Merry Christmas Kolene Spicher Mermaids

Good Things Come In Small Packages 

Mermaids posing on a sled for Christmas Picture 

I love the holidays and it's an honor 

to sell something to someone over Christmas that 

you know will be used as a gift.  What a privilege. 

Today, I am talking about my Christmas Mermaid painting.  It's small enough to go in a stocking but too big for my

back pocket!  

I love making Santa figurines, too.  Here are a few that I made a few years back.  The one on the right is a Vallencourt figurine.  The two on the left are KOLENE Santas! 

The frame on this is nearly perfect.  I love it when I find frames that are not fussy and good antiques.  

May it be Joyful and White is written along side the sleigh in the snow. 

This is sort of reminiscent of some of my Nantucket Paintings that I painted a few years back.  Oh how the time seems to passes.  

The mantel looks a little distorted, but you can see the little mermaid painting tucked in there between the ship and the whale.  

Thanks for looking 

and Happy Christmas and New Year to you! 

ENJOY, 

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Jonah's Whale

Jonah's Great Fish Story 

according to the Bible 

13 1/4" x 36" 

A painting on aboard 

A few years ago, I purchased an old board that someone years ago had painted a fanciful edge on.  I just loved it.  I wasn't crazy about what was in the center, however, so I decided to paint my own 'thing' on it instead.  

This is the story of Jonah of the Bible.  Oh how he hated the people of Nineveh, but God didn't feel that way.  He loved these people despite their oblivion to Him and their rebellion.  

So Jonah foolishly flees to a town far away from where God told him to go, it was the town of Tarshish. 

Oh how the boat was affected by Jonah's presence.  For God caused a great storm to come upon the vessel, surely they all were going to die while Jonah slept away at the bottom of the boat, oblivious to the dire situation that he had placed his companions in.  

There was only one solution, Jonah had to go.  "Pick me up and throw me into the sea," Jonah said.   

And God caused the great fish to swallow Jonah up, saving his life.  Three days Jonah lived in despair inside the heart of the big fish.  Finally, broken and in despair, Jonah cried out to the Lord in prayer.  

God heard the prayer and caused the big fish to throw him up.  

What goes in must surely come out!  Now Jonah was thinking correctly, he had to go to these people and tell them the good news that God loved them and wanted to bless them if they turned from their wicked ways. 

And the people believed and trusted in the Lord that day. 

Don't you love that folky border?  I know that I do.  I love the fun way I depicted this story along with the truth that this board holds.  It is simply this, God loves people that we do not.  Just because our eyes are blinded does not mean that God turns his back on us or the people that we are blinded into not caring for.  

Even the edge on this board was painted; although, not by me, it definitely is something that I would have done! 

The back has a simple wire on it.  I am going to be listing this on Etsy.  I was not going to do it in any hurry, though, so if you want this for Christmas, let me know, because I can definitely ship it out and have it to your home (in the USA) in time for Christmas! 

Enjoy. 

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City Folk Homes with neighbors

Neighbors with ______. 

New House Series about City Buildings and 

The People Who Live In Them 

One day I was leafing thru an old folk art book of mine and came across this painting. 

There is something very funny about this, to me.  Maybe it is my quirky sense of humor, but I love this.  Look at all the bottles all over the floor.  This painter had a funny personality.  Notice the broken one to the right. This is an 19th century artist.

I thought wouldn't it be neat to do a series of paintings about  houses with people around the painting doing whatever it is that people do.   

I started to think about my childhood, and our neighbors.  Some of our neighbors brought us cookies and pies, while others didn't mow their grass weekly.  Some of them borrowed milk or flour or sugar.  I lived in town growing up, and we had very close neighbors.  It was fun.  We all had a lot of kids.  Some of the neighbors had 6 children.  "Neighbors with a lot of children..."  

This painting is about "Neighbors who borrow eggs."  

The window in the middle level is painted open in the center in preparation of my lady leaning out to throw the eggs that are being borrowed.  

All the characters in this series will be consistently dressed.  Buildings and trees will vary from painting to painting. 

I love the broken eggs laying on the grass, it puts me in mind of my inspiration piece that I posted above with the broken bottles. 

There she is, hanging out the window.  This is not a farm house in the country like a lot of my paintings illustrate, but is a city house with CITY FOLK! 

I sort of like it in the gold frame but is being painted for Spicher and Co, so I must come up with a reproduction frame.  It might end up in black, but this is what I found as of today. 

I love Jacob Mantel.  This 'folk art' book is opened to one of his characters. He lived around
1810-20

In the end, after living with this painting for a long time, I decided that I wanted a little more action!  Check out the TRICK OR TREAT POST! 

Enjoy. 

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