'Tis the Season!

Ready or not ~ the Christmas Season is upon us!

Click here for Great Gift Ideas!

I haven't done a whole lot this year (yet) to get ready for the season. It seems that it is one of the busiest times of the year.... and yet, also one of the most joyous holidays that we celebrate.

To help with some gift-giving ideas, I've put together a web page of beautiful, artistic gifts. From stocking stuffers to decorative painted bowls to one-of-a-kind small original oil paintings.... the perfect idea for someone special! And you can make your selections right from home.... see it all conveniently placed on 1 page! I've included a few discounts as well!

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And I hope you will take a minute to sign up for my Google Group here at the right side of my blog so you get the newest announcements as they become available!

Recalling our blessings ~

Hollyhock Stalks in Bloom, 8x8" Oil on canvas 

 

 SOLD

 

Happy Thanksgiving! Here in the United States, we celebrate this holiday every year - the 4th Thursday of November. It is a holiday, which if celebrated in the spirit of its inception, is a time to gather as family and friends and recall the blessings of God in our year and in our lives. It is also a time when, as we give thanks for all our many blessings, to have generous spirits for the needs of others. Of course, not all of us think deeply about this holiday.... it has become commercialized and common to us. But perhaps, now - in more difficult times - this holiday is a time to come back to the reasons we celebrate. To offer thanks to God for all he has done for us - as a nation, as a family, and individually, and to offer generosity to those around us. The painting above is a smallish painting - in preparation for an anticipated commission. It is a bit old fashioned in its subject matter. Hollyhocks are often associated with by gone times. But it is presented in a more contemporary way. I'll keep you posted as to the commission!

Purple Lace

Purple Kale, 7.5 x 11" watercolor on paper

This beautiful plant, which seems the most beautiful in the fall, caught my eye. I wanted to show its abstract qualities and also its beautiful color. It is a watercolor on paper - and has a few areas of acrylic touched in to enhance its vibrant color. 

Fallscape Finally Finished ~

Fallscape, 10.5 x 12" Oil on canvas

This has taken awhile to dry, but here it is. I took the reference photo from a nearby city park. The colors in the tree were indescribable - they ranged from a very greenish yellow to a near orange. I also liked the darker green tree behind - it really caused the yellow one to pop!

Old Fashioned Hollyhock

Pink Hollyhock, 6x6" oil on canvas

Yes... I have been at work in my studio, although it has been difficult be consistent these last few weeks due to many other demands. Here's a small painting that is a preparation for a larger one to be done. I thought the colors in the center and the white veining was really beautiful!

Progress continues...

Fall Landscape - still in progress

I'm nearing the finish line on this one. I realized ... its been awhile since I've worked on landscapes - and I think there is a certain fluency that you develop as you work in a genre repeatedly. So, I've needed to rework and rethink on several occasions. Ah - such is the inexact art of art! I hope to have it finished - finally - this week!

A W.I.P. during a crazy week

Landscape - a work in progress

I've been working .... but in between 1,000 other intrusions in my week, it seems. All in all, its frustrating when I know what I'd like to be doing but definitely am not able to do much of it!
I'm hoping after today the week settles down a little and I can work in my studio with more focus.

Anyway - this is a little landscape in progress - about 10 x 12 inches or so (I haven't measured it yet, and its a canvas I made a LONG time ago!) The beauty of fall has finally come - very late this year - and the colors always beckon to me! I'm trying to push the colors a bit - and yet struggling not to have them become acidic. Well - I'll keep you posted!

Little Surprises!

Marigold, 5x7" Oil on canvas 

 

SOLD

 

Finally, dry enough to scan and post! I took the reference photo, and for the first time ever, I saw the most interesting aspects to this very common flower. I painted it as I saw it ... and I hope you can see it too - many of the petals actually have small hair-like appendages on the tips. I probably wouldn't have seen that with my own eyes - but the camera did, and I thought that was a wonderful little surprise! Of course, my painting of it didn't capture it as well as the camera did. To me - this little painting is a celebration of yellows and rust colors - of sunlight and shadow - and of those little hair like things on the tips of leaves that I never knew were there before! Makes me think and wonder - what other surprises await our closer investigation of common things! I'm pretty sure that God, the creator of all things, must enjoy our enjoyment of " little surprises"!