Snow Globe

 Shake it up, then 

    𝅘𝅥𝅯𝅘𝅥𝅮 Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow...𝅘𝅥𝅯𝅘𝅥𝅮

My Weekly-ish Challenge word was "Snow."  As I wrestled with what to paint, I started to realize that I rarely paint winter scenes.  (I'm not counting paintings with a Christmas theme.) As I kept thinking about this, I decided to go back through all my paintings and count. 

15... That's it!  I searched more than once and could only come up with 15!

Out of 760 painting, only 15 depict something wintery! 

15 / 760 = 1.9% ! Why is that?

And, if you look, I've done plenty of images more than once.

Cocoa x2, Red Barns x3, Cardinals x5

I spent way too much time contemplating... ruminating... analyzing  dwelling on this.

Is it because I don't like winter? But, I don't mind winter.

Is it because winter's not very pretty unless there's snow, and we don't get that much snow?

Is it because winter requires cool colors and ends with a cold-looking painting?

Hmmm...

Anyway...a pretty little snow globe... a tiny landscape inside a still life. 

I kind of can't stop looking at it.  

Thanks to sites (pixabay.com & unsplash.com & pexels.com) that have free reference photos.

Original Oil Painting on 6"x 8" Wrapped Canvas

Click Snow Globe if you'd like to purchase this little winter painting.

Reindeer on December 23rd

Isn't he a handsome guy!

My Creative Companion topic was "Winter's Eve." Hmmm...Now I had to think about that one for quite a while. 

[My thinking process]

I didn't want to go Christmas-y, but I couldn't get away from the "Eve" part. 

According to my Google Merriam Webster:

Eve-

1. evening  

2. the evening or day before a special day  

3. the period immediately preceding 

We see a couple or even a dozen deer every time we walk down our road in the evening... or 'eve.'  I think how cold they must be as winter nears.

I wonder what their "cousins" are up to at the North Pole as winter days are nearing their big night.

.

I remember being in Wyoming for my 50th birthday and going on a wagon ride through an elk reserve.  I asked why they would sit in the patches of snow when they didn't have to.  The guide told me they were hot with all their fur and were just trying to stay cool.

[My working process]

Pexels.com is a great place to find free photos to use as references.  (Thanks to Frans van Heerden who took the reference photo I used.

I get the main lines on the canvas then start with the background. Before you know it, a reindeer is on my easel. My painting area has everything right where I need it. (Why do I have 100 different brushes when I use about 5? I don't know.) I love having a photo viewer.  (You can get one at any estate sale you go to. --I've picked up 5-6 over the years.--  It will most likely still be like new and in the box with the $129 price tag still attached.  You'll spend about $7.50 if you go on the last day of the sale when everything's priced to go.) I put my reference photo on a thumb drive and voila.  You can see I have another one on the right. (It has the reference drawing propped against it in this photo.)  There's a different reference photo on that one.

While I paint I usually listen to an audio book... or music, country or some 80s rock... Sometimes the television is on if it's evening and Ron's watching a ballgame or flicking through channels. Or, maybe, I'm letting my mind wander and wonder about what I'm painting and composing a little jingle in my head about it...

What do the reindeer do on the twenty-third?

They eat well, relax, walk through the snow

 take it easy, have a nap, and just lay low.

But what of the elves in charge of the herd?

They're the ones who must persist

 to tend to each detail on the long checklist.

They clean out each stable and muck every stall

 make last preparations for the next night's long haul. 

They bring plenty of water and hay and oats.

 massage sore muscles and brush shaggy coats.

They test every harness and each jingle bell.

trim every hoof and check antlers as well. 

There's much to take care of on the twenty-third 

when your an elf in charge of the reindeer herd.

For my companion piece, I thought I'd just whip out a watercolor of this reindeer... It was a disaster. So I thought I'd "fix" is with colored pencils... then pastels... then paint pens... All disasters... Finally used acrylics to cover all the previous attempts... Better, but pretty boring and near ready for the bin... But... then... I was thinking how my handsome guy had become so silly looking and thought how the reindeer must party after their big flight. How about a few stickers! Ha ha ha... a party animal!

My friend LeeAnna loved him, so I put him in the mail and sent him on his way to her.

Original Oil Painting on 9"x 12" Wrapped Canvas

Click Reindeer if you'd like to purchase this painting.

Warm Winter Evening

I was challenged to paint "What Winter Means to Me"

First I made a list:

Hot soup on the stove

Cardinals in the snow
Warm quilt on the bed
Fires in the fireplace 

Pajama pants 

Turkey & dressing

I've painted cardinals in the snow several times before, and I've even painted hot soup once. 

As I was setting up for a to take photo for reference, of course Buff Kitty had to lay on the quilt and act cute.  I decided not to fight it.  He could be in the painting too. 

He had different ideas about the best pose.

Original Oil painting on 10"x 10" Wrapped Canvas

[NFS at this time]

Little White Church in Winter

 

The longer I thought about my last Little White Church, the more I knew I had to do it again.  I can't exactly put my finger on why, but I am so much more pleased with this one. It's done more loosely and painterly, yet it's oddly more realistic.

I called my art mentor and told her I wanted to change my response to our weekly-ish challenge for "Little White Church."  She laughed since we've been making up our rules as we go for as long as we've been doing this.

*Thanks again to Sara for the image that I used... then used again!

Original Oil Painting on 11"x 14" Wrapped Canvas

[SOLD]

Cardinal in Snow

Maybe not the image I'd expect to be painting on July 4th weekend, but why not! 

I Googled whether or not cardinals migrate.  They don't.  I think ours are pretty happy living here. Why would they want to leave!

Original Oil Painting on 8"x 8" Wrapped Canvas

[SOLD]

February Snow

Inspiration Collaboration has been exactly what its name implies…inspiring. I’ve been encouraged (or forced) outside my comfort zone and painted things that I’d never have considered. I’m a better artist because of it. 

I do love color, but through Sara’s images and words, I’ve grown to see that lots of color is not a requirement for a picture to be beautiful. Her very first inspiration image was Barely There. When I saw that 24 months ago, I thought, “Oh, dear… I can’t do this… The image is… well… barely there!” But, I did paint a response to that one as well as the 35 that followed.  What a rigorous artistic endeavor! What a pleasure! 

I took this reference photo in February of 2011.  It’s the view from our mailbox looking across the highway. That’s not a typo.  I’ve had the image in a photo file for 10 years.  I chose to use this image, this style, and this color palette for Sara’s A New Adventure to honor her.

Original Oil Painting on 9"x 12" Wrapped Canvas

[SOLD]

Winter Cardinal (Palette Knife)

 

I've been thinking about the beginning of Inspiration Collaboration and the closing of it at the end of this year. 

There was an idea... Sara wrote, "... it would challenge me to get out of my comfort zone... get my brain working in different ways."  I replied, "I've had a restless feeling that it's time for something new... different... challenging..." 

72 hours and countless e-mails later, our idea had a name, a blog, an Instagram account, a Pinterest board, and participants were invited. 

In the last 24 months, I have indeed been challenged to think and create outside my comfort zone.  I know I've grown as a painter, writer, and friend because of my work with Inspiration Collaboration.  

My first inspiration image was SnowCardinal.  Winter Cardinal brings me full-circle as my last inspiration image.

I was prompted to do this cardinal painting for my weekly-ish painting challenge with my art mentor/friend.  The topic was "Winter Scenes & Winter Things."

Thanks to Annie Troe for her very helpful YouTube lesson.

Palette Knife Painting on 8"x 8" Wrapped Canvas

[GIFT]

! ! ! 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]

Winter Cardinal

What sight makes you stop and take a moment to enjoy?

... a rainbow...
... a clear night sky filled with stars...
... the orange sky as the sun sets...
... a full moon...
... red cardinal on a winter day...

Enjoy an Etsy treasury (collection of related art pieces) that celebrates all kinds of birds.  Click Birdsong.

[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.

First Snow

What do you suppose these two little ones were thinking as they looked out their window to see a blanket of white?

Aren't they sweet!

"First Snow" has been featured in several Etsy treasuries.  (A treasury is a collection of related art pieces or vintage items.)  What an honor to know that this little image has made people smile in so many different ways.
The curator of a Groundhog's Day treasury must have thought the little ones were looking for Mr. Groundhog, and I bet they were!  Click Groundhog... Please Come Out and Play Today.
There are two treasuries that celebrate dogs in Dog Days of Summer, and another Dog Days of Summer.
 Little Girls' World is a treasry about little girls and their best friends.
Another is also called First Snow.

[SOLD]
Original Oil Painting on 12"x 12" Wrapped Canvas

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