Refreshing Change

6x6 oil on panel $60 Click here to buy.

I tried something new today. After 21 days straight of still life paintings in my 30 paintings in 30 days competition with Ruth Ann, I needed to try something else. I took this picture of my back driveway a couple of weeks ago and wanted to paint it, but wasn't quite ready for landscapes yet, but today I just didn't feel like trying to set up a creative still life. I used a palette knife, something I like to do once in awhile just for a change.

Hay Rolls

8x10 oil on streched canvas $65 click here to buy.

I love seeing fresh cut hay in the fields, and those rolls look like such fun! If I was a kid again I probably would be sitting atop one of them in the warm fall sun reading a book.

In my own backyard....

6x6 oil on panel $45 Click here to purchase

I subscribe to a lot of other artist's blogs and I'm always amazed at the gorgeous scenery that they have at their fingertips to paint....I keep thinking that I must travel to the West coast or the East coast so I could paint like them.....but on an artist's salary (well next to nothing) that's impossible, and it occured to me that there are beautiful scenes here in the midwest as well, and it's up to the artist to represent that. So here is a painting of a scene very close to my house. I'm going to try to paint the beautiful things in my own backyard, or very close to it! I am also submitting this to Daily Paintworks weekly challenge "Out my window" since I took the photo from my car window!

Neighboring Farm

I've been dying to paint the farm across the street since I got my outdoor easel, I know I probably look rather silly to all the passersby sitting at my little easel in the middle of a 5 acre field, but oh well, at least I'm outside and the sun is shining!

Roosters, chickens, and hens oh my!

I am on a chicken kick this week, thanks to the Carol Marine challenge....I finished my 5th chicken painting today with one still on the easel...I am very happy with the last one I did, so maybe I'll stop painting chickens and move on to dogs....I have 3 commissions for 3 different families for their beloved pets, for some reason I keep putting it off. Commissions are not easy for me, it takes me much longer to paint them and I tend to overwork it....Hopefully these will go smoothly, I just need to bite the bullet and do it.

Tonight I have invited some local artists over to my home to discuss selling art online. I've been a longtime seller on the various sites and am willing to share my pros, cons, and knowledge of my experiences...hopefully it goes well, I'm not a good speaker in front of a group of my peers, and I'm not even sure what I'm going to say, but someday I would like to give painting workshops so this will be good practice....plus I need to come out of hibernation and start networking with real people, not just internet folks I want to get out there, so wish me luck!!