The Best Ever The Bus Paintings Story KMcElwaine 7 minutes from Kathleen Mcelwaine on Vimeo.

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• Listen to Kathleen's Bus Painting Story, An interview by Lindsey O'Conner, shared on NPR, Texas Standard, March 29th 2016 Click Here
• Framed Art and very large format Wall Art available, visit Hang Ups Picture Framing, Cedar Park, TX, Hang Ups has access to all of my art available for framing.
• Wall art, prints on canvas, paper and products, including T-Shirts, visit kathleen-mcelwaine.pixels.com and Kathleen-mcelwaine.fineartamerica.com, if you don't see an image you would like, please find the ID Number associated with that image by looking here: Quilt Blocks Art and send me a message: Click here to send a message: Custom Request
• Purchase my AutoBiography of Growing up as an Artist, Childhood, Learning to Keep The White Space,  Click Here
• Visit my Etsy Store: rusticfarmdecorart.etsy.com or kathleenmcelwaine.com

When my husband and I moved to Texas, I had to reinvent my art career, so I began painting primarily with watercolor paint. Over time, I had a portfolio of Texas art with my signature style.

I beamed with joy and pride when people saw my work and they recognized it!

I offered prints of my iconic Texas Art to Bob Bullock Museum and became the local artist in gift shops across the state.

As my art gained popularity, I was contacted by an event planner/designer asking if she could license my images. 

To my delight, she was talking about printing my art on fabric table cloths and dinner napkins. This opportunity led to more licenses. Tote bags with my art and special orders encouraged me to write a business plan for what is now quiltblockart.com 

When I am in a quilt shop I find myself with kindred spirits with the love of the fabric and art, lighting me up with joy when I see new ways people frame and enjoy my art.

I couldn’t ask for more! 

Re-publish from my artist website:
What is a Patron? A person choosing to be a supporter of the Arts.
… the unspoken between artist, KMcElwaine, and You, the patron.

Patreon is becoming a typical way for an artist to raise money, But, nobody had it over Rembrandt van Rijn July 15, 1606 – October 4, 1669

This is the way Rembrandt managed to put dinner on the table and brew in his goblet. Rembrandt being the creative person he is, painted constantly, and he was a public servant, recording history and providing beauty all around in his community. Needing to have enough to eat and wanting to hobnob with his collectors, the 1% of his time, he painted lots of different art. Commissions, studies, studio works paintings for the community, and his own response to inspirations…. sounds like me.

Most of his paintings include people.

Rembrandt
He had to find ways to create an income…again, this sounds like me. Rembrandt found a way to tap into the ego of the leaders in his small Dutch community.

My imagination can be pretty vivid and I conjured up a picture in my mind of Rembrandt standing in the presence of Mayor Cornelis de Graeff , and telling Mayor Graeff all about how he pictured The Night Watchman to look once he painted it. Then Rembrandt would ask, “Will you pay me X# of guilders to paint your face on the most prominent person in my painting?” Of course, the mayor was willing, so the mayor would become a patron. Then Rembrandt would be off to the banker with the same offer and the banker would become a patron. With each offer, the most prominent figure would move according to the highest bidder. I’m certain Rembrandt found important spots in his painting for each person willing to pay. And then his paintings had much less desirable figures, such as the cadaver in The Anatomy Lesson painting. But Rembrandt still needed a model so he had a name for these people in his paintings.

Tronies
Rembrandt, Kathleen McElwaine Blog, KMcElwaine Blog

Rembrandt called these individuals and later the face painting studies, Tronies because they were patrons without the pay, Tronies.

My dad often referred to his rodeo buddies as Tronies, so this was great fun to read when I learned about Rembrandt in my own research.

I wonder? What would the response be if I try to raise money the way Rembrandt did? Mayor Ross, are you interested in paying me to paint you into a prominent place in one of my paintings?

These are a few of my own Tronies, painted during my Bus Painting Days. I loved painting people and working to make sure they never knew they were a model for a quick fun study. I call the collection of these painting My Very Cantankerous Rich Ladies . I learned so much from those wonderful people about my own character and the character of people that loved me because of the art painted during the commutes to and from my job at University of Texas, 2007 –2011.

Talking to new store owners while arranging to make their first purchase to stock Quilt Block Art in their store, eventually they ask this question.

Do you have a pattern to use with your blocks?

In the past I have invited them to look at the page of Samples, items made by others, explaining I don’t sew and I am still relying on others to tell me about patterns.

Yesterday spoke I with Saundra at Fiberworx Fabric Studio in McQueeney Texas Fiberworx recently purchased Cactus Queen Quilt Shop. This quilt is on display in the store – All That Sparkles, X-Blocks Basix Pattern is the pattern used: 

SampleDE004 All SA Blocks

Kathleen McElwaine Art printed as a Quilt block is purchased as a 10 x 9 inch block. The art itself is no larger than 7.5 x 7.5 and fits nicely in a 8 x 8 inch opening. I suspect some adjustments are made to use the pattern “All That Sparkles“. Knowing I would not understand well enough to explain the changes, I did not ask. I can see how the blocks will fit using this pattern when I looked at the image on the pattern front. The Quilt is on display at Fiberworx Fabric Studio in McQueeney Texas.

Then I started wondering if I could recognize other patterns a quilter could use and I found Jenny Doan at Missouri Quilt teaching how to make this quilt and she recommended it for beginners. Make a Building Blocks Quilt.

And I remembered the volunteers with Quilts Inc, while preparing for the 2019 National Quilt Market and Festival, packaging 12 of the quilt blocks in one package with the instructions that all the buyer needed to make a quilt was to add the sashing.

Cutting Quilt Block Art for Quilts Inc

I love to receive a message or an email or text from someone showing me something they have made with the blocks and what they plan to do with it. This sweet quilt, made by Shirley, will be donated to The Linus Connection: The Linus Connection is a Central Texas 501(c)(3) organization whose mission is to make and deliver handmade security blankets for children in crisis situations in our area. The blankets go to children in hospital emergency rooms, in crisis centers, in foster care, battered women’s shelters, to any child who is in need of a little extra security in their lives. I could not ask for more than to be a part of a Quilter’s World. Quilters are the kindest people you will ever know. Need a friend? Learn to quilt and be a friend, you will find you have more friends than you could have ever imagined!

To make friends with a quilter, all you need to do is follow the thread with no strings attached!

Over thinking a bit, I am sure. When I was 4, maybe 5 I was a big problem to have around. I was a very troubled child. A memory I have is going to work with my daddy. I wanted to be with him so much, I worked every minute to understand what he expected of me. My daddy worked at Dick Bardon’s Sporting Goods and Pawn Shop, our family owned business. When we arrived at Dick Bardon’s,  I would go directly to a tall chair in the office. From this high perch I could see the front door, I could see customers at the window separated by fancy bars. Our family business was a pawn shop. Sitting in my chair I could hear the customers story. The need for money, and the hope to be able to redeem the property in the near future…

I understood, the story was what had brought them to this window and they needed to be heard, as much as they needed money.

Often the item to be pawned was a diamond wedding ring.

I listened. The stories were all different. Sometimes it was a woman, sometimes a man. The story was always why the need for money and how the hope for later redemption had brought them to this window. 

Later, after the story was told and the transaction was completed, the diamond ring would end up on the desk in-front of where I was sitting. At some point, my daddy would come to record the transaction in the journal. 

Do you see the drawing in blue ink inside of the rectangle box? That was the drawing of the diamond setting. I remember daddy letting me draw the ring on a separate paper. He would would say to me…Maybe someday you will work at Dick Bardon and it will be your job to draw inside of this little box. The book will be beautiful with your drawings.  I don’t have the journals from those years, but I believed my daddy…that my pictures were beautiful. I kept working at my drawings and paintings and at some point I stopped being so difficult to be around. 

A short story by Kathleen McElwaine

An important memory, a very early memory, growing up on a small quarter-horse ranch in Tulsa Oklahoma: I woke up to my dad’s voice telling mother about something…very strange to hear.

Now for what I was hearing, I need to tell you a bit about Doc Brown. Doc Brown was the best vet in my world. He came to our house anytime we asked him and the animals always got well, babies were always finally born, kittens were always sewn up and getting better, even our dog Cinders loved Doc Brown. The picture is a painting of Cinders.

I had never heard my dad tell a story. It sounded like a story book story of excitement, adventure and now happily ever after.

It seems I had awakened to the end of the story, the happily ever after part, when my mom said, Is everything okay now? And my dad said: Yes, it is all fixed and Doc Brown is safe. All I knew was that it had something to do with the gas meter at the end of our driveway and Doc King.

The gas meter was important to me because each evening I would balance myself on top of it and watch for my daddy’s blue 1954 Chevy truck turn the corner coming off of Memorial, coming home from work to take me with him to feed the animals in the barn.

I need to leave you right where I was left that morning, because now the story has to be told as I discovered it. I’m not sure if I know the truth, because imagination and listening on the sly is how I found out EXACTLY what happened that night. I will tell you the big sister in the house was old enough to know the rest and the little sister in the house was not old enough to be interested and for some reason, I was going to be left out. I had to find out by looking for clues. No one was going to tell me what had happened during the night while I slept that involved my much loved Veterinary, Doc Brown and my favorite roosting spot.

Today was Sunday. I knew the routine, daddy stays home and the girls in the family dress up and walk to church.To get to church we walk on a path next to a barbed wire fence that runs along the side of our yard.

As we got to the barn I could hear my dads voice, then I looked behind me and saw Doc Browns old brown Ford next to our driveway with front of the car dipping down into the ditch and the back of the car up in the air.

I’m trying to figure it out, while I am still walking and the next thing I know my skirt is tangled in the barbed wire. Quickly I got it unhooked without being noticed.

Off to church. It was the longest 1 hour Sunday school and 1 hour church service in history.

As soon as the preacher stood in the front middle with his hands in the air, I could not wait anymore. I was off! Running the long hall from the sanctuary to the front door of the church, to stop at the barn.

I entered the barn so fast I startled Junior our biggest horse, I stopped holding my breath hoping he would settle down. I could see his nose flaring opening closing, I could hear his breath and his eyes were so big it was almost as if they had turned all white, his pupils looked like beams shooting right into my eyes. I stood very still – very quiet for a moment until his breath settled.

I saw the cats scatter when I came in and now I could see the other 2 stalls, the horses standing and looking at me. Now up the ladder to the hay loft I climbed, then worked my way through the bales of hay in my skirt and Sunday school shoes until I got to the window to see outside.

I could see Doc Browns car was gone, then I turned and noticed a bed of hay…someone had pulled a bale of hay apart and made a bed to sleep.

I climbed back down the ladder and left the barn. Now down the side of the house to the driveway and front yard. I could see ruts Doc Browns car had left practically on top of the gas meter. I had run out of places to look and went into the house in time to sit down at the table for Sunday dinner.

Later that day, standing right outside of the kitchen, I heard my mom pick up the phone, she picked it up and realized someone on party line was talking, she started to hang up when even I could hear someone say

Paaat see, is that you? “yes it is me but I can wait until you are off.

Then I heard my mom say Yes, yes

pause

I don’t think he slept in our barn.

pause

I don’t know anything about him running over our gas meter.

pause

I don’t think he was drunk

Nobody was blown up

We are all fine.

Then I heard her hang up the phone.

I never heard mention of that morning again and the next time Doc Brown was called to our house I was very happy to know for sure he was still our veterinary.. Because at our house, on our country road we needed our favorite veterinarian to be a hero!

Cowgirls and Lace in Dripping Springs, Texas had been sewing with my art on linen for resale to Designers and I wanted so much to have more customers in this beautiful world of  fabrics.  I had been learning all those years and I desperately needed to learn more, I needed a professional in the business.

I met Tina and enjoyed browsing her beautiful shop and I purchased a fat corner even though I had no idea what it was. I had found new hope in thinking Tina, owner of Sew Crazy, just might be the person willing to teach me. I organized a stack of my art on different fabrics, some images dating back to 2008 and boldly carried it into the store to show Tina. 

Tina made me feel special with her comments as she seemed to admire each piece of art as she looked through the stack of fabric. 

She said I could leave all the fabric with her! I felt  invigorated about my art again. 

Tina and I worked diligently perfecting the blocks, the type of fabric, the image quality, which images, and on, and on. When I tell you that my quilt blocks and methods are tested, it is because Tina and I tested them. Repeatedly.

I am grateful for my friendship with Tina Cordia Korn of Sew Crazy Austin in Cedar Park, TX.  I hope if you find yourself in Cedar Park, Texas you will stop in and see where my quilt blocks were developed and tested.

I painted everyday on the bus during my commute to and from my job at University of Texas. A few of the things I learned because people watched me paint each day are:

My paintings, or the surprise of seeing me paint made people smile. Most people wanted to tell me about their aunt, neighbor or grandmother that had been or is an artist. I had no idea what I was going to do with the 1-4 small paintings I was painting 5 days a week. 



And I learned I did not paint if I was taking myself too seriously on that particular day and everyone on the bus noticed. I started realizing how much better painter I was when I found time to stand in front of my easel and painted with oil paint. Practice with watercolors each day, creative time with watercolors each day was making me the best painter I could be.

I have never stopped watercolor painting each day.

Now that I own a successful Quilt Block Art business and sell my art on Kona Cotton Ultra wonderful fabric for quilters all over the world to make beautiful quilts, I understand why I spent all the time I did painting 1-4 small paintings each day.