Blossoms of Glory - Day 9 of #jan30in30- SOLD!

 

6"x6"x1" deep oil on cradled archival panel

To bid or to purchase, click here. 

Our front yard...summer time. Ahhh. Old Glory waving from the front porch, and a brilliant variety of coneflowers standing at attention by the front fence. 

The ground is covered in snow right now, seeds in deep slumber until they burst forth in Spring time! This snow set me back a little bit today, so everything is running late. It's after midnight, so this will probably post on Saturday....but it's intended to be for Friday's post.  Sleep tight friends...and stay warm.  

 

Geraniums & Pig Statuette, (Weds. demo for group class)

 

8"x8" oil on archival panel

For more information, or to purchase, click here.

This painting was done as a demo for a class I'm teaching on Wednesdays. The reference photograph was courtesy of one of the attending artists.  Using both brush and painting knife, wet into wet, using opaque color over a transparent layer. The pig is a little cement garden statue gracing the porch.    

Peony Passion - Mentoring Monday Classes

12"x12" oil on archival panel

For more information, or to purchase, click here. 

Can you tell it's my favorite time of year?  I'm so excited once everything starts blooming. The peonies this year are BIG, abundant, and have a light, tender fragrance.

Perhaps it's because I have to wait so long for them to arrive that I appreciate them so much. This bouquet was the subject in my "Mentoring Mondays" class. Luckily we finished before the the rains set in for the day.  

"Let us be grateful to people who make us happy, they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom." - 

Marcel Proust

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July Geraniums - Sketchbook scenes and watercolor post card give away!

A big thank-you to Shannon Daley Harris, a loyal blog follower for quite a while now...was one of my post-card give-away winners last Friday! So happy to share one of the views from France with her! The above sketch-book scene is from my own garden here back at home! This has been a fun habit to renew, (just sketching for my own fun)!  As I re-acclimate myself to the medium of watercolor, I find it easier and more fun to use. It's been about 13 years since I used it regularly! At first I felt quite tentative, that I might "mess-up" a good page (oh..so what? it's only paper!).  Give yourself permission to have fun...to mess up if necessary.!  It's been fun seeing the freshness of these sketches evolve over a short while! 

 

Honestly, not a day goes by that I'm not thinking about some aspect of that trip to France this summer. Learning new painting techniques aside, the location was wonderful. The wonderful color of blue shutters, the ancient stone architecture, flowers climbing walls, and potted flowers on tables. I love my own garden at home, and have some of these features (well, not ancient stone buildings).  

But part of the great fun of vacations/travel, no matter where you go, is what you bring home. Whether it's in your heart or in your home....each day we spend becomes a part of what makes us..."uniquely us"!

Yellow Bucket of Flowers (sold) & Don't Worry, Be Happy Flops

6"x6" oil on gessoed masonite panel

For more information  click here. 

Yay, it feels great to be back in the studio PAINTING! It's been a busy winter, who woulda thunk it?

I recently got back from a short trip to Hawaii! Now, before you get all excited, it....was...very....short! In fact, I spent as much time in airplanes and airports as I did on the ground there. But it was productive three days, none-the-less.  I took a sketchbook....and a swim-suit....and that's about it! Oh yeah, some flip-flops (umm, they are called 'rubber sandals' over there in Oahu) don't make the mistake to call them the wrong thing! 

You definitely need a pair like this! Yes, even in a freezing winter (like I'm having here in CT). I can just slip these babies on and feel like summer is really going to get here! (hey, it worked for Dorothy, even if those were ruby slippers, not rubber slippers). 

and yes, those things really do make GREAT prints in the sand! (or wet tracks on sidewalks!) Woohoo!  Where did I get those? Subscribe to my Cheer Factor newsletter, and I'll tell you all in the next issue!

ALSO***** "a save the date notice" for Saturday, June 8th- this summer. I'll be releasing some very exciting news....think gardens, blooms, summer fragrances...sigh! More about that in my upcoming news- letter, too!

Morning Over Easy, Late Summer Plein Air in the Artist's Garden

14"x11" oil on linen mounted on archival panel

$575, framed

Buy It Now

or, contact me here for more information

Last Friday was another beautiful summer day here in New England.  So of course I left the studio to get outside to my side garden.  I can stand and paint in the shade of the house for a while, until the sun crests over the roof top.  At the top of the morning the arbor is in total shade, my aim was to catch the light just as it crested the arbor,  quickly indicating where everything was still in shade, and where the sun was brilliantly lighting everything up (the colorful zinnias in the front yard).  Once you see what you want, as a painter, you'd better indicate it quick on your canvas, and REMEMBER it. The light continues to change and you won't be seeing what initially attracted you to the scene. 

Memorial Day Mist 2011

"Any man who can drive safely while kissing a pretty girl is simply not giving the kiss the attention it deserves."
-Albert Einstein

6"x6" oil on gessoed masonite archival panel

This morning I set out to paint my annual 'Memorial Day' painting, with the bunting on my front fence....when thunder started rolling. The skies were already dark, but I thought I could get a small painting in before anything blew through. Well, the wind picked up, too. So I picked up my gear & headed to the front porch where I could just paint another section of the garden. Glad I did, I wasn't painting very long before a light rain started falling.

The day did redeem itself, the sun came out in late afternoon, and I am getting ready to cook for some good friends who are coming over this evening.

Yes, I've been away for almost two weeks now, no blogging or painting happening here. Like Einstein says in the quote above, there are things you just need to give full attention to. I've been down at my mom's house in Florida, helping her move to a smaller place. She's moved to smaller digs in a retirement community, and the house she's leaving is where we grew up, she'd been there for forty-three years. It felt so strange to say good-bye to the place. But mom is ready, and chose the place where her new apartment is, saying she wished she had done this last year. And as one dear friend reminded me, "Home is where your mom is" (thanks Norma!).

Looks like it will be a very busy week. Tuesday, I'm headed to a plein-air paint out in Danbury, CT at Tarrywile Park and Mansion. Hoping to get some good painting time in this week! More about the show and sale in my upcoming blog-notes!

This painting is available in my DailyPainters.com gallery. (will show up Tuesday morning)

Splash! (Norfolk Botanical Garden) sold

8"x10" oil on Belgian linen mounted on archival board

"Where I was born and where and how I have lived is unimportant. It is what I have done with where I have been that should be of interest."
- Georgia O'Keefe

On the Friday morning that I spent painting for the "Out & About Norfolk" plein air event, I took myself back to one of my old favorite 'hang-outs'- the Norfolk Botanical Gardens. One of the most delightful things is to walk the paths through the gardens, and find the ah-ha! place that takes your breath away. Depending upon the season and what is blooming at the time, it can be a different place each visit....most likely many places within the garden will provide this!! And of course, one of my very places to set up and paint is near the fountain. This garden is created so that you can see this fountain from so many different angles...and all the plantings behind that part, frame up the view perfectly! I'm always amazed at the artistry of the plantings, it's like a painting everywhere you look! So here is a view I hadn't noticed to paint before...
This painting "Splash" is an 8"x10" oil on Belgian linen mounted on archival board sold that Saturday evening at the show and now belongs to my newest corporate collector, Bank of Hampton Roads!

The Secret Garden

7"x5" oil on gessoed masonite art board

"I have never had so many good ideas day after day as when I worked in the garden."
- John Erskine

I'm finally ready to unveil the last two paintings from my Chincoteague trip. Both of them were done in the fabulous little garden behind the "Channel Bass Inn", just off of Main Street. You would never know that such a garden exists by looking at the front of the Inn. But once you enter into the back yard area, the garden is like a series of little rooms and paths, with a vine covered potting shed, bird baths and fountains, flowers spilling out every where, climbing & soaring; there's something blooming at every level. Tall butterfly bushes and tall sunflowers blossomed overhead to give a real sense of privacy, pink and white phlox growing along some of the lower levels. For my first painting of the morning, I placed my easel where I could see the light peeking through on the garden path, lighting up the rim of an old shell shaped fountain. I'm calling it "The Secret Garden" and it's a 7"x5" oil on primed masonite art board. Oh what an inspiring place to paint (and think about what I might do in my own garden at home)! Tomorrow I'll show you the last painting of the "Chincoteague weekend". To purchase, please visit my DailyPainters.com Gallery Store.

Welcome to my latest new subscribers! I do hope you enjoy the paintings, photos & stories! I always love hearing comments from my readers!!

Late Day Sunlight On Coneflowers - SOLD!

7"x5" oil on gessoed masonite archival artboard

"Adopt the pace of nature; her secret is patience."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

There are certain times of day when it's fun to see what gets illuminated in the garden. As the light moves around the house from sunup until dusk, it's like a showcase of various points in the garden. Around late afternoon the stems of these coneflowers become lit up, and seeing the colors that come out of this is really fascinating to me! Our childhood brain might say "flowers have green stems" but if you really look at how light hits certain ones, you really have a lot of color in them!