As Evening Progresses - sold

"We all have angels guiding us...They look after us. They heal us, touch us, comfort us with invisible warm hands...What will bring their help? Asking. Giving thanks."
- Sophy Burnham

Today I have two more paintings to share with you; the first is "As Evening Progresses" and the second is "Morning Glory Morning". They are both part of the show currently hanging at The Gallery at Hartford Fine Art & Frame (click here for directions and more information). It's the Connecticut Plein Air Painters Society- Small Works Show, opening November 27th, running through January 31st.

These two small paintings are part of the series I worked on this summer, Plein-air in the Artist's Garden. I'm already wondering what winter will look like in our garden, what shapes it will hold as the billowing flowers retreat with the oncoming cold. I'll be looking forward to spring and the second year of growth in what we've started...thinking about what we'll expand to the back-yard.

*****I hope you are all looking forward to celebrating Thanksgiving. I know some friends have already begun listing things each day that they are thankful for, planning to go on listing something each day through Christmas, what they have to be thankful for.

*****I found out today...some preliminary news, looks like the lymph nodes are clean!! woohoo! what a relief. So that will affect the treatment plan for this bit of breast cancer that was discovered (doing a good job of trying to hide!). I'll find out more next Monday what's next in store, but for now... I have a lot to be thankful for! I hope you do, too!

Wisteria Arbor By The Potting Shed

9"x12" oil on linen mounted on archival board (Raymar)

This is one of two paintings I am showing at Mystic Art Center - They are both hanging in the Mystic Art Center's Holiday Fine Art & Gift Salon Exhibition. The opening Winter Art Gala is this Friday evening - 6 - 8 pm - and you are invited. Tickets are $25 members in advance, $35 General Public, and at the door. Please bring two or more non-perishable food items to support the Pawcatuck Neighborhood Center.

Lots of shows coming up soon, I'll have some more exhibit news to share with you tomorrow!

Kerry Fields

24"x36" oil on stretched canvas

"May the road rise up
to meet you,
May the wind be always
at your back,
May the sun shine warm
upon your face,
And the rains fall soft
upon your fields....
And until we meet again,
May God hold you
in the hollow of His hand."
- an old Irish blessing

This is a painting I did earlier this year. It is so very peaceful and calming...a wonderful place to be, and to remember. My friend Barbara described this as a healing place...and she's so right. I have paintings from this summer's visit to Ireland framed and hanging in my hall-way leading from my room to the rest of the house. I pass by these so many times in a day. I remember her stories of various times in her life there....and they bring me peace, too. I'm so glad to have these visual reminders of this "strong connection to place".

Today's quote is one of my favorites, too - and was sent to me again just the other day....what a wonderful reminder- really a beautiful feeling to be held in God's hands! I've loved this quote for a long time & really have a richer sense of it now when I read it.

I'm sending out a thank-you for all the prayers and good wishes, and powerful healing energy that you all have sent my way! It is truly amazing...and I feel incredibly blessed and loved! So far things look good following surgery- I'll know more once the pathology comes back on the lymph nodes, until then...I'm healing as fast as I possibly can...and am very happy at the thought of painting again!

Kerry Fields

About This Painting:
This is a painting I did earlier this year. It is so very peaceful and calming...a wonderful place to be, and to remember.

Media: oil on stretched canvas
Size: 36 in X 24 in (91.4 cm X 61 cm)

How to Purchase:
send me an email

"CANCER BEWARE!! Ye'll be ripped out by the roots"

6"x6" oil gessoed archival artboard

"Tell a man he is brave, and you help him to become so."
- Thomas Carlyle


And now for something completely different....no it's nothing like my landscapes...somewhat campy-cartooney. But it's my statement of the day. The proceeds of which will go to the Susan G. Komen foundation.

Tomorrow is the big day, (Monday morning, early). I'm lined up for a 'sentinel node biopsy' and a lumpectomy. I'm off to bed, it's been a busy weekend..and will be an early morning.

Buy this painting on PayPal
Price: $100 USD plus $10 USD s/h
Or, send me an email

Heritage - sold

click on the image for a closeup of the knife work!

12" x 16" oil on linen mounted on archival board (Raymar)

"Be still and aware of God's presence within and all around."
- from 'Celtic Prayers from Iona', by J. Philip Newell

This is the commission I just finished the other day. It is to be a companion piece to "Down by the Sea", a painting this collector had previously purchased. This is a small castle in Scotland that is tied to some of her husband's ancestry. I thought this was a delightful way to celebrate that! She provided the reference picture- I found it interesting that the 'lay of the land' seemed so similar to some of the areas in Ireland that I've painted. I was not familiar with the flowers in this place, so I googled "Scottish wildflowers" and found that these are known as 'Rosebay Willowherb' which grows in any poor soil, creating large banks of pink coloured flowers. (sounded like one of those invasive plants that (at the very least) are good to look at when they're in bloom!

If you have a special place that you'd like to have celebrated in your home, contact me for more information about commissioning a painting -
roxannesteed@gmail.com

AND - by the way- I got some VERY GOOD NEWS today! I got the results back from the MRI guided biopsy I had done on Tuesday...NO CANCER ON THE LEFT SIDE...HOORAY! I feel like I'm halfway there! Thank you all for your amazing support, love, energy and kindness! I am truly lifted up & am determined to beat this!

***stay tuned, I have some new pieces in the works that veer from my more traditional landscapes...it's odd where your brain goes in 'crisis mode'.

On the Shoulders of Teammates...or In The Care Of His Father

16"x20" oil on canvas mounted on archival board (Raymar)

"The art of living is more like wrestling than dancing."
- Marcus Aurelius

Man, I'm finding that's so true...no matter how graceful I try to be about it! I must say though that I'm so encouraged and lifted up by so many people who wrote, either via email, or facebook or twitter. I WILL GET THROUGH THIS JUST FINE!!! I AM DETERMINED!!

I think it kept me going all morning - I had an MRI guided biopsy to get through to make sure the left side is not going to be like the right side. I should know in a few days how this turns out. Anyway, this painting made me think of the feeling of all the support I was getting! It was like being hoisted to the shoulders of your teammates and carried along! THANK-YOU TO YOU ALL - ON TEAM STEED!!

Speaking of support- I've found the website for the Susan G. Koman Foundation to be VERY helpful for everyone whose life is touched by this disease.

I am offering this painting at it's unframed price of $500 (+26 shipping) and all proceeds from the painting (minus shipping) to go to this foundation in honor or memory of the designee of your choosing.

Buy this painting on PayPal
Price: $500 USD plus $26 USD s/h
Or, send me an email

A Bend in the Road...it is indeed cancer....

"Some people, no matter how old they get, never lose their beauty - they merely move it from their faces into their hearts."
- Martin Buxbaum

Well, today I heard the words I truly didn't expect to hear, "yes it is cancer." I had my regularly scheduled mammogram earlier in October. Just like last year, I was called back for a follow-up....calcifications, but not to worry (last year). This year, they followed the "follow-up" with a needle biopsy, AND an MRI.....and a surgical consult (which I went to today) at which point I was finally told that yes, it is indeed cancer. The good news in all this...is that it's small, and early, so...depending on what they find (or don't) in the lymph nodes... will determine what follows. Yeah, I will blog about it as I'm able. (meaning- as I find out anything I can & have time to post).

Mix in with all this - moving two recent college grads to another state, helping them set up apartments, ready to start new jobs, new lives...and it's been rather hectic. I've had three really exciting commissions this month to keep me focused....believe me, that's been the best thing...to have this wonderful scene to 'escape to'. But I'm guessing people have been wondering "so where's the daily paintings"...hence the explanation....and they may get a little more sporadic as this progresses. We'll see. (But yes, I hate not posting to Daily Painters as of late!).

But I ask of blog-readers, if you believe in the 'power of prayer', please put me on your list! If you're not the "praying sort", well, consider giving it a whirl....you may be surprised to find what it brings to your life as well as mine!

Dingle Town, Fishing Boat; Ireland series

8"x8" oil on cradled hardwood panel

"Wisdom is the comb given to a man after he has lost his hair."
- J.P. Dunleavy

Ha!- I love the quote...perhaps that's why we're so willing to share what-ever 'wisdom' we have....(we think we don't need it anymore?).

My 'travels' at the easel brought me back to Dingle, where I arrived with my friend last May. Even though we paint every day while we visit, there's still so much more, so I bring home photos, notes, memories....and create more from all of those.

These little boats look so small to be out on the open ocean, but they are amazing work-boats! I am in awe of what they're capable of!

For purchase information, email me: roxannesteed@gmail.com

On The Road To Dingle - Ireland series

8"x8" oil on cradled hardwood panel

"In Ireland the inevitable never happens and the unexpected constantly occurs."
- Sir John Pentland Mahaffy

What a month October was! We just got back home Sunday night from a trip down to DC to move daughter #2 into her apartment, so she's ready to start her new job. It was just a few weeks ago that we moved her sister down there. I was beginning to have flashbacks of all our previous Navy moves. Glad that's behind us. Still facing an unresolved health scare, but painting keeps me focused. I've enjoyed several delightful commissions last month, and have a new one to start this week! I will try to keep up the small "dailies" as I proceed on the larger commission piece. I'm excited about this one, too - as it allows me to collaborate with another person- something that I hope they'll love!

Some people talk of being "armchair travelers". Well, I do enjoy the escapism of painting from memory & reference material of my travels in Ireland. When I'm painting these places, all the troubles of "right now" cease to exist....and I'm back on the N87 heading into Dingle with my friend. Looking out across this valley of fields clearly marked with dark hedges, the bay comes into view - the far edges cradled by the mountains rising up on each side. The Iveragh peninsula stretches out way across the bay, appearing purpley-blue in the far distance. There's a crisp breeze coming in off the Atlantic. That particular day was one of the warmest I've ever experienced in summer in Ireland - oh it was gorgeous! My friend is the gutsiest driver - you have to be on these narrow roads (she lives there part of the year). Being that both of us are artists, we're on the lookout for every amazing view we can paint! She knows all of them!

For the last several years, I get to this point in late autumn...and all I can think about is how much fun I have over there...and how beautiful...calming, yet breath-taking it all is. It's the time of year I start looking on-line at air-fares. Perhaps you need a little escapism to hang by your arm-chair? It's much less than air-fare!

For purchase information, email me: roxannesteed@gmail.com