A Portrait of the Artists as Spring Blooms

As you can see, it can now be difficult catching a "still" when Ben is working. Note the blur of his right hand. We are all seeing a butterfly emerge in the orange paint from this view point.

The artist takes a moment to study his subject matter...also to taste the paint and make sure it's ready for application. I've mentioned this before but Ben has a tendency to lean his head to the right when he is concentrating. He is actually in this position watching TV as I'm typing this. This is one of the reasons we always turn his work at 90 degree angles to find what he is painting. To us it's a peculiar way to look at the world - in fact it can be down right uncomfortable for us to watch but to Ben it is quite normal.

One new thing Ben has figured out is how to mix and blend colors.

Jessie's Easter outfit. She picked it out with very little help from Mom. Something about this picture disturbs me...

Easter lunch with her cousins Chandler and Graham. Since Christmas, Graham has insisted that photos capture his "inner gangsta." Uncle Bennie keeps insisting he has too much mop top to be hip hop.

Jessie & BFF Olivia prove that white girls can jump...into a pool mid-April...

...which results into a scream still hovering somewhere near the ozone layer. Ever hear two young teenage girls scream? Dogs from two neighborhoods away are still barking.

Jessie and her BDFF (best dance friends forever), twin sisters Marissa and Cecily, about to hit the stage for one of their month-long competitions. It's funny how many "daughters" I now have. Evidently the stuff I do that embarrasses the heck out of Jessie makes me a cool dad in her friends' eyes. Joan says it's because the other dads wouldn't act like an idiot in front of just anybody.

And all this activity can exhaust two beautiful angels.

Ben's Impressions of Spring

I cannot believe that once again it's been almost a month since I've blogged! It seems an apology is in order for almost every post in 2010 due to my lack of writing discipline. You'd think there isn't much happening in our lives. On the contrary we've all been as busy as the carpenter bees currently eating all of the front wooden windows of our house.

Along with painting almost every day Ben has attended school this spring much more regularly than ever before. This is such great realization for us because school is such a positive experience for him and it means our son is most likely the healthiest he's ever been. If we weren't sure about that already, the fact that the nurses are constantly throwing out his "incessantly shrinking" clothes could've alerted us.

Jessie just finished a month of weekends filled with dance competitions which was good for me. For Joan? Not so much. Most of those weekends I got to keep Ben and spent time watching baseball rather than doing something more "husbandly" like mowing the lawn because...well...Ben likes baseball. Of course Joan will tell you that Ben likes watching anything Daddy's watching. Ben and I know better.

The last weekend of April I was in Savannah, GA for my first art festival of the year which you will hear more about later this week. Suffice it to say that I was thrilled with the outcome! It was great seeing some dear friends for the first time in almost five months plus sales were very good despite spring showers attempting to ruin the festivities. I immediately returned home to begin training for my new temporary job: completing follow-up surveys for the 2010 US Census (again more about that in the coming days).

This afternoon Jessie, Joan, and I spent a little while collectively looking at some of Ben's latest paintings. At the request and suggestion of several folks who regularly observe his work we've decided to allow some of Ben's paintings to stand on their own, meaning yours truly will only sign and date them for him. Strangely enough when we do this, the three of us almost one hundred percent agree that the his works fall into three categories: (1) needs more work, (2) time for Bennie to add something, or (3) "oh my gosh, do you see the same thing I'm seeing?" Two of his latest went immediately into #3 today and they are now for sale and described below.

Title: "In the Wilderness" (pictured at the top)

Description: Acrylic paint on 11" x 14" canvas panel (standard frame size). We would encourage you to click on the image for a larger view - the focal point seems to be in the lower right hand corner. That is all the hint we will give. I am genuinely interested in your thoughts so be sure to comment below!

Price: $45 - includes shipping (this is a largest panel Ben has completed!). Prints will be available once the original is sold.



Title: "Learning to Walk"

Description: Acrylic on 6" x 8" canvas panel. The footprint shapes were quite obvious including the "flip-flop" (as Jessie called it). Obviously the phrases "In His Steps" and "Footprints in the Sand" came to mind but we all felt those to be too hokey. I wanted to call it "Learning to Crawl" (as a nod to the rock band The Pretenders) but for some reason Jessie gets Ben's vote.

Price: $25 (includes shipping)

As always the first person to e-mail at benwaddell@bellsouth.net gets the initial opportunity to purchase the painting(s). If you are interested in prints then e-mail me as well.