Trumpeter Swan

 

Swan

Judy Vars

Encaustic Beeswax

12x24

550.00 

 



 

This is a painting of the one of the trumpeter swans that stopped by my dock with their signets.  I got up close and personal with the whole flock they stop by every spring and summer for some bread and a photo opportunity. This one was posing for the camera and giving me cheesy smiles.
They do not make their nest on Beverly Lake because the loons drive them off, this is loon territory!

 In a few days they will be taking off to warmer southern climates. When they take off and fly it is a sight and sound to behold, it’s like a jumbo jet with their large bodies trying to gain enough air speed to fly, they flap and run across the water making a loud trumpeting sound until they are airborne. It’s totally awesome!

Winter is really breathing down our necks, yesterday it hailed which made the lake look like it was boiling there is a winter chill in the air. All too soon it will be frozen solid, the snow will be deep and I’ll be inside cozy by the fire.

 
Peace is with you dear readers.

Día de los Muertos

 

Día de los Muertos

Encaustic/Temporary Tattoos

8x10

120.00

 



The Haunted Fairview Inn - Talkeetna, Alaska

 

The Smoking Room at the Fairview Inn

Talkeetna, Alaska

Original Oil

10x14

125.00

 

 

Talkeetna's Fairview Inn was built in 1923, President Harding stayed there with his mistress and then died shortly thereafter it is no secret it is a very haunted place!  Last weekend I went there with a couple of friends after a long day of meetings and fellowship with the women some of us decided to go to the Fairview Inn. We strolled in to the loud music and hang with the denizens of Talkeetna.  I asked the bartender for a cold near-beer and asked, is this place is haunted? she said; of course it is haunted!

I sarcastically joked, you should have the Ghost Hunters (a television show on the Travel Channel) come for a lock down and they can set up the night vision cameras, ghost recorder, and yell at them all night. She just laughed sardonically and kept busy with the other bar patrons.

Being the curious cat that I am, I wandered upstairs to explore the hotel part of the Fairview Inn.
At the end of a narrow hallway he door was open to a quaint sparsely furnished room, It felt weirdly like I had been there before or seen it in a dream a small old black and white television was on and oddly playing a 1930's Laurel and Hardy movie. When suddenly the room got much colder and goose bumps rose on my arms and my hair began to stand on end like static electricity. My friend followed me up the steep stairway was standing frozen in the hallway flapping her hands, screeching and flipping out! She said she had never felt her hair stand on end like that before. With my camera in hand I got one picture of the room before the batteries completely drained. We ran out into the bar hysterically laughing and freaking out at the same time. In a crazy high voice that sounded to me like I was in shock,I said, "there is a ghost upstairs!!" and the bartender said; "Oh that's just Frank!" Oh-My-God lady you might have warned us! But then where is the fun in that?

For more ghost stories read this book - Ghosts of Talkeetna by Sarah J. Birdsall http://www.angusrobertson.com.au/book/ghosts-of-talkeetna/41985064/

TITLE:Ghosty Girl #2

MEDIUM: Encaustic Collage

ARTIST: Judy Vars

PRICE: 120.00

 

Once Upon a Time I was staying overnight at a retreat the Saint Mary's Art Center formally the old hospital in Virginia City, Nevada. Virginia City was a boom town with something going on 24 hours a day for its nearly 30,000 residents. There were visiting celebrities, Shakespeare plays, opium dens, newspapers, competing fire companies, fraternal organizations, at least five police precincts, a thriving red-light district, and the first Miner's Union in the U.S. The International Hotel was six stories high and boasted the West's first elevator, called a rising room, instant millionaires built ostentatious mansions. Today the town has less than 500 residents. I was a denizn of Virginia City for a time, it drew me there like a magnet. I can tell you from experience the town is haunted! I lived in town but the ladies at the artist retreat invited me to stay overnight. We had some fun getting ready for bed, putting our hair in curlers and telling stories about our family. Soon I fell asleep, then I was awakened by a sound like an old wood screen door banging. I fell back asleep and soon experienced the feeling of someone stroking my neck and running their fingers sensuously down the inside of my arm and palm and talking softly in my ear. I remember how good it felt and then I woke up saying: "Oh shit! this is real!". I rose from my bed to explore the haunted hospital, sometimes I wonder why and where I got the courage to explore the halls of this abandoned hospital alone but I did. The hair on the back my neck was standing up my fear was palpable (it tastes metallic). Out through the window at the end of the hallway was the old cemetery named Our Mother of Sorrows, the full moon was casting tombstone moon shadows on the ground. I took a ghost picture on the grass in front of the hospital which I have since lost. I am haunted still today by the town and the spirits in my dreams. The next morning I asked the ladies if they noticed anything unusual and they said noooooo??? So I kept my nocturnal adventures to myself.