Clouds

I go back and forth when I look at this painting.
What am I supposed to look at? 

Is it a painting of a sunset or sunrise? a painting of a sun kissed landscape? skyscape of clouds? Is it okay that it's kind of all three? 

I want to keep looking at it, so I think it's okay.

My Weekly-ish Challenge was "Clouds." That seemed easy enough... until it wasn't.  Clouds? I live in the trees!  I don't really see whole clouds! I looked and didn't have any good reference photos for clouds. Nothing on any of the free reference photo sites intrigued me. Then I remembered that I had an ancient painting book...

You can tell by the price tag! Woolworths... $2.95!  It's from 1985, and it's still good!

I picked one of the lessons, started there, then went off on my own. 

*** Note to self... if using the word "ancient"  when referring to 1985, remember that you got married that year... pick another word!

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

Echo Valley

"The story is that  [we were on] an early morning walk while on vacation.  It was a sweet memory as we walked to the cabin.  We thought a painting would be a great way to capture the moment"

They told me this was the view from their campsite and that the ever-under-construction Chief Crazy Horse Monument  could be seen just behind the hillside.

It looks like a beautiful place to spend a morning hiking.

It was a pleasure to put it on canvas... one stroke at a time.

Take one minute to watch this painting go from blank white canvas to peaceful landscape.

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

Just a Tree in a Field (#700)

Painting #700

It just looks like a storybook tree in a field, doesn't it. Well, that's exactly what it is.  

It's a tree that I see every single day when I leave my driveway or walk up to the mailbox. True, I did use my artistic license a bit, but not much.  It's a fabulous view and a fabulous tree.

I try to do something special at each #Hundred, so when my friend and art mentor said that our next Weekly-ish challenge was "Summer Landscape," I knew this was the one.  You see, a tree in a field has some history for me.

  My very first painting ever, February 22, 2007.
It was just a tree in a field, but I was so very proud of it!
Painting #001

 I did this painting on my 10th Paint-iversary, February 22, 2017
It was just a tree in a field, and it was exactly what I wanted it to be.
Painting #346.

It's kind of perfect, isn't it.  Oh, I know, there's a power line and a paved road, but I feel the need to snap a photo of it all the time.  

If you zoom in and look closely at this one, you'll see a difference.  Someone started building a new home back in that field behind the tree.  Sigh... oh, well, maybe they'll be great neighbors. I have plenty of "before" photos of that tree, and that's what an artistic license is for anyway.  I hope the new owners are lazy about mowing the Queen Anne's Lace and other wildflowers that grow in the ditch outside the fence.  The butterflies and I love it.

Original Oil Painting on 9"x 12" Wrapped Canvas

[Not for Sale at this time... I think I need to enjoy it on my own wall.]

Arched Rock Bridge

 Looks like a peaceful scene to come across on a hike.

I'm still finding ways to use up the left over paint from the palettes of our students a few weeks ago.  As long as I put it in the freezer between uses, oil paint will last a long long time.

By the time I finally get through all the little left over piles of earthy hues, I may be ready to paint with some bright red, orange, and purple!

My weekly-ish challenge was "Manmade."  It took me a long time to settle on what I wanted to do for that.  I wanted to think of something where everything was nature except that one thing.

I'm going to love seeing this one on my own wall until someone wants it for their own.

Original Oil Painting on 11"x 14" Wrapped Canvas

[SOLD]

Summer Landscape with Blue Flowers (Senior Citizen Painting Class)

What a treat to guide these wonderful senior citizens through an oil painting!

This was our 6th time to teach OLLI students.  Click HERE to see the others.

Everyone of them did such a good job with their landscapes!

Yes, it's a lot of work to get prepared for teaching an OLLI class, but it's all worth it when the students come in.  My teaching partner Julie and I couldn't have been prouder!

Favorite moment... One of the participants thought I looked familiar and we discovered why. I had her daughter in my 4th grade class about 30 years ago!!  Of course I remembered her!  She texted her daughter who texted back some specific happy memories she had from that year with me. Oh, happy sigh...

Oil painting on 11"x 14" Wrapped Canvas

Click Summer Landscape with Blue Flowers if you'd like to purchase my example painting.

Experiment - "Painting" with Fabric

Well, This is different!

I have some friends who are real-live serious quilters, and I know they sometimes have a look at my blog posts.  When I see the precision in their angles and straight lines... Well, I'll just say that I'm not in competition there.   I'm more of a play-around-with-fabric-sometimes kind of girl. 

A while ago, one of those amazing quilter friends, LeeAnne,  posted an image of a landscape done with fabric scraps.  I was mesmerized and went back to look at it again and again. (You can see it HERE.) With a little advice and encouragement from her, I started placing scraps of color.

This is what I see when I stand beside my mailbox.  I love seeing that huge gorgeous tree in every season. It served as my inspiration for this experiment of painting with fabric.

My weekly-ish challenge was "Standing."  I was reminded of this Advice from a Tree... Stand Tall and Proud.

Field of Blue Flowers II

My painting partner Julie & I will be teaching a landscape painting class for senior citizens in a couple of months.  It takes a lot of thought and planning, but we have so much fun with it.

Part of the preparation means being really familiar with this painting and very confident with painting it so that it becomes second nature.  We don't want to be figuring out what might work while there are a dozen new painters watching.

That means we'll each paint it again... and again... and again... paint it big... paint it small... paint it on canvas... paint it on canvas board... paint it in stages to use as models... paint it until all the kinks in the process are worked out... We hope!

This one was done last month and was a prize of the hen-coop contest.  

It was on a tiny 5"x 7" canvas.

This one was done a few years ago and is now hanging in its forever home.  

It was on a big 18"x 24" canvas.

 Julie & I first painted it in 2019 during a weekend at 

Welcome Home Retreat. (Click HERE to see photos and read about that!)

There's a great YouTube lesson that was out teacher for it.

We're hoping for as much success with this class as we've had in the previous sessions.

2019 - Still Life - Apple

2019 - Nature - Bluebird

2020 - Floral - Day Lilly

2021am - Landscape - Autumn

2021pm - Landscape - Autumn

2022am - Still Life - Strawberries

2022pm - Still Life Strawberries

Oil Painting on 11"x 14" Wrapped Canvas

[SOLD]

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]

Little White Church in Autumn

Painting with a palette knife is such an experiment every single time... every smear of paint onto the canvas.

This Little White Church also challenged me to experiment in color.  I loved the church in the reference photo, but it was set in a winter scene.  I wanted an autumn setting, so I had to make up colors and scenery throughout the process. 

Because I most often think on the left side of my brain, I'm never too comfortable at making things up.  I think I'm pleased with the final result. I do keep looking back to make sure though.

This painting was my response to my weekly-ish challenge with my art mentor.  The challenge was "Little White Church."

**Thanks to Sara Harley for letting me use her photo as a reference.

Original Oil Painting on 11"x 14" Wrapped Canvas

[SOLD]

 

February Snow

Inspiration Collaboration has been exactly what its name implies…inspiring. I’ve been encouraged (or forced) outside my comfort zone and painted things that I’d never have considered. I’m a better artist because of it. 

I do love color, but through Sara’s images and words, I’ve grown to see that lots of color is not a requirement for a picture to be beautiful. Her very first inspiration image was Barely There. When I saw that 24 months ago, I thought, “Oh, dear… I can’t do this… The image is… well… barely there!” But, I did paint a response to that one as well as the 35 that followed.  What a rigorous artistic endeavor! What a pleasure! 

I took this reference photo in February of 2011.  It’s the view from our mailbox looking across the highway. That’s not a typo.  I’ve had the image in a photo file for 10 years.  I chose to use this image, this style, and this color palette for Sara’s A New Adventure to honor her.

Original Oil Painting on 9"x 12" Wrapped Canvas

[SOLD]

Weeping Willow

I went to painting class every Monday evening for four or five years.  I don't any more, but sometimes I just need a good old fashioned painting lesson.  YouTube is so great for that. Thanks for the tutorial Paint With Kevin! 

My art mentor and friend, Cheri and I did a (usually) weekly painting challenge for over 20 weeks.  This summer we took about three months off (Sometimes life isn't generous with free for creating art.), but we think we're about ready to begin again. This challenge was "Trees & Leaves." I think I nailed it!

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

Beside Still Waters II

 

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

He maketh me to lie down in green pastures:

He leadeth me beside the still waters.

He restoreth my soul:

                                                                           Psalm 23: 1-3 

This image must speak to my soul.  I find it soothing and like having it on my wall.  Whenever it sells, it makes me happy/sad to see it go to a new home. Then after a while I paint it again and put it back on my own wall for a while.

2009

2017

2020

My painting partner Julie and I are preparing to teach a landscape class for seniors this next week.  I can't think of a better landscape image to use.

My weekly art challenge was "Quiet" this time.  "Quiet" can be a (lack of) sound or a feeling.  This landscape captures both the sound and feeling for me.

Thanks to Robert Woods for making how-to-paint books over 30 years ago that are still great references today.

Oil Painting on 9"x 12" Wrapped Canvas

[SOLD]

Beside Still Waters (Mini)

Yes, I know it looks familiar, but who doesn't make time for a rerun of something you enjoy! I do love this scene from one of Robert Woods old how-to-paint books.  I painted it about 10 years ago... again about 5 years ago... again about 1 year ago... and again a few months ago... and now this little mini version.

For one thing, I love it.  It's just got all the things I love about home... Rolling mountains, pastures, woods, fall colors, a creek, a fence that hints that there must be cows or some other farm animals back there behind those trees...

A second reason to paint it is that my painting partner, Julie of JujuBeePaints, and I will be using it as we teach a group of senior citizens in a beginning oil painting landscape class in a few weeks. I needed to practice painting it before doing it in front of students.

Finally, I did this tiny version for my art exchange group.  There are about a dozen artists from 3-4 different countries and 8-9 different states who take part in the group.  Every quarter we're given a theme then paired up to exchange a postcard-sized piece of art and letter. The theme this month was "Home or Showcasing Where You Live." This scene looks very much like Northwest Arkansas to me, so I thought it would be perfect to send to my paired partner, Darlene in Nova Scotia, Canada.

Oil painting on 5"x 7" Canvas Board

[GIFT - ART EXCHANGE]

Quiet Summer Resting Place

Because I'm the artist, I get to decide...  

I didn't paint any ants or spiders or other creepy-crawlies. I certainly painted no snakes, nor are there any hiding behind the rocks. Yes, I did paint a bit of poison ivy, but there are no thorn bushes or burrs anywhere in sight.  You can't see them, but I'm sure there are butterflies and frogs and probably lizards with blue tails. There's also plenty of birdsong and cicada noise in the air.  It's about 76 degrees with a very light wind. 

If this scene looks at all familiar...

... it's a smaller version of what's going on behind my house.

Yeah... I know... It looks like I have hardly done a thing in a month. 

I will now list my excuses for that...

* The garden keeps me busy in July.  (That's a good thing!)

* I've been working on other projects. (Good things too!)

* It's hot!  It is not 76 degrees in the real world.

* It's muggy!  The humidity is just ugh.

I will get back to it!  Soon!

If I stand under that window and look behind me, this is what I see. That's the reference for both this painting and the mural. 

No need to look for the stream.  That would be a bad place for a stream as it would flow directly into our back door. Remember that I have and artistic license, and I'm not afraid to use it.

A pretty healthy crop of poison ivy grows up there where I had to stand to take the photo of the mural.  I really should get up there and clean that out... (*See list of excuses above.)

Original Oil Painting on 12"x 24" Wrapped Canvas

[SOLD]

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]