The Merry House (Our Fixer Upper) 11/4

Yep, we have a fixer upper.

Nope, it was never our dream, but we just bought the house next door.

Yeah, it's hard work!

No, we don't know what we're doing; luckily my brother does.

Yes, we're having fun with it.

No, it's nowhere near finished.

We  walk out our front door and cross the yard, apologize to the deer who've been resting in the strip of woods between the houses, and enter the yard of our fall project. 

For 45 years it was Mary's house. 

Now we call it The Merry House.

I took this picture from our front yard.
You can see The Merry House beyond the trees.
You can see a couple of deer (circled).

We try to tell them not to get up, relax, we're just passing through...
They don't listen.
They're camouflaged pretty well, but you can see four in the picture.

Garden Harvests 3

The temperature is supposed to drop below freezing tonight, so it was time for the last harvest of this garden season. I am grateful for the food my garden has given us.  

Not only have we enjoyed eating the vegetables, I've enjoyed seeing tending to them, and watching them grow and ripen.  Each day after picking and cleaning, I snapped a photo.  HERE are the harvests from the beginning of the summer.  HERE are the harvests from the middle of summer.  And now here are the harvests from the end of summer.

November 2021 Inspiration Images

What a pleasure it has been to be a part of a community of ladies who've created art together!  Although physically very far apart, our art has brought us together.

We hope one of these images will cause you to create with us again this month.

It's easy to be a part. Click HERE for instructions.
We look forward to seeing your art!

Weeping Willow

I went to painting class every Monday evening for four or five years.  I don't any more, but sometimes I just need a good old fashioned painting lesson.  YouTube is so great for that. Thanks for the tutorial Paint With Kevin! 

My art mentor and friend, Cheri and I did a (usually) weekly painting challenge for over 20 weeks.  This summer we took about three months off (Sometimes life isn't generous with free for creating art.), but we think we're about ready to begin again. This challenge was "Trees & Leaves." I think I nailed it!

Oil Painting on 12"x 16" Wrapped Canvas
[SOLD]

The Mural on the Back of the Shed - Continued

For a refresher on how the shed mural began, click HERE!  

What a fun project this is!

It started in June when I realized that my husband's new shed had a great big blank wall on the back side... Hmmm....

I worked pretty consistently on it for a while then... [Insert list of excuses here... Be sure to include how hot it was in July and August... and September.] ...then I didn't work on it for a while.  But today, I got back to it!  

Do you see...

* The tree branch that hangs down into the photo in the top left corner? It was green when I began this painting.  Look now. It's yellow! (Hello, Fall!)

* The space between the ground and the bottom of the wood has been filled in with gravel and soil and monkey grass. (Yep... one bucket full at a time... ugh...) My thought is that the grasses will just grow up and be a part of the picture.

* There's a temporary fence across the bottom.  My chickens cannot stay out of fresh dirt, rocks, grass.  They want to get in there and scratch around in it so badly.  Even today as I moved the fence to paint, they were right behind me waiting for a chance to get in there and mess it all up. Chickens... sigh... they just won't learn.

Do you remember those "hidden picture" pages?  I tried to think of all the friends that make themselves at home here.  Enlarge the photo to see...

* squirrel 

* doe & fawn

* possum

* owl

* cardinal

* raccoon

My three grandbabies made footprint butterflies and handprint flowers. (Although I have two more grandbabies coming soon!  There's room for more butterflies and flowers!)

What's next?

What else do I need to add?

More leaves? More flowers? Another bird? Some rocks? More grass? 

Fitz

 

A little name painting for a sweet great-nephew who will be arriving soon.  

I have a good time trying to figure out how to mix a name with a nursery theme. Click HERE to see a few more.

Original Oil Painting on 6"x 12" Wrapped Canvas
[GIFT]

Beside Still Waters II

 

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

He maketh me to lie down in green pastures:

He leadeth me beside the still waters.

He restoreth my soul:

                                                                           Psalm 23: 1-3 

This image must speak to my soul.  I find it soothing and like having it on my wall.  Whenever it sells, it makes me happy/sad to see it go to a new home. Then after a while I paint it again and put it back on my own wall for a while.

2009

2017

2020

My painting partner Julie and I are preparing to teach a landscape class for seniors this next week.  I can't think of a better landscape image to use.

My weekly art challenge was "Quiet" this time.  "Quiet" can be a (lack of) sound or a feeling.  This landscape captures both the sound and feeling for me.

Thanks to Robert Woods for making how-to-paint books over 30 years ago that are still great references today.

Oil Painting on 9"x 12" Wrapped Canvas

[SOLD]

Beside Still Waters (Mini)

Yes, I know it looks familiar, but who doesn't make time for a rerun of something you enjoy! I do love this scene from one of Robert Woods old how-to-paint books.  I painted it about 10 years ago... again about 5 years ago... again about 1 year ago... and again a few months ago... and now this little mini version.

For one thing, I love it.  It's just got all the things I love about home... Rolling mountains, pastures, woods, fall colors, a creek, a fence that hints that there must be cows or some other farm animals back there behind those trees...

A second reason to paint it is that my painting partner, Julie of JujuBeePaints, and I will be using it as we teach a group of senior citizens in a beginning oil painting landscape class in a few weeks. I needed to practice painting it before doing it in front of students.

Finally, I did this tiny version for my art exchange group.  There are about a dozen artists from 3-4 different countries and 8-9 different states who take part in the group.  Every quarter we're given a theme then paired up to exchange a postcard-sized piece of art and letter. The theme this month was "Home or Showcasing Where You Live." This scene looks very much like Northwest Arkansas to me, so I thought it would be perfect to send to my paired partner, Darlene in Nova Scotia, Canada.

Oil painting on 5"x 7" Canvas Board

[GIFT - ART EXCHANGE]

October 2021 Inspiration Images

Only three opportunities left to join us in creating art together!

Maybe one of these images will inspire you your art.

It's easy to be a part. Click HERE for instructions.
We look forward to seeing your art!