Pumpkins, Pumpkins, Pumpkins...

This semester's OLLI class was this  week!  I absolutely love guiding seniors along the way to complete a painting. Just look!  They're masterpieces!!! We had such a good time, and each of them should be so proud.

These ladies worked so hard!

We even made the newspaper!!!

When I teach one of these classes, I always create a few models and examples.

As is always true, theirs are priceless.

My examples, however, are for sale in my Etsy shop.

AND...

*** DURING THE MONTH OF SEPTEMBER THESE PUMPKINS AND ALL PAINTINGS AUTUMN RELATED WILL BE ON SALE 50% OFF! 

Click HERE to have a look! (Or send me a message. 😀)

Red Cottage in Fall III

Nope. 
It's not a repeat post... 
...just a new version... a rerun of a good one!
The last Red Cottage in Fall was for my school's fall festival silent auction.  My principal said up front that she wanted it and planned to bid to win, but one of my students out bid her. 


It was a pretty stress-free painting, so I did another.   
Surprise!

Usually I get to enjoy my paintings for a time while they wait to be bought. Sadly, I didn't get to hold on to either one of these and I really liked them. Hmmmm... maybe one more?? :)

Original Oil Painting - 8"x 10"
[GIFT]
.

Red Cottage in Fall II

Every year our PTA asks each class to decorate a pumpkin for our Fall Festival.  They're raffled off for a fund raiser.  

This year we got a choice between a pumpkin or a canvas to decorate. 

Yay!!  

I picked... a canvas! Yeah, I suppose the idea was that each kid might put a thumbprint and make it into a little pumpkin face, but I decided I'd go a different direction on the idea of canvases and pumpkins.


I hung the painting in the front of the classroom and asked my students to think about who might live there and what the pumpkins were for.  I told them we'd make a book to go with the painting for the auction. 

First they thought, imagined, and talked; then they wrote...  
  
Oh, I do have a wonderful job!  

Such creative hardworking little people I spend my days with!   

I hope our little project makes a few dollars for our school. 

I bet it will.

Original Oil Painting - 8"x 10"
[SOLD]

Pumpkin Time

What colors are supposed to be calming and relaxing?

I'm pretty sure, they're blues, greens, purples - the cool colors.  I thought the warm colors were supposed to do just the opposite.  Right?  Reds, oranges, and yellows are supposed to stimulate or cause excitement.
Hmmm...
So why do I want to go into this scene and simply relax, be still, let the time pass without accomplishing any tasks?

This imaginary place was just too wonderful not to visit twice.  (You'll see another version of this scene if you scroll down just a few entries.)