N*0*E*L

Have you ever missed something important in the fine print?

I saw these square canvases on e-Bay!  There were 12 of them, and they were just a little over a dollar each.  What a deal! Free shipping too!  Well, I just pushed that "buy" button.  ...Then they arrived... 4"x4"... guess I should have noticed that the size wasn't mentioned.  I felt pretty silly, but I really couldn't be too mad at the seller.  They hadn't lied; I should have paid more attention to the lack of information.    So, I had these 12 tiny canvases... What to do... A little ribbon, some hot glue, an old buckle, mixed in with a little creativity. Ta-Da! I love it!

Autumn Leaves & Nuts

Is it too late to celebrate fall?

After finishing a couple of baby portraits, I was ready to paint something easy; people tend not to mind if a leaf is off by 2-3 millimeters like they do if it's a baby's eye or nostril or lip.  

We absolutely had the most gorgeous back yard this autumn.  People would literally stop and take pictures of it.  I picked up every leaf and nut in this painting right outside my back door.  There were so many different kinds, and they were such brilliant colors!  I hadn't really intended on making a painting of them, but when I laid them out on the table...

So, I know that the time for being inspired by autumn has passed; we're all eating left over turkey and decorating for Christmas. But, it was a beautiful autumn this year.

I was lucky to get to see this every day as I pulled into our driveway....


...and this as I stepped out our back door.  (It's a hickory tree.  When the nuts are ready, you can hear the squirrels eating them and tossing down the shells.  The ground is covered with hickory shells before they're finished.  I don't think they store any of them for winter.)




Original Oil Painting on 6"x 24" Canvas.
[GIFT]

Faye's Baby

What's fun about painting portraits?

There's a very long list of what's frustrating about painting portraits.  The first being that people don't expect to receive a painting of a cute baby, they expect it to look like THEIR cute baby.  That last phase of editing can be excruciating for me.  When I realized that I needed to scrape the paint off this little one's eyes and paint them a few millimeters lower, I wanted to cry.  But... it that's just part of the process.
(I think next I'll paint some nice autumn leaves... no one minds if a leaf vein is just a little off or a shape is just a little skewed when it's a leaf!)

But, back to the original question...What's the most fun? There's always a "Oh, there you are!" moment for me.  I'm just working along with colors, shapes, tones, and shades when all of a sudden... It's a little one with a personality looking back at me!  I love that moment!  Sometimes it happens when I put the little fleck of white sparkle in the eye.  Sometimes it's when the dimple is finally right or the highlight on the end of the nose is put on.  I usually have a "Well, hello there!" moment right then.

[SOLD]

Peek-a-boo Pine Trees

How do you do it?

I get asked that question pretty often.  It seems like, "I just paint what I see" isn't enough of an answer.  And neither is "I just put the colors and shapes where they go" isn't enough either.  


Sometimes I take pictures that show every step of the process.  I like watching the image form then come to life.

I say this with love... most paintings are like most kids... they have to go through their ugly stages.

Original Oil Painting on 12"x 16" Wrapped Canvas

[SOLD]