Yellow Daffodils of March

This painting was so fun for so many reasons.  

The combination of turquoise and purple... Yummy!  

Smearing paint with a palette knife... Yes please!...

Daffodils... Love!

March is the month of yellow where we live. 

The Weekly-ish prompt was "March."  

Thanks to Sara for a reference image that I used once with irises and again now with daffodils.

Original Oil Painting on 8"x 10" Wrapped Canvas

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Spring Has Sprung Dogwood Tree

I adore dogwood trees.

They're such a sign of spring! 

When we moved into our new house in the fall of 2001, we had no idea how lucky we'd be the next spring when so many wild dogwood trees would bloom.

When we go for our evening walks we pass this friend... little dogwood tree. It takes us through every season.  In summer it's lush and green.  In autumn it has red berries then red leaves. In winter it rests.  Spring (particularly April) is it's time to show off.

The topic for my Creative Companions group this week was "Spring Has Sprung."  The companion piece shows that friend tree.  The four photos show it during the first week of April with buds, the second week of April with new blooms, the third week of April with full blooms, and the fourth week of April with the fading blooms.

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Original Oil Painting on 9"x 12" Wrapped Canvas
Click Spring Has Sprung Dogwood Tree if you'd like to purchase this painting.

Signs of Spring Here on Serendipity!

One daffodil showed up first.

There will be more every day now.

Grow little onions! Grow!

They're covered with soil now.  

I'll be watching for green shoots soon.

What a lovely surprise! Crocuses!  

They came in a gift basket from my daughter last Mother's Day. 

After they finished blooming, I put the bulbs in the flower row.

Yay, they came back!

Another surprise... 

One of our "hens" has grown really big... and has long green tail feathers... 

and struts around like a boss... and has started crowing before dawn...

We call him Bob.

Seed trays are in the room with the most sun!

Can you guess the reason we have to keep that door closed?

Happy hens! (And, Bob.)

Spring cleaning should also be a sign of spring, but see those precious little handprints on the glass panels? I discovered them a while back. Since the little one who put them there has moved so far away, I don't have the heart to wipe them off!

Happy Spring!

Fanciful Spring Landscape

This one makes me think I'm walking straight into a scene where there might be some unicorns grazing just on the other side of that rise.

I painted this for my weekly painting challenge.  The theme was "Spring Landscape."  Why do I never paint spring landscapes?  I did some counting and a little math. I've done a little over a hundred paintings that could fit into the category of landscape.  I discovered that I have not treated my seasons equally!   

This is what I found:

Summer: 50%

Autumn:  45%

Winter:    10%

Spring:     5%

What?  How did that happen?  I need to keep my camera handy in the coming months and take some pretty spring landscape reference photos.

Thanks to Thanks to Paint with Shiba for a great YouTube tutorial. 

Oil Painting on 11"x 14" Wrapped Canvas.

If you'd like to purchase this painting, click Fanciful Spring Landscape.

Lupine Landscape

Lupines aren't native to my part of the world. Except for seeing them in the children's book Miss Rumphius, I'd never even heard 

of lupines until five years ago when we took a trip to Maine. To say we loved it would be an understatement. Of all the places we've visited, Maine is at the top of the list for places we want to return to. One unexpected treat was seeing lupines... everywhere! I fell in love with them.  It's good that we were on vacation and not in a hurry to get anywhere because we stopped for me to take pictures of them many, many times.

I took photos of lupines with the thought that one day I'd use one as a reference for painting.  Sara's Inspiration Image Freedom was just the motivation I needed to finally paint lupines.  I look forward to the day that we'll feel free to travel once again.  Maybe we'll take a trip back to Maine and enjoy the lupines.

Original Oil Painting on 10"x 20" Wrapped Canvas

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Spring Comes

Winter is cold and gray... but... spring comes.
What we see every day in the news is sad and scary... but... spring comes.
Coronavirus occupies our thoughts and conversations... but... spring comes.

We are now beginning our fourth week of being at home all day every day. It's been even longer for my daughter's family on the East Coast where the numbers of those testing positive are staggering.  When the weather allows, they take their little one out for walks.  A few days ago she sent me this picture from outside their apartment and said, "The cherry blossoms are blooming anyway."

Things seem to be falling apart... but... spring comes.

I painted this in response to Sara's Inspiration Image "Strength & Hope for April's Inspiration Collaboration.  She says, "... there is always some beauty to be found, some hope to carry on."

Spring symbolizes hope. Pink blossoms bring hope of fruits and the coming green. Eggs in a bird's nest bring hope for new life and the sound bird songs. Spring comes... and brings hope.

Original Oil Painting on 8"x 10" Wrapped Canvas
To purchase this little painting, just click Spring Comes.

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

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Springtime in My Kitchen

My kitchen is filled with springtime!  

There are some dreamy things to love about springtime.  

Flowers on the island just say happy, Happy, HAPPY! 

And, the smell.... mmmmm.... 

Those hyacinths! 

Trays of little seedlings cover the table.

And, there are more in flower pots on the floor!

Yeah... I totally planted more than I could ever need.

But, I love watching them grow!

The counter top has a place for the day's eggs.
Beautiful weather makes my six little hens happy!
What fun it is to share their eggs!

I know planting a seed tray should be an outside job, but it was freezing on Sunday.  We built maybe the last fire of the year in the fireplace, and I was ready to play with some dirt.   
You can imagine my little dog's disappointment.  She stands right below me when I cook, chop, slice, pour, stir.  This had all the look of cooking with not a single good treat falling to the floor.

Spring Monarch

How many monarchs have you seen this spring?

I've seen several.  That makes me happy because I've heard that their populations are diminishing rapidly.  They need those weeds that we're all so quick to mow down.  So, next time you think it's time to get the weed eater out for the edges of your lawn, don't !  "I'm saving butterflies!" sounds like a great excuse not to do that chore!

As I was painting this little monarch, I couldn't help but be reminded of an old church stained glass window - sun gleaming off those sections of color between the black outlines.  Beautiful!

A big thanks to Nicole for capturing this image.  I'm glad you didn't weed eat down your joe-pye weeds so that this butterfly would have a reason to stop by your farm!

Enjoy this piece in an Etsy treasury (collection of related vintage items and art pieces) celebrating Nature-themed Artwork. 

If you'd like to purchase this little painting, click Spring Monarch.

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.

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Tiger Swallowtail on Violets

How do you know when spring has really arrived?

There are lots of hints that spring is on the way.  The air gets warmer, the rain falls more often, and the wind blows harder.   Birds chirp louder.  The first colors appear - yellow and purple -Daffodils, jonquils, hyacinths, violets, irises.
Then finally, a butterfly appears!  It's spring!


To purchase this little painting, click Tiger Swallowtail on Violets.