Red Barn at Autumn Sunrise

It's usually cool blues, greens, and purples that give a calming, peaceful tone, but I wanted to try to create that with warm reds, yellows, and oranges. 

I think it does bring a soothing moment, but only a moment... because if it's a farm, there are jobs to start taking care of as soon as that sun comes up.

Original Oil Painting on 11"x 14" Wrapped Canvas

[SOLD]

Red Flowers in the Fence Row

I know that red and green have been claimed by the Christmas season, but I think red and green are the sign that summer has arrived!

There's a tradition at the Eaton house when the first tomato ripens. 
It's a special meal consisting of the exact same thing every year:

• Wonder bread
• Original Black Label bacon
• Ripe garden tomato
• Kraft onion dip
• Ruffles potato chips
• Sonic Coke

Original Oil Painting on 9"x 12" Wrapped Canvas
Click Red Flowers in the Fence Row if you'd like to purchase this little painting.

Red Barn and Wishing Well

When I look at this painting my eyes wander... and my mind wonders...

Can an image be described as poetic?

When I was a teacher, my students and I would sometimes do an activity using "I wonder..." statements when we looked at a poem. 

I find myself doing it with this image.

• I wonder...
• I wonder if who owned this barn...
• I wonder who dug the well...
• I wonder if any animals still live here...
• I wonder why they painted the barn red...
• I wonder if the water from the well tastes fresh...
• I wonder if the wind is blowing...
• I wonder if there is still hay in the loft...
• I wonder why there are no tools or equipment around the barn...
• I wonder if the woods also belong to the farmer...
• I wonder if there's a musty hay-like smell when the door opens...
• I wonder what forgotten treasures are tucked away inside...
• I wonder if children played in the hay...
• I wonder if they made hay from the grass around the barn...
• I wonder if they had cows... or sheep... or goats... or a donkey...
• I wonder if farming was the only income or a side job...
• I wonder if anyone still uses this barn...
• I wonder if anyone still cares about this barn...
• I wonder...

Original Oil Painting on 12"x 16" Wrapped Canvas.

[SOLD]

Once Upon a Farm...

Once upon a farm there was a feeling of contentment.  

• The blue sky was clear.
• The leaves were beginning to appear on the trees. 
• The yellow button dandelions were turning into white puffs and blowing away in the wind. 
• The pigs had plenty of mud for rolling around in their pen.  
• The grass was green and filled with enough bugs and seeds to keep the chickens busy.  
• The red hen was teaching her fluffy little chicks everything they needed to know. 
• And, the rooster with his coat of many colors was keeping an eye on them all.

It was a good, good day... once upon a farm.

One of the things I love about painting a commissioned piece is that I'm nearly always stretched to the limit of my skills. I don't know if I'd push myself of choose to paint challenging pieces if I always just got to choose what to work on next.
This one started out with a simple question, "Can you paint this rooster in larger size?"  Sure!  He was already on a 16"x 16" canvas, so the new version would be huge.  He is proudly standing front and center of this new painting... but instead of 2 feet tall, he's 2 two inches tall!  
How did that happen? 
It happened through a series of e-mails and questions... "Could you put a barn in the painting? We love this one, but could you make it red? Could you add a few hens with the rooster, and maybe some chicks? Could you  put some dandelions in the grass?  One more thing... could there be some pigs?"
Oh, this process makes me smile!
Yes... Sure... No problem... I can do that... Okay... Absolutely... Wait, pigs?
Ha ha ha ha
And so.... that is how the 2 foot rooster became a 2 inch rooster!

Thank you Mandi for giving me the setting and all the characters to put this story on canvas.

Original Oil Painting on 18"x 24" Wrapped Canvas

[SOLD]

Little Treasure

How do those colors & shapes, lights & darks, actually become something recognizable?

I love watching it happen...

The process still amazes me.

Mix a color palatte that has lights, mediums, and darks.

 Just get the shapes in the right place.

Squint and find the shadowed places first.

Squint again to find the lightest places.

Blend, tap, touch, brush, add, remove, fuzz...

Don't stress when it's in the "ugly" stage.  All paintings, like all kids have to go through it.

 Be brave with new strokes that have to cover what's already right.

 Step back and look at it with fresh eyes, or take a picture of it and look at it on the screen, or hold it up to a mirror.  Change whatever draws your eyes first.

My spot.

[SOLD]

Thanks to Rebecca Marinoni, photographer, 

for capturing this image and 

for granting permission to paint it.

! ! ! Giveaway ! ! ! #1

I haven't been painting at all during this Christmas break. Why?  

• Well, first because my kids were home, and we just did a lot of sitting beside the fireplace and poking the logs. 
• And, second because I've been glued to my computer reading my new favorite blog... reading every entry from the beginning.  It's called A Joyful Chaos, and it's an absolute delight!  
• I feel like I'm getting to know a new friend and catching up on her whole life...
• It's like reading an Amish version of Laura Ingalls' Little House series... 
• It makes me think about my own shelf of journals and all the little snips of life I've recorded over the years.
• It reminds me of the truth... "everyone has a story to tell..."

Anyway, I've decided to borrow an idea from her and have a giveaway.

I have these cute little note cards made to give as a thank you gifts to send with any painting that is purchased.  I sometimes have extras made.  
Would you like to have a few?

For your chance to win all you have to do is leave a comment describing a favorite painting, print, photo, or poster you have on a wall in your home or in your memory.

Sharing this post on your Facebook or blog then letting me know you did will earn you a second entry. :)


I will be choosing the winner on Saturday, January 3. 

I look forward to your comments.  (Maybe I'll get some new ideas for what to paint next!!) 


**I picked these cards for this giveaway because A Joyful Chaos makes me think of simple pleasures... a  beloved Raggedy Ann doll... a stack of journals filled with memories... an old barn in winter... :)

Red Barn & Wheelbarrow in Winter

Which "character" makes your mind wander/wonder?

If you've read a few of my posts, you know that I only love a painting if it tells a story.  This one shows a setting that's just waiting for the characters to show up with their problem to solve.... There are so many possibilities fighting to jump to the front and be the story... What about the picture makes you wonder? makes your mind wander?

• Is there something hidden inside the knothole in the tree?
• Did someone go ice skating?
• Why is the fence broken down?
• Where are the cows and goats and horses?
• Who does that striped hat belong to?
• How cold is it?
• Is it morning or evening?

Because it's a painting and not really a story, I make the objects my "characters."  You'd think that since I named the painting "Red Barn & Wheelbarrow in Winter" that I loved those two "characters" most.  But, I'm kind of a "minor character" kind of gal.  I love the cold sky and the shadows on the snow.  I love the broken fence, the icicles hanging off the roof, and the weather vane on the top of that roof. But, the "character" that makes my mind wonder and wander is that craggy old tree.  I love that tree.  I love gnarly old dead trees. There's one between Sonic (where I go much too often) and my house, and I never pass by without noticing it.  It's on the edge of a golf course and will probably be removed one day.  Every time I look at that tree I wonder if there's an old coon living in some hole in it.  My mind wanders every time to Billy, Old Dan, and Little Ann from Where the Red Fern Grows. (Best book ever!) 

Just so you know... I'm the artist, so I know... and yes, there absolutely is a grouchy old coon (or maybe a possum) living inside the hole in that tree, so the kid who left his skates and hat in the wheelbarrow better keep his hand out of there.

Oil Painting on 16"x 20" Wrapped Canvas

[SOLD]

Red Barn at Harvest Time

Who wouldn't want to go to a party here?

We could pick a pumpkin for the jack-o-lantern carving... There might be a wheelbarrow race down the path... Maybe there's a haunted house in the loft... And, I bet there's a tub of apples for bobbing inside...

Yeah, I know the barn's probably a little too red, the pumpkins are a little too orange, and the sky's just too yellow... But, I love it.  I want to go there!

Red Barn in Springtime

What's right?  What's wrong?

Right... it's peaceful... the grass is green, the daffodils are blooming, the barn is red, the sky is blue...

Wrong... a real farmer's working barn would have old equipment all around... there would be cow poop surrounding the barn area... there would have been fences or else the animals would have trampled and eaten the daffodils...

So... I've lived the real-life one.  But, I love the idea of the beautiful (almost enchanted) one.  It would be a good place to set a story.  

Enjoy an Etsy treasury (collection of related art pieces) celebrating Pinks and Red or another celebrating Trees by clicking. Go to a horse-themed collection is titled Horseback Riding. Also enjoy My Springtime. Then have a look at other treasuries like Life in the Country..., Country Cozy or Country Sampler for a little bit of everything country.  Finally, stop by Spring Babies where each selection shares the same lovely spring green.

[SOLD]

Red Barn at Sunset

How does an artist control the viewer's eye movement when looking at her paintings?


This is a barn we discovered while driving through a neighboring Northwest Arkansas county. It was actually near the highway (not in a lovely field with trees and a country road.) It was a working barn... What were my clues to that? First -a metal horse fence. Second - the strong scent fresh manure. Finally - three angry guineas ran out the door and chased me back into the car after just a few photographs.  


I learned - no, not learned, began to understand or at least think about - something while working on this painting.  When searching for a setting for this great old barn, I found something that I liked and thought it would be perfect with some modifications to make it mine.   The inspiration image had a great old barn with a fence, road, and tree in front of it.  But it didn't quite work for my barn, so I flipped it - made a mirror image.  But somehow, mine became a great big old tree with a fence, road, and barn behind it.  
The focus completely shifted... and with neither my intention nor my permission!
That weekend, I got my first installment of  Weekly Painting Tips from Daniel.  The short video was about this same idea!  I am very interested in learning to be in control of this, but for now... I think I'm still just surprised every time I paint something and it actually looks like what it's supposed to.

In case you wondered if my story of photographing the barn was true... These are the mean old guineas that chased me.


Original Oil Painting on Wrapped Canvas
[SOLD]

Red Barn in Winter

What makes a big old barn such an intriguing building?


E.B. White was a master of using descriptive language. I remember a part in Charlotte's Web when he described the barn using only the sense of smell. I know I'll butcher the beautiful flow of his sentences, but it went something like this....

.... The barn smelled of hay and of manure, of rubber boots, and the perspiration of tired horses.  It smelled of axle grease, new rope and of the sweet breath of patient cows. And whenever the cat was given a fish head to eat, it would smell of fish. But there was always the smell of hay. Hay being pitched down from the loft...


I'm sure there was more, and I'm sure it was worded much more elegantly, but the spirit of his words is there. Somehow we just want to be there enjoying that. And, how can cow breath and fish heads be pleasant... I don't know, but somehow I believe that this red barn holds similar delightful smells.