Nature's Magic

Nature's Magic 9x12 inches pastel available $50.00

I had so much fun doing this painting!  I just got a new IPhone and the portrait feature when taking pictures is my new favorite thing to play with.  It brings the subject forward and blurs the background.  I walked around the yard for a couple of hours just playing with the camera.  This painting was taken from one of the pictures I took.  I'm so excited about this - of course it doesn't take much to excite me, and this is probably old news for techno people - but I just love it!  I think I took about 25 pictures just of bees.  I don't know how much painting will get done in the next couple of days.  We're supposed to go camping in northern PA - and of course they're calling for rain.  I was looking forward to doing some plein air paintings - now we'll have to see if the weather cooperates.

Off the Beaten Path

Off the Beaten Path 9x6 inches pastel available $50.00

After leading a Girl Scout troop for many years - living and breathing all things Girl Scouts, there are certain "rules" for every activity under the sun that you remember and continue to follow long after your life in Scouts.  I can't recall how many times over the years I said the phrase "stay on the path".  You always had those couple of girls that would want to "explore" and go their own way.  They didn't think about the dangers that lurked up ahead.  Poison ivy, thorns and God forbid snakes!  So it was quite liberating for me to go against my own teaching and rule enforcing of staying on the path and explore my own direction.  I found this scene above from walking off the path at Martinak State Park last week.  This area was filled with lily pads and grasses and they just glowed from the sun hitting them.  So the moral of the story is sometimes it's ok to head off the beaten path - unless you're the leader of a Girl Scout troop that is.

I forgot to announce the chosen name for yesterday's No Name Monday.  I congratulate Pam with her submission of "Can I Help You?"  That's exactly the feeling you got from that "protector of the pen". Special thanks to everyone that participated.

Day of First's

I was anxious to try out oil paints.  I've never used them before, never taken a class so my hands were a bit shakey at first. I've been wanting to try palette knife painting - no brushes, just palette knives.  So I watched a couple of You Tube videos and jumped right in.  Now I was completely surprised at the cost of oil paints, so I only bought a tube of red, green, yellow, blue, and white and had to mix the colors that I needed.  I also painted wet onto wet so some colors mixed right on the canvas.  I don't think my very first attempt is too awful, but I really would like to take a couple of classes - I'm going to try to do at least one oil painting per month and see how I improve.  Of course pastels is still my favorite. I read that a palette knife painting could take up to a month to dry depending on how thick the paint was applied.  I'll let you know - I applied the paint super thick!

Business cards are in!

My very first set of business cards came in last week, and I forgot to share them on the blog.  I wanted to be different and ordered the square format.  Each card displays a different painting with contact information on the back.  I think they are so cute, although my husband thinks they won't fit in wallets all that well.  We'll have to do a test.  They were ordered through moo.com.  I ordered the least expensive paper and they are very sturdy!  Very well made. 

I also ordered this very handy card holder.  It fans out so people can choose the card they want, then it closes back together. 

Here's an upclose look at the back information.  All ordering is done from my blog so I used that address instead of the on line store's address.  We'll see how well it works.  Now the fun part - passing them out!  If you are in need of business cards - I highly recommend moo.com.  And if you mention my name with your first order both of us will receive moo bucks!

No Name Monday

Zach and I were visiting Adkins Arboretum, hiking, painting and taking future reference photos when we noticed on the map of the park that they had goats.  We just had to go see them.  We had goats ourselves up until last summer when they had to find a new home.  My husband was fed up with them escaping their pen every other day and ending up in our gardens, or on top of the cars.  Yes, one goat in particular loved to get on top of the cars.  We looked on the map to see where we had to go and walked down a very long trail - and kept walking it seemed forever! We finally found them and realized looking through the woods that there was a much quicker way we could have taken to get to our destination.  The park keeps goats to "mow" their brush and keep overgrowth under control which is a fantastic and economical way to accomplish this.  I remember our goats clearing out huge sections of woods in a matter of a day.  They love ivy and wild roses.  This goat seemed to be the protector of the others.  He never took his eyes off of us while we were looking.  Even though this was a male goat, he had a female name for some reason - pictures of each goat was hanging on the fence along with their name - I can't remember now the name of this goat, so this is your challenge for today - either a name for just the goat or what you would name the entire painting.  Get your creative hats on. 

Back at the Easel

Break in the Clouds 9x6 pastel available $50.00

I know, I know, I haven't posted for a week!  Yes I've been painting, but I've also caught the Genealogy bug.  I was big into researching my genealogy years ago, but let it slip - now the obsession has hit once again and let me tell you, it consumes all your free time - it's addicting!  I've hit on some very good leads this past week and I'm excited - I love learning about my ancestors. What jobs they had, where they were living, and even how they died - morbid, I know, but I find it so interesting.  I've even come across photos from the 1800's.  Anyway, that's what I've been doing in between painting and work, so I haven't fit the time to post, but I'm back at it today!

The painting above: Break in the Clouds is from a reference photo I took a couple of weeks ago during my trip to Antietam Battlefield. We had less than perfect weather to say the least, but we pressed on and made the best of it.  Wonderful views at Antietam - if you ever have the chance to visit. Lots of rolling hills and distant mountains, streams and farms - great place!  And you learn a lot of history as well. 

3 Cherries

3 Cherries pastel 9x12 available $95.00

Today I really just felt like sketching, and did this picture in charcoal only.  Then I thought let's add just a little color in the cherries, then how about a little color in the pitcher?  Eventually all the charcoal was covered over in pastels.  I used Terry Ludwig eggplant to cover the background.  I literally have no self control.  I'm going to try to just sketch again later this evening and see if I can restrain myself from picking up the pastels.

Hiking at Antietam with Zach

Road Trip!  Every once in a while I just have to get away - away from the monotony of everyday life.  I would go more often if I didn't have a job, but I'll settle for once in a while.  This past weekend's road trip was a day filled with history.  First stop was Antietam Battle field.  This was my first visit to this battlefield.  The landscape was amazing!  If you're a landscape artist, I recommend you visit Antietam.  Rolling hills, mountains in the distance, streams, bridges, farm buildings.... the list goes on and on. Oh, and they had queen anne's lace that was taller than myself. I didn't know they got that tall. Their wild flowers were already in bloom which I found to be amazing.  I took quite a few photos for future paintings.  Of course it was raining during my road trip so I didn't get as many photos as I would've liked, but I can always visit Antietam again.  We also visited Fort Frederick and parts of the C&O canal.  More on that in future posts.

This painting is along one of the trails you can hike. That's my son in the picture walking up ahead of me.  This particular trail seemed to go on and on forever - it was raining and the path was muddy but it had beautiful views along side of a river.  I loved how this distant trees glowed with sunlight (for a brief moment).  It was a great day for making memories.

Zach (my son) has been asking me to post some of his own artwork.  He's in an artclub at school and they are doing some really awesome projects.  For the picture above, the class was given a page from a dictionary and each student was to choose one word on their page and do an illustration of that word.  Zachs word was swamp.  I think he did a great job!

Red Barn

Red Barn 9x12 pastel available $25.00

When the weather gets nice I hit the road.  On foot that is. I take long walks with my son along the country roads and  it's really amazing what you see on foot rather than driving by in the car.  Everything is upclose and personal and seems to take on a whole new life.  We've discovered hidden houses we never saw driving by and streams down the banks that we never knew were there.  Our plan is to try out new roads to explore every week. And at the same time gathering photos for future paintings.  This painting was done from a reference photo from one of our walks.  This barn is actually right around the corner from our house, but for some reason we never noticed it while driving.  It kind of sits way back from the road.  The flowers were just an explosion of color and the barn was glowing a brilliant red in the sun.  Take time out this week to hit the road on foot - I promise you you'll find something you never noticed before. 

The votes have come in for this week's No Name Monday -

Secrets of the Shell was the winner - thank you Barbie for the suggestion and a huge thank you to everyone that participated! 

No Name Monday Challenge

                  

Secrets of the Shell 9x12 pastel available $50.00

        

           



       I can almost feel the breeze through my hair, hear the waves crashing into shore and taste the salt on my lips from the spray of the ocean after painting this one.  I can't wait for the heat of summer to relax on my towel and take in some rays, and after these last couple of windy cool days, it couldn't come soon enough!

So here is today's No Name Monday Challenge. Come up with the perfect title for this painting and then my judges will select their favorite so this painting can have a forever name.  This painting is a 9x12 pastel  on UArt 400 pastel paper. This is my favorite posting day of the week - I love to see all the different ideas! Get ready, get set, let the naming begin!                                                                                                                                                                                 

Buttercups Plein Air

Buttercups 6x6 pastel available $10.00

I had some time before work yesterday to do a quick plein air study of these beautiful little buttercups.  I happened to notice this small patch of them growing in my field and loved the bright yellows. Sometimes you just have to get on your belly to get the best view! This one is only 6x6 because it's easier for me to paint smaller plein air style, but when it came time to sign it, I realized my name was just too long - - it took up an entire half of the bottom portion of the painting, so I had to brush it off, repaint that section and initial this one.  So what's getting started on the easel today?  You'll have to check back tomorrow - but I will say it involves a lot of color. 

Sun Flowers and Daisies

Sunflowers and Daisies 9x12 pastel available $50.00

Since yesterday's painting of the sunflower fields, it put me in the mood for more sunflowers.  I tried out a new technique for the background.  I put a layer of the darks and lights in hard pastels in sort of a splotchy way, then I pounced all around with a cotton ball dipped in gamsol.  After drying it with my hairdryer, it was ready to be worked.  I really like the texture it created. Today is plein air day- and of course I have to work during the paint out hours, so I'm on my own again today - I saw a patch of buttercups growing out in my field so I think they will be the subject for today.

Yesterday was No Name Monday, and again I was not disappointed by the response.  I love that so many friends and family take a part in my artwork.  It was a tough job for the judges of course, but the chosen name for yesterday's sunflower field was submitted by two friends. Their title choices just seemed to fit together perfectly.  Thank you Tracie and Rose for the title: Perfect Day in Sunny Fields.  Now I'm off to the field to complete today's plein air piece.  Have a great day everyone!

No Name Monday

Perfect Day in Sunny Fields 12x9 pastel available $50.00     SOLD

Don't you just love sunflowers?  They are on the top of my list of favorites - you just can't help but feel happy when you look at them.  This sunflower farm is located in North Carolina. I've been posting a No Name painting for a couple of weeks now, and I have to say it's one of my favorite days of the week- to see what kind of title YOU can come up with.  Post your ideas and then I have my voting committee (my children and sometimes their friends) vote on their favorite title and the winner will be posted the following day.  So give it a try - - what would you title this painting?