coming along...

it's coming along...i can't decide whether i want to make it a blustery snowstorm or just a quiet winter day...i'm hoping i can get it finished tomorrow...still have lots to do...

starting the new project...

here's the beginning of the painting of the inn at irwin gardens...i don't have much time so i need to get at it! - the problem will be that i'm using a lot of white...snow scene...so i'm not sure it will be completely dry when i have to deliver it on friday. i dropped off my santa at bob anderson's stillframes this morning and hopefully he'll get it photographed in time to drop it off for decorating tomorrow sometime. i'm weary! - don't know whether it's the tennis or the long hours of painting...and i still have so many decorations to bring up from the basement. ah well - i guess it's better than sitting around on my bahdoon....

my united way santa...

36x36 mixed media on stretched canvas NFS

so this is the finished piece. my friend linda callahan (www.lcodesigns.com) just asked me to bring it down to the irwin house to see how it would look over the fireplace in the parlor. and it works!! what she didn't tell me was that reporters from the republic were going to be there taking pictures...yikes...hopefully they can find one picture they can use! and now it's on to the next event. linda wants me to paint the irwin house as it would look in mid-winter...snow-covered and cozy looking. so that's my next job...and it needs to be done before friday! gotta get crackin!

too tired....

well, we had a big day!!! we had all the babies for a sleepover last night...wild!! - and we had tillie and ollie the night before so all in all ...along with finishing the pots and pans and clean up...we are bushed! - (i decided to finish my santa tomorrow...just can't do it today!) .... anyway, i had the bright idea to have the kids eat their pancakes at the big table in the dining room this morning...with grape juice.....not a good plan....but who cares??? - it was so much fun to all be together..and after one of them asked whether we could have a whirlpool, and it wasn't ready...all of a sudden, papper worked on it this afternoon and it will be ready for our christmas gathering. and we're heading out there in a few moments to have a soak our own selves. we did have a huge bonfire in back last night...complete with smores...and stories...and then this morning, my friend leland came to show me the frame he and shirley picked out for the painting i did for their grandson...beautiful...i was humbled and i was again reminded of how lucky we all are to have each other and to have our health. all my prayers go out to my friend shirley as she struggles through this bad time. ...anyway...another thanksgiving has passed and i'm hoping to keep the spirit of thanks and gratitude alive all year through...

happy thanksgiving!

we've been busy taking care of a puppy with a bad tummy...she's on the mend but it's been a struggle..meanwhile i'm working away at my united way project...and LOVING it!!... i haven't been posting much as i've gone along - can't decide if i should or not - i'm at the point where i'm adding some collage aspects and it's tricky going..once they're down, they're down...(i think...i haven't tried to remove any of them)...i'm using acrylic gloss medium to attach things.. and then those things actually become a part of the total piece. exciting...and scary!!!!....we aren't celebrating thanksgiving until saturday so i have tomorrow to work on my house and my project..i think i may do a painting of the irwin gardens home for the show on the 3rd as well...more for me to do in the next week - but what could be more fun????? happy thanksgiving to all!!

getting started...

ok - i'm getting very excited about this project! it's larger than i usually work but i still managed to balance it on my easel. since this is acrylic and mixed media, my process will be a bit different. i plan to get all the local color blocked in - doesn't matter if i place my darks first. the fun thing about acrylic is you can keep going back in and painting over things...i did find that the copper paint i was using wasn't covering the lines of my drawing so i had to go back in with a more opaque paint and then i can go back over with the copper later. there's a lot to do on this -it's going to be "mixed" media...meaning i'm going to try a few things...and most of the work will be in the bag of toys but i wanted to post a bit of the work in progress. i meant to put the drawing first and then the start of the toy bag and then the last one..i still don't have the hang of this blogging stuff!

back home again...

i haven't been able to post for a while...we ran out of our wifi hours in georgia and i couldn't quite get the i phone...it was very hard to type in the right spot! - ..so we left the island on monday...drove about 8 hours and stopped in our favorite doggie motel in murfreesboro tennessee. ruby did well, altho i was frantically following her around so she wouldn't have an accident. we ordered our usual pizza and hit the sack fairly early....and the rain had started...in the morning, as we drove into nashville, we had memories of all the flooding last spring. we almost didn't make it home then - and we almost didn't make it home this time...but not because of the flooding...but yes, because of the rain. we drove through torrential rain - cars were spun out on the side of the road, we hydroplaned several times... we wound our way through an accident that had just happened, marveling that had we been there a few seconds or a few minutes earlier, it may have been us...i am a very careful driver - i like to drive fast but not in bad weather and i really believe in DISTANCE!!!! - and thank GOD! -i could have been turning to talk to davey..i could have wound back the audio book we were listening to...both of which i did often...but for some reason i was staring ahead of me at the road..bad visibility, lots of rain and there in my lane directly ahead was a fed-ex truck - jack-knifed and on it's side - IN MY LANE!!!! and another car between us and the truck and i could not slam on my brakes because of the weather! - i don't know how we managed to stop! - obviously i have things to do here yet on earth because i could so easily have been chatting or looking away for even the briefest of seconds - so we drove on - grateful to be alive - cherishing every moment -GOD is indeed good and our guardian angels were definitely working overtime!!!............so now we have finally re-entered - bills, papers, unpacking, laundry, ruby's first appointment and we find she has parasites...then today all hell broke loose when the neighbor's dogs broke through the fence...sons-a-bitchin bumpuses!!!! tomorrow i start on a huge project. i think i mentioned that linda callahan asked me to do a special santa painting for the room she's decorating at the inn at irwin gardens. there will be a silent auction of 30 pieces of mrs. xenia miller's famous creche collection and all proceeds will go to the united way. my painting will also be up for auction - it's going to be very different and i'm really excited about it - when i finally get to post it - just picture it as 3 feet by 3 feet - BIG!! - and, per linda's request, quite different colors - gotta dash - ruby's calling!

running out of wifi

i'm going to try and use our i phone for future posts - may not work - if so i'll be back next week!

a leisurely read....

da

so here's the start and maybe the finish of this painting of my beach lady. i saw this woman reading on the beach a couple years ago and have been wanting to paint her ever since. we had a nice day on the golf course...once again ceebs and i tied for most improved!! -can't wait to get back out there!! - i plan on doing one more painting and then i'm done for the trip!

shelling....

this is a (maybe) finished painting of my granddaughter tillie on the beach here on the island. she's reaching for a little shell - holding on to her hat in the wind! the shot above is mid-painting - to show a bit of my process. golfed today..the weather was glorious and we drove over to jekyl island to check out their course. we were joined by our friends karl and katie and it was a great day! - complete with 3 alligators and at least 15 deer, some with actual antler racks!!!

taking a break...

i've done and actually sold this painting before...it's of two of my daughter's friend's three little boys...not quite finished with this but took a break to take the dogs to the beach. ruby's not too sure yet....

how i start...

generally speaking...i try and begin my paintings by putting in the darks - often i'll use a colored ground..in this case a warm orange tone...and i like to let a bit of it show through on my finished painting. i'm heading back up to paint while ruby (and davey) are napping!!

lazy morning...

8x10 oil on stretched canvas
this is a cropped image of my magnolia painting. i can't tell if there's a glare on the screen or whether i need to take another look at this painting...it's too cold up there right now to even be outside so i'll wait til it warms up a bit and then check it out and most likely start one of the other paintings i'm planning. it's so nice to be away from home and not have so many obligations and just be able to paint a bit.

and here's ruby - snoozing in her crate...even she's being lazy today and it looks like it may stay that way since it's very COLD!!! - sunny but windy and not even a good day (yet) for painting upstairs on the balcony. we're just relaxing after a night out with friends - a wonderful dinner in a condo overlooking the ocean...beautiful food and good conversation..and a good bit of wine...

am i finished?

just home from a very windy golf day!..my buddy cb and i were vying for most improved on the back...we always do that - and we were so neck and neck the whole way...as it turned out we each improved 5 strokes so it was a tie!!!! we were both thrilled considering the conditions - probably a 3 club wind for most of the day and very cold. my hubby and i didn't really pack for cold -no turtlenecks - it's usually nice here and will be back in the high 70s and maybe 80s by midweek. BUT - i had a fabulous idea strike me and at the turn i grabbed a whole slew of potty paper and wrapped it around my neck - i looked a bit like katherine hepburn in her later years but boy was i warm!!!!!..cheapest scarf i ever had! and good for lots of laughs! not sure about golf tomorrow - it may be windier than today - but it's so protected up on the porch upstairs i'm sure i'll be able to do some more painting. and i can properly photograph my magnolias and post that tomorrow.

a work in progress...

since it was too cold to golf yesterday, i managed to find a little time to start this magnolia painting. this is the land of magnolias, after all, even though they're not blooming at this time of year....during a wakeful part of the night last night, after i took ruby out to go potty, i toyed with the idea of redoing "moon's magnolia", a piece i did several weeks ago...the gallery here really likes magnolia paintings so i'm still undecided..i may finish this one and then do the other and then decide which one i'll frame for the left bank gallery. our plan is for 12:30 golf today...this is such a magical place..i'll try and take some pix from the driving range and the course - the sea island company did a huge and gorgeous overhaul of the cloister and spa..just as the economy went into the tank...and had to file bankruptcy. it's been sold and things should turn out all right for everyone. this is a glorious place and we've been so fortunate to be able to spend time here several times a year....more later...

we've arrived!!!

this is the view from the porch off the master bedroom on the third floor. we'll always have this view because it overlooks the parking lot for the public beach and coast guard station. you can just see the ocean over the trees.

this is the view from the porch off the great room on the second floor. when we bought this home probably 10 years ago, you could see a lot of ocean! - but over time all those houses across the street have spring up - good for the economy, i guess but really bad for the view!!! you can just see a tiny patch of ocean way down at the end of the street. but we love this place - two private pools down there and then the private gate to the beach - we're at the end of the island that's "accreting" - meaning the sand is coming back rather than eroding.

finally!! - it's been maybe 6 months, maybe more, since we've been on our beloved island! - just got in last night after a good trip with the dogs. actually ruby did great in the car for such a long trip - no accidents and slept a lot in her open crate - what a great puppy! - we were planning to golf today but it is mighty cold and even mightier windy!! we may just spend the day settling in and i might even get to do A BIT OF PAINTING...those caps were an accident but actually with that being my focus maybe i'll leave them!

for my friend shirley....

24x18 oil on stretched linen NFS

this is carl - my friend shirley's grandson - playing soccer on his team in plainfield indiana. carl is a stud, as you can see and shirley and her husband leland asked me if i would do a study of him doing what he loves best. years ago, carl's dad rick introduced me to and taught a class in transendental meditation. some time later he taught a class in wine appreciation and then went on to med school - quite a well-balanced career - i'm tickled to be able to do this painting for all of them! we leave in the morning for st. simons. i'm sure hoping to paint while i'm there, but as my friend stephanie (http://www.stephanieberryart.blogspot.com) said: " we see where your time's being spent"..and the sad/happy fact is - yes i'm spending time with my new puppy - i'll reap many rewards later...my painting is suffering a bit but that, too, will pass....

last night...

this is my very fabulous and "ghoul-friendly" hubby...in his own personal get-up

and this is me...you can't really see how awful my hands are...all covered in blood and green skin and black nails.....actually not that different from the every day, now that i think about it.....

well....we almost thought we were over it! - since we haven't been home for maybe 2 out of the last five years, we think some of the folks may have thought we were out of the business of haunting. (in past years, people would drive in from other neighborhoods and then drive off)....as i mentioned, the frenchies were the first ones here and then several other groups - just after 5 - sun shining, birds chirping, the farthest thing from a scary scenario...and then..not much at all for a good long while - we were almost thinking maybe we could hang it up - this monster we've created - but then, things started to happen! - we got lots of kids after dark - one little boy came in and said: "thank heaven's you're back! we missed you!!"...one mom knocked on the door and asked us to turn off the strobe light so her son who has seizures could come up to the house. as they left, we heard her saying" see? now you can go home and tell your dad you went to the witch's house!" a couple of dad's with cameras started howling when the fog machine went off at just the prime moment to scare the bejeezes out of their sons! - i think next year we'll take the camera to the front door so we can get pix of the little goblins like they take pictures of us!!! almost forgot - tillie and ollie came over with their parents for some soup and some haunting... tillie's gotten very brave when she's around the witch but ollie...not so much...he said "gan, i'm not scared of you..i'm scared of the paint!!!"