Cardinals at Sunrise

My Weekly-ish Challenge was to paint with only three primary colors and white. It's kind of amazing what can be created just with those colors.

I started by mixing them making a little color wheel.

It's just a tiny little painting, but it looks great all dressed up in a vintage frame.

(Ok... let's be honest about the definition of vintage... It doesn't sound very pleasant to say "junky old thing that you that's been in a box in a box at the back of the closet.")

So, anyhoo... I found a great vintage wood frame and gave it a fresh coat of paint, perfect to go around this sweet little painting.

Original Oil Painting on 5"x 7" Canvas Board, Framed.

[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]

A Sister's Gift II

I first painted this happy image a couple of years ago.  Sadly for me, I only got to enjoy it on my own wall for the short time it took it to dry. Then it went on to its forever home.

I was happy to do so when I was asked to recreate the painting. I'll enjoy it until it's dry then send it along to its new home. 

It's such a happy scene, who knows... Maybe I'll paint a third one some day.

It lives up to its title.  

It's been a gift again and again.

The clothesline bottle decoration was a gift from an aunt for her niece's wedding.

The first painting of it was commissioned by a someone who gifted it to her friend as a remembrance of her 6.sister, that same aunt who first gave it.

The second painting was commissioned by a friend who plans to gift it to her daughter.  

A delightful  full-circle moment was when the person who commissioned the second one found out who'd been the recipient of the first one.  She said, "Oh, she was such a gift to me when I transferred to teach at her school years ago!"

Original Oil Painting on 6"x 12" Wrapped Canvas

[SOLD]

Patch of Pink Daisies

I painted a patch of pretty pink petals with a palette knife.

Hmmm... such alliteration not really intended! Reminds me of Dr. Seuss's ABC book... "Painting pink pajamas, policeman in a pail, Peter Pepper's puppy, and now Papa's in the pail!"

This patch of pink daisies was what I could see out the window as I sat in the dentist's chair last week. Beautiful view. Worthy of a photo then a painting.

My weekly-ish painting challenge word was "Petals" this time.

Original Oil Painting on 6"x 12" Wrapped Canvas

[SOLD]

Pink Daisies in the Field

It doesn't matter how many paintings that I've done or what the subject is; I still go through through the same patterns of thought

This one will be fun!

I can do this pretty easily

How is this going to work?

This isn't working.

I'm not sure I'll be able to make this work.

This is a disaster.

Should I scrape the whole thing off and start over?

I've been trough this before. I can do this. Just keep going.

Maybe this is going to come together after all.

Ugh, maybe not.

Let me just step back and look from the other side of the room.. 

Hmmm.... Niiiice...

Squint. 

Pick up the brush and get back to it.

I think I can make this work. 

This is starting to look good. 

Where should that next brushstroke go?

Guess it's time for a signature.

Good job, Helen.

You can use this narration as you watch this 26 second video of the process.

Original Oil Painting on 8"x 10" Wrapped Canvas

[SOLD] 

Gaillardia

What do you miss about summer?

One of the things I love about living in Northwest Arkansas is that we get a little of everything with the four seasons.  Right now we're at that kind of in-between stage.  Autumn was gorgeous, but the winds have blown in.  The leaves are brown and wet, and the lovely things about winter are a while away.  I guess these in-between weeks make us appreciate the best each season has to offer.

During this brown stage, I've been missing the wildflowers.

Mount Magazine State Park is the place to go in June if you love wildflowers and butterflies.  On a short stroll along the trail, you can see butterflies of all colors on wildflowers of even more colors.  
A little research helped me discover that this wildflower is a Gaillardia.   (I think!)  I would have just called it a red and yellow daisy!  Whatever they're called, they're lovely.

[SOLD]

Cottage by the Sea

Doesn't this look like the perfect cottage for an artist to live in?

Or, maybe it could be the home of the heroine from a romance novel?

The idea for this painting began with a photograph taken by my niece.  This place as it looks in this painting doesn't really exist, but if it did, I'd love to spend a long weekend there!

"Cottage by the Sea" was my first attempt with taking huge liberties with the reference photo.  It had been the office of a bed and breakfast hotel.  I flipped or reversed it, took away the parking lot, big flag, and lawn chairs.  I planted a few trees and built a dirt road.  Finally, I sprinkled some flowers in just the right places.  

End the end, I was amazed at my own finished product.  Usually, I love the process and am simply pleased with the end result.  But, this time I also loved the finished painting.  My heart actually ached when I got notification from Etsy that the original sold.  But, I loved it so much that I had an image made.  A giclee reproduction hangs where the original had been.

Each time I look at "Cottage by the Sea," I think of Miss Rumphias, a wonderful children's book about a lady who sets out to make the world a more beautiful place by planting flowers wherever she goes.  I think Miss Rumphias would have liked to live in my little cottage.

[SOLD]

Original Oil Painting on 16"x 20" Wrapped Canvas

"Cottage by the Sea" can be purchased in several forms.
Contact me if you'd like to purchase this image as a giclee, a print, or note cards.

:) Smoky Mountains

No, I didn't paint this week...
But... I took many photos that may become paintings!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gaillardia

Little surprises are all around in the summer.

To purchase this little painting, click the following link.

http://www.etsy.com/listing/50103358/gaillardia-original-oil-painting-on-4x8

Black Swallowtail on Purple Horsemint

My husband and I went to an art museum yesterday, so I should be writing about the wonderful paintings I stood in front of. We did see art. It was beautiful.

Oh, but then we went for a stroll outside in the gardens! Perfectly manicured lawns, fountains, flowers of all kinds... and this one beautiful,

yellow butterfly! He practically flirted with me - posing from this angle then that one, flitting from one flower top the then next. I believe he knew he was having his picture taken and enjoyed every minute of it! Surely, he deserves to be painted!

The picture used for this painting was a little harder to get. Oh, I think this butterfly also knew that I had a camera; he just didn't want to have his picture made. I chased him all over the top of Mount Magazine. He'd wait until I was ready to snap a picture then flutter off to a further flower leaving me no choice but to follow.

After a little research, I discovered that he's called a Black Swallowtail. The flower he's sitting on is called a Purple Horsemint.

Click below to view a lovely treasury (collection of art pieces from various artists) on Etsy celebrating Original Fine Art.

[SOLD]

Purple Coneflowers

I wonder if it means you're getting old because you begin to notice things like wildflowers?

There's been some road construction near my home,

and yesterday I got to drive on a section that had been recently completed. That's where I noticed that someone else enjoyed wildflowers. Whatever big, burly crew member had been assigned the job of weed eating the ditch beside the new stretch of road must have had a sensitive side. The ditches and banks had been neatly mowed except that the wildflowers hadn't been touched. It was the oddest thing! It was obvious that someone had simply not done their job completely; every clump of wildflowers had been carefully left alone. Thanks, road crew guy!

These wildflowers were growing in Mount Magazine State Park in Arkansas. They're called Purple Coneflowers.

[SOLD]