"One Shoe...Blue Shoe"

original oil on 6x6 gallery wrap canvas
so today is the dreaded "tax" day....the day we get organized to hand our taxes over to our accountant....and, according to my hubby, unless i get my work done, i can't paint!...SO!...i've been sitting at my desk for the past two hours...working on my taxes!! - i don't have a computer program to keep track of all my stuff...just my trusty notebook! will i ever get dragged, kicking and screaming, into he 21st century?...my eyeballs needed a rest so i'm having lunch and thought i'd post one of the small paintings i've completed in the past few days.

carol marine's challange..

6x6 oil on canvas panel
here's my rendition of this week's challenge -we were supposed to put one stroke down and leave it and mix another stroke, put it down, etc. ...the object was not to noodle so much -to keep the paint fresher...this is hard for me - i tend to go back and rework things - STOP THAT!!! - i'm heading back to the studio to try and finish the mary cassatt works ...i may do another one - i love her so much!

back to the studio...and mary cassatt...

i'm finally back to work! - the picture on top is the one i'm copying...and then my painting is below...as i look at this through the camera's eyes i can see some things i need to fix - i neeed to adjust the values for one thing...plus she has a unique, sad and pouty look and i'm trying to capture that! - i found a book on mary cassatt i had around here and it shows a big close-up of breakfast in bed...i've been agonizing over that one and, after seeing her art so close, i think i know which way to go. she was actually very loose and used a tremendous amount of color...i'll work more on that tomorrow. i've also done a few small pieces - i need to wait til it stops raining so i can photograph them on the tripod. too blurry!..i'm trying to paint some new things for my opening the first of april. i don't know if i mentioned that i will be doing a one-woman show and it's thrilling but nerve-wracking all at once!..i had a good day today - i love this painting - at least i will when it's finished - mary was quite something - and my inspiration at the moment!!!

zippo challenge...and other stuff...

6x6 oil on panel

so here's the latest weekly challenge - this comes from michael naples (you can access his site from the list on the right)..he was so helpful and encouraging to me when i first started this journey! - he's a member of the daily painters and they are providing a challenge a week - i actually missed this one because we were on our golf trip to doral...carol marine's issued this week's challenge - single stroke painting. we're supposed to paint something - whatever we choose - and put down a stroke and leave it - this will be good for me - i tend to go back and rework things - what they call "licking" - oftentimes this is death to a painting because it can take the life right out of it...so i'm looking forward to this! - we have to go to a calling today - the second in as many days...we lost two good people this week - my friend and fellow artist, catherine burris and a wonderful educator and athlete, steve hollenbeck. so sad and such losses for the community! ... maybe tomorrow i can describe a bit more about our trip and maybe find some pics. we took some videos but i'm not sure i know how to do that - we'll see...

what a mess!!

ok - so we're home from our trip - i had to cancel my tennis match because of re-entry issues...picking up dogs, having a new garage door installed, going through mail...housework...laundry...and then - to finish off our day - i get home from errands and find that the phone, cable and internet is all down!!! - i felt like there was some sort of conspiracy going on - you know...get everyone to rely on comcast for everything and then jerk it all and you're at their mercy. that's what it feels like - nobody can get here til tomorrow - we do have electricity so maybe i can do some painting yet... i'll tell more about the trip tomorrow - i'm on my verizon chip and i can't use up too much time.

today...the blue monster!!

i haven't even taken a photo yet...davey's gotten a couple - we're having such fun - discovered last night that if you go to joe's crab shack in miami beach...and they take your name and say you have a two hour wait...you can go next door to the take away area and order and buy a bottle of wine and sit at one of the tables - no waiters..no dark atmosphere..but the same food and i felt like i was stealing something!!! -off to play the blue monster today - the last of our courses - the pros play it in two weeks and it will be great fun to watch that after having just played it@!!

taking a break...

i did a bit of painting yesterday...trying to finish my copy of mary cassatt's "breakfast in bed"...so i can varnish it and be done. i have so many half-finished and unfinished pieces up there...and...we're heading to doral in miami on saturday so i'm busy packing and organizing. taking my laptop so i can post some pictures of the gorgeous golf courses we'll be playing. not sure if i'll get to my studio anymore at all for the next week so i'll be dying to get back at it by then!

carol marine's 10 minute challenge..

this week's challenge was to do 8 ten minute paintings of any object from life. you have to use a timer and when it goes off, you're DONE! - this is great practice and i learned a lot. i used different colored papers under my pear and turned it around a bit - on the last one i used a reflective paper and i thought that was neat. the object was to really look at values and shapes and paint what you see. i used 2 6x6 panels and divided each into four areas so the whole piece is 6x12. as i mentioned earlier - you can go to daily paint works to see all the entries - last i looked there were almost 200...i've been a bit tardy in doing mine but i really wanted to get to it before the next challenge so i won't get too far behind!

whew!!!

it's almost two p.m.....and the kids all just left...we spent time scurrying around to tidy up the house before pappper gets home from saving lives...and did it ever need tidying!!! but that's what happens when you're having fun. this morning tillie, ols, joe and i all had a rousing game of rummykub....joe, who's 3 and a half, mostly played along and did what we told him to do but tillie (8) and ollie (5) are really quite good! we played and played and got down to not many tiles left to choose from and finally oliver won!! the little sh%#*t!!...we watched movies, did puzzles, played games and generally had a great time..and i'm enzausted (as my kids used to say),,so no painting today...resting and watching the IU game. back to the studio tomorrow for sure!!!

blue nude

14x11 oil on stretched canvas
this is the other painting i did yesterday..or was it wednesday?...i'm not sure it's done but i had a great time with it! - today a tennis match in indy and tonight a sleepover with 3 of my grands...what fun we will have!!!!

i couldn't stand it....

so i've been working on my bathroom redo...picking out tiles..talking to people...really getting excited! but i also HAD to get back to painting today...my studio's not done but i had to! - i did a small flower study with pallette knife and a blue nude. i posted the flower today but now i have to go and eat dinner....my hubby's been patiently waiting!!

making progress...but who can tell!

so here's what i'm contending with!!! MY SPACE IS SUCH A DISASTER!! (didn't mean to do caps but thought it was fitting)...i've spent hours and hours on my project - first of all i went through my reference books to figure out which ones i have to have and can't part with...the rest i'm giving to the new senior center. i'm also going through maybe 20 years of three art magazines, culling the articles i need to keep and then the rest will go to the center. i've gotten all my paints on that one table...watercolors, acrylic and oils...the boxes of pastels are in a closet in another room, along with frames and stretcher bars. i've spent hours going through my reference photos, trying to throw some away but it's hard for me. i will get there!! - my friend lillian suggested i do a painting of the mess. i couldn't figure out how to encorporate the whole room and then i thought i might just throw some stuff together and take a few pics and think on it...we'll see...as i look at this photo i can see it needs to be a little better designed. i also want to do carol marine's latest challenge but i have to do one or two more good days of work before i'll allow myself back to the easel. you can see last week's challenge at www.dailypaintworks.com ...i think there were 80 entries last time i looked. this challenge is for us to do 8 ten-minute paintings of one single object. should be fun! ok - onward and upward!! and my nubby is so happy for his pack!! great game and now we can get ready for golf!

bummer...

ever have a day when nothing turned out the way you wanted it ?? that's the way things have been going in my studio lately. i totally reworked the nude i had on the easel and you know what they say..."it's never done til it's over-done"....well i over did it...and all i can do at this point is trash it! - i also discovered, while searching for something for what seemed like hours on end, that i have serious organizational work to do up there. every workshop i've ever taken...every video i've watched...every book i've read...all have one thing in common - an organized work space! - and anyone who's ever been in my house can attest to the general clutter! - i love to have interesting things around me - mementos, gifts from children and friends, antique shop finds, you name it. my studio is a disaster. i have a zillion refence books on watercolor, pastel, oil, mixed media, etc... i'm always cutting out things for reference, saving bits of this and that in case i ever get into collage...every issue of all the art magazines i've ever taken is up there..shoved in cubbies, piled in stacks..i'm not even going to try and count the tubes of paint...and i just ordered more, of course!! so the bottom line is this: i'm going to take a few days and really "work in my studio" in stead of the way i usually "work in my studio"...i'll report on my progress! and wish me luck!

carol marine's challange..

i think i'm finally finished with the first carol marine painting challenge (http://www.carolmarine.blogspot.com/). it's a rear view of a vintage chrysler imperial and i think we actually owned one when i was growing up! i wiped my first one and then reworked my second attempt and i'm thinking i need to move on. there are a ton of entries..and there's no prize - it's just a chance to respond to a weekly challenge and i'm psyched for it!!! i also did a little figure study which i'll post tomorrow...meanwhile!!!!......our hoosiers won again!!!!! - and we weren't there!!! - the roads were so bad we were not allowed to travel to bloomington, according to the state police...so rats..but yeah!@!!!!!

3 color cloud study

big sky 6x6 oil on panel
today we had the threat of a big ice storm hanging over our heads so i went out to my car to get ready for tennis and i saw that my car was totally iced over and i almost killed myself on the way out there!! you know when your feet fly out from under you and you fall or nearly fall on your bodoon?? i am so agile for a 65 year old so i caught myself and thanked my guardian angel and promptly went in to call and cancel tennis!....had the day unexpectedly to myself so i plunged into my art!! - so today i wanted to do a cloud study. i have some panels that i gessoed earlier so this has lots of texture in it. maybe too much, as i look at it, maybe not.. but a good chance to practice...i also wanted to work with a limited palette so this was done with just ultramarine blue, cad red medium and lemon yellow. titanium white, also of course. you can make all the colors you need with just the three primaries. i intend to try lots of different combos of the primaries...maybe cobalt blue, light red and yellow ochre, maybe cad red light, cad yellow light and ultra or cobalt or maybe even cerulean blue...i love the combo of hansa yellow and quinacidrone red...very good for sunsets but i've never done a whole painting with just those two plus blue...lots to look forward to!!!!

view from the "W"..in progress..

i'm trying to portray the cavernous feel of new york city..not sure i'm there yet but this has been fun to work on. this might be looking down broadway and i love all the bright signage everywhere. my hubby's finally on the mend..although he's still wearing his t-shirt that says "i'm not out of the woods yet"...it's come in very handy over the years...

times square..(i think)..

so i finally got back to my studio - i finished quang ho's video on the still life and you'd think i'd go straight up and do a still life..and i will...soon...i have lots of subject matter to choose from - but i have to figure out the lighting situation. when i started this daily blog, i set up very small things and i used a spotlight but i'm trying to find a way to use natural lighting and still be able to see what i'm doing. that will take some working on...in the meantime, and i'm sorry for the glare, this is from a photo i took on our trip to new york about a year ago. we stayed right on times square in the "w" ..a neat place to stay but not very roomy. they had a mirror stretching across most of the room, behind the bed, and i couldn't figure out why i looked so terrible in everything i tried on. then i realized: it was a "fat" mirror. you know how some mirrors are "skinny" mirrors and you could just stand in front of them all day??? not so much this one! so i figured i could eat anything i wanted because it was just the mirror, after all....anyway - this is not a view of times square - i know i have a couple photos of that but i think this is looking down one of the streets leading from times square. i'm not finished but i kind of like how it's falling together - loose and looser...

my sick boy...

well - i haven't done any more work on tillie and ols but i did a little project for my friend sukey today - i feel like i'm still totally immersed in art because my second batch of quang ho's videos arrived and i've been watching the one on still life...mesmerizing...i can't wait to get at it! - the problem is..i have so many things i want to try and i just need to get started...practice practice!! - i spent yesterday unpacking my package from jerry's (whee..it was like christmas!!) and organizing my paints and brushes a bit...also starting to think about the redo on the bathroom and met some nice people at lee's supply...don't give me too many decisions though...sometimes i can't decide what to order when we go out for dinner...not sure i'll get to the studio tomorrow because i have a tennis match - plan to stop at the downtown midland to work on my wall there since i sold my lady in the hat. most of all...i need to be sure my hubby's ok - he came home sick from the ER yesterday and he's been sick all day today - we're finally going to try some good ol chicken noodle soup...here's hoping!!

tils and ols..

ok - so i'm still working on these guys...i like ollie better but tillie's still not quite there...she's very angular and i don't have things the way i need them to be...more work tomorrow...meanwhile, linda callahan came by yesterday and made a cd of several paintings to show her client...hopefully we can find a fit! - and the best part:...a huge box arrived today from jerry's artarama!!! yeah@!!!!!

starting tillie and a bit more of ollie...

spent some time in my studio this morning because this afternoon holds nothing but sports! - hoosiers play at 3 and then the playoffs so i needed to get crackin!! i'm liking ollie a bit better - i softened and shortened his chin and that helped a lot. starting on tillie - they both have very angular faces, tillie in particular.. and it's tricky to capture the chin, the nose, all the angles - without making them look too old...i'm really working on getting the right drawing, shapes, proportions...color is a sidenote in these studies...ok - so off to the ballgames!

today i wanted to do a study using a lot of paint and not a lot of blending. this is a painting of my grandson ollie - i'm thinking this is what he'll look like in a few years. it's hard with kids not to get too angular and that's what's happening here...i'll work more on this tomorrow - i have a whole bunch of paint out and it's fun...can't wait to get back up there!!.....i want to give kudos to my daughter boogie. she participated in the "bop to the top" this morning! the "bop" is an annual RUN/WALK/CRAWL up 37 flights of stairs in the AUL building in indianpolis. boogs did this 2 years ago and really wanted to beat her time from then..and she did! - by a good margin!! - she's been training for this for weeks and she's so happy it's over! - it's very hard on the lungs, not to mention the rest of the body. so we are very proud of her!!! way to go, boogs!~!!!!

no painting today...

in keeping with my new year's resolution of doing something art-related every day...i spent a whole bunch of time ordering from jerry's this afternoon. plus i'm getting ready to finish a video i'm in the middle of...but most importantly...i spent some time gathering images. my friend linda callahan has a client who wants to hang several of my pieces in a hallway overlooking a stairway i think...anyway..she's only choosing giclees (digital prints, most likely on canvas) so she can get the most bang for her buck. linda's coming over tomorrow to take several for her to choose from. i'm excited and hopeful at the same time!!

sneaking up...

i'm sneaking up on them...i would love to stage a scene like this, using my kids and grandkids - and give it a go! actually all of my grands are too old to stage this - bummer! - anyway - i'm having a lot of fun, trying to mimic her brushstrokes and color ..it's been a long time since i saw this in person at the chicago art museum so i can't really remember..but i think she painted rather thickly - i think the underpainting of cool color worked as i painted over in warm flesh tones..there is so much color in her skintones..remarkable!! anyway - i'll let this rest for a day or two and go back and see what else i need to do. i have a couple other cassatt images i may tackle. NEWSFLASH: i just found out i'll be doing the last one-person show at bob anderson's stillframes gallery - that will be in april and i have much to do to prepare. i have enough pieces right now to hang a show but i sure want to do some new work especially for this opening. should be good incentive!

breakfast in bed..by mary cassatt...in progress...

so this is what i've been doing this afternoon...it's always such a good thing to copy the old masters because you learn so much...remember the vangogh sunflowers i did? - and actually i've done "breakfast in bed" before which i sold.....but that was several years ago and i'm thinking i'd like another crack at it! - mary cassatt was such a fabulous artist - i'm not sure if she started off with cool colors under her skin tones but that's what i'm doing here. the first image is her painting..then my start - getting the drawing in and starting the darks...then the cool undertones of the skin...may work, may not...but i'm thinking it will...i'm rather sneaking up on this and i'm having a lot of fun!!!..the reason it looks so strange is i completely lost track of time...(davey says i do that a lot..)...and i had to quit very abruptly so their faces are so unfinished...be patient...i'm hoping tomorrow will be good...!!

grand canyon study

6x8 oil on canvas panel

so i started the edgar payne book...it will be fantastical!!! - just getting started and so much to cram in my head - i feel like i'm in school again!...anyway - i wanted to get to the studio this morning because of the games today so i started another study of the girl from yesterday. i worked for a while and then took a break for lunch and when the bears game appeared to be a blowout, i trotted back up there to finish the piece. but....it was not working so i wiped it!!!decided to do a landscape piece instead because that's what i've been reading about...so i searched through some photos and found several from many years ago. we visited the grand canyon with our good friends tim and katie and i took lots of pics! - i did this small study..of the grand canyon...oxymoron?...i quite like how it turned out and i think i may do a larger piece one of these days for the gallery. fun day - now to the jets - patriots game which has already started AND to a glass of wine!!

study...

6x6 oil on panel
so yesterday was a very good day!!...first of all, i wanted to do a portrait study...i have so many images around and not having the luxury of a live model to work with..( by far the best scenario)...i looked through my stuff and found this exotic looking gal from an old anthology catalogue. she has a very unique look and i may just paint her over and over to see what happens. also, my edgar payne book "composition of outdoor painting" arrived yesterday..and i've really been anxious to get into that. it was written in 1941 and i can tell i'm going to absolutely love it! i have so much to learn and the principles of outdoor painting apply to every other type of painting and so i'll dive in soon!...also we went to a delicious dinner with good friends before the IU game - and we finally got a win!!!!! - they played great defense and pruduced enough offense to pull it out. the best part was that they withstood michigan's late rally and in past games they just faded...couldn't get over the hump. now they know they can and we're looking forward to the next game!!...and then, to top things off, when we got home there was a check in the mail from midland in carmel. i sold "missed opportunity", my painting of the lady in the hat. it's bitter-sweet because we were about to bring that one home and hang it over the fireplace cause davey loved it so much. ah well - at least it's found a good home and someone else is hanging it...perhaps over their fireplace?...... plus, i forgot, the pack won!!! my hubby's a happy boy!!! - looking forward to today's games - after i've painted of course!!! ("christmas vacation", anybody?)

first project

mountain stream study 6x6 oil on panel

today i tried three things: i wanted to practice tonal painting so i started with 3 values (or tones)- darkish, medium and lightish - hopefully it shows that in the first photo ( for some reason my photos are a bit glary!)..and then i wanted to maintain those values throughout the painting. i also used a limited palette: light red, yellow ochre and cobalt blue - plus black. i found a big tube of zinc white which i don't think i've ever used so i wanted to experiment with that. not so sure about the zinc white! - not so crazy about the consistency.... not wanting things to go to waste, however..(remember the starving children in china?)...i may just try it again. i'm planning to go through a lot of paint this year so maybe i need to use that up to get rid of it! (waste not want not...) i could work on this more this afternoon but i think i got out of the exercise what i needed and i may go on to something else! we're kind of snowed in today so i may just head back up there! - finished my quang ho dvd and i must say he is something - i love his philosophy and he has so much to offer!

i forgot to mention..

i plan to keep a diary of the journey i'm on - so i'll try and post as many of the practice pieces i can...sort of like starting over with my daily painting series - only with a more purposeful intention! i'm sure there will be some real losers but that will be fun too - wish me luck!

i'm getting excited....

i've decided this will be the year i get better!!..and to that end, i've spent the last several days reading, studying, ...yesterday and today i've been viewing my new video by Quang Ho..one of the artist's recommended by david slonim...boy is he good!! i am so excited to get started - but i think i need to order some student grade paint to use for practice - i really don't know if this would be a good thing - they always say " use the best quality paints and brushes you can afford"..but i intend to go through a lot of paint in this next year and i may have to think about the frugality of things...ive been through kevin macpherson's new book and he lays out a bunch of exercises - more grist for my mill...i'm thinking if i'm just doing practice exercises and not intending to sell the pieces, i might as well use student grade paint, right? but sometimes wonderful things happen along the way so would it be fair to use lesser grade paint? im at a loss! i'm posting a couple studies i did last week - they need work but they were fun to do..this one above is a ballerina tying her shoe - very loose...but fun

will and lucy...

...
here is my rendition of will and lucy at the beach...i had to work a bit because for some reason lucy was looking more like my daughter jen than her own self! she's better now! we're welcoming in the new year rather quietly - didn't even stay up to see that ball drop..but then again, we almost never do@! easing into 2011 but i have big plans for getting back to painting on a more regular basis - i've just ordered a couple dvds and books - hope it won't be information overload! happy new year!

happy new year...almost...

we have had quite the time!!!...first the prep...pounding, flattening, rolling up and otherwise preparing chicken breasts...and then the feast.....imagine seven adults, five children and three golden retrievers...all gathered on sunday to celebrate christmas. of course the kids had to open their gifts right off the bat...keeping the dogs at bay as best we could. they had a high old time and then went off to play and wreak havoc on the house...this time the flat screen in the basement was spared!!) the colts game started at 4 so we decided to do our presents at half time and then eat dinner after the game...more time for rummykub for the girls, of course....so it was COLD!!! - and the guys were snuggled on the porch, smoking cigars and drinking beer and scotch and wrapped in hats, coats and blankets..what a hoot! when it came time to start up the deep fryer, the guys realized we hadn't thawed the peanut oil left over from thanksgiving (did i mention it was cold?)...and things were just not working! - water and oil don't mix, after all...so the girls ran out to get more oil and we poured out the old and started over. we sat down (quite late) to our chicken kiev..our christmas dinner tradition...what a wonderful feast with all the trimmings and the dishes and pots and pans that go with. i always use my good china at christmas...hand washable......so we wake up monday morning - and after the dogs come in from their morning ablutions in the back yard, we notice ruby's not acting quite right...drinking lots of water and nuzzling me even more than usual. then i smelled her breath. the tell-tale scent of peanut oil with just a hint of kiev told me all i needed to know! - what on earth?...then we found a pan of oil on the ground - part of the first batch that had been poured out and she apparently helped herself! - think about how good a greasy meal is going down and then how bad your tummy can feel later...times twenty five, i'm thinking!!! i won't go into the gorey details but she threw up in the family room - BIG time - and then had continual little grease burps all over the kitchen, where i decided to contain her. then she had huge outside explosions..from both ends...and i finally called the vet. davey had gone off to work of course and i had the whole aftermath of the feast to deal with...a task i usually relish because i take my time and remember all the fun...but with a sick doggie?? - thank heavens she's all right and back to her wild and raucous self, dragging things around...and i'm cutting this short (*short?) because she's at this moment trying to climb up in my chair with me. i'm going to start posting the kids pics. the one above is baby joey - from their christmas card. and as an after thought i 've added some pics of my grands from our thanksgiving gathering...the first is their thoughtful pose and the second their normal pose....here's to a happy and healthy 2011!!!

been a while..

i have been sick, sick, sick!!! it's been so long since i really caught something and this time the zycam didn't work. i think if i'd gotten up in the middle of the night about 10 days ago to take a dose i might have warded it off ....but i didn't want to wake ruby...my bad! - but i have managed to get some stuff done - i'm almost finished with my kids' paintings - i don't want to post anything til after sunday and i need to tweak the one of will and lucy - almost done with everything else...and looking forward to gathering!!

party time!!!

heading to the annual couples' christmas party tonight...we've been doing this so long and it's always the best time!!...it started very small in the 70's and back then the hosts did all the cooking..a very special meal because you only had to do it every five years!..over the years we've added folks and lost folks and along the way we got smart and started to have it...TA DA...catered!!!!! very smart!! but we still dress up and bring gifts and share an evening with wonderful friends at this special time of year!!....i am hoping i can fire up a bit...i really worked hard today - i stretched 5 giclees of my santa - hard on my back and on my hands but it had to be done - i need to get those embellished and into the hands of the new owners soon. getting ready to watch IU play the evil kentucky...wouldn't a miracle be nice???

now..on to christmas!!

this is where my snow painting was placed for the event. i really love this frame!

...linda and i in front of the fireplace and this gives you an idea of the scale of my santa. the event was lots of fun - they had over 100 people there - got to meet some new people and catch up with old friends...there was a warm tent set up for desserts and drinks and chef gregory's hors d'oeurves were passed throughout the evening. all the creches and my santa were up for silent auction and i think we made a nice amount for the united way, even though the final tally was a bit less than they had hoped. sign of the times, i'm sure. john and susan nash purchased my santa and i hope to go over and see him when he joins their other santas. all in all, it was an exciting time and hopefully a profitable night for the united way. and now...on to christmas!!! - i'm doing some things for my family and so i can't post here until after they open their presents...probably a day or so after christmas when we all gather. if i don't have a chance to do any more posting, i want to wish eveyone a very happy and holy christmas!!!

tonight's the night....

this is the first creche that zinnia miller found...the one that started it all....a very small piece but probably valuable in it's distinction of going first.

another of the many creches to be auctioned off tonight. some folks haven't heard of the word creche before...actually i think it's from the russion and it means manger scene so there is much variety in the pieces to be found. each of the decorator's rooms holds three of creches and there will be a silent auction starting at 7:30 tonight. i have my eye on one or two but the bidding may get to be a bit steep...we'll have to see...

this is where my santa hangs. claudia's florabunda helped and i love how they've decorated the mantel - including little peacock feathers - the room is gorgeous - linda has such a good eye - i must mention that connie skyrme is also participating with her painted furniture... anyway - i forgot to take a picture of my winter garden piece as it hangs on the wall but if you're facing the fireplace it's behind and to the left of where you stand, on the wall the faces the street. i'll try and remember to photograph it when i get there. i'm a bit nervous...but it should be fun - and of course i'm hoping the bidding for my santa ALSO gets a bit steep!

getting close...

18x24 oil on canvas

so here's the irwin house on a snowy day...straight out of my imagination because for one thing, the regular folk are never allowed back there...the gates are usually locked...this place has the most wonderful gardens and folks flock there to get married, take pictures, just browse or whatever...but only during the hours it's been open. now this wonderful old home has been turned into a bed and breakfast and i'm not really sure what the deal is with the garden but the inside is gorgeous...and several decorators are doing up the rooms royally...just in time for santa and christmas and the coming of baby Jesus...there will be creches available friday night at auction along with pieces donated by local artists...(moi included...)...so this will be fun - i'll try and take pics of the event to post later...the photo above is a bit glarey (and a bit lopsided i fear)but i hope it says "winter"!

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....