A Wandering Soul Candles

 A Wandering Soul is my favorite Etsy shop and Connie is awesome. I was thrilled to get my all natural soy candle in an earthy eucalyptus and sage scent. I can't tell you how much I love the smell. The soy candles last so long plus no sooty smoke. I plan on getting a few more for gifts and at these prices another one for me!

All natural soy candles available here

The beautiful hand cut luminaries come with an electric tea light.

Art nouveau Flower luminaries are here.

Connie also custom cuts these pretty vellum luminaries to go over a candle. And don't forget to check out the ther goodies in Connie's shop.

If your shopping for gifts or want to get something to pretty up your home head on over to A Wandering Soul. You'll be glad you did.

2012 Spirit Horse Calendars

Spirit Horse 2012 Calendar by DianaLancasterArt
See more Horse Calendars


Yee haw!


Here they are the new

2012 Spirit Horse Calendar!



Twelve Spirit Horses for you to enjoy thoughout the year. You can choose from three different sizes.

So go ahead and order one for yourself.
These will make wonderful gifts so get a few more to get a jump start on your holiday shopping.



You will love your Spirit Horse calendar.

I promise.

Hugs, Diana

A New Job For Chickens

Who knew chickens could be so creative?

Maybe I should get her a paint brush.

Amber Moon

SOLD

Harvest time in the Ozarks has kept me going full tilt until I actually did.

While taking my hundred pound dog Tonka on a brisk walk over the weekend he crosses in front of me mid step and flips me over his back. I go down into the road hitting quite hard and spraining my wrist.

Luckily it was my not painting and not previously broken wrist.

Unfortunately I have no video of my acrobatics.

Graceful I am not.

Riding I am also not.

I am getting much better already and as soon as I can hoist that saddle up I’ll be in it.

(Note to self: Teach horse to lie down)

Anyway...

I am inspired by the golden light and the big harvest moon in the fall. My latest work is Amber Moon. It is here. Hope you enjoy it.

The Jackass Fairy Pays a Visit

Tonka starts barking at daylight. I can smell a skunk and think that is what he is barking at. It's not and he won't be quiet. I get up and see pea soup fog, no horses in the barn waiting for their breakfast.

But I do see two donkeys. And where are my horses. The Jackass fairy must have come during the night and brought these  donkeys and took my beautiful horses. #@&*^!

 I call them up. Nothing..... I go out to the neighbors pasture where the donkeys live and there they are, so scared that they have their heads buried in knee deep grass. They don't want to come home. There are horse eating donkeys over here

 I halter Miami and bring her back to the barn. Flash comes with her. I go back for Missy and the other two follow. I get them fed and try to decide how to remove the donkeys. Drive them over with a whip??? No, that's liable to take all day. Bucket of pears, yes that should work. And it did. They like pears!

I get every body in the right pasture and let my guys out. They run to the fence and make sure the mean little tiny donkeys are at their house.
Another morning in paradise!

Hiking in the Ozarks with Tonka

Tonka and I went out for a couple of days hiking in the Ozark National Forest. It is a place that is very close to my heart and roots. My grandmother, great grandmother and great great grandmother all had farms here. The trail winds through and close by these special places.

 This is Sylamore creek. It was named for Sylamo a Shawnee. My family settled next to a Shawnee village when they came from Tn. Tonka says it feels like home.

 Livingston creek down the trail a ways.

 Trying to take a photo of us together with the camera balanced on my pack.

 The rope swing at Barkshed.

 Taking a break in the water.

Tonka was either on a leash or in his muzzle. He can really scare people. We did not see a soul and that suited him just fine.

End of the trail.

Just How Smart is a Chicken?

The young female



The Male

 The two strays showed up a few days ago starving and dehydrated. Neither me or Tonka could run them off and I'm still trying to find the owners (doubtful) or get them in a shelter (difficult).
Anyway they are trying to kill my chickens so I chain them up during the day when the chickens are out and let them loose at night. Apparently one of the hens decided to roost in a tree last night instead of joining the rest of the flock in the coop.
I go for my morning walk and come back to hear the hen by the coop, so do the strays.
They go after her and so do I. I love a good sprint in the morning. (NOT) She heads towards the hay field and crosses the fence. I can't cross the fence very fast but the pups can. I thought for sure she was a goner.

 Then she did the one thing that would save her....
                                                              she runs straight to me.

        I scoop her up and save her from the dogs and return her to the flock.

I always thought chickens were pretty stupid but now I am beginning to wonder.

Words to Live By

Star Mountain

sold

1 * Accept the fact that some days you're the pigeon, and some days you're

            the statue!



2 * Always keep your words soft and sweet, just in case you have to eat
      
        them.



3 * Always read stuff that will make you look good if you die in the

      middle of it.



4 * Drive carefully... It's not only cars that can be recalled by their

     Maker.



5 * If you can't be kind, at least have the decency to be vague




6 * If you lend someone $20 and never see that person again, it was

  probably worth it.



7 * It may be that your sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a

   warning to others.



8 * Never buy a car you can't push.



9 * Never put both feet in your mouth at the same time, because then you

      won't have a leg to stand on.



10 * Nobody cares if you can't dance well. Just get up and dance.




11 * Since it's the early worm that gets eaten by the bird, sleep late.



12 * The second mouse gets the cheese.




13 * When everything's coming your way, you're in the wrong lane.




14 * Birthdays are good for you. The more you have, the longer you live.




15 * You may be only one person in the world, but you may also be the

     world to one person.



16 * Some mistakes are too much fun to make only once.




17 * We could learn a lot from crayons. Some are sharp, some are pretty

      and some are dull. Some have weird names and all are different colors,

      but they all have to live in the same box.



18 * A truly happy person is one who can enjoy the scenery on a detour.



19  *Save the earth..... It's the only planet with chocolate!



20 * God is crazy about you. He sends you flowers every spring and a sunrise
every morning. 

Dancing Dream

The dentist came for the horses last week.


It was my job to hold a rope that was strung over the rafter and connected to the dental halter on the patient / horse. Missy had to have a tooth pulled. At the momet of truth she rears and backs.

Now I am of the "letting go" school but for some reason I didn't and was hoisted to the rafter like a rag doll.

I must have liked it because I did it twice.

And it was kinda fun.

I wasn't hurt, Missy said she was.

Anyway.....

I dream that night of dancing with a horse. A wieghtless, colorful , clear vision.

Dancing Dream is available here.



Rain, Rain and Raven Dance

It's been a month since my last confession errr...I mean ride.

Rain, rain, rain. Tornado warnings nearly everyday. Last night the cellar was full of water, well not full, just to the top of my boots. If y'all remember from the snow days I don't like anything to the top of my boots. I am getting taller boots. The other people were in sandals, so I was the lucky and driest one. They had to hold the yorkies or they would be swimming. Tonka was having a good time playing with the plastic jugs that were floating around.

 And when I decide to go ahead and stock our new indoor cement pond with catfish it goes and drains. But its raining still so maybe I should be ordering those fish....

Just got the lovely Raven Dance prints. The colors are perfect and they available here.

Feeding Horses in a Storm

Red Pyramid

The storms and tornadoes continue. Spending quality time in the cellar nearly every day. And the water OMG.

I have fed theses five horses through some weather but last night was the scariest feeding time I have ever seen. I waited and waited for the storm to ease up but it didn't so I went ahead and started with the wind howling, heavy rain and lightning. It looked like a hurricane. My old mare Missy wasn't bothered too much and went in her stall. I left the door open. The lightning would crack and the other horses were reluctant to come in the barn.

I waited some more. Missy finished eating.

The rain eased up. I decided to feed them all near the door and spread out the other four dishes and started them all at their own dish. A gust of wind would blow the rain in and they all spooked. I was focused on staying out of the way. They switched dishes.

Lightning would crackle, they spooked and went back to a different dish. Repeat. I tried to keep up with who was eating what but the constant spooking and moving in the dim light made it impossible. All the dishes got emptied but one and I picked it up and threw out the food. I would rather them have too little than one get too much. I practiced my dancing skills tring to dodge these fast and frequently moving horses.

Ready for some sunshine!!!

Moon Joy

Moon Joy
sold

We have been getting some rain and storms and although it is great for my fledgling little garden it has cut my riding time to zero.

I have just listed Moon Joy is sold but have more art on my website here.

The commission is almost finished. This is where I am now.

I should have it all done and ready for approval tomorrow.

We'll see.....

Peeling Apples Commission

I am working on a commission this week. I did a pastel of this photo a long time ago, like 15 years or better. The daughter of the lovely lady I did this for tracked me down and wanted another as her sis and her both wanted it after the loss of their mother.
We decided to do a painting this time. The subject is her great grandmother.
I love the photo and have been enjoying revisiting this grand lady.
At this point I am about halfway finished. The forms are starting to take shape but a whole lot of finishing left to do.

It would be going faster if the weather wasn't so perfect. I am spending every morning I can riding Miami so I don't even start working until after lunch. Rain is moving in tonight so that should speed up the painting. :)

How Not to Bury a Possum

Bliss

My sis and I were hanging out in my little barn apartment the other night with her grandson. We noticed Tonka doing something in Missy's stall. We could see from my door as Missy's stall in right across the barn aisle from my stall.

 He was burying something which is not unusual at all, but it was taking him an awful long time. So we got to watching him and saw he was burying a possum. He'd get it all covered up and it would start moving. He then dug it back up, bit on it until it stopped moving and buried it again.

Repeat.

We started laughing.....

Repeat.

We laughed some more.

Not wanting the possums at the barn cause they can make the ponies sick I called my stepbrother to come and shoot it cause the playing possum act looked like it was working pretty well with Tonka.

He gets up there and I scoop the critter up with a shovel and carry it out back.

He shoots it and shoots it and shoots it.

How many lives and burials does this possum get???

After about ten shots it finally dies.

The neighbors are calling by now thinking we are having a gun battle.

Thinking burying him has already been done I cremate him.



Forgetting to Turn off Your Car Lights Is Not the Only Way to Drain Your Battery

There is so much truth to this article and it reminds me of so many things I have done in my life I thought I would share it. I hope you enjoy it.



Forgetting to Turn off Your Car Lights Is Not the Only Way to Drain Your Battery


by Carolyn Henderson





This article is by Carolyn Henderson, the managing half of Steve Henderson Fine Art. She is a Regular contributing writer for FineArtViews and her freelance writing appears in regional newspapers, online magazines, and her humor blog, Middle-Aged Plague.











If you are old enough, or drive an old enough car, it is likely that you have at one time left the lights blazing away while you devoted an entire winter afternoon to browsing happily through a yarn shop.







Okay, so maybe not a yarn shop. But I'm focusing on the "leaving your lights on for a long time in the middle of arctic winter" part. By the time you return -- animated, energized, laden with packages -- your battery's dead.







So much for animated and energized.







Under the right -- or rather, wrong -- conditions, batteries drain quickly, and what can happen in your car can happen to you as well, if you permit people with the wrong way of looking at things to wield too much influence in your life.







I call them battery drainers -- friends, relatives, colleagues, enemies, acquaintances, strangers on the street -- in whom you confide your plans and aspirations about being an artist, and who in return deplete the life force from your soul, leaving you feeling listless, without hope, defeated, and scared.







They're not always obvious about this -- "Are you kidding? What a stupid idea!" -- and actually, most of the time they are, wittingly but generally unwittingly, more subtle, oftentimes expressing a sense of concern and caring that makes your knees hurt and you're not sure just why.







"There's such a recession going on now," one will sigh. "Many established artists are finding that they need to get second or third jobs -- I heard of one who was pumping gas."







"So sad."







Others feel a need to point out to you the painfully obvious, as if, for some reason, you had never thought of it before:







"So few artists make it to the top you know," this with a sage nod. "You're not planning to quit your day job or anything?"







Or,







"How wonderful that you won first place in that national show! Of course, you have to realize that this won't necessarily make you. Lots of people have won prestigious awards and they haven't fulfilled their desire to be full time artists."







I'm sorry -- I'm missing something here. Does one of the sub-definitions of "artist" include terms like "naive," "irresponsible," "childish," and "delusional"?







Years ago, we sold our house in town and moved our family flock to a renovated barn in the middle of untamed land. Our plans were to build a modified timber frame home, which we would pay for as we went along, and pay off the land as well -- this, all on one modest income and one whacking quantity of sweat equity.







We told very few people of our long term plans, and, indeed, many secretly thought that we had totally lost it -- but after all, what can you expect of a Norwegian Artist and a Polish Writer? Those poor children of theirs . . . and why did they have so many?







There was one acquaintance in particular with whom we avoided sharing the . . . particulars, namely because he made Eeyore look like an optimist. Only when the house was fait accompli and we were all settled in did we mention what we had done:







"That was really risky," he said, shaking his head and pursing his lips. "You know, if your house isn't up to code, you'll never be able to resell it."







What is it with these people?







Through the years, some of the things we have NOT shared with certain people include bicycling to South America, homeschooling the kids, birthing the aforementioned kids at home (with a midwife, okay?), and, most recently, making our livings as an artist (Norwegian) and a writer (Polish).







As far as the particulars of our business plan, only the Norwegian Artist and I know what we're up to, and the only other people privy to the details are our progeny, who, having been born and raised with us, share some genetic DNA thing and internalize the concepts of working hard, plugging away, keeping your hopes up, trying new venues and avenues, picking yourself up when you fall down, and celebrating every single little step forward -- the girls prefer cake, the boys go for exotic fruit.







For those out there who think we haven't thought of this, we do tap into other people's expertise and experience; we read; we ask questions; we research -- we just don't spill our souls onto the sidewalk where they can be pierced by stiletto heels and ground into the pavement by boots.







By all means, find your confidantes and confide in them. It is good to have companions close by, walking alongside of you.







But choose them carefully.





----------------------------------------------

This article appears courtesy of FineArtViews by Canvoo,

a free email newsletter about art, marketing, inspiration and fine living for artists,

collectors and galleries (and anyone else who loves art).



This article originally appeared at:

http://fineartviews.com/blog/29508/forgetting-to-turn-off-your-car-lights-is-not-the-only-way-to-drain-your-battery



For a complimentary subscription, visit: http://www.fineartviews.com

Raven Dance

Raven Dance

available here

The spirit of the raven has been on my mind and in my heart. The power of the wind and healing as my friend's daughter is going through a serious and scary surgery.

This is my prayer to the wind.

Future Farmer

It's that time of the year on the mountain when I have a mountain to move. It is my huge compost pile. I am hauling it to the garden to prepare for planting.
My great nephew Dylan helped me today while his mom was at work. He is a farm hand in training. Tonka was serious about guarding his small friend.
 We filled the dump wagon and hauled it downhill to the garden where the chickens were waiting to spread it for us. Dylan rode in the wagon back up the hill.
Repeat until the whining started. About the time I stopped whining Dylan started. We put up our tools and went in for a nap.

Photo Caption Contest

This darling photo of my grand daughter Hailey and the love (so far) of her life, her mustang Flash.

Can you think of a caption for this scene?

Winner gets a $15 gift certificate to use on anything from DianaLancaster.com

You can play over here a Lancaster Art on facebook.

The winner is the one with the most votes.

(you can ask your friends to vote for your caption.)

Contest ends at midnight CST Sat. 3/12

Good Luck!!!

Blue Star

Blue Star

I have not been blogging much lately. Abcessed tooth has me doing little except painting and the farm chores I must do. Getting farther behind by the day.

Starting to feel better but back to the dentist today, so thinking I will not be great later????

Anyway this little painting in a beauty and an 11x14. It is available here.

Sweet Sleep

Sweet Sleep

I arise from dreams of thee

In the first sweet sleep of night,

When the winds are breathing low,

And the stars are shining bright

I arise from dreams of thee,

And a spirit in my feet

Shelley

This is the painting I did the study Good Night Moon for. Sweet Sleep is an 11x11 acrylic on primed watercolor paper. The photo of it framed is not as good of the painting.

But it looks so beautiful in this frame. This painting is available either framed or unframed here.



Naming Paintings

Wild and Free

sold

I named these two paintings Wild and Free after the Thoreau quote "All good things are wild and free." I was thinking of the mustangs.
When I posted them on my website they were posted as a pair, but I also said I would split them up if someone only wanted one.
I was working on the website and happen to notice a message I got that did not come through on my email. Barb had wanted to purchase Free with subject line Wild and Free. I pop on over to my email and there it is two days old and in my junk file. I find it rather strange cause I get all the other messages. I email her with the subject line the same.
I ponder over this curiosity for a bit and have an epiphany. (It's one of those things I have a lot but can't spell.) It was the word free in the subject line that got it throwed out. So I send her another email without the offending word.
So she bought Free and Wild is going to another home.

Naming paintings is usually pretty easy. They tell me sometimes from the idea (vision) and often from the first sketch what they want to be called. I do have paintings that won't give up their secrets but that is pretty rare. I keep feeding my soul, hanging out with the horses and listening. That is my method.

I wonder what Thoreau would think about this.

Chickens and Snow

Good Night Moon

sold

My chickens have been unhappy with the 8" of snow we got. They finally ventured out after two days and went to the barn.

When I fed the chickens only half were there. At sunset I head back down and half a dozen chickens were still at the barn not wanting to cross the snow to get back to the chicken house.

I did not want to catch them all and wade through the snow so I called them and figured they would be OK at the barn if they didn't make it to the chicken house.

I get halfway back and my little tame hen Lucy runs up to me and wants me to carry her to the hen house. I do.

I need to get a life.

:)

Inner Peace

Snow Horses sold

We got so much snow yesterday it was over the top of my boots. Have decided to either get taller boots or snow shoes for next year.

Here's a little somethng I saw today that I thought was so cute and true.

What Is Inner Peace?

If you can start the day without caffeine,



If you can always be cheerful and ignore aches and pains,



If you can resist complaining and boring people with your troubles,



If you can eat the same food everyday and be grateful for it,



If you can understand when your loved ones are too busy to give you anytime,



If you can take criticism and blame without resentment,



If you can conquer tension without medical help,



If you can relax without liquor,



If you can sleep without the aid of drugs,



...Then You Are Probably The Family Dog!



Making the Decision to Send Dad to the Nursing Home

A Gentle Hand prints in two different sizes now available here.

Last week we put Dad in the nursing home. It was a difficult choice but one long over due. Lots of people I know are dealing with this very issue as our parents age.



Dad has been in poor health now for 6 or 7 years. My step brother and I moved in about the same time to care for our parents and my grandmother as well.



It has been difficult. For a long time now I have thought it was a mistake to keep him at home. He was isolated and unhappy. He considered us his jailers mainly because we kept him from driving. He even went as far as secretly getting a lawyer to try to escape.



My step mother is his guardian so my attempts to change the situation in the past met with failure. This time however was different. Part of the change was due to her heart attack in the fall and other health issues she faced last year. The rest of it was Dad’s mini strokes and lessening mobility.



My step brother and I made a plan to force the issue. We spoke to the rest of the family and made sure we had their support. We did. My sis joined us as we did what we called “our intervention”. She saw we were not going to take no for an answer and her son’s threat to move out was probably not even necessary.



It seemed I would have been OK with this choice and I anticipated the feeling of a weight lifting off me but that is not what happened. I just got a pit of sadness in my gut. It freaked me out and made me doubt my decision. I took Tonka out on the river trail and we took a nice long hike to clear my head. When I returned I looked at my feelings and decided it was grief. Once recognized it passed quickly.



Dad said he felt like we had dropped him off at the pound the first day, but that has also passed quickly. Most of the patients and employees are women so he is in his element. He seems very happy now and he is getting 24 hour skilled nursing that he needs.



The stress level here has dropped considerably. He being just a few miles away makes it possible for us to see him at least once a day and take his dog to see him too.



See that wasn’t so hard…..

( Yes it was.)

Zodiac Prints

I made it too the post office yesterday and the new prints of Zodiac had arrived. They are so beautiful. The color came out perfect!

It was another great job by Fine Print Imaging.

The Zodiac prints are here.

Snow Girl

We are lovin the snow!

If Wishes Were Horses

Some of my plumbing is on the North side of the barn. Already it froze a bit.

I went into town and bought 4 bales of straw. $20
Stacked it up on over the plumbing to give it a bit more protection from that North wind.
The horses come and scatter it everywhere. I rake it up and put some in the chicken houses and the rest in the stalls.

Put up a fence around the new propane tank and to protect the straw against marauding horses.
$20 more straw and another trip to town.

They bent the fence down and busted the bales and were eating the straw....
     EATING IT.
It's not like they are starving....but

Come on guys......you don't EAT it when it's in your stall!

So I rescue the pieces of bales that are left and bag up more to store for bedding for every one.

It's my fifth wheelbarrow load of straw and I'm muttering to myself
"I wish...

I could feel my late grandmother at my side whispering in my ear "If wishes were horses..."


And then I see a picture. I sketch it. The painting did not go as easily as some, but after a bit of a struggle it finally came around.

As for the plumbing I ended up building an insulated box to go over the wall. We ran out of temperature here the other night and my plumbing didn't freeze so mission accomplished.
And the horses are continuing to inspire me.....

And for those of y'all that don't know about running out of temperature.
My Dad always says it can't get below zero cause then you run out of temperature.

Malachite Moons

I don't talk much about my process, but I will today.

 I have these visions. Mostly with color, sometimes with names.
I sketch them asap and makes notes on colors, ect. If I don't sketch them sometimes I forget but mostly I don't forget and they haunt me.

Multiple moons is a recurring theme. I have always wondered.....

Malachite Moons is available here.

Life is Good

Paula comes in the morning. We sit huddled next to the stove with steaming mugs of coffee waiting for the storm to roll in, remembering other winter storms since we started keeping our horses together. We step out to feed and walk a few steps to the feed room in the enclosed barn. In a few minutes we return to more steaming coffee and the warm fire.

The first year I only had a small one horse shelter. The other four horses slid on the ice in the corral as we stood feeding in the sleet. Then there was last winter…so cold and eight inches of snow on the ground for over a week.

The barn was up then anyway but barely and nothing like it is now with the north and west winds completely blocked and stalls for the ponies. It’s been a year and a half long ongoing project.

The apartment is getting homier with a temporary kitchen set up and the bathroom nearly finished.

I spend the afternoon doing more caulking and weather stripping. It gets noticeably warmer in here. The horses start to look in the windows as it gets close to feeding time again. I think they like Tonka and I living out here with them.

It starts snowing.

Zodiac

Zodiac is my first painting of the new year. It was sold before I even got it posted on my website.
This painting is a result of my seemingly endless manual labor working on my new place. Some how that kind of work just makes images appear in my head.
Why can't that happen when I'm sitting in a recliner?????
Anyway still splitting my time between the construction and studio. Making more progress with the apartment than getting new paintings finished, but I just got 20 yards of canvas and lots of sketches for more work. So we'll see what comes in the next week.

My Christmas Vacation / Construction Marathon

I have NEVER been so happy to get back to work in the studio. Before Christmas I was so busy I could get no work done on my barn apartment. I was determined to get moved in by the first of the year. I almost made it. Although it is not near finished....I moved in anyway. And I'm exhausted.

This is before. This is my fire exit door to the outside of the barn. It's tiny old solid wood at just 17" wide found at the Habitat for Humanity Restore.

The kitchenette area and some cabinets that need much love.

A bargain....vanity, sink and faucet for $25. The medicine cabinet for $15, both from Habitat for Humanity. I am still painting them white.

My best score by far was the north windows. They are 6' tall and look out to the pasture and the mountains. These were probably $800 new each and got them both for $100 you guessed it Habitat for Humanity Restore.
If you haven't checked them out, you must. There should be one in your area. There are three in Ar and we don't have nothing here. Not only do you get great bargains the profits go to help others get housing.

I'm thinking of getting a new curtain rod, but somehow the hay string gets seems appropriate.

I don't think you can tell from the photos but the walls are textured. I have been working on getting the sheetrock finished enough for the light texture treatment and then texturing.

 I hate working with sheetrock.... Day after day and it looks like nothing gets done.

Finally the paint. Love the color.

I and getting plastic glue up ceiling tiles here. No more sheetrock dust for me.

Anyway I am glad to get moved in. It has a nice feel to it already and....a flush toilet in the same building you sleep in...what a novel idea!

The best part is the studio feels better too.