Cat Oil Portrait

Barnhardt's Cat
16X12
Oil on Linen Panel
Commissioned

Click on image to enlarge the view.

I've been having a busy month with relatives visiting, major projects here at home, and then fighting off some dastardly cold virus that hit both my husband and myself this past two weeks. Still not over it...but finally have been able to get back to painting this week.

This little adorable cat is no longer among us, so this commission is to celebrate her life. Her owners adored her and I can see why....she seems to be so sweet in this pose. I had to do some fictional background because the photographs had window glare and black shadows which made it really tough to see the details. But I think this has turned out well and I hope her owner will be pleased. This painting will allow them to look at her and remember how much she meant to them!

Nature's Fireworks

"Highway Flowers"
8X8
Oil on Canvas Panel
Available

Happy 4th of July, America!! At the risk of sounding like a socialist, which you all know I am no where close to that label, I have to say I do like the flower program that Lady Bird Johnson began in the 1960's. Quite possibly, other than military defense and interstate highways, this is the only Federal program I do like. It's definitely not necessary. It's totally socialistic. Taking tax dollars to plant flowers on the highways is so frivolous, especially during bad economic times. But it is innocuous, too. It doesn't take away your choice of doctor or take away your choice of energy consumption. It isn't draining your bank account in order to give more power to the politicians who take your freedoms away. If we can afford it, it is nothing more than a little icing on the cake. Being an artist, I always admire the sweeping areas of bright flowers along the highways....and I am always looking for nature's beauty to remind me that there are still some of God's gifts I can enjoy under a totalitarian American government. Nature is my only refuge from man-made oppression.

So call me a hypocrite just this once. But don't try it on any other day.

Watermelon

"Baby Watermelon"
8X10
Oil on Board
Private Collection

I recently read another blogger's description of the Green movement. He compared the movement to the watermelon...green on the outside and Communist Red on the inside. I agree.

I hope my fellow artists will love freedom more than they wish to attach themselves to this insidious "green" movement, which has nothing to do with saving the planet. It has everything to do with taking away the freedoms and independence that I so cherish and that benefit the creative spirit of any artist in America. It has everything to do with enriching some very evil people who, honestly, don't give a rip about the environment. Check out Al Gore, Goldman Sachs, General Electric, T. Boone Pickens, Nancy Pelosi, and others. All this Cap and Trade bill will do is ruin our economy, do nothing to enhance the environment, and tax the American public to death. Please email your senators and tell them not just NO, but HELL NO on Cap and Trade. Please do this today!!!! And while you are at it....tell them HELL NO on Nationalized Health Care which is another death sentence to America.

On the domestic front...It has taken me the last two months to get my Dad settled into assisted living, which I have discovered is both a huge relief, but also not complete absolution from my duties. It is better, however. Then, on top of that has been the organization and disposition of his household belongings. This has meant multiple trips to donation centers and reorganizing my home to accommodate some of the furnishings that, hopefully, my children will want someday. I've cleaned out three closets and made trips to the attic. The good thing about this, albeit very time consuming, has been the purge of things we needed to get rid of in our house anyway. And next up on our agenda, our daughter-in-law and three grandchildren are coming for a visit next week. This also means getting the crib ready, the high chair out of the attic, prepping the house to be child friendly as much as possible, and food planning! I am very excited to see them! It has been a year....except for skype. They are visiting from South Korea where my son is stationed..protecting the U.S. from the insanity of the North Korean nuclear threat.

So between my Dad, my kids, the house disruptions, and most of all, my dedication to attempt to save us from this Fascist/Socialist government headed up by the fraudulent usurper in the White House....I've written letters to the editor, letters to Congress, and kept up with writing on my other blog regarding government....a lot has been going on here. But not as much painting as I wish. I have finished three commissions in this month and another one is waiting on my art table. It's difficult to paint beautiful paintings while our country is being wrecked and stolen from us. My heart aches for these darling grandchildren and my children who are going to suffer mightily from the selfish and corrupt government in place today. Please speak out, write letters, and do your part to stop the insanity.

Bluebird On a Pine Branch

"Bluebird On a Pine Branch"
12X9
Oil on Canvas Panel
Commission
Click on picture to enlarge the view.

This is the second Bluebird painting...since I have a client who loves them and another client who wanted one...I ended up doing two. They are similar, but different..heads turned different ways and the pine branches are configured differently. We are so lucky here in North Carolina to have many of these adorable birds. They are the color of sky in flight...and quick as anything. I think there is a poet who said they wear the sky on their backs. We love them...and it has been fun to paint them!


Perched in a frame for example....

Dog Portrait, Poncho, the Miniature Doberman

"Poncho"
10X8
Oil on Canvas Panel
Commissioned

This guy has a story...so the owner tells me. He was brought here on a plane in a shoe, being a small fellow of under one pound, all the way from South America. The painting is commissioned for a birthday present for the lady of the house. Poncho is a well loved and apparently happy guy with quite a personality!! A challenge to paint and fun to get to know his cute face!!

After weeks and weeks of work, moving furniture, selling stuff, donating stuff, more Dr.s appts., filling out forms, working on financial arrangements, etc. etc., we finally have gotten my Dad settled into a very nice assisted living facility not too far at all from us. This isn't the end of my obligations for him, but it is going to save me from every day care, so hopefully I can get back to painting more frequently. I do still have a lot of his belongings to either dispose of or store for family, so I am still under it...so to speak. But we are getting there slowly.

On to the next one...stay tuned!

Bluebird Balancing Act

"Balancing Act"
12X9
Oil on Panel
Commissioned

ADDED NOTE On May 23rd...
This past week and all of next are dedicated to getting my Dad situated into an assisted living home. He is 91 and a half...barely walking, suffering from several maladies, and needs more help now than I can continue to give him. So..we found a place and are in process of moving him, in between the continual Dr.s appts. This is very time consuming, selling stuff, moving stuff, packing stuff, etc. etc. I am exhausted and can hope that once we get him moved in, I will have some of my energy back and can paint again. I am looking forward to getting back to the easel after next week...sometime after June first or second. Thanks for checking back!!

I have a collector who loves bluebirds, so this one is commissioned for her. She and her husband have courted the bluebirds and been rewarded with a flock of them in their yard. Eastern Bluebirds are indigenous to our area and we all love them. I hope I did justice to the idea here. This painting is on spec actually, so if this one doesn't fit the collector's desire, then it will be for sale....and I will be doing some more bluebirds for consideration.
Balancing Act seems like a theme for my life lately....probably yours, too. We are all trying to find our footing and hoping we land in a secure spot. Our country's foundations are being knocked out from under us by a bunch of really bad power-mad politicians and a lot of misguided misanthropes. It's very sad, so the sight of a bluebird is a momentary bliss at least.

Sun Kissed Rocks by the Water

"Sun Kissed Rocks by the Water"
12X16
Oil on Linen
Available

Contact to Purchase

What seems like a hundred years ago I had the opportunity to visit La Jolla. Somewhere along the coastal highway there was a restaurant called Charlie's Steakhouse. They had an open kitchen where you picked out your steak and could watch them throw it on the grill. And they had the menu written on some type of clay wine bottle sitting in the middle of each dining table. Very quaint, intimate, and fun. Outside, across the street was a view of the Pacific slapping up against the rocks and seals playing, basking, enjoying the day. It was this scene, looking down at the rocks, I had in mind while painting this one. It was a beautiful place and I will always remember it, wishing to relive the view....I keep it in my mind.

The Acorn Thief

"Nutkin"
9X12
Oil on Canvas
Available
Click on Image to Enlarge the View.

Contact to Purchase

I must admit I'm feeling a little nuts lately, so I guess this is an appropriate subject reflecting my state of mind. This little guy represents all of those little rascals running around and having fun in my backyard. I am lucky enough to have some really big Oak trees....so the natural habitat is terrific for these guys. Some people find them to pains in the neck, but I just think they are acrobatic entertainment. Admittedly, an occasional raid of the birdseed in our garage is not helpful and they do dig up my pansies on occasions. But that's the price for entertainment...eh? Honestly, I do think they are cute and glad to have them happy here.

Pansies and Periwinkle

"Pansies and Periwinkle"
9X12
Oil on Linen Panel
NFS

My pansies are having their last hurrah before the Peonies show up next month. I plant pansies in October and they sort of hang on in a lazy kind of way until March when they explode with glorious bounties of blossoms. This painting is of some antique variety of pansy that our local nursery has every year. And to be honest with you, since my Dad is still taking up nearly every day of my life lately, this is a painting I did a while ago. It sits in my studio, framed and on an easel, and it is one I especially like having around to remind that I can paint.

I did take a day excursion last week to Reynolda House in Winston Salem, the home of the R.J. Reynolds family, that is now a gorgeous museum home for tourists to enjoy. Attached to the house is an exhibit center. The reason for my visit was a current exhibit of American Impressionists' paintings. What a feast for the eyes! John Singer Sargent, John LaFarge, Childe Hassam, William Merritt Chase, Glackens, and more...it was truly a collection to savor. You can stand right up to the paintings and study the brush strokes. And then you can stand back from them and take them in for as long as you like. I hated to leave that exhibit hall...just wanted to look and look and look at them over and over. Very stunning. So that was my brief indulgence. If you get a chance to go see this collection, do it. You won't be sorry.

Tess, Finished

"Tess"
14X11
Oil on Board
Commission

Finally had time to finish painting Tess today. She is really a charming little lady and I enjoyed painting her very much. White on White or Black on Black are always challenging fur colors to paint. You have to just put more color in there than you think you see in order to get the textures and the shadows. I really loved the soft green background and the red pillow bed she rests on with the whites and blacks of the dog and the foreground. It made for a really nice painting and I have to thank the owners for such a good photo from which to work.

This painting was a donation I made to the Cancer Society Auction. Tess' owners were so kind to bid and win, so this painting has a lot of meaning for everyone involved! Fun for me to do...good for them, and hopefully, someone somewhere will benefit from Cancer research.

Now on to the next one...still pondering what it will be. Stay tuned...

Tess, Work in Progress III

"Tess" Work in Progress
14X11
Oil on Gessoed Board
Commission

I worked on her head mostly today...focusing on the details of her face, eyes, nose, etc. The blessing of great eyesight is that you see every hair....the curse of having great eyesight is that you see every hair. LOL Being a detail person, I have to force myself to not over do it on the tiniest details. But it is in the smallest details sometimes that you see the uniqueness in each special creation of God. So I have these conversations with God sometimes while I paint.....to paint this hair or that hair. Which hair makes the crucial statement of shape? Now that you know I am stark raving mad...I'll leave you to ponder this phase and tomorrow I'll get onto the next hairs.....
Stay Tuned...

Tess, Work in Progress II

"Tess" WIP
14X11
Oil on Gessoed Board
Commission

Slower than mud...molasses, or however you'd like to put it. My Dad is having radiation treatments every weekday for three weeks. This and his other care is throwing me off so much that just keeping up with life in general is really a time squeeze you would not believe. I'm exhausted. So Tess is coming slowly. I was able to work on her some last evening and today....the background seems too loud at the moment and I will be trying to tone that down. Her eyes are so pretty..I've been having fun studying them today. Long way to go...but I'll get there.

Tess, Work in Progress

"Tess"
14X11
Oil on Gessoed Board
Commissioned

This is just the beginning after my first session with Tess over the weekend. I think she is really cute! This gives you an idea of how a great photograph can be of immense help when doing this type of portrait. Back to it....
Stay tuned!

Spring is Almost Here

"All Ears"
10X8
Oil on Canvas Panel

At least it looks like it around here....with lots of trees beginning to bloom and temperatures slowly coming back to mild. This cute fellow was in my back yard last year. He has to be quick and clever because my dog, Bosley, likes to chase him off. Fortunately for me, I was able to get some pics before he took off again.

In Honor of the Easter Bunny

"Surprise on the Greenway"
8X10
Oil on Canvas

I did this one a while ago....I am still really scrambling here with other obligations. But since it is the Easter Season...the renewal of our spirits, plants and animals after the cold winter, I thought it would be fun to look at this guy again. He is inspired by the rabbits I saw on the greenway in Colorado Springs the last time I was there. This turned out more stylized than I wish. When I have nothing but a distant memory to paint from, that seems to be the outcome. I have another rabbit I'll post soon that is the real deal...a cute backyard visitor that I was able to photograph before he hopped away.