Happy Anniversary Celebration!

28"x22" oil on .75" deep gallery wrap canvas (stapled on back) design carried over & painted on edges.

I've been married for 25 years to the most incredible man on the planet! The time has gone pretty fast - and it's certainly been action packed along the way. This painting is of the bouquet he had delivered for me. He knows I'm a sucker for flowers, and that if I see them, I have to paint them! Everything else stops when a bouquet comes to the house- let the painting begin! The colors and textures of flowers arranged by a window, backlit by daylight are a wonderful thing to behold.

Painters Tips - I tried out a new type of canvas (new to me anyway), Utrecht brand, from their 'Traditional Series', Ultra Smooth Texture, 100% cotton duck, Triple Primed with Acrylic Gesso. Usually I prefer painting on oil primed linen or canvas - but this had a wonderful surface to work with. I was using both a large palette knife and huge round brushes for the luscious texture. Click on the image to enlarge and getta load of the wonderful texture in this painting. That is just one of the things I love about oil paints. It is a medium that offers so much to the painter and the viewer on so many levels! When I paint large, I stand and walk....back and forth, looking at the set-up and comparing it to what I see progressing on the canvas. It is so satisfying to bring this interpretation about.
For purchase information, click here.

Cheer Factor Email updates:
"Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given because you would not be able to live them. And the point is to live everything. Live the questions."
Rainer Maria Rilke
Now I've got to tell you - I chose the quote about patience not because of my anniversary.....but because I've had to tell my self to be patient with all that I want to accomplish - yet I am still in the "moving-in" process. It's getting 'there' bit by little bit. The downstairs is looking pretty good! My studio is somewhat better than it was a few days ago- there's room enough to paint something large - like this floral arrangement!

I've got a desk on order (thank goodness) - so that will help with organization around my work space. The last house we were in had a built-in desk in the kitchen so doing without that has complicated things. Now the funny thing is....I've had many people write to say they really miss having the Cheer Factor emails delivered. And franklly, so do I. I miss the structure that it adds to my day and the responses that people send to either my paintings, photographs, or writings. Trying to do that during this move-in process was a bigger challenge than I thought it would be, I definitely needed the break. But I did take the time during this break to work on some other tasks....Spam-blockers being what they are, most of my aol-user recipients of these emails have had them blocked at one time or another, sometime for weeks to months at a time. One way to take care of that problem has been to insert a "subscriber" feature on my blog http://roxannesteed.blogspot.com/
You'll see it in the upper right hand portion of the blog-page. I've also tinkered with both my blog and web-site, making the back-ground white for easier reading!

So, as I continue to make improvements to this Cheer Factor email....and finish getting through the 'calamity' of moving, you'll see continual update to my blog, website and ebay store. Many thanks - cheer & blessings to you all!