I set up a demo for my students, and am certain that I enjoyedd it as much or more than they did. After they left, I decided that the bottomwas too plain, so I added some lace. The flower was enormous and I probably should have given it a larger vase.
6" x 6" watercolor $50.00
The birdbath is as necessary for a robin as it is for us. After swimming they preen and put on their fine frocks and flit throughout the garden to entice their lover and to escape their obligations for awhile.....that is....until their ravenous chicks cry out for food.
At the rock show, this rockhound was busily chattering to the young and old, helping them examine, touch and understand the beautiful stones in his collection. He was quite knowledgeable and kind, even giving discounts to those who asked. I hope he doesn't drift too far away.
Furniture Climber Day 3 of the 30 day challenge
Remind me to never paint this small again as I cannot see properly to do it. Took longer than necessary for sure!
I photographed this with indoor lighting. It is not as yellow as this. I could not resist the climbers liveliness. Everything about her said sweetness. She was back lit, so the shadows on her face were pretty dark.
Young ladies love to create their own style, whether it is bohemian, classic, ultra feminine, beachy,
cosplay, dramatic, culture or country. I am enamored with their delicate features, beautiful skin, eyes that sparkle and hair that can be tossed, straight, curly, short, braided or buned. I adore their spunk, their desires, their strengths and poise.
Mr. Seagull found a silver spoon left on the beach by picnickers and boy is he protecting it. I wonder if he will be having a bowl of cereal in the morning? Or maybe he will be digging a cavern with it like I used to try to do so I could hide from everyone and store my precious marbles? He could even be making fish soup for dinner and now he can eat it in style!
17 x 24 watercolor baatik on rice paper with gold thread $125.00 unmounted
This is a technique I am learning from Carol Naylor. Carol is an excellent teacher who stays with you to the very end, and also feeds you delicious fare and drink.
I mentioned that the figures weren't very perfect. My friend, Becky said that is called "Wabi Sabi"
I took a lot of wrong turns on this one, but with Carol's guidance it came out.
I love this painting and hope to do many more in the near future. It took all day to pull off this effect of the dancers and stage lighting because of the many layers!
All the paintings created in the class were fabulous!
I am nearly a century old. Generals, and priests have sat here. Grandmas, and grandpas, moms and dads, kids and babies have sat here to tie shoes, to eat meals, to read, to dream, to cry. I am not ordinary. Books and important papers have been stacked on my seat as well as dirty garden shears and pots. My skin is thick with coats of enamel, but I have many memories. Beside the linen and lace curtains in this warm colored peeling room I happily save a space for the unseen guest to rest.
5" x 5" oil on deep canvas floral still life $50.00
Every day is a golden opportunity to seek God's beauty. Sometimes the smallest blossom, maybe a leftover from the taller stems, should not be discarded. Their fullness, contained in a small apothecary jar, spills life and joy in a dark corner.
This fishy creation can be seen at Dale St. Cafe in Colorado Spring, CO. After making several banners for donations with cloth and fabric paint, these fabrics just tugged at my heart. It is not a fine art painting, but rather a curious underwater scene crafted with various prints and colors. shapes and sizes glued onto the canvas side by side. After the glue dried, I added gold fabric paint with a fine pointed tube attached. That covered all the edges and further secured the fabric. It is covered with glass to keep it clean, then and framed and hung. I was so intent cutting and pasting while making it, and found later it had only taken 2 hours to create sans paint or frame.
Some time ago I had seen the sun shining through the evening clouds with the brushy limbs and the ancient tree stumps at the bottom of the trunks and always thought I should paint that scene. When my students wanted to learn snow, I remembered the scene and thought, why paint blue snow? Let's get creative. I had so much fun planning this peaceful painting. I let the spirit of the painting come through, and challenged and delighted myself. Notice the repetition of shapes and colors. What would we do without repetition? Just think of our cells, the grass, bricks and hair. How about learning? Repetition is sooo important.
This little Mama lives under our driveway. She feeds her pups mice and birds and every once in a while we are lucky to see her scampering through the trees. She doesn't stop often, so we are lucky to catch a glimpse of her.
4" x 12" each on deep canvas oil $99.00 each or al three for $250.00
A happy salute to all my friends! Stand tall and raise your arms in the air and breathe the freshness of fall, floating leaves and kids jumping in crunchy piles of earthy gold.
This year my tulips are planted and covered with chicken wire so that they don't become squirrel food and I am hopeful that they will bring Springtime joy in 2014. Can you believe it?
These happy paintings are covered with heavy oil paint and slightly abstract because you cannot really decipher a leaf! However you get the idea of warmth at the end of October. I love my aspen trees so much with their gorgeous paper bark, scarred, as of someone came by with a charcoal stick and scribbled on them. Do you think it was the mysterious"Banksy"?
This little robin sings when she finds worms for her babies and sings when she is telling her love how much she cares about him. We should do the same. When we cook we should sing. And when we want to show our loved ones affection, we should at least hum a little ditty over them. Can you imagine how that would make them feel? I know I would like it, because my mom used to sing to me and it made me feel very loved.
30" x 30" oil $800.00
In the last light of day, the American eagle, a symbol of freedom, ceremoniously surveys his kingdom, a desert sanctuary. Generous golden light passionately kisses every edge, transforming the harsh landscape before putting it to bed. Gooddnight eagle. Goodnight desert. Thank you God, for the symphony of color.
“Dusk is just an illusion because the sun is either above the horizon or below it. And that means that day and night are linked in a way that few things are there cannot be one without the other yet they cannot exist at the same time. How would it feel I remember wondering to be always together yet forever apart?” ― Nicholas Sparks, The Notebook
Whooo would you expect to find in your tree tonight? My friend found this owl posing in a tree! Happy chance! I wish I were such a good photographer. Of course I had to add the silvery moon to go with his character and slide some silvery blue under his handsome feathers of white.
8" x 10" watercolor, acrylic, and rice paper on 140 # Arches
On a failed painting, I attached some Japanese rice paper and began adding color a little at a time until something clicked. First I thought this would make a fluffy kind of bird, but quickly decided it was a stormy sea with a sailboat confronting the waves and water. It is not exactly the type of painting I usually do but I like it. I like the colors, the shapes, the texture and the illusive thought that it is pretty non representational. The conception came with the doing....kind of backwards from planning a carefully thought out composition. It will be available tomorrow June 15, 2013, at the demo at Dale Street Cafe
An all day still life class project in October 2012. My students were amazing! Although I did not get photos of their work, I was so happy with their outcomes. So were they! Our subject was an odd combination of mother-in-laws tongues, Christmas cactus and gerbera daisies. Ann had not ever used watercolor before, yet her composition and blending were perfect. Beth had never done a wet in wet before, and her painting was like music.
I really love the rain and way sunshine comes through the clouds onto the landscape and touches the leaves and petals of some flowers and letting the clouds mist out the other foliage. Just the mere fragrance of rain makes me happy. To me rain is a metaphor for baptism...refreshing our ground, renewing the heart, and giving new strength to our roots.
