Red and White Pansies - Garden Painting

"Red and White Pansies
8X10
Oil on Linen Panel
Available

Click on image to enlarge the view.

One of my favorite flowers in our garden is Pansies. Mostly because they don't fail me...except for the squirrels trying to dig them up all of the time. There is a garden supply company close to us who sells an antique variety that I particularly love, so that is what these are. Now that we are having a warm spell, the pansies are starting to perk up. If we are lucky we will have them through April before they take a nose dive. I usually plant them in October, but they don't look happy until spring.

Anyway, I took my camera out to the garden, which actually is in pitiful shape right now. But there they are, doing their best to come along and make us happy!

Hope you like them.

Off to the Pond -WIP

"To the Pond"
Oil on Canvas
©Cheryl A. Pass

Still painting options for the coming show. I've worked on this for several hour each day for the last 4 days.  The trick here is going to be the details on the ducks, their feathers, their personalities.  The upper background is finished for the most part.  When my husband and I went to Blowing Rock a couple of years ago, I took several photos of ducks around the lake in town.  This is a composite of photos from the inspiration of that trip.  The plucky walk and the determined looks on their faces always make me smile.

Still working....will post when it is finished.

Landing In Honeysuckle - Bluebird Painting

"Landing In Honeysuckle"
8X10
Oil on Linen Panel
©Cheryl A. Pass

SOLD
Click on image to enlarge the view.

One of the sweet surprises of living in the south is the wildflower, Honeysuckle. There's a fat bunch of it just down the street from my house and when I walk in the summertime the yummy smell of it wafts over to me as I walk by. It can get out of hand if it grows in your yard, but for obvious reasons, the bluebirds love it.

This painting turned out somehow different than I expected it to....or maybe that I chose a color scheme that is not my usual choice. The background gave me fits...I had to grey it down twice to make it fade back away from the Honeysuckle and the Bluebird which I wanted to pop. I put a few brush strokes in the background just to give it more of a feeling of movement, as if the leaves are shaking a bit from the recent landing. I had every blue tube of paint out of my paint box, from Manganese to Ultramarine to Cobalt. It is hard to capture the vivid blue of this gorgeous bird. We are lucky to have some of them living in our neighborhood. As it turns out, I think it has sort of a Victorian feel to it.

Once again, another attempt for the Nature Show. Not sure if I will put this one in. I'm going to keep painting from now until then to try to come up with what I would think is my best work.

Bosley in the Hallway

"Bosley in the Hallway"
6X6
Oil on Gessoed Board
Available

Click on image to enlarge the view.

Here is the little rascal who distracts me with those eyes. He also is just like the "Doggie in the Window" because he is the "one with the waggily tail." This is actually a warm up for another dog portrait I am just beginning to work on. I hadn't painted for a couple of weeks, so I felt I needed to feel the paint again before I work on a commission. Maybe I should explain the odd angle. I was once again trying to catch Bosley for a photo, when he decided to be camera shy. He headed into the hallway and I called him back. He reluctantly turned around, but his desire was still to go the other way. I barely caught the photo and it is really a blurr. So this is the best I could do with it. Little rascal.
Thanks for stopping by....

Time Out

"Apples and Pewter"

14X11

Oil on linen panel

Available

Click on image to enlarge the view.

I have not posted since early August for many reasons. Sometimes in one's life an avalanche of necessary duties comes crashing in. There are two art shows coming up in the next couple of weeks and at this point I am just hoping I can come up with some paintings for those. This past summer our lives have been turned upside down with various house repairs and the need to address the current political circus of impending communism. Both of these separate categories of life have overwhelmed me.

On the house repairs, as you probably know it isn't easy finding the right contractors to do the work both properly and within a budget. The search took long hard hours. Our repairs involve exterior siding, rotted molding, adding chimney caps, reinforcing structure, etc. Our garage interior was a disaster with drywall tape giving way and drywall coming down from the ceiling. And our garage was full...stacked to the ceiling with STUFF. All of this had to be sorted out and placed into a pod in our driveway to make room for the contractors to fix the ceiling and walls. The double garage door frame was starting to rot and was sagging in the middle. Then there is the old vinyl floor in the half bath downstairs and wallpaper that needs replacing. Then there was the shaky banister that had to be fixed. The downstairs millwork is all in need of painting....a job I have to tackle myself. My back screen door is also my job, needing wood putty, sanding and painting. The benches on the front porch need sanding and painting....my job again and I haven't even started that one. Etc. Etc. I did finally find some great guys to do the major exterior jobs and the drywall and tile work. But we are only part way through all of this. I am overwhelmed...to say the least. I have developed a lower back problem that keeps me from doing any of this without pain. That has slowed me down considerably. But all of these things must be done and have been neglected for the last several years while I have been in my studio painting.

On the political front, I am extremely concerned with the turn toward communism that our government at all levels has taken. This is beyond unacceptable. America is in great peril and being attacked from without and from within. For this reason I have been doing a lot of research and sharing information on my other blog, My Tea Party Chronicle I hope all of those who have been following my work realize that my art and our lives are depending on the freedoms found in the U.S. Constitution. Politicians for the last few decades have gradually, incrementally, and insidiously been undermining our freedoms and turning American into a socialist state. We cannot let this continue. It's time to go for the reset button and rid our government of all socialists and communists. So, besides working on the house repairs, I've been also doing all I can to help the cause of re-taking America from the clutches of these very evil un-American power elitists. I hope you are doing your part by getting involved in local elections and supporting those national candidates who are putting their lives on the line to save the country. That is what I have been doing.

So, while my mind and heart are still in the paints and canvases, my physical being has been taken away from my easel for a while. Not sure at this point how fast I can get back to it...but I hope you will hang in there with me. I plan on getting back to painting more regularly as soon as the way clears for me to do so.

Carolina Wren

"Carolina Wren"
8X8
Oil on Canvas Panel
SOLD
Click on image for a larger view.

Hi all...finally back to painting, gratefully.
My dear husband loves to feed our backyard birds. Which, in turn, brings them in droves, which gives me lots of inspiration. In fact, just this morning there was a family of Carolina Wrens just outside my studio door, twittering and flitting about in the boxwoods and making me happy. Their little tails are so perky and I love the racing stripe across their heads. All of that made me cheerful as I painted this little one. Hope you like him...or her, as the case may be.

Life and Lemons - Just add Sugar

"Lemon Quintet"

9X12

Acrylic on Canvas Panel

Private Collection

Crazy life. I have had no time for painting of late, so this is a reprise of one I liked from some time ago. The postcards arrived and they look really terrific...not so blue like my picture in the previous post. Just right actually. Yea, Vista print.

Since I wrote last, my son, Matt, decided to pay us a quick visit to divest our attic of furnishings that I had saved for future children. Since he has three little ones, and has now come back from two years of Air Force service in South Korea, the time had come to get those things from storage and put them to good use. A toy box, two twin beds, a double bed, a coat rack, a bookshelf, and a tween sized desk. We had fun reminiscing on the early days when he had great use of these things. The toy box was hand built by a friend of ours for Matt. It needs a new coat of paint, but otherwise is in great shape. All of the rest of the things needed dusting and some furniture polish, but also were all in good shape. Hard to believe we have come so far.

Then Saturday evening a knock on our front door produced a waif of a darling teenager who said she was looking for her teacher, but didn't know the address. This darling girl was so sad. Her name was Ivory. She said she had no where to go, that her family didn't want her, that she had spent the night in jail for assault, had abusive parents, that she had Bi-polar problems, depression, and a Medicaid card. It's a long story, but we tried to help her find the teacher, who it turns out was out of town. We then took her for some food and we ended up taking her to the Salvation Army...living up to the word Salvation, they kept her for the night. I left her with my phone number and the next morning she called to say the Salvation Army couldn't keep her and she was being sent to a shelter for teens. But she had no transportation and could I come to get her. I did this and spent the next couple of hours with her and talking to the shelter personnel. Ivory gave them the phone number of her older sister and it was granted that the sister would take responsibility and take her in. There is more to it than this brief description, but I re-learned why I am not in the business of taking care of lost souls as a profession. I cried all the way home after leaving her and was stricken with sadness the rest of the weekend. She seemed to be fairly smart and liked school..probably her haven from home. She has my phone number and I just hope and pray she will be in better hands and survive the life she has been given. 17 yrs. old, a rising senior, and lost. Good Lord, protect this child.

Friday, I was asked to be a contributing columnist for a North Carolina conservative website called PUNDIT HOUSE My articles are not there yet, but should be picked up sometime soon.  As some of you know I have another blog on the politics of the day (see the right side of this blog: My Tea Party Chronicle I am writing that blog in hopes to help some others learn the dangers of oppressive government, to give other patriotic Americans the courage to speak up, to share news items of interest, and lastly, to VENT! I am privileged to be asked by Pundit House to contribute to their discourse. I very much admire their website and writers! Take a look and see what I mean.

So there you are. Crazy life. I hope to get back to the easel again soon. Stay tuned!!

Sunflower Nod

"Sunflower Nod"
9X12
Oil on Canvas
Available

Click on image to enlarge the view

Contact to Purchase

Hat tips to Vincent Van Gogh who made everyone love Sunflower paintings. This is also my daughter's favorite flower and she grows them ever summer. They grow tall and heavy and nod over with the weight of the blossoms. (The goldfinches love them...yellow upon yellow.) She has loved the color yellow since she was little. Her bedroom was painted sunflower yellow, too. So painting sunflowers is always somewhat with her in mind.

Have a happy weekend...

My Funny Valentine - Dog Portrait

"My Funny Valentine"
10X8
Oil on Linen Panel

Click on image to enlarge the view.

Every time I paint a dog portrait, when I get it finished, I think it is my favorite. If you look closely you will see a marking in the shape of a heart on this fellow's nose. I didn't notice it when I first fell in love with him, but when I studied the photo closer I saw it. Hence, the title,"My Funny Valentine." I started him before Valentine's Day, but just managed to get back to him the end of this week.

The local Cancer Society Auction is coming up and, like last year, I am donating a dog portrait to the effort. I thought maybe another example of my work would be beneficial to them.

Adding a note here on March 5....My 92 year old father has taken another turn downward and has needed more care and help. Hospice was called in last week and we are doing all we can to help him through these hardest of times. Consequently my painting has taken a back seat to the necessary tasks at hand. I hope to get back to it as soon as possible.

Cows By the Lake - Nearly finished

"Cows by the Lake"
24X36
Oil on Canvas

Click on image to enlarge the view.

Larger painting than usual, which is why I haven't posted to you for a while. There are Work in Progress posts on this painting if you scroll down on the blog. I may still darken the water a bit and I haven't signed it as yet. Otherwise this is mostly finished.

Lots going on here with porch construction and taking care of my Dad's ailments, too, so the process has been slow. Since I love animals, painting the cows was a lot of fun. This time I gave them a nice place to be. At least if I were a cow I think I would like to be there.

Cows By the Lake -WIP - Stage 3

"Cows By the Lake" WIP
Stage 3
24X36
Oil on Canvas

Finally today I had some time to work on the cows. Between the putting away of Christmas...and my 92 year old Dad, who has been needing a lot of extra help for the past few weeks...and the porch construction (contractors coming and going unpredictably)...and my daughter and her dog adding to the chaos, it has been impossible to find any time to paint. I think I had more time when my children were little. At least they took naps and went to school. Now it is interruptions all day long.

It's very grey and rainy here today, so this is once again a photo under incandescent lighting in my studio. The blue sky got totally washed into grey somehow and I was not able to get it back with photoshop. Anyway, here is another WIP shot.

Tomorrow I have a funeral to attend. A friend and fellow artist died Thursday...a lengthy fight with breast cancer. She was heroic. And a really good artist ....now we've lost her. Monday is when we are going to Charlotte to celebrate my daughter's birthday, which is actually Tuesday. Contractors are due back Monday afternoon, too.

So....I guess all I can say is I'll be back ASAP....

Cows By the Lake - WIP - 2nd Stage

"Cows By the Lake - WIP
24X36
Oil on Canvas

Some more work on the trees today. Daylight photo, so you can see the colors better, but now the light from the windows in the back of my studio are shining through a bit...showing the stretcher bars through the canvas. Anyway...I'm about to dive into the cows and foreground.

More to come as I get to it...

Holiday Wishes

"Pomegranate in White"
9X12
Oil on Board
Private Collection

What a fast and furious year this has been! This painting is the image I used for my greeting cards this year. As I am winding up the year, having finished the last commissions for Christmas, and trying to finish the Christmas baking, shopping, wrapping, decorating, etc. I am thinking about all of the blessings of the year, especially the new friends who have come my way through my blogs and paintings. And of course I am thinking about all of the paintings hovering in my mind that are eager to emerge in the coming year.

Thank you to all who have purchased paintings from me this past year. And also thank you to those who took the time to comment and email me. I wish you all Merry Christmas and HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!

Brutus - Finished

"Brutus"
9X12
Oil on Linen Panel

Commissioned
Click on picture to enlarge the view.

I used to have cats. Over the years I gave homes to Spooky, Muffin, Ruffles, Levi, Alfalfa, and Oliver. That was the first half of my adult life. Then I went to the dogs...pun intended!! (the dogs: Harrison, Bailey, and now Bosley.) LOL Anyway, I love our furry little friends and love to celebrate the joy they give to us!!! On Thanksgiving that is one of the things for which I am grateful!

So here is Brutus, a fun-loving cutie pie whose family loves him! I had a great time with this painting. The challenge was to make Brutus "pop" on the fabric designs of the chair and ottoman. But that was also what makes the painting interesting to me...that and the adorable pose with his left paw reaching toward the viewer and the light falling across his adorable nose. I want to feel as if I could just reach over and pet him or pick him up. At least that is what I wanted to convey. I hope he is as happy as he made me feel while painting him!!!

On to the next thing...stayed tuned!!

Brutus - Work in Progress - Stage 2

"Brutus" - Work in Progress
9X12
Oil on Linen Panel

Commissioned

I spent several hours this afternoon, most of it on that adorable face. He's coming along. Cutest eyes and nose any cat ever had!! :-)
More tomorrow...
Thanks for visiting!

Brutus - Work in Progress

"Brutus - Work in Progress"
9X12
Oil on Linen Panel

Commissioned

Some projects are just too fun ...and this is definitely one of them. The owner of this adorable fellow sent me several pictures from which to choose. All of the pictures were great, fun, cute, and showed the personality of this guy so well that I just fell in love with him. Suffice it to say that Brutus goes wherever he wants to go...into the potted plants, sitting on all of the pillows, perched on the owner's shoulder, etc. But this was the pose I like the most for his portrait. I also chose it for the color combination against his soft grey and white fur. He has the cutest smile and owns his realm, that is for sure. So anyway, here is the beginning of his painting. There is a long way to go, but I thought you might like to see a preliminary stage.

Chipmunk

"Chipmunk"
8X8
Oil on board
Available

Contact to Purchase
Click on image to enlarge the view.

The lowly little rodent denizen of our back yard: the Chipmunk. The few we have are fun to watch, scampering about and diving for cover when our dog, Bosley, goes out for the chase. We have predators, too. A large hawk comes through on the hunt every few days. And this past weekend we killed a copperhead that was thinking it was going to make a home in our garage for the winter. Fortunately we saw him just in time and that was the end of him.

I managed to capture this little guy with my camera in hopes to put him down in paint. I don't know if I did him justice here....he is cuter than this.

Hayrolls at Sunset

"Hayrolls at Sunset"
8 1/2X12 3/4
Oil on Board
Available

I did a small watercolor of this scene some time ago, but had saved the photo for just this purpose. As evening falls and sun streaks across the fields, there was this reddish-golden light smack on the rolled edge of the hayroll. The background tells you of the light falling into the darkened woods behind. It seems a metaphor for a good day coming to an end, as if the sun is smiling on a golden treasure which came from hard work. Sometimes the reward is more than just the thing in front of you...it is the light shining on it!

That's what I see....and what I liked about it.
Thanks for visiting!

August Afternoon Barn

"August Afternoon Barn"
16X20
Oil on Canvas
Available

Contact to Purchase

From a photo I grabbed last summer of a North Carolina barn. I love rural spaces in our state and when I am out and about I am always looking for scenes to paint. This is only the second barn scene I have ever painted. This one looks to be more storage than daily use, but it looked pretty sitting in that landscape with the gorgeous trees as its backdrop.
(My camera picked up a glare on the right of this photo.) If interested, I'll do another photo for you.
Hope you like it!
Thanks for visiting!

Feely Toady

"Mr. Toad"
8X6
Oil on Canvas

I apologize for delaying a post for so long, but my back has decided to give me some real problems for the last month. Turns out I have a couple of tricky discs that are playing some gravity game and compressing on nerves. OUCH. I am in the process of figuring which way to go...pains shot and chiropractor? Or just a pain shot and take my chances. I could hang myself upside down, but I doubt my brain could handle the pressure...so...anyway, I will be back to painting as soon as I am up to it again. Hopefully soon.

This little fellow came to our backyard last year and I could not resist attempting a painting of his funny adorable self.

Thanks for visiting!