Precious Memories by Leada Wood

Precious Memories by Leada Wood©
www.leadawood.com

This is an ARTifact © painting I had started some time ago and when the Creative Catalyst posted their Holiday Challenge, it inspired me to get it out and finish it.
This week's challenge was community, and to me community is all about family.

My family growing up was very close...with aunts, uncles, and cousins by the dozens. Love, music and food was the glue that held our family together...kept us close.
We would have gatherings on Sunday afternoons. The kids would all run free outdoors while the grown ups got down with their country and gospel music. They were serious musicians...not for money, just for the love of making music. They would play all Sunday afternoon and then reluctantly put away their instruments and go home. They were good people, plain, hard working, God fearing folks. I can remember Pappa playing his guitar every day...I think it was his way of relaxing when he came home from work.

My Pappa was a clock repairman and jeweler and owned his own shop. He was very good at fixing things, everything. He liked to fix up cars and sell them in his spare time. The clock in this painting was his family clock, bought on the day he was born. I love clocks...guess they remind me of him. I use them in my art a lot. Always mindful of time, and how fast it passes and how there is never enough of it. Time...elusive... gone...never to be reclaimed...spend it wisely.

My family, aunts, uncles, grandparents, Pappa are all gone now. Wish I had listened better to all their old stories, maybe taken the time to write them down. Now they are all gone...dust in the wind.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so maybe I can tell my stories in paintings...to help remember my family...to keep our stories alive...to pass them on.

Precious memories...how they linger.

The Bee Keeper by Leada Wood

The Bee Keeper by Leada Wood©
www.leadawood.com

I have always had a facination with bees. I love to watch them visit my herb garden when the rosemary is blooming, buzzing around pollinating the blooms.  Suprisingly I am not afraid of them as I am wasp which I am very allergic to. I always loved the notion of keeping bees but haven't tried that yet!

 I was visiting the Flea, a fleamarket in Santa Fe and saw a woman with her honey shining in the sunlight, a beautiful sight! Naturally, as I always have a camera handy I took a few photos.  Those photos were the inspiration for this painting, although I changed it to make it look more historical so it would work with the show that is opening Sunday, November 13th at the Heritage Museum.  The show runs until December 21st, so if you are in Big Spring, please stop by and see all the works by the Caboose Watercolor Society.

This painting is 14x22 and is transparent watercolor on Archival paper. I strived to give the painting a warm feeling of a girl setting out her jars of honey to sell, with the sunrise behind her making her jars of honey glow.

Grannie's Wash by Leada Wood

Grannie's Wash by Leada Wood©
www.leadawood.com

This painting was inspired by the wringer washer I photographed at the Potton House Museum in Big Spring.  I have always had a fascination with wringer washers, even when I was small. I had a close encounter with a modern wringer when I tried to help my mother with the wash. I had to drag a step stool up to the machine and then I proceeded to run the wash through the machine along with my arm, thank goodness for elbows, as that was what stopped it! Mom heard me crying and came to my aid and promply reversed the process and set me free. The doctor said I was so small my bones were still soft so there weren't any broken ones. Maybe this painting will bring back memories to you.


This is an ARTifact painting, which is painted on Arches Archival Paper, with transparent watercolors. It is 14x22. You can see it at the Heritage Museum along with many other historical paintings of Old Big Spring, by the Caboose Watercolor Society, November 13th thru December 21st.


I would love to take your memories and paint them for you!
Christmas is coming and it would make a wonderful gift for a special someone.

ARTifacts© Painting by Leada Wood Artist of Texas

Oneta Sanderson with her ARTifact© painting created for her by her daughter Leada Wood in honor of her 90th birthday.

ARTifact© painting by Leada Wood©

Yes, I did add a couple of more things to my mom's ARTifact painting. After looking at it for a while I decided I needed to add a photo of me and my brothers. I chose a heart format because she always kept us close to her heart and loved us unconditionally. I also added a photo of her brothers and sisters under my grandma and grandpa so the family circle was complete. She was very surprised and liked her painting! When I took her home after her party, she asked me to hang it on her wall and with great pleasure I did.
If you are new to my blog check the older posts to see the process of this painting.
Thanks for joining me in my journeys!

ARTifacts © Painting by Leada Wood Artist of Texas




The Watcher by Leada Wood © All Rights Reserved

Well I think I have completed this ARTifact painting for my mom's 90th birthday. I will have to look at it for the next few weeks, before I give it to her, to see if there is anything else to add. It's hard to see everything on there  because of the low resolution so I will tell you a little about the rest of the story. I added a little angel in the top left corner of the family registry to signify all the grandparents I didn't know, that hopefully are my guardian angels, watching over me. I added a heart by my grandparents picture, I didn't know my grandfather but I sure loved my grandmother. The little ornament by my mom's birthdate has rubies in it, her birthstone, also the verse, Who can find a virteous woman? Her worth is above rubies. The antique watch face by my dad at the top is to signify him, he was a watchmaker by trade. It also signifies the passage of time.
The verse on the right is from

The Watcher

                                                 She always leaned to watch for us
                                                        Anxious if we were late,
                                                        In winter by the window,
                                                          In summer by the gate.
                                              And though we mocked her tenderly,
                                                      Who had such foolish care,
                                         The long way home would seem more safe
                                                        Because she waited there.

I then added a cross to signify Christianty, next to my mom's favorite verse:
"Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness" which just about sums up my mom's life.
I hope you have enjoyed taking this journey with me and seeing my thoughts as I created this ARTifact © Painting. I would be honored to do one for you or your loved one. Just contact me!

ARTifacts by Leada Wood, Artist of Texas



ARTifact by Leada Wood©

As you can see I had a busy afternoon at Studio Twenty. I added bible verses, and  yes I did ask my mom what her favorite was. It did arouse her curiosity, she maybe almost 90 but is still sharp as a tack!  I collaged a photo of her when she was about 20 in the right hand corner. I then collaged a photo of some arches to symbolize passages and a photo of her and my dad when they were first married. I added a key onto the fleur de lis, to symbolize the keys to the kingdom of heaven. The fleur de lis is a Christian symblom and has lots of meanings. My mom was always very fashionable and liked jewelry, so I added the pearls, because they remind me of her.

There is still a way to go but I am getting there! Stay tuned!



ARTifacts by Leada Wood, Artist of Texas

ARTifacts by Leada Wood©

Thought you might like a little closer look at my work. It is kind of hard to see as I have to use such low resolutions. Progress is being made! Less than a month now so I need to keep busy!

If you are looking for a gift for an anniversary, birthday, a hard to buy for person or to commemorate a special occasion the ARTifact painting might just be what you are looking for.

Please contact me at leada_w@hotmail.com for more information.

ARTifacts by Leada Wood, Artist of Texas

ARTifacts by Leada Wood©

I worked on my Mom's painting today at Studio Twenty. Still hot in Texas! I am so blessed to have a nice, cool space to nurture my creative muse.
I did a lot of tucking of the textures and added a fleur de lis and then added gold leaf to it. I decided I wanted to add a picture of my grandparents but I didn't want them to be too obivious, and I also wanted to still be able to read the Bible Registry behind them. I was looking in my Mom's old bible for some favorite verses to add and I found in the front of her bible where she had written, "Remember me with joy and laughter" and thought that was very appropriate for her so I added that above her birthdate. I am still looking for her favorite bible verses, may just have to ask her! This is a surprise for her so I will have to be crafty!

ARTifacts by Leada Wood, Artist of Texas

ARTifacts by Leada Wood©

My Mom will be 90, July 13 so I wanted to do something meaningful in honor of her. I started this painting by laying textures in  and then to kill the white of the canvas I mixed a nice warm color and glazed the canvas. I used game pieces to spell out Mom's name and took my grandma's family bible and scanned the family registry and collaged it in the upper left. I call this way of working ARTifacts, because they come from the heart and have family history or artifacts incorparated into them.  I do  these paintings for my family and also commissions for other families. I enjoy working this way, using symbols, textures, found items and meaningful trinkets to tell the persons story.

If you would like me to do an ARTifact for you please contact me at : leada_w@hotmail.com