Sunny Days and Blooms

6x6 oil on Panel 

Bidding Starts at $40 click HERE to bid

It's 88 and sunny here in Ohio, just 5 days after 40 degree temps but I'm not complaining!  The irises are blooming so I have a feeling you will see several Iris paintings in the near future, and I just planted some Dahlias, sunflowers, and poppies! Anenomes tomorrow!...I'm on a flower roll I think......This is the last of the photo refs from the workshop, I think I can safely take my own now....

Sunny Days

8x10 oil on panel click here to bid/buy (bidding starts at $30)

This week started out great, I finally feel like I am back to my old self again.  Hard to believe it's only been a week since my son started bootcamp, but after the week of my pity party, I decided to pull myself out of it and get back to business!  I started walking everyday too, and it helps quite a bit, especially since we're having gorgeous spring weather.  I'm back to flowers again until I finish my goal of ten, but I may do a DPW challenge in between since these weeks challenge is painting donuts and I've always wanted to paint a jelly donut.   

Me and My Shadow

8x10 oil on panel

 Erika's 8x8 oil on panel

Today I had a studio guest and since it was a gorgeous spring day we decided to paint a fresh tulip in nice spring colors.....We both thought that the simple set up would be perfect.  Not so.  The tulip opened and blossomed before our very eyes, changing entirely by the time we were done painting.  Erika managed to salvage hers in a final act of desperation that involved a palette knife and firm ruler.  I, on the hand, not so much.  I do like how the shadow reminds me of when I was a kid and posing my shadow against the wall.  I thought I was a fashion model.  tee hee.  On the other hand,  It was interesting to meet another artist messier than I am.  She didn't even notice the paint she dropped until she stepped in it at least 20 times.

Red Barns

8x10 oil on panel click here to bid (starts at $60)

This summer I'm going to be doing a few art shows, and I realized that I need to start painting a few larger paintings or I'm going to have to figure out a way to display 6x6 unframed paintings....little easels are ok for some of them, but then i'm at the mercy of the weather.  I can frame some, but that gets expensive and people like to frame their own works anyway.  I have lots of nice wood frames for 8x10 though, so I'm going to start to do more paintings in that size, and maybe a really big one every couple weeks since those tend to draw a crowd to your booth,  but don't sell very often.

 Today I painted a farm from down the road.  I love this grouping of red barns so you will likely see it again, but I wanted to see if I could pull it off with the clear blue sky and still make it interesting.  There was not a cloud in the sky that day so it was a crystal clear flat blue.  I figured the palette knife always makes it interesting, so here is Ohio red barns on an autumn day.

Wheely Willy and Dreama

6x6 oil on panel SOLD

I "found" this little fella in my Mom's basement, she tends to hoard a lot of stuff down there, it's an artists still life dream.  Wall to wall shelves of stuff like this.....mostly antiques.  She keeps saying she's going to sell it on Ebay when she retires next year, but I think she likes her wall of stuff.  Whenever I go home to visit, I I like to browse  in her basement.  Last time I was there she threatened to lock it, but I managed to smuggle a few things out.  Tee Hee. (Hope she doesn't follow my blog)   I painted this for this weeks DPW challenge, paint something with wheels.  Wheels are harder than I thought, if you don't get them just right it's easy to see.  He has a cloth scarf that is really a checkerboard pattern  but I wasn't about to tackle that challenge.  He also has a string to pull him and when you do, his little cloth legs go up and down.  The rest is shiny wood.  I wish I knew his name.  I'll call him Wheely Willy

as for Dreama....I can't believe I haven't shared the best news yet!  I just signed up for Dreama Tolle-Perry's Nashville Tennessee workshop in April.  (yes it's my birthday gift from my fiance....Carol Marine for Christmas, Dreama for birthday....perhaps when we get married it will be Saeta for anniversary?  one can only dream...)  Now the only thing that would make it better is if my new bff  Laurie Mueller from Carol's workshop got off the waiting list and got in....it will be a road trip to remember!!! (normally I would link her blog, but she hasn't set one up yet. hint hint)  hint.