Mary Lekoshere Illustrated

We are sold out tonite. December graduation.  I’m watching You’ve Got Mail on tv…they actually have Dial-Up internet in a movie. Can you imagine if 24 were filmed back then? The office is cold, but the living room is lovely. There’s a cookie bar set up, the fire is going, and the 5 Christmas cds in the player are on their 49th rotation. Tom Hanks, by the way, gives hope to all the not-so-amazing-looking guys out there. You can be a star.

I am mostly packed for Germany, but I have a dilema. I have a smattering of novels that I have not read on my shelf. I feel like a great gripping novel, but here comes a problem. Shall I read Modern American lit? In Europe? Doesn’t a trip to Europe suggest Tolstoy or at least Dickens? Right now I have planned a collection of Christmas tales by the wonderful Irish Maeve Binchy. I have C.S. Lewis Mere Christianity. I  (if it comes in time) my book club reading, which is a memoir. I need one more to plug in. I’m contemplating The Hours. Or Hemmingway, Green Hills of Africa, but prehaps not. It’s winter. Or… The Color of Water: a black man’s tribute to his white mother. Personal interest, shall we say?

Now, to art. My first drawing of my “Coffee Shops, Cafes, and Still Lifes” to grace the walls of the Clay Corner Inn, is at last complete. It is a noble thing, this thing I’ve done. I have immortalized man’s labor. John, the boss’s husband, is the Germanium Guy. Right now, as December freezes the property and turns “rustic charm” into “dilapitated old dead things”, John grows Geraniums in a creepy cubby hole in the basement. Under a florescent light. The light watches over the potted plants day and night. I doubt this much effort has ever gone into plants that can’t be smoked or bring a profit. That said, here is the drawing, which took so long that most of the flowers died in the process. But no matter! As long as they first were submitted to the Grand Ole 4B, they may die as they please.

I have woefully neglected this blog for the past days… Thanksgiving has come and gone and Christmas is right around the corner!! I do love Christmas season. Sawaya and I were QUITE busy spending the holiday week with the government. :) But we have obtained a visa and are further along in getting a green card. I do have a new project to announce. Plus another project-ette. :)

First of all, a wonderful opportunity has come along… I have to say I have not taken full advantage of my position here in Blacksburg and at the Inn. Joanne is now offering me the entire “show space” of the inn for my artwork. We show artwork in the main common area/breakfast rooms of the inn. I have decided that I will not be doing my whymsical artwork, but will go with something new–more appropriate! I am doing a collection of still lifes and “Cafe” paintings. I want to do artwork of bakeries and coffee shops. Things that will go well with the inn, and strike a chord with many people. I also intend to return to my first love–oil painting. Right now I am in the midst of doing a pencil sketch of a Geranium.

My other little project is my Germany sketch book which I intend to keep religiously. I plan on blogging (with good internet connection) everyday and posting any artwork. I want to get the blog back into production!

So stick around. Geranium posting coming soon.

My dear friends,

Once again I ask for your inspirations!! Joanne, my boss, has kindly offered me more space here at the inn to hang pictures. Now, I need to do some paintings to sell here. I’ve aready sold two–both “whymsical” pieces. What are your thougths? Something marketable. Judging from your reactions to my peices, maybe mushrooms and elves?  :) Maybe mini-fairy tales? I also want to paint some realistic VT scenes… Let me know your thoughts….

Thanks!

Yesterday, as I was running errands in our little downtown area, I decided to pop into a small art gallery located on Main Street. Months ago I had been in and seen some paintings which I was familiar with. I had sold one during my internship at the Mary Praytor Gallery in SC. To my delight, I found that the Hungarian woman at the desk was sister to the artist, and he taught there at the little gallery. 

I found the door locked, but quickly opened by a giant, white haired man with a relaxed manner and a fabulous accent. He was indeed, the artist himself. He ambled around, showing me this and that. I was a kid in a candy shop. When I entered the gallery, the radio was playing… Rush Limbaugh. Possibly the first time Rush has ever been aired in an art gallery :) Peter, so the artist is named, led me to a little painting in the short hallway. The painting was tucked behind a shelf, visible, but certainly withough honor. It was a rather well-done portrait of Obama.

“My sister hates him” he explained, in his heavy accent. “She tries to hide him. He will end up in the bathroom”

Rush would have been pleased. :)

Friday, my aunt came. She is a former missionary to Panama who now lives in Michigan and has a ministry to the Amish. She is full of interesting stories and information about this people group that we, at least I, know very little about.

Today she took me to one of their churches here in VA. What an experience. I drove up beautiful country roads, stepped out of my modern-day car, and entered another century. A big, unfinished house acted as a church. We climbed a steep flight of stairs to the second story and entered a long, rough room with a plywood floor and a wood stove. The room benefitted from the bright sun through windows and two skylights, but was still dim. Pews lined one side, and chairs the other. My aunt and I headed to the back accompanied by stares. The women sat to one side, the men on the other. This was not the church of the community. The church of the community is in a light airy school building, where more black dresses are seen and pinafores are everywhere. This church was “liberated” Amish–they teach from the scriptures Jesus Christ and His free salvation not of our works but of Himself alone. While they still live the Amish life, they are not so tightly bound as their neighbors. Three curious sisters sat in the pew ahead of me. Four year old twins and their older sister. Beside me sat Rebecca, who was five. Her bonnet framed a sweet face with beautiful eyes. Her rumpled black-stocking legs and scuffed shoes stuck out in front of her on the old van bench. Lucky us got the old seat, very soft and comfortable. We were in for a long sit. The service began by singing or prayer–can’t remember now. The Amish singing is like that of a bagpipe, slow, swelling and falling with a general melancholy. The big black notes mapped out in the hymnal represent only the melody. My alto voice joined occasionally by my aunt, was alone. Harmony is forbidden in the Amish churches, except here in this liberated church. We sang on slowly, for half and hour. The wood stove kept things warm. The smell brought back to me Kenya. Maybe it was the stove and the crude room. Maybe it was that and the bodies of people of a less “western” existence. The twins fell asleep, their little heads resting on the pew, their dark lashes still against their baby faces. Next to me, Rebecca’s small finger traced up and down my skirt, feeling the strange fabric. I was dressed very plain. My skirt was made of burlap. I wore a white turtle neck and a black sweater, kept my makeup light, put up my hair, and only wore my wedding bands for jewelry.  I moved my rings from my left hand and put them round the pinkie of my right hand, then put my hand down on the bench. Before long, the small finger was pushing my diamond back and forth.

After the singing, a man spoke from the podium. He talked for about thirty minutes, then concluded by stating that he didn’t have anything else to say, and sat down. Another man stood, opened his Bible and spoke for another thirty minutes. He concluded the same way and opened the floor for testimony. More men spoke from their seats and finally the sixth man or so concluded with prayer. the people en masse thunderously getting to their knees. Even the tiniest babies in the audience were bonneted. It was must be a sweet moment in a woman’s life to stitch the crisp cotton baby bonnets in expectation of another child. The Amish take the scripture literally when it says the women will be “saved in childbearing”. Extra children mean extra help on the farm as well. So babies are everywhere.

The speaking now finished, we sang another round of hymns. By now the stuffy room and the strong odor was giving me a headache, and I was happy when the over two-hour service concluded. After the service, a group of little girls and some boys pressed round and I drew stories for them in my sketch book. And they taught me phrases of their Germanesque Amish language.

We’d brought a van load of my weekly Panera pick-up. It would have made a great commercial seeing the kids perched on the wagon eating their piece of bagel. From the church we headed to the community church, where again babies were everywhere. One little girl sat in the school house on a mattress, holding a child’s book and singing to herself. A girl told me she’d been sick and was slow in developement. She couldn’t talk yet. 

I saw one of the cabins before I had to leave. My aunt was staying there for a few days, and I came back home. It would be great to be there with a sketchbook, or even a camera. It would be great to do a whole series on them… Maybe some day.

I was able to scan quite a few of the pieces. But alas, my computer skills failed me and I don’t want to wade through more google entries to try to convert the scans to jpg… So I decided to do photographs. But I don’t know if all my photos are on the same computer. The long and the short: here’s a typed LIST of the pieces.

I have made available cheap prints: These won’t be a museum quality print, but as I said, they are cheap. Not all the artwork is available in print. Iam only able to get prints of the ones small enough. I will indicate which ones are available in print. The Peter Pan is available in print, but I cannot get those as cheaply. Comfort will be available only if at least 4 people want one. Confused yet? Here’s the breakdown:

PRINTS: $10
SHIPPING AND HANDLING: $5 to mail prints–one flat fee. Doesn’t matter how many you want shipped!
PRINTS OF “PETER” AND “COMFORT”: $25
ORIGINALS: as priced. Free shipping for originals.

1. “Has it Feathers Like a Bird?”  Original $70 * prints available

2. “Mel’s Thinking Cap” $25  *prints available

3. “Twelve Princesses”  $70  *Prints NOT available

4. “Trucks in the Sandbox”  $ 25  *Prints available

5-7.”Laugh” “Play” and “Lighten Up”   SOLD *Prints available

8. “Dance”  $55  *Prints NOT available

9. “To Have and To Hold”  $55  *Prints available

10. “Family” (Black and White Cats)  Original not available  *Prints available

11-14. Motherhood Series  Originals not available   *Prints available

15. “The Umbrella”  SOLD  *Prints available

16. “Rain” (Elves playing poker)  $55  *Prints available

17. “Matt’s Logo”  Not available

18. “Golf”  $25  *Prints available

19. “Ladybugs Being Ladies”  $55  *Prints available

20. “Annabel Lee”  $85   *Prints NOT available

21. “Dead Flowers” (Dandelions)   $75  *Prints NOT available

22. “Toadstool Panorama”  Not available  *Prints available

23. “Come Little Leaves”  $65  *Prints NOT available

24. “OPA”  Not Available  *Prints available

25. “Books”  $35  *Prints NOT available

26. Peter Pan Mini #1 “Tick Tick”   $35  *Prints available

27. Peter Pan Mini #2 “Kisses”  $35  *Prints available

28. Peter Pan Mini #3 “Tootles”  $35  *Prints available

29. “Tea”   $55  *Prints available

30. “Comfort”  SOLD  *Prints only available if at least 4 ppl want them  $25

31. “Peter”  Not available  * 11×17″ Prints available for $25

**All pieces are unframed.

**First come, first serve. Contact me through the blog, through facebook or at my email: mary.lekoshere@gmail.com

**Please send checks, or money orders. Sorry, no PayPal yet :)

Thanks for waiting guys!!

So goes the saying when you’re unable to finish your plate. I guess with me, it would  be “My plans were bigger than my calender.”

I didn’t get home til after six, now I’m off to work out, then probably watch a movie with my friends. Doesn’t look like I’ll have time to run off getting twenty some pieces of art scanned. :( So, I’m sorry for the delay… Be assured I will let you know when it is up! Some of you have asked about pieces ahead of time–feel free to do so.

Right now, it looks like FRIDAY is the day. :) 

P.s. I wrote another kid’s book in my head today while cleaning–I’ll let you know what it is later…

Here are a few snaps of the month of October. Prehaps you can get a sense of the sizing on some of these pieces. Tomorrow I will post a list of the entire collection, complete with sizes, prices and print availability. Most of the pieces will be scanned.

After this, we will put the lid of the October 31, to be stored at room temperature in the calender of my blog. And we will move on to exciting new adventures. I’ve two new artists to recommend to your viewing, a brand new sketch book to be purchased–I hope tonite!–and (drum roll please) my introduction to you of my endless-and-undying-search-of-publication-in-the-world-of-children’s-literature. :) And that promised to be fun, as you will once again be called upon to lend me, free of charge, your creativity.:) I will be asking for critique and also, as I search for forward direction will present to you my thoughts and, if you would be so kind, you can tell me where to go. You see, I could probably in an hour, write a list of 20 kid’s book ideas. But which one to do first?? And that, my friends, is where you come in.

So look over the pictures, and look tomorrow at the last you shall see, of this crazed project.

Thanks to all of you that have taken time to look at my pictures! In a way, it feels like this month went by quite quickly. However, I have submerged myself into the stress of “college life”, and am happy to give my body a rest…

My husband has dealt with short nerves, lack of clean undies, and fast food. There is laundry to be washed and folded, my shower needs a scrubbing, my apartment needs a dusting, a friend or two needs an email, and my hair could use a trim.

I am looking forward to relaxing tonite…have to run a charity pick up for Panera, and then watch a movie with the Hub. So what can you expect from the blog the next few days? I plan to scan as many as possible and make a complete entry of pictures with prices. Also, I am buying myself a sketch book and will be entering those, as well as updating the children’s book publishing process. Hope you guys will continue to keep up with the blogging…

For today, however, here is October 31—PETER!!

Enjoy.