Lonesome on the Trail - and Stormy on the Eastern Shore

Lonesome on the Trail

Oil on canvas, 20x20

Please email me at carrieBjacobson@gmail.com for price and availability

I was in my studio yesterday afternoon, finishing my final cowboy painting before I start packing the van, when a Weather Channel alert popped up on the phone. 

"Severe thunderstorm warning" for Wachapreague, until 4:30. It was about 10 after 4. 

About a minute after the alert, the sky grew dark, and the wind picked up. And then the sky got darker and darker and darker, and the wind got stronger and stronger and bigger and louder - and the rain began absolutely pelting down. Pinecones banged explosively into the roof and sides of the studio. The wind flung branches down onto the roof. The day grew black, absolutely near-nighttime dark, and the power flickered off and then back on. 

Honestly, it was scary. I'm sure I should have gone into the house, and next time I will - though by the time I realized this, it would have been dangerous to cross the yard, the way those pinecones were smashing down. So I stayed in the studio, got as far away from the windows as possible, and waited for it to pass. And it did. 

Later that evening, I found out that there had been tornado watches and warnings, and sightings of what might have been tornados or waterspouts throughout the area! 

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SATURDAY WAS A BIG DAY for sponsorships for my upcoming California Calling Painting Extravaganza, with three more coming in! Yay! 

Now, the sponsorship list looks like this:

Sarah Scott

Pat Hart

Heather MacLeod

Kathryn Yamartino

Candy and Jeff Buebendorf

Judy Beisler

Sherry Svec

Nancy Russell

Paul Scott

Richard and Mari Hook

Don and Paula Cooper

Catherine Lenoci

Mike and Jill Knaack

Joe Skelly

Sara Harley

Andrew Graham

Rose Dittus & Michael Vincitore

Patrick Gallagher

There's plenty of time to sponsor me, if you'd like. Click here to go to the Sponsor Me page on the Jacobson Arts website! 

I am still planning on setting out on Wednesday for California! 

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THE DOGS I FEATURED as Dogs of the Day in my most recent post  - after forgetting who sent them to me, what their names are, or where they live, sigh - are Brutus and Bella. They belong to the son and daugher-in-law of Joe Keller, Heather MacLeod's husband. 

The pink structure holding them in is, as an impressive number of you knew, a Little Tykes Kitchen. Heather says, "It serves as a jail gate when the dogs are banished to the real kitchen because they peed on the floor when company came."

 It's great to have dogs, isn't it? 

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Dog of the Day 

Yes, I am a sucker for dogs waiting for their humans to come home. This is Big Head, a dog about town here in Wachapreague. You've got to love a dog whose name is Big Head, right?

January Field

January Field

Oil on canvas, 24x24

Please click here to email me for price and delivery options

The sun shines thin and white these January days, and drains the color from the land and sky. There's a brittleness to the fields, the remnants of the crops crisp and dry underfoot. The wind blows raw and sharp, and the rich blue of the summer sky is just a promise, a memory, a hope. 

My fingers grow cold as I paint, standing in the winter landscape. My cheeks redden, and the chill seeps up from the ground and through my boots. Aside from passing cars and the sky-high calls of geese, the January quiet is unbroken. Summer will bring bustle and noise and sunshine, tractors and farmers, people and boats, long warm busy days, but for now, this is a solitary spot.

If you look hard enough, you can see the landscape warming. At the edges, by a blade, by a leaf, the Eastern Shore is greening. Each day brings spring closer, by seconds at first, and now by noticeable minutes. But for now, the cold is deep and still, and holding fast. 

Sunflowers, My Great Sponsors (so far!), and a Video!

Sunflower Diptych

Oil on canvas, 12x24, 48x24

Commission

The people who are buying this commission have a gorgeous dining room, but there's no blue in it! So they asked for a green lower background to go with the room. So why not?

I wasn't sure about this at first, but it is growing on me - and I know the buyers will love it, and that's all that matters with a commission!

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My audacious sponsorship idea is taking hold! Here are the wonderful folks who already have committed to sponsor my upcoming painting trip, "To Tubac and Back!"

Kathryn Yamartino

Tiffany Williams

Laurie Cooper

Dov Kugelmass

Pat Hart

Blake Wentz

Maggie Platte

Donald & Paula Cooper

Kristen Singh

Linda Fite

Nancy Russell

To find out more about the trip, click here; there's still plenty of time to get on board! 

And there are plenty of ways to do it! Of course, you can sponsor me yourself. That's easy and fun and a great present to YOU!

A sponsorship makes a great gift for a friend, spouse, family member... Get the kids together and give a Big Present to your MOM. Ask your husband to give you a sponsorship for your birthday! Tell your wife you've been wanting one of my paintings for years, and now's the time! 

A donation of $100 or more gets you at least one painting... A donation of less than $100 will get you a  smaller gift (more on this later) and a chance to win any painting I've made... 

Here's that Donate button. Don't worry if you don't have PayPal. You can use any credit card! If you'd rather send me a check, drop me an email and I'll give you my mailing address...

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At the request of several friends who I've met through this blog, I've made a how-to video, "carrie jacobson paints sunflowers!" The first part is up now on YouTube, and the second part will be up later today, I hope. 

This is sort of a test, another experiment. I'm planning to video myself painting landscapes as I cross the country to Arizona, so I'm working on getting used to the process, getting faster at it, and getting more comfortable with it. 

I'd REALLY like to have some feedback on this. Please let me know how I can improve it! 

Click here to see my video!