SCATTERED (ACORN AND LEAF II)

'Scattered'

Oil 6 x 6

When I was a young girl, one of my favorite places

to be was up in the branches of a tree. It became my own

secret fortress, and I could climb high and view

the world from a whole new perspective.

To this day, I still revere the majesty of all trees, and

although I don't climb as much as I used to, I still

collect interesting leaves, branches, seeds and the

occasional empty nest.

This is the second of my study of some oak leaves

and acorns I collected last Fall.

If you would like to see more of my work,

please check out my website and my blog.

Thank you.

ACORN AND LEAF I

'Acorn and Leaf I'
Oil 5 x 7

Did this little study today. I collected
some dried leaves and acorns up on the mountain
this past fall in the hopes that I could eventually do some
drawings or paintings. I am starting another one
that has more acorns...

If you would like to see more of my work,
please check out my website or my blog.
Thank you.

SIGNS OF SPRING

'Signs of Spring'
Oil 24 x 24

Recovering from some oral surgery I had
earlier this week, so I am posting an
older painting I have done of lilacs that were sitting in the
window of my studio beside a nest I had found
in the back yard. Still thinking about Spring...

If you would like to see more of my work,
please check out my website or my blog.
Thank you.

LILAC MEMORIES

'Lilac Memories'
Oil 8 X 8

I always love when the lilacs bloom in April
because of the wonderful perfume they send
into the air. These are some of my own lilacs
that I have carried with me every time we have
moved. They include some stock from my
mother-in-law and also from a neighbor
who became my surrogate grandmother.
The vase is a cranberry opalescent hobnail vase
that belonged to my grandmother.

If you would like to see more of my work ,
please check out my website. Thank you!

SUNSHINE AWARD

Thanks so much to both Karen Bruson
and Mitzi Easley for nominating me for this
blogger award for creativitiy and positivity !

The rules for accepting the award are:
Put the logo on your blog or within your post.
Pass the award onto 12 bloggers.
Link the nominees within your post.
Let the nominees know they received this award.
Link to the person from whom you received this award.

I've been so impressed with the artistic ability
and spirit of certain artists I have met up here in the
blogosphere that it was difficult to narrow down
my choices to 12 nominees for this award, but here we go:

Bill Guffey - The Virtual Paintout
Jeffrey Hayes
Debbie Becks Cooper
Pat Koscienski
Lyn O'Neal
Autumn Leaves (Sherry)
Pam Holnback
Mary Beth Brath
David Larson Evans
Teresa Madsen
Dean Haven
Brenda York

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY! PINK CARNATION

'Pink Carnation'
Oil 24 x 30

Happy Valentines Day, everyone!

If you would like to see more of my work,
please check out my website. Thanks!

SUN-KISSED

'Sun-Kissed'

Oil 12 x 16

NFS

This is one of two paintings I plan to enter into

The Carlisle Arts Learning Center's

Lemon Show.

We were in North Carolina visiting my cousins

along the Southern Outer Banks when I took some

photographs of my little grandaughter as she was

sitting in the sunlight pulling books out of a

basket. I knew that someday I would have to

paint that sweet baby skin, even knowing that

in about 10 years she will probably be annoyed

with her artist Grandma...but she'll get over it.

This is probably the only time this painting will

ever be out in public...it is going to be a 30th

birthday present for the wonderful man who

is married to my wonderful daughter. :)

If you would like to see more of my work,

please check out my website. Thanks!

THE KARIN JURICK PROJECT

Karin Jurick
Oil 6 x 6

Karin Jurick, a wonderfully talented artist, has
been hosting the Different Strokes from Different
Folks blog for over a year. Every two weeks or so
she puts up a photograph that participating artists
paint and then submit their work to Karin to post
on the blog. It is fantastic to see all of the different
interpretations from all of the artists!
At the end of the year, Karin has a portrait challenge.
Artists who wish to join in submit a photograph of
themself, and then Karin pairs them up with one of
the other pariticipating artists. This year approximately
180 artists from all over the world participated in this
challenge.
We all know that Karin has dedicated an
incredible amount of her own personal time and patience
to keep the DSDF blog up and running. One of the
DSFDF artists, Jill Polsby, came up with an amazing
way to thank Karin for all she has done. Jill contacted
the DSFDF artists and sent a picture of Karin to those who
wanted to paint Karin's portrait. All of the submissions were
then made into a book to be sent to Karin. Here's where
you can see the paintings that were submitted.
Thanks to Jill for the wonderful idea, and for all of the
work it took to pull this all together.
Thanks to all of the terrific artists who signed up for this
challenge.
And many, many thanks to Karin Jurick for providing us
with challenges that have pushed us to stretch
ourselves as artists.

BUDDHA GARLIC

'Buddha Garlic'

Oil 6 x 6

A study on garlic, one of my favorite food items.

This was a nice plump garlic bulb, with very

prominent cloves. Glad I am done painting it,

because now I will use it in tonight's supper!

If you would like to see more of my work,

please check out my website. Thanks!

DEEP SNOW

'Deep Snow'
Oil 8 x 10

Several postings ago I put up some photos of
the snowstorm we got that dumped almost two
feet of snow all over our yard. Well...only four
short days later we got another storm, and at least
18 more inches of snow!

This is the view of my garden shed, and the
fence that surrounds the
garden - before the wind kicked up and the
snow started to drift. The iron obelisk that
I use to trellis my morning glories is a little over
four feet tall...thats the thing there in the foreground
peeking up through the snow...

I am beginning to think that groundhog
might have made a nice little stew...just kidding...

If you would like to see more of my work,
please check out my website. Thanks!

AUTUMN IN THE NAPA VALLEY

'Autumn in the Napa Valley'

Oil 6 x 12

This is a painting I did for Bill Guffey's Virtual

Paintout Challenge (February - San Francisco,

California and surrounding area), using Google

Streetview. ( At the risk of being bludgeoned by

avid football fans, I started this painting around

the second quarter of the Super Bowl last evening...

too much testosterone for me with the chest

bumping and strutting about..., and finished it

up this morning.)

I think the strong diagonals

created by the vineyard, the soft mountain range

in the distance, and those misshapen trees that

I remember so well from growing up in California

are what really influenced my decision to pick

this scene to paint. The colors certainly were

a factor as well :)

If you would like to see more of my work,

please check out my website. Thanks!

ONE HOUR STUDY - 'Teensie'

One Hour Study - 'Teensie'
Oil 6 x 6

I decided to do a timed study and so I gave myself
exactly one hour to paint my cat. Needless to say, I
had to take some photographs to work from...if her eyes
are open she is usually moving, and when she is
not moving she is almost always curled up somewhere
warm and comfortable sound asleep...

It was interesting - even though I could have worked
this more, I stopped - keeping to the time limit.
Definitely made me make some decisions very
quickly!

If you would like to see more of my work,
please check out my website. Thanks!

WINTER LOVERS

'Winter Lovers'

Oil 5 x 7

What a perfect day to be working on a snowscene.

We're in the middle of a major snowstorm, and

I am snowed in and painting to my heart's content!

This painting is from Petra Lange's Painting

Challenge Blog Ich sehe was, wie du nicht siehst .

There are English instructions, and she has provided a

great photograph!

If you would like to see more of my work,

please check out my website .

Thank you!

THE GROUNDHOG WAS RIGHT!

Well, I guess that grumpy old groundhog really did
know what he was talking about. We have almost
24 inches of snow here, and it is still snowing!
It will be interesting to see the final totals.
Here are some pictures:


This is a view of our backyard. I took the picture
from an upstairs window to get the snow-covered
limbs from our pine trees.



The shed...the snow is almost to the top of the
garden fence!


A view of the studio - those two white lumps in
the foreground are out vehicles. There's going to
be some serious snow shovelling once this snow
stops, but it won't be soon because it is still
putting it down here right now!

Memories of Maine Series EAST POND SHORELINE

'East Pond Shoreline'

Oil 20 x 30

Finished! It took me awhile to get back to this

painting because of other projects, but I finally

was able to get it done. Will set it aside for a couple of

weeks, then take another look with fresh eyes to

see if I need to do any glazing, or bringing up

some more highlights.

If you would like to see more of my work,

please check out my website. Thanks!

Happy Groundhog Day

Happy Groundhog Day, Everyone!

I am hoping that the groundhog

pops out of his hole in the ground tomorrow,

and he's wearing sunglasses, shorts and

sandals...as a definite indication that

Spring is right around the corner!