A Little Bit of Whimsy

If I were clever with a computer I would stitch these three photos together into one delightful whole.  But I'm not clever that way.  You'll have to use your imagination!

Several years ago my dad come home from a visit to Maine with this piece of driftwood, shaped like the drawings above, and said, "This need a little bit of whimsy".  Then he left it in my hands.

This is the preliminary sketch that I came up with.  The driftwood is now painted and hanging on his wall!

Merry Day One!

On this, the most insane shopping day of the entire year, I wanted to remind you all of God's generosity in His gift to us.  Don't forget!  Without the gift of Jesus Christ to redeem us, there'd be no point to anything!

And, yes, the Christmas season is delightful, and heart-warming, and memory filled...and angst filled, and frustration filled, and opportunity filled!  This is day ONE....practice today being still before God.  Practice today calming your heart while you wait in line.  Practice today not losing your cool in traffic.  And tomorrow, get up and do it all over again.  You've got 4 weeks (I think).  Practice copying the character of God!

God's Fingerprints

I'm in the midst of a commission for Christmas (what a great thing to be able to say!), and I have no pics yet, so I'm going to go down memory lane a bit on this blog.  It's a curious thing to do.  I see areas where I've stagnated and haven't improved AT ALL...but then I see great growth!  It's a delightful thing!

I painted this YEARS ago...maybe in 2003?  2004?  I really have no idea.  I called it "God's Fingerprints".  That seemed fitting for a  peacock's feathers!

WAKE UP!

This is the second rooster I've painted in recent months.  The other one seemed to be rejoicing in the morning sun, calling to anyone in ear shot to rejoice with him.  I think this one is perhaps mildly grumpy, and he wishes we'd just GET UP ALREADY!!  Who knew?  I certainly didn't know that when I started painting him!  Evidently paintings can become their own entity, with their own personality!  So, WAKE UP!!!

Forgetfulness

"Freedom"

6" x 6"

Oil on canvas panel

So, today is Veteran's Day.  And I completely forgot.  COMPLETELY.  I live in a county where it's not a school holiday, so I missed out on that little reminder.  I even went to the post office, but I only drove through the little drop-off lane, so that didn't even clue me in.  I finally figured it out when I tried to go to the bank.

This afternoon, as I put this new little painting in a frame I was reminded (again) that this country is a FANTASTIC place to live.  God has been good and kind.  And I am thankful.

So, to those of you who have served in any of our military branches, I'm sorry I forgot...and thank you!

From the Archives

Oh my word!!  This is so old!  I think I painted it all the way back in 2004.  That feels like eons ago.  I have no idea why I painted a ginormous pot of spaghetti sauce.  The colors are fantastic, though, aren't they?

More recently, I've painted three small oils, but they're still wet so getting a good pic of them is sketchy.  It'll have to wait another couple of days.

Oh, and remember me saying that I was going to fill that sketch book before the end of the year?  Well, I forgot.  Chop!  Chop!  I'd better get crackin' if I expect to finish!

From A Thankful Heart

Evidently there's ANOTHER gnarly tree that I forgot about!

Really, the whole point of this post is to THANK YOU.  To all of you who came to the art sale, it was a delight to see you!  Watching people go from wall to wall...from print bin to print bin...asking questions about how something was painted...it was a great day!  Many of my favorites actually walked out the door underneath someone else's arm, and it just made me grin!  Thank you!