Mourning Dove's Nest

"Mourning Dove's Nest"
5X7
Oil on Panel
NFS

There is a reason for this painting that looks like I am getting a jump on spring when, in fact, it is just the second day of January. Before Christmas I painted a Mourning Dove..."Turtle Dove"...for a nature theme of Christmas. Truth is I love painting nature themes a good bit of the time. There is a Guild show coming up requiring entries by the first of March. This Guild show is one of my favorites. It is held at the Schiele Museum of Natural History and the theme of the show is "A Natural View." None of the art is supposed to have anything man-made depicted. Au Naturel..so to speak. Back to the Mourning Dove...if you will scroll down a few posts you will see her. This painting of the nest is a companion to that. I am thinking I will have them framed in a double mat within one frame. I don't usually do that, but I wanted to celebrate the renewal of life with this idea. Hope I accomplished that. Can spring be far behind???

Rolling Hills Over Farmland

"Rolling Clouds Over Farmland"
6X6
Oil on Gessoed Panel
Available

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Warming up with a small and simple landscape. This is one of those scenes that grabs you as you are driving along on the North Carolina roads. Red clay, green trees, and blue skies...and with luck, some really pretty clouds crossing the horizons. Having been away from my brushes for a couple of weeks has not done my skills any good whatsoever. Couldn't be helped, but now I hope the path is cleared somewhat and I can get back to it. Of course there is the task of putting up the ornaments and getting the house finished with the holidays and ready for the New Year. And the ever present care of the "ancient one."

One of my personal challenges for the New Year is to tackle my phobia of doing landscapes. I've been studying them over the holiday and having long hard talks with myself on the subject. I intend to conquer this thing and just plunge forward. I do still plan some still lives and animals, too....so it looks like we're in for a mix of different genre this coming year. In other words, you never know what you are going to get at Painted Plums. Hopefully, you'll find something you really really like!

Scottish Christmas Dreams

"Scotties and Snowman"
6X6
Watercolor
©Cheryl A. Pass

Hey out there....still struggling with time constraints and family obligations, made even worse with Christmas activities. This little watercolor card design was inspired some time ago by the darling Scottie we used to have named Bailey. He was so cute and fun! We still miss him. We have some adorable Christmas Scottie ornaments on our tree because of Bailey. I think after I write this I will take a moment to go look at the "Barney Cam" at Whitehouse.gov so I can enjoy some more Scottie antics. If you ever want a great dog, the Scottish Terrier is the one. (Don't tell Bosley, our replacement who is an adorable rescued Mutt who makes us very happy, too! Besides, if you had to find a good replacement...Bosley is it!)

Hoping to get back to it soon with my oils. Just have had zero time lately. I know you also have holiday craziness at your heels, too...so thanks so much for stopping by and staying tuned!!

'One Turtle Dove'

"Christmas Turtle Dove"
8X10
Oil on Panel
NFS (for now)

Click on picture for a larger view.

Commonly known as Mourning Doves....my mother used to call them "Rain Doves" because they would always fly into the yard just before a rain came. Now I know them to also be the classic "Turtle Doves" from the 12 Days of Christmas. We have them hanging around our yard frequently. They are so beautiful and I love them, in spite of the efforts they make at grabbing the seeds we put out for the smaller songbirds. They waddle around and flee with noisy flapping when I let our dog out. Their colors are so subtle, yet I think they look very sophisticated in their soft browns and black spots. The blue around their eyes is a very beautiful blue...recalling that softest of sky meets the sea kind of blue.

Sorry for not keeping up with posts for a while. This thing with taking care of my Dad has really cramped my time. And while I am not painting as frequently, when I do have time, I am researching ideas and thinking of what to paint next. I recently went to a gallery crawl in Charlotte and feasted my eyes on wonderful works by other artists. And I keep looking at the websites of artists I admire, gathering as much as I can by studying their works. In fact, I think I have come up with a new malady....I am calling it "Admiration Paralysis." I can get so taken with other artists' work that I hit my head against the wall asking myself how could I ever be THAT good and WHY am I even doing this!!! But after beating myself up, I force myself back to the easel and tell myself just to dive in there and keep going. I am running out of time for Christmas cards...but may try to get this image done on a card to send. If not, I'll just send out some other cards I bought on stand-by.

'Two By Two'

"Two By Two"
12X9
Oil on Linen Panel
Available
Click on picture to enlarge the view.

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Since this is about water and a pair of ducks, it seemed the next progression (at least in my mind) was a Noah's Ark allegory. "And they came, two by two...." (This painting actually would be lovely placed in a child's wing of the house, but could work anywhere you have a collection of birds.) Mostly it is just about local wildlife which I love and enjoy so much. We are lucky to have some small lakes and a couple of big ones in our area, plus the Catawba River, so the birds are abundant. Occasionally I catch sight of some Great Blue Herons..so prehistoric and elegant.

But back to the ducks.....the water was a bit choppy and I didn't want the background to overwhelm the sillhouettes of their beautiful white feathers and charming, eager faces. It was a lot of fun to paint!! I was happy to have the time yesterday to paint most of the day. First time in over a week. Yippee!!

'Just Before the Fall'

"Just Before the Fall"
5X7
Acrylic
Private Collection

I have been so slammed with my Dad's concerns, sorry to keep repeating this mantra, but I have had little to no time for my painting this past week. So this is a piece I did a while back. It is much more vivid in real life. The title refers to the fact that this lovely farm close to our town was bought out by a developer and a church and no longer exists as a farm. I had admired it for a long time. They had those wonderful Belted Galloway (Oreo) cows and fields of hay. It was beautiful and then it was gone. I know this is happening everywhere all over the country, but my heart breaks to see these smaller family farms bite the dust.

Now, hopefully, to squeeze in some time for new work. "Hopefully," being the operative word.
Stay tuned! :-)

'The Twig Thief'

"The Twig Thief"
8X10
Oil on Masonite Panel
Available

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It was the look on his face....so wary, as if he was going to be caught in the act or maybe the twig police were after him. I've been saving painting this one for Halloween weekend. I knew I would be in the mood for painting this beautiful black bird and the spirit he conveys.

The background color in reality is a much softer yellow than the greenish cast that came out in the photo. I tried it three times, but my camera must like the green shade better than my soft fall goldish yellow. The blacks are much darker black in reality, too. Sometimes the colors come out just right..other times you just know the camera isn't going to reproduce the painting as exactly as you would like.

'Cruising'

"Cruising"
12X16
Oil on Masonite Panel
Available
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I've been working on this one for the better part of two weeks. I know that sounds like a long time, but if you have been following my blog, you know that I am now very time challenged with the care of my elderly father. This has become nearly a full time job, so.....I am not giving up, just trying to keep up. And this is a bigger painting than I have been working on lately. I hope you will enjoy it!

Anyway, this scene is from this past summer's trip to Blowing Rock. As my husband and I enjoyed some gorgeous weather and walks around Bass Lake and the lake at the park in the middle of town, I carried my camera and took some shots as we walked. This was at the lake in town. Two very nice Mallards came by to greet us as we stood by the lake. I know Mallards are as common as dirt, at least where we live....but I like them nonetheless. They are sweet natured and only wish to hang out...cruising on a beautiful summer's day.

'Munchies before sleep'

"Ram"
10X8
Oil on Panel
NFS

This one is a painting for a friend of mine. The story is this: Some years ago my friend and I were shopping, cruising around some antique shops to be more specific. As we looked around in one particularly nice shop, she spotted an antique painting of a ram and she fell in love with it. It had that presence about it...strength, patina, that air of confidence, a celebration of being. It was expensive. Really expensive for those of us raising our school age children at the time and not something she could justify buying. But years have passed and that painting sticks in her mind. She never got over it. A short time after we saw it she dragged her father over to that store to show it to him. I think she was secretly hoping he would buy it for her, but that didn't happen. She still talks about that painting. So here we are, all this time later and it suddenly dawned on me that, while I couldn't possibly replicate that exact painting, I could at least paint a ram for her for Christmas this year. She is in the redecorating mode for her bedroom and I was thinking this might be just the thing to gaze at while going to sleep....counting sheep? Only one, but what the heck! (if you happen to know who I am speaking of, don't tell her! It would spoil the surprise! So....shhhhh!)

Off to the next thing...
Thanks for visiting my blog!!

And the winner is....

"Pomegranate in White"
9X12
Oil on Board
$625.00

What a nice surprise! I entered the Mooresville Artist's Guild Show, The 26th Annual Octoberfest, for the first time this year. I'm going to say glowing things about the Mooresville Artist's Guild, not because I won the show, but because they are doing a terrific job of showcasing their members' art and maintaining a lovely facility / art gallery. The guild is housed in a former train depot smack in the middle of a small, but booming, downtown area. As you know, small towns all over America have taken a huge hit over the years from the outlying shopping centers. The town of Mooresville has not let this demoralize them, from the look of it. The buildings are renovated and business appears to be thriving. It is a charming townscape and on last Friday night of the Art Reception for the Show, the main streets were alive with interested shoppers and live musicians performing along the sidewalks. I have to say, I was very impressed with the enthusiasm I saw in Mooresville, for the arts, but also for the ongoing life of a small town. The Mooresville Artist's Guild is certainly doing their part and have a very dedicated core group of people who are putting in quite an effort to make their guild a success. The depot has 4 large rooms for gallery space, three of which are rotating galleries each month for member artists. This show filled up three rooms plus part of another room. Very nice, Mooresville and Guild!

The icing on the cake was the scene I saw when I entered the depot. There was my painting hanging in the very front room with a blue ribbon next to it! Now that doesn't happen every day to this artist who spends too much time in her studio, away from the world. I was quite surprised and delighted, and have to say I enjoyed the evening.

'Silver and Seashells'

"Silver and Seashells"
8X10
Oil on Canvas Panel


I must admit this is a re-post of a painting I did a year or so ago. It's hanging here in my house. It is one I particularly like and I don't think I can even say exactly why. It might be that painting that silver was something I dared myself to do. Reminds me I should try to do more silver/metallics.

There has been so much going on that I have had just a bare minimum of time painting. I do have one in process that I will post soon. My Dad's situation has escalated into more and more Dr.s appts. and more care-taking as time progresses.

So here is the news:
I am currently in two shows.
The first one is "The 26th Annual Octoberfest" sponsored by the Mooresville Artist's Guild, 103 Center St. Mooresville, NC. The opening reception is this Friday, October 10th, 6 to 8 pm and you are invited to come. I have three pieces in this show. I've been told I have won some award, but they keep it a secret until the reception, so at this moment I have no idea which piece or what award. Very suspenseful!

The second is "A Visual Harvest" sponsored by the Gaston County Art Guild, at the Jeanne Rauch Gallery, Gaston College, Dallas, NC. The opening for this show is October 16, 6 to 8 pm and you are also invited to attend this one. I have two pieces in this show. I spent most of Saturday assisting with the entries and the judge for this one.

Our local miniature show is coming up next month, too. That one is always fun and I love to participate in it. Stay tuned... :-)

'Preening Lady Duck'

"Preening Lady Duck"
6X6
Oil on Masonite
Available

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I don't know if this is a quirk or something typical of artistic temperment, but when I am painting certain subjects, I seek allegory as I paint them. Does she have a Saturday date for a swim with a handsome Drake? Or is she merely picking at a bug in her feathers? Whichever it is, I also ask myself, "Where would this painting fit into someone's life?" Would you place it in a dressing room where it would remind you of primping? Or do you love ducks and would put it out with a collection of them? Would you give it to a friend with a card that says, "I hope things are just ducky!"

Silly artist....just thinking up reasons for someone else to love a painting that I enjoyed creating. I hope you like her. And I hope things are "just ducky" for you today!!
Thanks for visiting!

'Queen Anne's Road'

"Queen Anne's Road"
5X7
Oil on Masonite
Available
$150.00 unframed

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One of the prettiest gifts of sight in the summer is Queen Anne's Lace along the sides of country roads. This particular place had a profusion of blossoms that made me stop in the middle of the afternoon and grab a picture. Queen Anne lives here! You can tell this painting is of an August day with wheat colors morphing into gold with just a hint of what September will bring us.

'August Mountains'

"August Mountains"
5X7
Oil on Masonite Panel
Available
$175.00 Framed

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This is from our trip up to the mountains last month. You can pronounce that word 'August' either way, as the month or as the adjective meaning exalted or resplendent. Our North Carolina mountains are so beautiful! This painting is but a small reminder of the scenery as you drive up, around, and through them. I hope to do more paintings to keep these beautiful mountains in our hearts. This one shows some tall grass by the side of the road at a resting spot with a stunning view.

A lovely little gallery in Darlington, South Carolina has decided to represent some of my work recently. It is called the Chameleon Art Gallery, so, if you are in that neck of the woods, do stop in and take a look!

As some of you know I have taken on tending to my father who is nearly 91 yrs. and who fell a few weeks ago. It has been more time consuming than before, since his fall, so my paintings are not coming as fast as I would like. I think it has taken me almost two weeks now just to find a couple of hours to get my paints out. Each day I look for the amount of time I need. And each day I find only bits and pieces, here and there, not enough to make it worth getting the brushes wet.....however, I have found some time to plan paintings, so maybe that counts towards the ones in the future.

There are two shows coming up...entries due Thurs. this week and also on Oct. 4th. I have been varnishing and framing to prepare for those. Will fill you in on that later.
Stay tuned....

Fine Art meets Commercial Art

"A Taste of Kindness"
9X6
Acrylic on Paper
NFS
One of the career goals I have strived towards, when I had my stationery business and beyond, is that I love to match up fine art for use as commercial art. Those two categories cross paths often, but I happen to think the best of commercial art actually is fine art. The lousiest of commercial art is never fine art. Witness the upsurge in popularity of posters for collectors, i.e. Hollywood posters, Skiing posters, Travel posters, etc. Those posters achieve something of the best of both worlds. Same with magazine covers, a la Norman Rockwell. You get the point, I'm sure.

So this is the kind of project I think is a great deal of fun, bringing my fine art to the useful endeavor of taking a commercial message to someone in some way. My stationery business was like that. It was fulfilling a commercial need while at the same time making something beautiful for lots of people to enjoy using and sending. Great fun it was.
This time it is a Cookbook project to benefit the Battered Women's Shelter of my county. They are always seeking ways to increase their funding and this year they decided to embark on a Cookbook to sell. When I heard about it I was happy to offer to create some art for the covers to get them some shelf appeal and hopefully lots of sales. The art you see here is waiting on approval, so we'll see if this is what they will like. If not, I will be back to the drawing board. Below is an idea of what the cover will look like with type / copy.

That's it for today....stay tuned!!

Cover with Type