Pond Frog

My Weekly-ish challenge was "Down by the Pond." 

 Hmmm... fish, crawdads, waterdogs, tadpoles, mosquitoes, snakes, ducks, beavers...

I love this little guy.

As I painted him, he made me sing:

Down by the shores of the Hanky Panky... 

Where the bullfrogs jump from bank to banky...

With a hip hop...

Kerplop!

He reminded me that although it's cold and gray outside, spring is coming and the peepers in our pond will return with the evening music.

Original Oil Painting on 6"x 6"x 2.5" Wrapped Canvas.

[SOLD]

Pond Reflections

A new painting group has formed for 2024. We've come together and discussed some guidelines for the year. Those guidelines are there to get us started, but we've already started to change them.  We don't all know each other or know each other's work well, so we're anxious to see what we become!

We don't even have a name yet!  We have lots of ideas though!  One will emerge.

Our first prompt was "Reflections."

I fretted for over a week without a good idea.

Finally I settled on one that was obvious and tangible, reflections on a pond. (This one was outside a cabin we stayed in at Big Cedar in Missouri.)

The more abstract reflection is done in thought.  For me, I think/reflect best when writing.

These are some of my diaries and journals.  That blue one on the right was my very first one.  It shows my very first entry. "January 1, 1973 - I watched the oreng bole parade and traist in my coloring Book." 

A diamonte poem is something I did with my 4th grade students.  It's when you take two seemingly unrelated things and find the commonalities.

1. 1 Noun
2. 2 Adjectives
3. 3 Verbs
4. 4-Word Phrase
5. 3 Verbs
6. 2 Adjectives
7. 1 Noun

Original Oil Painting on 9"x 12" Wrapped Canvas
[SOLD]

Lake at Nunnely

So many memories...

Picking blackberries on the bank - tossing rocks into the vines to scare the snakes away and chewing Juicy Fruit to keep from eating the berries while we picked.

Skipping flat rocks from the spillway.

Picking daisies.

Checking trot lines with Grandpa.

Checking the turtle trap with Dad.

Laying out covered with cocoa butter to help soak up the sun - who knew at the time that that was a bad idea?

Eating fried fish under the trees at family reunions or church picnics.

Riding on the tractor to help Dad count the cows or check the fences - the cows would never be still long enough for me to count them!

Taking my good college friend for a walk here the first time he visited my home... he held my hand - p.s. We just celebrated our 25th anniversary.

Original Oil Painting
[SOLD]