow Stitching has many of my horse and dog art images as needlework patterns. She is fantastic, what an astounding amount of effort and skill it takes to do as great a job as she does with these! One of the images, Free Spirit, an Andalusian horse head, has been entered in a needlework pattern competition. It starts April 15 and lasts til April 20. http://www.needleworkshow.com/ Here is the image. Can

you believe, this is thousands of needlework sections?! Good luck Jamie, I hope you win, you deserve too. Thanks for entering something you created from an image that came from my studio.

THE RICHESON 75 INTERNATIONAL, MY NEXT SHOW

2009-03-16T13:21:00.000-07:00

On March 23 the Richeson 75 International Small Works exhibit for portraiture and figurative work begins. I have a painting in it, as a finalist. the owner of the painting did not want to have it travel and be exhibited so I was not considered for an award without the original there, but that's ok!
Next up for me is the Richeson International for animal art. That is in about a month. I will post some info when it is time. Here is the site for the portraiture and figurative show -- the date again, is March 23 2009. http://www.richeson75.com/ The painting that was accepted into this current show is another one of my Barack Obama portraits called "Barack Obama: Portrait of a President".

"BELOVED, WE ARE AS ONE" OIL PAINTING

2009-03-16T12:07:00.001-07:00

My friend Diana, in the UK, has a timeless and pure bond with her horse, Hechizo. I recognized this magic and painting them has been a great joy for me.
Client friend and art collector Kevin Imper of Washington really understood what he was seeing when he looked at this painting, and I was blown away by what he wrote about it. I have it on my website, on the portfolio page. www.mitchelsonsmountaingallery.com
Hechizo and Diana have what all of us in love with our horses want, even though so pure and intense a love is bittersweet at times. It is true: Love hurts. The goodbye comes. Hehizo is not young now and this was a very hard winter for him.
I suppose I could have painted this in something besides oils, but oils seem to be the way I always express myself. This painting was small too, and I think I may paint them again, but larger. Something I can keep.

"SO SWEET WITH THE CHILDREN" KIGER HORSE OIL PAINTING

2009-03-16T11:52:00.000-07:00

This was a small one, only about 4" square or so. These are getting difficult to do, I sure need new glasses! I just counted the years and was shocked to realize that the pair I have are ten years old, that is so ridiculous! I will be taking care of that really soon. Anyway, this painting is of a Kiger horse named Smoke. He is a grulla, mouse grey, a primitive-dun Mustang. The primitive duns have a dorsal stripe, leg-barring, bii or tri colored manes, etc. I love the Kigers, I have one. He is my rock! As steady as they come.
This was a lovely little scene, all about gentleness and trust. I love it.

"CASSIDY, CONTENTED"

2009-03-01T12:38:00.000-08:00

This is my oil painting called Cassidy,Contented

of a Golden Retriever who was a very important part of someone's family.

This painting is a finalist in the Richeson 75 Small Works International 2009 and will grace the title page of their beautiful exhibit catalog.

MY OBAMA ART IS GOING TO THE WHITE HOUSE

2009-03-01T12:01:00.000-08:00

"Barack Obama: A Praying Man" by Lee Mitchelson

A while back I posted that my Obama art would be near D.C. for inauguration week. Since then I have found out that the above art will be going to The White House. This means the world to me because I hold Barack Obama in such high esteem. It is a wonderful way to begin 2009!

A LITTLE SOMETHING FOR FEBRUARY, THE MONTH OF LOVE!

2009-01-30T09:59:00.000-08:00

Here is my painting of Charley from Old Fella Burke County Animal Rescue, with words, which also happen to be the title of the artwork.

May you all have a wonderful February. Mine is looking promising.

ARABIAN HORSE OIL...."AMIRA"

2009-01-28T11:06:00.000-08:00

This is Amira, an Arabian, that belongs to my friend Liane.

If you have never known the tender affection of a horse, you have missed something exquisite in your life. A horse that genuinely likes people and loves you in particular. What a treasure. That is the way Amira is for Liane. Amira has never known a moment of inconsiderate treatment at the hands of a person in her whole life, she is innocent.

She is in training as a cutting horse, and performing very well. She is still young, and has a wonderful future ahead of her.

Long dry spell with no computer........

2008-10-01T08:07:00.000-07:00

That was awful. And scary. Thankfully I did not have to replace my computer though.

During this time away, the "Le Cadeau Du Cheval" (The Horse Gift) mural project was completed and unveiled in Alberta at the Masters, my panel was number 101 and was of Almanzo Wilder's two Morgans, Prince and Lady. I'm proud to have been able to participate as a member of the creation team. The Mural is huge! It is now in the USA on tour. There is a book coming out about the mural which will have the art panel images and overall mural image.

I am making good progress on my commissioned painting of Old Fella, a dog that is becoming the national symbol for the rescue of stray dogs. There is a bronze monument to him and there will be a memorial service where my painting will be shown for the first time. It will then be honored by a police escort to the public institution where it will reside. I will post all those details when I am sure I have the info put together correctly. My thanks to Dr. Douglas Turmail and his wife, my dear friend Sandy, for selecting me to be the artist to paint Old Fella. I am proud to do it.

This is the month that a book I illustrated is coming out from Lyon Press called "Alive in Africa".

This is bittersweet, as the author, my friend William Wheeler Jr., passed away a few months ago before seeing this book, his life's dream, come to fruition. Bill and I worked together during the time I illustrated Robert Vavra's "Unicorn of Kilimanjaro". Bill was an adventurer, explorer and photographer and had accompanied Robert to Africa, one of many of Bill's trips there. He acquired my sketches 20 years ago and saved them for inclusion in his own book. The irony of it, waiting so long to publish this book and not getting to see it or go to book signings.... I'm sad. But he did get to see the book's poster and draft and was filled with that excitement. For that I am grateful!

I am beginning to work on the oil sketches for a big painting of Chincoteague Ponies, two paintings actually, which I was inspired to do by the exquisite photography of Lori Faith Merritt, a kindred soul. Bless her for allowing me the privilege of creating art from her gift of the spirit. I hope to get to do some art for her book she will do, too. This art shown today is a study of two Chincoteague ponies that will probably be part of the herd in my bigger art

"The Hypnotist"

2008-08-28T17:36:00.000-07:00

my little painting for today

"The Hypnotist"

"Smoky Links.....little sausages.....you are thinking about little sausages...."

Today's painting shipped at last

2008-08-22T20:55:00.000-07:00

A small oil painting of an Arabian mare and her young daughter

The rescued blind mare, Cherokee

2008-08-22T20:47:00.000-07:00

promised I'd show her to you. She is the paint. On the right is Lena, her friend and "guide horse"

DOING THIS AGAIN, IN A BETTER WAY....

2008-08-21T06:57:00.000-07:00

As of today this is part of my life more than it was before and since I do paint ever day I hope to be here every day. All the old posts are gone and this is a beginning.

I have to incorporate my painting-time around running an animal sanctuary with incessant responsibilities. But my inspiration is everwhere around me. A herd of horses and ever other manner of beast. Mountains, snow, dramatic weather. Everything I love, really. A supportive family. I was doing full time hospice caregiving until a couple years ago while trying to paint for galleries. I was far too emotionally drained to be able to have much joy, in fact I was suffering from such "compassion exhaustion" there was not much of me left. The two years since, I have been learning how to be a full time painter the way I used to be before a job where I worked for someone else. And I wrestle with a few physical issues but I think they are conquerable. Oh to be 30-year old woman again, but it ain't gonna happen, is it. I turned to eBay determined to make it my survival income. It went very well, but who knew, that was practically the heyday for artists on eBay and it was about to change. EBay itself made changes with some serious teeth. Unfriendly changes for artists. Many a painter crawled away from eBay with broken wings. I woke up one morning and heard a voice plain as day and it said, 'start over'...... like the only way to survive eBay's new world was to backtrack, rethink, make a new plan built around what once worked. I did and I watch a gradual reestablishment but the scenario is not what it was. I hope it will be better than it was in the long run. We will just have to see. I started a website and organization of really excellent artists who love animals and are interested in their welfare. We hope for some nice opportunities as time goes by. The group is in it's growing stage. Please see http://www.artistsunitedforanimalrescue.org/ Membership is by invitation only. For the members who are also interested in eBay, we have an eBay support group where permission letters from animal rescue organizations are available giving us the right to hold auctions for them. We use our group acronym in our title lines, whether a charity auction or not. If it is for a charity we also include the acronym for the charity.

We did have a hugely successful emergency fundraiser already, rescuing a blind mare from such a sorry and hopeless situation. People are so wonderful..... so kind, so generous, so blessed for their sweet spirits, and I know this is so. Thanks to all of them, Cherokee is in a new home that looks like paradise, really! I fairly burst with gratitude and relief for Cherokee's lovely new life with loving people, green grass, and a 'guide horse ' best friend too! I will post a photo of her tomorrow.

Today's image is one of my daily-paintings, a small oil. It is called "Two Wild Ones" and they are mustangs. They are BLM adoption program horses. There are many places to learn more about the mustang adoptions, but if you are also interested in the famous Monty Roberts, then a place where there are mustangs that have been trained by him is High Sierra Wild Horse Sanctuary and Gentling Center, in California. That is a truly fantastic opportunity.

LE CADEAU DU CHEVAL TRAVELING EXHIBIT

2008-07-01T10:42:00.000-07:00

Wow, I am exhausted! But I got my art shipped! My art is part of the 22-foot equine art mural made up of many seperate paintings (mine is #101) that create the "mother image". Go to www.muralmosaic.com to see the mural and the exhibit schedule in Canada and the USA. The book for the mural will be out in 2009 and I am proud to be included.