easter cow

Cows are more fun to paint than bunnies. Painted this cow on a 5 x 5" gallery wrap canvas.sold

snack time

Cows are almost as much fun as pears to paint. Painted this on a 5 x 5" gallery wrap canvas.sold

Ash

Ash belongs to my good friend's Lynn and Spin. I painted their other dog Stubby a couple of weeks ago. Spin repayed me for that by running over my mailbox. Mr. Perfect did something wrong. So glad we have something on him now. He is still pretty perfect.

Ash is a great example of why people love labs. He is loving, loyal, handsome and playful. He would fetch toys out of the water all day long. Hip replacement has not slowed him down too much.

Isn't this a great pose? He was waiting on the deck for us to come outside and play.

This is painted on a 16 x 20" gallery wrap canvas.

dehydrated onions

Remember about a month ago I posted smelly onions? I said that my studio smelled of onions because I had held on to the onions for too long. Well, I never threw them away. Just look at the lovely foilage that is sprouting. I think they are dehydrated because I do not smell them anymore. That, or I have become immune to the smell. I have a bowl full of lovely yellow and purple onions with trees growing out of them.

So nice to paint today. Have been too busy this week. Excited to have some time this weekend.

Got to meet a sweet artist today. Suzanne Stewart from Austin, TX was in town and came by to visit. I forgot to ask her if my studio smelled like onions.

This is painted on a 9 x 12" linen panel.

perfect fit

Only had an hour to paint today. So much going on. Got unpacked after my art show in Fairhope. Sold a good many paintings at the show but still have lots for my next three shows between now and the end of May. Love my new tent. A trim line tent that I bought from the Flourish company based in Arkansas. Now I need to buy a kettle corn popper to attract people to my tent. I was making fun of people buying the corn but I bought some every day. Good stuff.

Headed to a friends lake home for the day. Hope to get some good pictures.

a walk in the park

This is my submission for the daily paintworks Japan challenge. All of the proceeds from this painting will go to the Japanese Red Cross. You can bid on the painting at the DPO site. The theme was "home". I painted this painting a few months ago using a photo my son took in China. Am sure many folks would consider their local park as part of their home. This is painted on an 8 x 10" linen canvas and the bid starts at $125.00. There are many beautiful paintings on the site. Together we can give a little relief to the grief in Japan.SOLD

mo, larry and curly

A big thank you to my friends Lynn and Mary for helping me during this show. I informed them before the show that I had a snazzy, new tent that they would be helping me put up. I"thought" I knew how to erect the tent but could not have been out of there before midnight without the help of photographer Robert Jones. He gave us the nickname of the blog title. We entertained the artists around us with our fumbling. Brought back memories to other artists who had been through the same thing.
This show has been incredibly crowded..... with people buying kettle corn. 80 % of the crowd walks past the tents like they are on their way to an Elvis concert. The other folks have been so much fun to visit and discuss art with. I have met some wonderful artists and patrons. So fun having my friends and family with me.
Another huge highlight was meeting my blog friend,

Elizabeth Blaylock. Got to see her beautiful work in person and she even fed me home made quiche. Bought a wonderful painting from her that I can't wait to find a special place for.
Sunny days and temps in the upper 70's are making for a great time. Also fun seeing friends from different places at this show.

greetings from fairhope

these two

I feel like this is kind of a puzzle. I painted it and I still am not sure which parts belong to each dog. I took this photo of my friend's two imperial shih tzus. I laughed my way through most of this painting because of the eyes. Max is the one on the left of the painting. He is only a year old and is still very frisky and gets into a little trouble. Sophie is on the right and she is three but acts like she should be in the old dog's home. Max has a puppy cut so that you can see his eyes and Sophie's eyes are mostly covered by her hair. I love it when dogs are too lazy to lift their heads when you are talking to them but they will follow you with their eyes. My Tucker has that mastered. It does take a lot of energy for them to lift their heads.

I painted this on an 8 x 10" panel. Just for fun and a friend.

all that

This is a demo rooster I painted when I went to Moulton, Alabama a couple of weeks ago. It is painted a little looser than I normally paint. The participants in the class were newbys to the paint world so I tried to keep it simple. They were there to have fun with the painting process, not learn to be painters. It was a kick off to a chicken and egg festival. Yippee! This is a small town in Alabama but the festival has gotten fairly large. They have some great folks running the festival and working to make it bigger and more special. Shout out to Vicky and Detra. This is a pretty involved volunteer job. Detra contacted artists from all over the states to send in paintings that had to do with roosters or chickens. They received art work from four states and got some incredible paintings. Durn it. I thought my rooster would be a shoo in for the prize money.

This is painted on a 12 x 12" gallery wrap canvas.

Hope to paint some this week but am getting organized and packed up for a big three day art show in Fairhope, AL this Friday, Saturday and Sunday. A show that had 250,000 people go through last year. Fairhope is in a beautiful area of south Alabama . It was designed as a Utopian Community in the 1890's. Supposed to be sunny weather and in the 70's so I am so excited . My first year for this show. Have friends and family going with me so what more could I ask?sold

waiting for a blessing

Took this shot in Charleston after Karin Jurick's workshop in Hilton Head. Decided to crop the photo down and try a Karin esque composition. I am still amazed at the way she can make odd croppings work. Love her!

This corgie was waiting to be blessed by an Episcopal priest. It was a Sunday and many churches have blessing of the animals day. Cropped out of the picture are two horses. This was a side street in Charleston. Not sure how the horses got there. The owners were dressed in their riding gear. I think they popped over from England with the Queen's corgie and horses. The corgie looks a little apprehensive to me.

I painted this on an 8 x 16" gallery wrap canvas.

Stubby

Stubby belongs to a couple that I have been friends with for a loooong time. Lynn and Spin( I know) have been friends with my husband and me from college days. Their friendship is one of those that has with stood the test of time. Love both of them and this is a gift for them. One dog down, one to go. Stubby is a VERY camera shy dog. I probably took 100 bad pictures of him. This one captures him pretty well even though he is looking away. I painted this on a 12 x 12" gallery wrap canvas.

Abe

This was an interesting Daily Paintwork challenge. Was not sure I would try it at first. Thought about it and decided to paint him using transparent red oxide, burnt sienna and tite white. I tried not to mix the white with any red so that I would not end up with any pinks. Used different strenghts of red oxide and b sienna to get the darks and mid tones.

He had such an interesting face. Lots of wear and tear. Can't imagine leading his country through what he did. He looked pretty good after going through that. I used mineral spirits to thin my paints and it left some drips here and there. I felt like leaving it under his eyes was very appropriate. Painted this on an 8 x 10" panel.

fenced in

I took photos of this cow on my way to the "rooster workshop" in Moulton. Passed a beautiful field of cattle and had to stop. Most of the cows paid no attention to me but this cow was really interested. He was a perfect model. Painted this on an 8 x 10" linen canvas.
I am at the beach for a couple of days . It is raining and kind of cold so very happy I brought my paints. If it clears up today I might try some plein air painting.

happy

Happy to announce that tomorrow is my one year blogging anniversary. Also happy with the way this painting turned out. Sad to announce that I tried to photograph my painting process while painting this set up and my pictures were pretty poor. It was a good learning experience and I promise I will give it another try soon. Time consuming. A big thank you to all those artists who have taken the time out to make a video of their process. I have a new appreciation for them.

I want to thank two artists who really helped get my blog going. The first is Qiang Huang who has been a major inspiration to me. I was fortunate to take his workshop a year ago and he taught and encouraged us to blog. I met Ann Rogers there and she became an instant friend and helped me with the technical challenges of starting a blog. She has been such a sweet supporter and introduced me to her blogging friends. I said three artists but I just thought of another....Jeff Mahorney. Unfortunately he has been missing in action for a few months now. He has highlighted a couple of my paintings along with many other fine artists on his blogsite art monkey. He is a great artist and Jeff if you are still breathing ,please start posting again. You are an inspiration to me and many others!

And.... a big thank you to those who visit my blog. Your interest and comments mean so much. I feel like your encouragement has helped my growth as a painter over the last year.I truly feel like I have many friends that I have never met.

I may or may not get to post tomorrow. I am headed to Moulton, Alabama to conduct a class in how I paint roosters. They have an annual "chicken and egg festival". I have a good friend who lives there and she signed me on. I picked out one of my rooster paintings and will "try" to lead them through my painting process.

This is painted on an 8 x 10"linen canvas.sold

sexy shih tzu

I was going to go with "technicolor Tucker" for the title but changed my mind when I noticed the swooping hair on his right eye. I think he is looking very sensual in this pose. Tucker was neutered at six months so don't have your female dogs calling us. He is just nice to look at.

On another note....my one year blog anniversary is coming up in two days. Not sure what to paint? It has been such a fun year . Learned lots and made many new friends.

Tucker is painted on a 6 x 8" cradled panel.

SOLD