Ice Cream Cone

Favorite Ice Cream Treats:

Cold Stone - Cake Batter with Almonds & Heath Bar

Braums - Chocolate Almond in a Flat-Bottom Cone
Shakes - Concrete with Snickers or Heath Bar
Dairy Queen - Blizzard with Snickers or Heath Bar

Home - French Vanilla with Peaches or Raspberries

So many choices...

Cherries candied? or fresh?

Peaches chopped on top? or blended in?

Strawberries fresh? or syrup-y?

Chocolate ice cream? or poured on top?

Pecans? or Almonds?

Candy sprinkles? or cookie crumbles?

Homemade? or store bought?

Sherbets? or frozen custard?

Soft served? or hand dipped?

My Weekly-ish Challenge was "Pink & Red," so voila!

Sadly, I developed an allergic reaction to strawberries a few years ago, so I can't choose strawberry ice cream to eat, it was perfect to paint. And, with all that palette knife work, I can't wait until it's dry enough to run my fingers across... Zoom in! Those paint smears look good enough to lick... but don't!

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

Click Ice Cream Cone if you want to have this one on your own wall (so you can touch it)!

Spilled Peaches

What is happening to me with this crazy palette knife craze?

Perhaps I'm just in a style phase and it will pass.  

I hope not, because I love it.

What would Thomas Decker think? Would he be horrified? 

I hope not.

Basket of Peaches, oil on canvas, c. 1885, Joseph Decker

I can't fully explain why, but of all the wonderful and amazing works of art in Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art here in Northwest Arkansas, it's my favorite painting.

I suppose it's because there's an elegant simplicity about it.

Whenever we visit other museums, I always look to see if one of his paintings is there.

I used it as inspiration and set up my own basket of peaches still life.

I painted these versions in 2012 and 2020.

ME: (after opening my file of still life images for peaches) Ron, which one should I use?

RON: They all look the same.

ME: No! Look they have different backgrounds and different arrangements.

RON: Ok. The red one.

ME: Which red one? Red on the table? Or red on the background?

RON: Um, the  first one.

ME: But, it doesn't have very good shadow in the background.

RON: Then the next one.

ME: Well, it only has two peaches in front.  Don't you like three better?

RON: Sure.

ME: What color of background then?

RON: Why do you ask me this?

Ha ha... Good question. Why do I ask him?

The reason I revisited my Peach Still Life Folder? My Weekly-ish painting challenge was "Just Peachy." 

Original Oil Painting on 11"x 14" Wrapped Canvas

[SOLD]

Southern Cooking Measurements

I love to cook. I love to cook, but I tend to see recipes as suggestions.  When I found this little set of measuring spoons, I thought they were perfect for  me.  I like to use a tad of this, a dash of that, a pinch of one thing, a drop of another.  I also have some bigger measurements... like a handful, a bunch, a pile, or just plain some. 

My Weekly-ish Painting Challenge was "Found Object."  I found these in an estate sale while visiting my sister's crafting retreat, Welcome Home Retreat, in Weatherford, Texas.

Original Oil Painting on 6"x 8" Wrapped Canvas

Click Southern Cooking Measurements if you'd like to purchase this little painting.

Tangerine

Tangerines are very special at my house. You see, my daughter is very allergic to citric acid.  (Do you realize how many things are made with citric acid? A lot.) She can't have it in her house.  Even being around it or being in the room when someone peels an orange causes a reaction.  So, I have a place in my fridge just for tangerines. Every single time my grandkids come over, they know Gram-E will have a tangerine or two for each of them. It's our special Gram-E treat. 

As they came bustling in the other day, one said, "I'm ready for my tambourine!" 

Ha ha 💕💕

My Weekly-ish Challenge was "Citrus." That made it the right time to paint tambourines... I mean, tangerines.

Original Oil Painting on 5"x 7" Wrapped Canvas.
Click Tangerines if you'd like to purchase this little painting.

Hot Tea

Some of the most decorative and elaborate dishes are meant for tea... teapots, teacups, saucers, sugar bowls, cream pitchers... So pretty... so dainty... I do enjoy drinking out of a pretty cup or glass.

Now, what can I say about the hot tea? Let me think... It's brownish, that's one thing. 

The thing that bothers me about hot tea is that you're expected to drink it. 

I don't have anything against hot tea, but if you could just add heaps of sugar and then enough ice to make it really cold... or even better, if you could pour it out and fill the pretty cup with something else... Like maybe coke or orange juice or hot cocoa or cold milk... that would improve it so much!

Original Oil Painting on 5"x 7" Wrapped Canvas.
Click Hot Tea if you'd like to purchase this little painting,

Strawberries in a Bowl

I started this painting... hmmm... maybe 2 1/2 years ago. I read about my quilting friends having UFOs (which I think stands for UnFinished Object or something like that... They never really say). They seem to have a lot of them. I'm really not too bad at having unfinished painting projects.  I usually start something and finish it before going on to the next one.

My painting partner Julie and I used this little still life when we taught two beginning oil painting classes.  I think you'll notice a pretty obvious clue as to when this class took place.  (I suppose there's no need to blur out faces when you can't see them anyway!)

When we team-teach, we also team-paint.  One will talk about a step in the process while the other paints it, then we switch.  The other talks about the next step while the first works on the painting. We paint quickly and don't particularly finish anything as the purpose is just to model the process. Anyway, we end up with a couple of unfinished paintings (UFOs, I suppose.)

After the classes, I brought one of them home and put it in the art room intending to go back over the whole thing, spruce it up, finish it. 

But... life... terrible ice storms... grandson born... time in the NICU... kept granddaughters... COVID... dad got COVID... time in hospice...  family in town... life stuff, you know... The little painting got under art room stuff and was forgotten.

The other day I read a meme that said something like this, "Statistics show that people who have messy art spaces and too many art supplies tend to live longer lives than those who point it out."

Anyway, after rediscovering it, I gave it new life. 

Original Oil Painting on 8"x 8" Wrapped Canvas

Click Strawberries in a Bowl if you'd like to purchase this little painting.

Pumpkin Pie

One time I tallied my paintings by season and discovered that I had done more with an autumn theme than nearly all the other seasons combined. It's hard not to want to put a golden, orange, and red landscape on canvas.

The older I get, the more I appreciate fall.  I think that during my first 50 years, I was just too busy during fall to notice it... back to school and getting the year going, parent conferences to hold, band practice to get kids to, football games to attend, Fall Harvest events... I'd see a senior adult fall foliage trip in the church bulletin and wonder who would drive around for no reason.  Now I think, "Honey, want to go for a drive to see the leaves?"

Our Creative Companions challenge was "It's Fall, Y'all." I've painted so many autumn landscapes... I've painted pumpkins and gourds and colorful leaves and scarecrows and candy corn... What else says "fall" when you see it? Ahhh... or taste it!

So, first I was off to Wal-Mart to buy a pie and Cool Whip. (No, of course, I didn't bake it!  Who does that really?) Then I asked the neighbor down the road if I could borrow her pumpkin for a couple of hours.  She didn't mention that it was a weird request and said that was fine.

Next, I got my grandson to come with me in his little jeep to carry the big pumpkin home. 

I carefully cut a slice, added a perfect dollop (great word) of whipped cream, and set up the still life. I took a ridiculous number of photos (this way, that way, move the plate, move the pumpkin, blur the back, don't blur, add a fork, take away the fork, reshape the dollop, turn the plate, move the lamp for a better reflection of the pan on the table...)

Finally, Ron could enjoy eating the slice of pie (I'm not a fan.) and I could choose the right photo then put paint and brush to canvas.

For my companion piece, I collected leaves from around the yard and did some leaf stamping. That was fun. How had I gone nearly 60 years without knowing how easy and how much fun leaf stamping could be. I did some more of it with my little pumpkin-hauling partner.

Original Oil Painting on 10"x 10" 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]

Buttons

"Buttons" was chosen as the February subject for a little creative group I'm working with this year. What a pleasure it was to spend time considering what buttons mean to me.

My painting came together quickly. I picked out some fabric, buttons, needle & thread. I set up a tiny still life, snapped some reference photos, and painted it.

The companion piece, however, consumed my thoughts for a few days.

I found a photo of Grandma Powell (wearing a dress with buttons down the front).

I found a photo of Grandma Tallent (wearing a dress with buttons down the front).

I found the photo of Great Granny MacReynolds (wearing a dress with buttons down the front.)

I found photos of Mom at different ages (wearing buttons).

I found a photo of Mom with her sisters (all wearing buttons).

When I get to the top of the stairs and open the door to my painting/sewing/crafting room, the first thing I see is this treasured work of art... okay... it's a stack of fishing tackle boxes. But, it's filled with those buttons.

My grandmothers were quilters.

My mother sewed everything we wore.  I think she probably sewed nearly every day of her life (...Except Sundays. She didn't sew on Sundays.) She was a Home Ec teacher for many years and taught many other girls (and boys once Title IX came to be) how to sew.

I kept most of the things in her sewing room, and I enjoy using them.

But the buttons... oh... I played with them as a little kid, sorting them, arranging them. I loved them and "knew" them. Once they were mine, I cleaned the cases, cleaned the buttons, organized them, and put them where I could enjoy seeing them every day.

Original Oil Painting on 5"x 7" Wrapped Canvas

[GIFT]

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]

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.

Happy Birthday!

Just a fun happy little piece of art!

A chocolate layer cake that looks good enough to lick, but don't! Once it's the paint is dry enough you can swipe your fingers across it though. Mmmmm....

Layer 1 - Painted acrylic with a brush

Layer 2 - Stamped circles, swirls, & dots with bottle lid, pipe, fork tines, photo holder

Layer 3 - Collaged shapes made from Gelli plate designed papers

Layer 4 - Stamped spots with bubble wrap

Layer 5 - Smeared oil paint with a palette knife

I think I met my weekly-ish art challenge of "Layers Upon Layers" no matter how you slice it!

**Next week's is "Something to Wear."  What shall I do? Any ideas? I'm  blank.

Original Mixed Media Painting on 11"x 14" Wrapped Canvas

Click Happy Birthday! if you'd like to purchase it.

Lemon Pie

 

I know it's weird, but here's a secret about me... I am not a pie lover.

There. 

I said it.

Apple pie, blueberry pie, blackberry cobbler, peach cobbler, cherry pie... No, thank you.  I'd rather have my fruit fresh.

Chocolate pie, lemon pie... No, thank you.  If one of these is at my place setting, I'll pick at it.

Pecan pie... No, thank you. I like the taste, but I have kind of an allergic reaction to pecans.

Mince pie, sweet potato pie, pumpkin pie... No, thank you. Yuck... I mean, I don't care for any.

However...

Key lime pie... Yes, please.

Coconut pie... Yes please.

My weekly-ish painting challenge this week was "A Whole with Parts."   Any way you slice it, a pie is a whole with parts!

Original Oil Painting on 8"x 10" Canvas Board in Vintage Wood Frame

[SOLD]

Strawberries in a Bowl (Mini Version)

Each semester, my painting partner, Julie, and I teach a beginning oil painting class for the senior citizen branch of the University of Arkansas. This happy little still life is what we'll be working on this spring... That is, we'll be working on this if we're able to meet. (Please, COVID, just go away! Please unvaccinated people, just change your minds and roll up your sleeves!)

If we're going to teach it to beginners, we need to have a tried-and-true plan that's as simple as possible.  And, I want to feel completely at ease with each step of the process.  That means practice doing the whole painting and also making examples of of each phase of the painting.

The class will take place in two 2-hour sessions.

Here's a little half-minute video of the process we'll be guiding them through. 

I did this little one for my art exchange group where artists from different countries and states take part.  Every quarter we're given a theme then paired up to exchange a postcard-sized piece of art and letter. It was a good excuse to practice painting this one more time.  This mini version of Strawberries in a Bowl is for to my paired partner Hanne in Denmark.

Original Oil Painting on 5"x 7" Canvas Board

[GIFT - ART EXCHANGE]

Basket of Peaches (Mini)

Advice of the day: Never buy peaches unless they smell peachy.  

I look forward to the middle of summer when they're the perfect combination of sweet-tangy and softly-firm. 

This is a mini-version of a Basket of Peaches that I painted before.  I did this little one for the art exchange group that I'm a part of. There are a dozen or so members that are from a few different countries and a few different states in the U.S.  Most of the members are people I know nothing about, but this quarter I was paired with Nelvia. I can't for the life of me remember exactly how Nelvia and I became connected, but we've enjoyed a blog-friendship for a long time. Now we have a piece of each other's artwork!

Original Oil Painting on 5"x 7" Canvas Board
[GIFT - Artist Exchange]

Peanut Butter Cups, Butterfinger, & Butterscotch

Well, just yum, yum, and yum! Right?!

Yes, of course I ate the missing half of the Reese's.  And, I not only ate the bite from the Butterfinger, I had to do it twice because the first bite wasn't pretty enough for the painting. A very enjoyable part of the painting process, I'd say.

No, I didn't finish either the Reese's or the Butterfinger.  I like those just fine, but I don't love them. Ron was happy to enjoy the left overs though. If, however, I'd been doing a painting of a Baby Ruth and a Zero there would have been no sharing!

Now, about those butterscotch hard candies.  Apparently butterscotch isn't popular any more. There weren't any to be found in either the Walmart Supercenter or the grocery store.  I found some in a bag of party candy mix at the Dollar General.  I intend to enjoy sucking on every single one of those myself.

My art challenge for the week was "Butter___"  I thought I'd paint a butterfly on a buttercup... until I realized what a tiny yellow not-much-of-anything flower that a buttercup was. I thought I'd paint a butternut squash, but it's the wrong season to find them. I would not have wanted to take a bite out of my still life props if I'd used a butternut squash anyway.

Original Oil Painting on 5"x 7" Wrapped Canvas

[SOLD]

Her Favorite Shoes

It's been a MONTH since I've painted!
Well, I did paint the walls of my art studio. I don't think that counts.

There's a long list of regular life stuff that has kept me away from the easel, canvas, and brushes. Just like anything else, I guess, you get out of the routine and out of practice.  I waited for the art muse to show up and inspire me to get back at it... She didn't. 

Since the art muse didn't appear, I let my granddaughters provide the inspiration. They moved from the East Coast and have been temporarily in the house with us for the last month.  We've loved the pitter pat of their sweet tiny feet.  

My weekly art challenge stretched over an extra week, or two... or four.  The challenge this time was "Shoes."  Being without an idea, I went to Walmart, found some darling little girl shoes, set them up like a still life right there at the end of the aisle, took some photos, and was ready to paint when I got home.

Original Oil Painting on 8"x 10" Wrapped Canvas

Click Her Favorite Shoes if you'd like to purchase this little painting.

Sentimental Stargazer Lilies (Mini Version)

My blog friend, Nelvia, asked me to be part of an art exchange.  Of course, I wanted to say no thank you because, well, other artists are so good and... they might be disappointed when they received my art and... Pffftt.. All that insecure artist dribble and nonsense rose directly to the top. But, it was Nelvia, so of course I said yes.

I painted a mini version of the very first painting I ever submitted to Inspiration Collaboration. Then I made a postcard and wrote about myself to a stranger. The note and little artwork went into an envelope and off it went to New Jersey.

A few days later I received a lovely note and an incredibly beautiful little piece of art from that same stranger... my new friend, Carole.

I look forward doing this again this summer.

Original Oil Painting on 5"x 7" Canvas Board

[GIFT - Artist Exchange]

Chicken Soup

When doing a still life like this one, there are a bunch of steps before paint ever goes onto the canvas.

• Gather ingredients and make a pot of soup.
• Set everything so that it looks pleasing.
• Take a photo, move a cracker, take another, move the spoon, take another, move the light, take another, stir the soup, take another... take way too many photos. (Honestly, they all look almost the same anyway.)
• Reheat the soup (Since you spent all that time taking pictures, it got cold.) then eat it while you look through all those photos and decide which one to use.
• Draw the image on the canvas. (Maybe you can draw well. I can't.  Tracing paper and carbon paper are my friends.)

Here's the view from my seat. 

See the photo on the left?  It's a photo viewer. You know, one of those electronic frames that people buy for their grandparents, but their grandparents never use... There will probably be one at the next estate sale you go to, and it will most likely still be in the box.  Buy it!  It's perfect for reference photos.

Also, notice those two plants in the window...

Do you see him?

Oh, Buff!  For the 100th time, you can't sit there, and you can't bite the plants!

Questions along the way. Why did I paint that teal first, now everything it touches is turning green. How are these squares ever going to look like crackers? What color is boiled chicken? What color are noodles? How do I make it look like everything's sitting in broth?

This was the first version of "I'm finished!" Then I noticed that the bowl looked like a plate. Boo!

My art challenge for this week was "Home Made." This soup did not come out of a can.  It was home made.

Original Oil Painting on 8"x 10" Wrapped Canvas
[SOLD]

Tools of the Trade

 

I've heard the "old timers" (people who've farmed and gardened for their whole long lives) say that the day to start thinking about and planning the garden work is Groundhog's Day (February 2nd).  I'm not sure that working on a painting of gardening tools counts, but I did work on it on Groundhog's Day. 

Since I'm too lazy to start my plants from seeds in the house

Since I prefer to purchase my plants after they're ready to put in the ground, I give myself a few extra weeks before putting gardening on my mind.

The "old timers" also say not to put anything in the ground until Tax Day (April 15th) if it can't tolerate a freeze.  I will be ready to plant on Tax Day!

This week's painting challenge was "Tools of the Trade."  I first thought of painting supplies, or writing utensils, or kitchen equipment.  But, since it was Groundhog's Day when sat down to the canvas, gardening tools seemed appropriate.

Original Oil Painting on 6"x12" Wrapped Canvas

Click Tools of the Trade if you'd like to purchase this little painting. (Until that happens, I sure am going to enjoy having this one on my own wall.)