Tribute to Robert Frost

Tribute to Robert Frost

I spent many hours on this gorgeous steampunk mirror frame.  It started out as a tacky junk store find, all tired and icky.  But I gave it a new perspective, new paint, and encrusted it with a wealth of interesting texture bits-- copper enamel beads and keys, stamped brass and... yes, a reptile eye.  It is a masculine piece.  The bottom part is a mirror, but I happened to angle it to capture some chandalier danglies and lace curtains that were just hanging in the background.  The more you look at it, the more you see.

Stormy Winter Ocean

Stormy Winter Seascape

Before it is too late into Summer I wanted to share this nice winter seascape, painted by my husband Dennis Tibbits.  Dennis is a Speech Pathologist.  He has a rehabilitation business for things like speech therapy, physical therapy and occupational therapy.  He operates practica at some of the schools in Adair County, helping children learn to overcome speech disabilities.  He supervises NSU speech students in training children.  He works for several hospitals when they need assessments of patients.  He's been a professional musician.  And did I say he's a talented artist and cartoonist?  Enough bragging.  The horizon in this one looks real as a photograph.

Spanish Courtyard

Spanish Courtyard

By Dennis Tibbits

I never have known if this is a Spanish Courtyard, or Portuguese.  There are architectural elements common in those places... or it might be Italy.  I've always wanted to visit this part of Europe because if its diverse history throughout the centuries.  In this painting, I like the light.

Venice Gondola

Venice Gondola

Dennis Tibbits painted this wonderful canal scene of  Venice, probably from a picture because we have never been there.  Last year, our daughter Katy Winbray Brinkley and her new husband Josh Brinkley went to Italy on a Mediterranean Cruise for their honeymoon-- our wedding gift to them.  As Winter fades into memory, we're less antsy to travel, but each winter we get the wanderlust to visit new or familiar exotic places.  Venice is one city keenly conerned about climate change because the prediction of rising oceans is anticipated to have a devastating cost in infrastructure for this city built on expectations about the water.  Where did I hear that the Lombards in centuries past devised steadfast architecture to seat buildings on swampy soft land, thus starting the tradition of this city so comfortable in a culture built around the water?  Maybe it was on History Channel. 

Golden Waterscapes II

Golden Mountain Sunset

Dennis Tibbits painted this companion to the ocean painting.  Here the pond is nestled high in mountains near the treeline and reflects a golden sunset... or perhaps a sunrise since the water is so calm. 

Golden Waterscapes

Golden Pier Sunset

Dennis Tibbits, my husband, painted this oil many years ago.  I treasure it because it has a rustic and choppy quality, just like the wind and waves.  I grew up spending a lot of my time when young on Lake Tenkiller, and I could imagine such a scene at sunset on Elk Creek back then when docks were roughly-made.

The Old Home Place

Tibbits Old Home Place

For his father, Dennis painted this view of the old Tibbits home place.  You can see where it stood on the highway between Evansville and Van Buren in Arkansas, but the house fell into disrepair and eventually burned.  With a scad of siblings, Jim Tibbits still remembers stories about his childhood.  Recently at breakfast he told about one early spring day when the onions were coming up green and he and his brother went along and nipped the tops off of every onion, getting a fresh first taste of the garden's bounty before it was really ready.  His dad said, "I have never known rabbits to eat onions like that."  That was before they got their spankings.  In times when everyone was pretty much independent for growing the family's food and there was much less of a commercial backup plan for buying food, it must have been a serious offense to interrupt the garden.

Jolora's Yellow Roses

We don't think it ever had a name, but this painting I'm calling Jolora's Yellow Roses.  It was painted by Dennis' mother, Jolora Price Tibbits in 1975 and hangs in our dining room.  I love the color blending at the infinity line (or whatever you'd call the back corner) and the sweet shades.  Dennis has his mom's painting talent, and I'll be featuring a few of his oils.