Oh my, it has been so long.....

It has been so long since I posted on here, I hope I can remember how.  I have been focusing on Portrait art for about five years now.  This is a study I worked on in Jim Himsworth's portrait
workshop two weeks ago.

For the holidays, Erica and I decorated some windows.  In this photo I sketched the cornstalk and then, the finished product.  This was challenging.  We had to paint with the exact opposite process as these were drawn on the outside of the window with china markers then painted from the inside.  There are 8 other windows painted and the scenes are all holiday celebrations.

3rd Avenue Mural

Erica and I have been working on this mural for several years, but we don't work on it full time, we work on it when weather and work schedule allow. Altogether, there are several months of work on here. Maybe a little more. Anyway, we continue to move along and enjoy watching it grow. There are people that drive by and stop to look and talk. People walk by and chat. Some just come by to check. It's a wonderful experience and an education like none other. Erica is almost completely done with the water. I am working on the third statue's fleurish.

Grecian Urns

It has been some time since I could just spend time creating art. Life speeds up on us when we seem to need it to slow down a bit and we least expect it. Last month, I started to work on these 2 Grecian urns. I enjoyed working on them and now look forward to finding the right color of mat to use around them and a frame to compliment the shades of green used. They are done in pastel but I tried something new. A friend told me she mixes tempera paint with some acrylic and lays down the foundation of the painting/drawing. When she finishes with pastel it has a bit more of a grit to it to hold the color.

Slow these days....

I know I have been very slow as of late. So much going on with the arts and shows then the flood and health issues. I will try and load a few recent pieces I've been working on. It is a new style...using a thick gel medium in the paint gives me textures and I am loving it. Others seem to like it too and say they want to "feel" them...

Her first Christmas Special

Today we went to Kendra's (our Granddaughter) elementary school to see her first Christmas special. It was so cute and funny. We took tons of pictures but this one was the best. She was posed for pictures and he looked like he was stuck.......they were just so cute!

Catching up

It's time to catch up. I've been very busy painting and just living life to it's fullest. The following is a picture of Pelicans that I took mid November, 2009, on Lake Barkley in Tennessee. There were a dozen of them and we watched them play, fish and swim for several days.

It's been a long artistic year.

I have been working on this piece for several months. It was started at the JGP Studios before Christmas 08. I have since moved the studio back to the house and was sidetracked by other priorities and am now just getting back to finishing it. I have a few more shadows to tweak in but it's close to being done...yeah! I plan to put it in the Untitled Nashville Show on March 13th.

I am working on three pears for the Love Drums show this weekend and have several great floral ideas for the Fusion Show on the 28th. When it rains, it pours.....God is good.

Wednesday, April 2nd

Working on this drawing has been so much fun. I will work on it upside down and soon realise how much I am drawing a shape then I'll flip it over and try to draw it right side up. My mind will tell me "what" I am drawing and I remind myself I have no clue what those things on that boat are and I go back to shapes. Strange but true but I still find myself slipping back into drawing what the object is and not so much what I see. That is usually when I am getting tired. So, I find myself making better progress drawing it upside down. It has truly been a fun drawing to do. Using the camera made it possible for me to do this. I took this photo on our trip to St. George's Island. How I do love the ocean.

The Rabbit in the Garden

I've known he was around for over a year but never till now did I know just how much. He is so elusive even the dogs can't catch him but I think the little guy's legs are longer than theirs.

One afternoon, sitting on the deck relaxing in the sun, I felt him watching me. I turned to see him sitting eight to ten feet from me, eating and keeping me at a safe distance. I ran for my camera thinking he would be gone before I got back so sketching would be hard at that point. I got this shot and soon realised he had been posing for longer than I knew.

Now, he has become a somewhat permanent fixture but oh how I wish he'd stop eating the garden. Taylor cried when he heard that the vegetables he and Poppy had planted as seeds, watched weekly as they grew into sprouts, were now grass roots. I even wanted to cry. We had pampered those seedlings for over a month.

We even fenced in the garden with chicken wire and I was convinced this would keep him out. It did, but the next day I saw him in the garden and I thought, "I'll step in here slowly and just see where he slips out," as he gets out through the wooden fenced side. It's amazing how skinny that darned fat rabbit made himself, so I need more chicken wire.

I keep thinking if I just plant more he will only be able to eat so much...but. He's proving me wrong and I'm getting frustrated. The only solution is to now run chicken wire down the wooden fence and cross my fingers.

We have accepted the loss of our baby cabbage, broccoli and strawberries. More seeds of a different kind are in the kitchen nursery now. We still enjoy the excitement of watching them grow be we do it with a different sense of anticipation now.

Tuesday, March 25th 2008

It has been about a week since my last post. It has been a busy week, indeed. I had the pleasure of watching, photographing and drawing a woodpecker right outside of my kitchen window. He was taken with the tree and spent the better part of three days eating bugs from the bark. I enjoyed him thoroughly.

Sunday, word got around that we were cooking a ham and we ended up with nineteen people here for Easter brunch. It was great and there was a lot of other good food too. There is always a ton of good food when we all get together.

I have been working on the sea drifter with all of my pastels. I am loving this piece. I don't know what it is about the photo but it makes me feel good. Maybe it is about a good memory of the sea....I just don't know.

I am drawing it upside down to fool my mind's eye. I do believe it has helped, some. Pastels can be difficult to work with. I made the mistake of starting this piece on the "rough" side of the paper. It's okay, I will improvise.

Timing is everything.

Today is Monday, March 17th. Happy St. Patrick's day! I have been steadily preparing several pieces of art for the upcoming Fusion Art Show. This will be my second time in the show.

I have been working on four different oils, two water colors and one pastel. I am trying something different on the pastel. I am drawing it upside down. The photo was taken near St. George's Island. I'm going for the negative and positive spaces and it actually seems to be working for me. I love pastels.....gives the oil paint time to dry some. The water colors, they are my kitchen art. I work on them while sipping my morning coffee. The house smells like turpentine and oil....I love that smell.

Wednesday, March 5th, 2008

The past several days were beautiful and we spent time on the shores of Lake Barkley looking at new growth of ferns, baby garden snakes, deer tracks and "from a distance" a beaver dam. We built a huge campfire and took in the fresh air, sunlight and warmth of being with family on a beautiful weekend in Tennessee, USA.

That was then, today is Wednesday and it is cold and wet. We even had a bit of snow yesterday evening. I will take care of errands, chores and maybe paint a bit today.

Here is the tree painting with just a bit more done. I would like, very much, to have it finished this week but only time will tell....

One step on my journey.

Today the sun was shining and it was cold. Looks can be deceiving. I walked the little dogs so we could all get a breath of fresh air. This chill in the air is making these four walls seem closer. So, sunshine always brings new thoughts and good feelings.

I am working on an oil painting of a place that I love to go to. I am beginning to believe my genetic memory plays a large roll in bringing me back. Some of my father's ancestors come from these hills and I didn't know it till I had been coming here for years, myself.

I can see why they lived here. It is the most beautiful country and now the dam has created a very large lake where the river once ran. It feels like a little piece of heaven.

Sharing my world

Sharing my world is the greatest opportunity at hand. Showing my family, and friends, how they affect my world and the world around them in an artistic, and positive way. Life is full of so much good. You only have to look for it. It's there and it is abundant. Optimist? Yes, that's me..the eternal optimist. I like it. We have more control over our moods, lives and destinies than we can know. Take the star by the tail and fly with it. On to more learning...