Red Poppies

I wanted to do one more painting before bringing 2025 to a close.  How about some bright red poppies!  I've done similar paintings before and find this style very satisfying to work on and to look at.

Also, I got to visit the Blick Art store in Kansas City and wanted to try out some of my new playthings.  I got a little jar of Gamblin Cold Wax Medium.  It says it's "...made from 100% beeswax... holds the thickest and sharpest marks... for artists interested in creating bold texture...." Now, how could I have left that on the store shelf?!

When I put the tip of my palette knife in to take a bit out, it reminds me of a tiny jar of Crisco shortening.  For this painting, I added a little dollop of it to each of my paint colors.  Yes!  There's so much texture on this one!  I can hardly wait until it's dry enough to run my fingers across it. (Am I the only person who has to remind myself in museums that I mustn't touch because it's highly frowned upon there? I think not.)  I'm going to enjoy this one for as long as it gets to hang on one of my walls. I'm going to enjoy seeing it, and in a week or so I'll enjoy touching it.

Original Oil Painting on 11"x 14" wrapped canvas.

[SOLD]

Roadside Flower Truck

If you came upon this truck with all these flowers for sale, wouldn't you want to stop to buy a bouquet? Yes! Also, I'd love to be this farmer's neighbor!

Maybe it's a little Hallmark-movie-ish... 

Maybe it's a little too springtime-ish for the week before Thanksgiving...

But, it made me happy to work on it and it makes me happy to see it on the wall.

Do you know what I kept thinking while I was painting the truck?  Remember back when trucks and cars had bench seats, and you could slide across to sit right beside your guy?  Ha ha ha... what a funny thing to be reminded of. To be clear, no, I'm not old enough to remember riding around in a truck quite as old as this one. 😀

My Weekly-ish challenge was "Yellow."  Yellow is usually my most difficult color to work with. I think it worked out this time though.

Original Oil Painting on 6"x 12" Wrapped Canvas

Click Roadside Flower Truck if you'd like to purchase this pretty little painting.  In the meantime, I'm going to enjoy it on my own wall.

Colorful Row of Irises

When do you know you have too many irises? Never!

I just adore a flower that doesn't ask me to do anything for it.  They just come back prettier and thicker every year.

I just Original Palette Knife Oil Painting on 6"x 12" Wrapped Canvas

[SOLD]

Black-eyed Susans in a Vase

I would say that this painting may not be my usual style or doesn't have my usual color palette.  But then I realize that I've done so many crazy-different styles and used so many different mediums through the on-line classes I've signed up for this year, that I don't know what my style even is any more.

2007-2021 - I worked in realistic oil painting pretty much exclusively (although I did do an occasional acrylic).  

2022 - I began trying to figure out how to paint with the palette knife.  

2023 - I've done a little of everything: watercolor, acrylic inks, pen & ink, collage, fabric applique, and so many things with mixed media. I've grown in appreciation for each.

I have to say, though... I think smearing paint with a palette knife is my favorite.  I love the process. I love the end result.  I want to keep looking at it. I want to run my fingers across its surface (once it finally dries). I want to do another.

My Weekly-ish Challenge was "Just Put Them in a Vase." 

Thanks to Wendy of Pieceful Thoughts for letting me use her image as a reference.

 Original Palette Knife Oil Painting on 9"x 12" Wrapped Canvas

[SOLD]

Red Window

 

A little fun with the palette knife!

A little turquoise sneaking in where it doesn't belong!

A little imagination!

That's a pretty good recipe, I think!

Original Palette Knife Oil Painting on 11"x 14" Wrapped Canvas

[SOLD]

Sheila's Centerpiece

Earlier this month I had the pleasure of attending a banquet where my sister was an honoree.  Ouachita Baptist University hosted Stepping Up for Ouachita, a luncheon benefiting scholarships for women.

I was so proud of her and for her.

She serves on a board in their business school and gives a scholarship each year to a girl who is just like she was... an accounting major with no other scholarships and doesn't have straight As. I love those requirements!

Each table had one of these pretty little flower arrangements.  I don't usually... Okay, truth... I never (ever) paint from real life.  But this seemed like the time to give it a try. I think this little painting will be a lasting memory of a special special day.

One more thing... Sheila owns Welcome Home Retreat, a women's crafting retreat for quilters, scrapbookers, painters, or any other crafters.  Click HERE and look around.  You'd love a weekend there! 

Original Oil Painting on 8"x 8" wrapped Canvas

[GIFT]

A Sister's Gift (Muted Palette)

I've been away from the easel for far too long. (Sometimes real-life creeps in and takes over all the creative space on the calendar.) It felt so good to sit back down in front of a big blank canvas.

This image might look familiar, but the first versions were small enough to hold in your hand at just 6"x 12". 

This time I super-sized it!

It also has a completely different vibe with its muted color palette.

(How about all those leaves behind me! Hello, Autumn!)

This painting was done on request of my daughter-in-law and will hang in our little Margo's room.  She'll arrive in a few short weeks and will have something pretty waiting for her above her crib.

Three years ago, her brother got a fun dinosaur painting on 5 big canvases.

Last year, her sister got a sweet animal triptych for her nursery.

Now, Margo will have pretty flowers in bottles to look at on her wall. (To tell the truth, I wouldn't mind having this one on my own wall!)

Original Oil Painting on 18"x 36" Museum Wrapped Canvas
[GIFT]

Hat & Lavender

My weekly art challenge was "Something to Wear," and I was having a complete creative block for coming up with an idea. So I turned to YouTube for some inspiration and some at-home private instruction.

Thanks to MariArtHome for a step-by-step YouTube lesson on making this tiny painting.

5"x 5" Oil on Canvas Board

Click Hat & Lavender if you'd like to purchase this little painting.

Black Eyed Susans in a Can

Simple, yet elegant...

These pretty black-eyed Susans were growing in the blackberry patch behind my garden, 

Plain wildflowers in a tin can... couldn't be any prettier if they were from a florist and placed in a crystal vase.

The word for this weekly-ish art challenge was "tin."  

Original Palette Knife Oil Painting on 8"x 10"
[SOLD]

Pansies (Palette Knife)

What better way to start the painting year off than to smear some paint on the canvas with a palette knife!

I've never been a very good new year's resolution maker. Some of my art friends are very systematic with their intentions for the year. Perhaps I should put some thought into mine.  When I was in the classroom, I had a poster on the wall that said, "A Goal Without A Plan Is Just A Wish." With that in mind, we'll see if I can turn these wishes into goals...

• I wish I could draw better.
• I commit to Forty by February. (That's one sketch or drawing each day in January plus the ones I did at the end of December for the drawing class I participated in.)
• I wish I would paint in a more loose style.
• I will use the palette knife for a painting each month.
• I wish I would sell more paintings.
• Maybe this one's still a wish, but I'm off to a good start since this one sold already and the one on the easel is a commission piece.  That's 100% so far in 2022!

Original Oil Painting on 8"x 10" Wrapped Canvas

[SOLD]

Garden Cat

I love this cat's attitude... "This is my backyard, and I prefer stretching out right here in the sun among the plants and flowers."

I was flipping through photos on my aunt's phone looking at lots of cute pictures of her great grand babies, but when I came to a random picture of this cat on the wall among the flowers... I knew immediately that I wanted to paint it.  

I found out that the cat's name is Toonces Spraybuttsky, and he belongs to my cousin.  Honestly, you have to think maybe our cats are cousins too! Pounce also loves to hang out with the plants on our back deck and beside the plants in the garden... not to mention the family resemblance! 

Original Oil Painting on 12"x 16" Wrapped Canvas

[SOLD]

Red Tulips on Purple (Palette Knife)

There's a lesson on YouTube for just about anything you might want to learn.  This palette knife lesson was so easy to follow.  And there are three, so we'll see if I get better on the next two.

I love the textures of a palette knife painting.  It just begs to be touched... only I can't... yet... It has so much paint in places, and gobs of oil paint take soooooo long to be completely dry.

The thing that mesmerizes me about a palette knife painting is that if you look at any small square inch, it's just a mess, but when you take in the whole image, it has its own beauty.

I remember something that my art teacher said. "The eye sees what's there, but the mind takes over and fills in the gaps."

Oil painting on 10"x 10" wrapped canvas

[SOLD]

PInk Roses

The thought of painting roses has always intimidated me, so I've avoided them.

Cheri, my art teacher/mentor/friend loves painting roses, and she paints them so beautifully.

She was determined to teach me, so last week I drove to her Oklahoma farm for a lesson.  

I believe we were in her studio painting for 16 of our 24 hours together.

Lo, and behold, some roses showed up on our canvases!

Original Oil Painting on 6"x 8" Wrapped Canvas

Click "Pink Roses" if you'd like to purchase this little painting.

Door Beneath the Wisteria

Who do you think might live in the door beneath the wisteria?  Surely it's a fairy... a sprite... an elf... a gnome...a regular lady with green thumb?  I think she sings while she tends to her flowers and smiles when she greets the mornings.  I think she laughs when looks at her aqua door and is glad she chose aqua.  I think she is content. I think everyone who visits her feels welcomed and at home.

Although I had a photo or two that gave me the idea, I did much of this from my own imagination... not typical at all for me... but so fun!  And it came together quickly!  Instead of a drawing, I blocked it in and just started.
I loved, Loved, LOVED the process... but in the end it looked like... a door... there was no story...

As luck would have it, we'd planned to spend the night with Cheri, my art mentor and dear friend.  I got to paint with her every Monday night during my first five years as a painter.  It's such a treat whenever we get to paint together now.  I said, "It's just a door with some flowers... Can you help me turn it into a story?"  Well, I believe Cheri has a kind of fairy magic with paints. ☺  
She started with, "Hmmm.... well, what if we tried putting a little aqua in the corner of that door... "  Then "Hmmm... what if we add a little more aqua..." About an hour and 10 "Hmmm... what if we..." ideas later... just like magic... It was a story!

Original oil painting on 12"x 16" Canvas

[GIFT]

March's Flowers

How do you know it's springtime?

It's always a surprise to see spots of bright yellow showing off after the winter's gray.

Who doesn't love daffodils!

And, then there's the forsythia!  

It's as if each month has its assigned colors... March has yellow with daffodils, jonquils, and forsythia.

April gets white and pink with the dogwood trees and the redbuds.

May is purple with irises of all shades.

June gets orange with day lilies and tiger lilies.

[SOLD]

Pink Lilies

What flower makes you smile?


I love every lilies - tiger lilies, day lilies, Easter lilies, calla lilies, spider lilies, and of course, stargazer lilies.  They even smell good - an extra bonus!






If you'd like to purchase note cards with these lovelies click Pink Lilies to link directly to the Etsy listing.

:) Flora & Fauna

Thinking of You

There's really nothing funny about this still life, but it always makes me chuckle when I look at it. You see, I began by painting the curtain, the table, the peach, the napkin, the knife... and then life changed for a while. I fell (not a glamorous story - tripped over a suitcase) and broke my leg. After a few days of lying in the bed, I felt ready to sit up and thought painting was one thing I could do if everything was carefully propped. I finished the painting - the flowers and vase. Look again. Do you notice any difference in the styles? Yeah... like a different person painted that part. Hmmm... I suppose those pain medications took out some of my realistic precision and added artistic freedom. And, no, I'm not asking which style is preferred. That bottle of pills is long gone, and with it went the loose style that I strive to capture again - drug free, of course!