Cows By the Lake - WIP

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

(Took the picture at 10:00pm and the light is awful...sorry. Will do better in the daylight.)

Nope...I didn't fall off the planet. The holidays are just as busy at my house as yours, and even afterward this year. We are having a new front door and new porch constructed at the front entry of our house. Because the weather is just so frigid, the construction guys are hit and miss with their schedule. And who could blame them? They can only work outside in the cold so long and are coming in short intervals. This is making for a long project that was supposed to be done the week after Thanksgiving. The work-stoppage around that time was due to torrential rains. Maybe I should re-think my ideas of construction next time and plan for spring and summer? Eh?? Ya think???

So in between holiday duties, taking care of things for the 92yr. old Dad, keeping all of us in food, clean house and laundry, tending to the two 4 footed friends, and the porch construction, etc., I have managed to get this far on a painting. It's the largest painting I have done to date. There is a reason for this. Some few years ago, as I love to do, I was shopping the local antique market and came across the most gorgeous painting of cows in a Texas landscape...as large as this painting, but framed in a classic gold frame. The price was way out of my reach. So it haunts me. I remember staying a very long time studying it. And I went back to it two or three times just to look at it. The cows were white, relaxing by water, sky, trees, and depth with detail to make me swoon. A very adept hand had done that painting. I do not remember the artist, unfortunately.

So now....there is a wall in my kitchen that is telling me it needs a landscape with cows in the manner of that painting. This is the beginning of my shot at it. I expect this to take me a good bit of time due to the size....and including the interruptions. (The porch is not close to completion and with the cold weather I expect this to go on for a while yet.) So far I have been working in the trees and just sketched in the cows and water area.

Stay tuned...

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!!!

Blond Lab Named Lucy - Finished

"Lucy, Blond Lab"
12X16
Acrylic on Canvas
Commissioned

Click on the picture to enlarge the view!

One more Christmas commission finished and ready to go! Makes me feel like one of Santa's elves....
It's pouring rain here and it is nearly 11:00 p.m., so the photo is under incandescent light. Best I could do this tonight, but I may take another photo tomorrow. This was difficult, but fun...if that makes any sense. I hope the owner will be happy with this portrait of their family pet, Lucy. She must be very sweet...I can tell by her eyes.

On to the next painting...stay tuned!!

Blond Lab Named Lucy - WIP

"Lucy the Blond Lab"
12X16
Acrylic
Commissioned

Lest ye think I am sitting on my thumbs, here is the current project. Though it is a Work in Progress, I stuck it into one of my frames just to assess direction and cues on how it is going...and took a photo of that for you.

This is a jump from my usual in that it is acrylic. You see, it's a commission for a Christmas present and this one came in too late to do it in oils. That's fine..but I have not been working with acrylics for the past three or four years, so I am struggling a bit with technique and getting the fur to blend how I would wish. And the client wants geraniums in the painting that are not in the photo, so I am having to fictionalize flowers that are not there. The other challenge here is that the working photo was taken with a flash......aaaarrrrgh. My tip to any and all out there who wish to have paintings done from photos...please do not ever use the flash. It just takes out all of the natural shadows, inuendos, subtle softness of reality and natural color. So that is the thing that is driving me most crazy here. As always, I am delighted to take commissions. This one came through a third party, so I could not give instructions on the photography before the project landed. Hope I can achieve the desired painting for the client...

Will post the finished painting when I get it done.
Stay tuned!! :-)

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 3

"Brutus - Work in Progress - Stage 3"
9X12
Oil on Linen

Commissioned

Still working on Brutus' fur, but I have finished the chair and ottoman upholstery and background for the most part. Now the fun begins to give his fur all the characteristics I can muster and make him "pop!"

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.

Rose, the Border Collie

"Rose"
14X11
Oil on Linen
Commissioned

Would tell you more, but then I'd have to kill you. This is a present for someone. Not saying who.

The photo has some glare from the wet paint...sorry about that. I will try to take a better photo when this dries.

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!

Little Red Hen

"Little Red Hen"
5X7
Oil on Board
SOLD

Click on picture to enlarge the view.

Contact to Purchase

I drew this out a long time ago as a study for a painting I did at a larger size. But this morning I came across it underneath a pile of papers...don't ask...in my studio and was inspired to take it on. Since it was a little 5X7, I felt I had just enough time today to tackle it. (the other version I did was 9X12, but I like this one better.) This would look great on an easel in the dining room or kitchen! Anyway...if you like chickens, here is a little cutie for you.

Horse Pasture

"Two Horses"
16X12
Oil on Linen Panel
Available

Click on picture to enlarge the view.
By the way..comments are welcome!!

There is a horse pasture just down the street from my house. It's a place I like to walk past as I walk my dogs. So when thinking of what to paint next, it was this horse pasture that inspired me. The interesting thing about this composition is the way the positions of the horses, the tree trunks, and the fence posts all mirror each other....as if two is the theme for the day.

I've been once again stuck with a thousand interruptions, but today I just stayed in my pajamas and locked myself in the studio to get this one done. Not a pretty sight..but now I'll go wash my brushes and regroup! :-)
On to the next thing..