Mountain Cabin

I'd love to spend a few days in this cabin.  I'm guessing there would be two rocking chairs on the front porch. That's where I'd spend time. Mountains & Trees... ahhhhh....

Several pieces of life collided around the subject of trees and mountains recently.

1. My friend Cheri & I tried this little box called "The Endless Art Challenge." We drew from its three sections Subject Card, Color Card, & Wild Card. 

2. I took an OLLI senior adult course called "Creative Journaling" which I loved.

3. We spent a few days in a bed & breakfast lodge near Rocky Mountain National Park.

4. My Weekly-ish Challenge was "Mountains."

 The rule was that we'd randomly draw (no cheating) a
 card from each section then create something.

 I made a little bitty "poster."  Okay, so I did cheat. It was
 a notecard. The cabin was someone's "home," and the
 color "sunshine" became the whole sky.

 I loved, Loved, LOVED every session of my creative journaling
class.  This page came when I was given a card to study then
write what it brought to mind. The card was a sort of woman
 in a dream-like forest .
I am a woman of the trees. 
I want the cover overhead, the trunks and limbs nearby. 
 I want the changing leaves... blossoms... fruit... green... falling golds... then rest... 
I am a woman of the trees.
  I want the forest friends to happen by...
I want the birds of every color to show themselves.
I am a woman of the trees
.  I am comforted by being closed in... by partial sky views...
 by the shades offered... by leafy regions.  
I am a woman of the trees...

 Do you see me?  Look right beside the trees growing beside the rock.
There are some views around Estes Park that are just to beautiful to
even seem real.  

In my heart I'm more of a tree covered Ozark Mountain, Ouachita Mountain, Appalachian Mountain, Smoky Mountain kind of girl, but those Rockies are quite something.

Original Oil Painting on 9"x 12"

Click Mountain Cabin if you'd like to purchase this little painting.

Clothes on the Line

An image like this makes me want to slow down, see if there's a porch on the front side of this cabin, and listen to some stories about way back when.

Sometimes I have to wait for the painting muse to give me an idea or some inspiration.  

Sometimes the painting muse has to wait for me to pay attention when she's handing me the idea or inspiration.

A few years ago I fell in love with a simple painting of some girls' dresses hanging on the clothes line.  It may be my favorite painting of my art mentor, Cheri.  It hangs in her Inspire Studio in Shawnee, Oklahoma.

I thought, "It would be fun to paint clothes on a line."

A few months ago (after vaccinations but still wearing masks), we went to Dollywood while spending some days in the Smoky Mountains.  This little scene reminded me, "I really should paint clothes on a line some time."

A few weeks ago, the new Inspiration Image, Laundry Dance, was posted on Inspiration Collaboration.

Then I knew, "It's time to paint clothes on a line now."

Original Oil Painting on 11"x 14" Wrapped Canvas

[SOLD]

Under the Billowing Clouds

Sometimes I really miss having an art teacher. I want to keep learning new ways to be a better painter. Although not the same as having my favorite art teacher / friend close by, YouTube can be a good substitute. Before YouTube, however, there were these fabulous how-to-paint books.  I've collected a few of them from flea markets and eBay over the years.

Can you see the price tag in the top right corner?
Woolworth $2.95. 

I flipped through the pages of this one looking for a lesson on painting some nice fluffy, happy, summer clouds. 

I decided to follow the paint recipes presented as as exactly as I could.  This painting used only 2 blues, 2 yellows, black, white, and a brown (for the house).

French ultramarine, cerulean, lemon yellow, Naples yellow, ivory black, titanium white, burnt umber.

The biggest lesson for me with this one was that lemon yellow + ivory black make the loveliest greens.  Who knew!!

Here's a look at the painting before I found "happy" in the clouds.  They were pretty angry looking for a while.

The Inspiration Image of Sara's beautiful stormy clouds on this month's Inspiration Collaboration is what sent me on the search for a lesson on painting clouds.

Oil Painting on Wrapped Canvas, 12"x 16"

If you'd like to purchase this painting, click Under Billowing Clouds.

Field of Bluebonnets

Texans love their bluebonnets.  About this time of year photographs of fields covered with them begin to show up on Facebook. People plop their babies in the middle of them to take their pictures.  Couples get their engagement photos with bluebonnets all around.  It's clear why... they're simply, unbelievable beautiful. 

Ok... I have to come clean... deep breath... I have never actually seen bluebonnets growing in a field!  
I know!  I know!
I just haven't ever been in the right place at the right time! (I know my friend Karen is probably gasping in utter disbelief and disappointment.) 

Although when we were in Maine, the lupines were everywhere, and I couldn't take enough pictures of them. (I think bluebonnets and lupines are in the same family. So, does that count?)

I was asked to paint four large paintings, one for each of the main bedrooms of Welcome Home Retreat.  I started with this one because I had the idea for it.  

Not long ago I painted a field of blue flowers and loved the perspective the depth, so I decided to use that as my model.

I didn't have one reference photo to use, so this project was a series of making it up as I went along.  (That is not at all how I usually paint, but I had an idea and a confidence that I could pull it off... or at least a back up plan that I could paint over it if it didn't work.)

First, I kept this other painting where I could see it.  Second, I pulled up so many photos of bluebonnets... fields of bluebonnets... individual bluebonnets... leaves of bluebonnets... 
Because bluebonnets don't have the tall thing-y like the blue flowers in this painting, I wanted to add something in the background to draw attention and add interest.   I tucked a little cabin in the background, added some closer trees to push the treeline farther back.  And, because it is Texas, a couple of longhorns are back there too.  When Sheila suggested an outhouse, I laughed because, of course, I wouldn't do that... but... somehow an outhouse did appear... far away off to the side and back... as an outhouse should be! 

It had to be big... because...
Well, everybody knows...
Everything's bigger in Texas!

The trick to finishing this painting was simply getting enough but not too many bluebonnets.  I think there are about 13 zillion... at least it felt like it.  

I keep thinking that this whole painting was made from trial and error... but honestly... it all worked!  Everything I tried... well... turned out the way I'd hoped!  That doesn't happen very often!  
Nothing really went wrong... wait... ummm... there was one thing that did go terribly, terribly wrong during the process of painting this painting... If you haven't already, you really must read "A Painting Disaster Story."


Thanks to my sister, Sheila, for the opportunity and ideas.
Thanks to my art friend, Nelvia, for the advice along the way.


Original Oil Painting on 24"x 36" Wrapped Canvas
[SOLD]

Homestead Cabin

I've been thinking about style lately. I think painting style is like writing voice.  There's something recognizable or familiar about a writer's words or an artist's paintings.  I think it's why we say, "I love her work." 

I've been thinking about my style.  What is it that makes my paintings look like... my paintings? I don't want everything I do to look the same, but do I really want to change that much? Hmmm... I have purposefully done some things differently lately...
      ..... Time Out...
Full disclosure... I think I know where this began... Recently I had someone I really didn't know well say, "Your art is all so smooth. It's good. But I like paintings with lots of texture, that use more paint."  Uuhhhh... what's the correct response to that? "Thank you," or "I'll try to do better," or to just smile and nod?

Maybe she was simply making conversation. Maybe she was trying to help me. Maybe she was just rude. Whatever the reason, I have been thinking a lot about my style lately.

My two painting buddies and I decided to give ourselves an art lesson.  We took a (very old) Walter Foster painting book on Clouds and decided to follow the steps and color guides exactly.
Shouldn't they have all turned out the same??
Well, no they did not.

Jolene has that fabulous light on her hills!
Julie has those gorgeous billowing clouds!
Look at the differences in mood!
I am NOT saying that any one is better or worse; I'm just fascinated by the different styles.
As I was being intentional about varying my style (softening edges, giving texture), I was unintentionally returning to my comfortable style (colors, shapes). 
Right now I am intrigued by style. I'm actually (kind of) grateful that someone gave me reason to consider my style.
I love Jolene's.
I love Julie's.
I love mine too.

Oil Painting on 12"x 16" Wrapped Canvas.
[SOLD]

Animas Forks

What makes an image special?

I love an image that tells a story and makes me wonder... a picture that really is worth a thousand words.

At a recent family gathering, I was looking through a book of my cousin's vacation photos when I turned the page and discovered this image.  
It stopped me, and the questions began...
Who lived here?
How did they make their livings?
Why did they leave?
Did they know how beautiful their land was?  
Was their life hard here?

He told me it was a ghost town near Silverton, Colorado called  Animas Forks.

Then more questions...
Were there families and children running between these cabins?
Were there just rough miners with picks and shovels?
How did they manage in the winters?
Was it ever lovely and charming when the people still lived there?

I knew from the first second I saw the "story," I wanted to put it on canvas.  

Visit an Etsy treasury (collection of related art pieces and vintage items) celebrating the beautiful sky blue colors at Sky Blue Weather.

[SOLD]

Cabin in Greens & Purples

What's the view outside your window?

Do you think the pioneer that built this cabin knew what a fabulous scene would appear on the hillside every year?  Or do you think it was a big surprise that first summer when the purple flowers bloomed?

That thought was what drew me to this image.  It was done as the June challenge for A Day Not Wasted.  Have a look and enjoy the variety of styles... all the same, yet all different.

When we built our house it was summer.  When we moved in it was autumn, and we got the most wonderful surprise with the rich yellows, golds, and reds.  Then when the first spring came, we got an even bigger surprise when we discovered all the dogwoods blooming just outside our back window.

[SOLD]

Original Oil Painting on 12"x 16" Wrapped Canvas