Almost Dry

Oh my!!  I haven't touched my oil paints in so long!  And this was so very delightful to paint!  I have been reveling in God's kindness!  It's a small-ish guy... only 8"x10".  I didn't want to set too huge a goal for myself, since I haven't painted with my oil paints in months.  But this went so very quickly. Did I already say it?  I'm reveling in God's kindness!

I'm calling it "Garden Glory."

Thank You, My Father!

Time Is Not My Friend!

Clearly it's been MONTHS since I last posted anything on here.  And because of that I FORGOT HOW TO POST!  Pathetic, I know.  I asked Murphy, and he told me what I needed to do, and then I let too much time go by AGAIN, and I FORGOT AGAIN! I'm heaving a huge sigh here.

But this time I figured it out!  I can only say it was because of the kindness of my God!  So, thank You, Lord Jesus!!

This painting was done for a lovely lady way back in February of last year.  My hubby and I drove around our area, exploring all kinds of back roads, all to get the perfect reference pic.  Which was not a hardship!  We live in such a beautiful part of the world!  I am thankful for that!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

Over the years our collection of  Christmas decorations has gotten smaller and smaller and smaller.  That's because there wasn't much quality in the collection, and things broke, or got munched, or faded... and so I threw things away.  The problem is, I didn't replace them.  So the house has looked less and less festive as the years have gone by.

Well, this year I decided I wanted to do something about it.  Among other things, I've added this group of tiny canvases.  They're 4" square, and each letter stands on it's own tiny easel.  I got out my calligraphy books and dug around for a font that I thought was fitting, and then sketched out the letters on paper to begin with (because I've LEARNED that when I don't have a PLAN, things very quickly go awry).  I think I'm going to paint over the blue diamonds in the letter "N"... either that, or add blue diamonds to the other letters. Other than that I'm pleased.

Merry Christmas everyone!!  Celebrate Christ's birth!!!

Just a Little Bit of Work

I received a small commission not long ago, and found myself surprised at how LONG it took me to complete!  What on earth?!  This is a tiny little painting, but it took FOREVER to find the right reference photo, and then I sketched... and re-sketched... and re-sketched.  Somewhere in my mind I still believe that all the other artists in the world just whip out their brushes and come up with a masterpiece without any effort at all.  IT'S NOT TRUE.  I gotta keep reminding myself of that!!

Anyhow, you see the final sketch, and now here's the finished product.  A fun little oil with fabulous colors.  I love the color choices God made when He put flowers together!

Finally!

Remember this?  I posted progress pics awhile ago, and couldn't post the final image until now... because it was a Christmas present, and it was a surprise... and wouldn't it be awful if I posted it and ruined the surprise?

So, here's the finished product:

And the recipient is pleased!  I'm so glad.  There's a wicked voice that lives way back in the back of my head, and it likes to whisper that I'm really not any good at this.  Be silent, wicked voice.  I am measured by the love of my Savior, and it's His approval I live for.

In Process

Yes, that's one doggone bright yellow canvas!  I thought I'd show you what you do when you've got a BIG canvas to paint, and it's getting a wee bit chilly to paint in the garage:  You improvise!  Well, really, you ask your husband to improvise, because he's much handier with a screw gun!

So this is where I'm spending a great deal of time... and all with OIL paint, which is just delightful beyond words.  I really don't know if I can express how much I LOVE painting with oils!

Next, the pencil drawing, which you really can't see.  Then some outlines of the foreground.  And then the beginning.  Here's where the house starts to smell strange.

I've reached the point in life where my son can take some pretty decent pics.  So, these days when he comes home from school, I say, "How-was-your-day-will-you-take-some-pics-for-me?"  In this instance he also took a bunch of pics from funky angles that made my brain sort of hurt.   I chose to show you the ones where you can actually tell what's going on!!

Can you tell the sky changed?  I painted that initial swatch of blue and white and then laid in bed thinking, "what was I thinking?"  So a couple of days later, I edited.  And once I was content with the sky, I was able to move on to the Peak.  It got edited too... you'll see...

Can you see the edit?  The darks in the Peak were a bit too dark to please me.  Not a lot.  But when something isn't quite right, you really can't sleep.  Really.

That's all for now!  I'm THOROUGHLY LOVING THIS!!  I tell my musical friends it's like hitting that perfect note, with the perfect tone, and a lung full of volume.  And I tell my writer friends it's like coming up with just the right string of words... poignant, lovely, unique.

I'll show you the final thing in a few days (providing I don't lay in bed one night and decide that the whole thing is wrong!!).

Bed Head

If you saw a rumpled up rooster, wouldn't you call him Bed Head?  Honestly, I couldn't help myself!!

This was GREAT FUN to paint!  He's just 6" square, and fits in a lovely black floater frame.  I was going to take progress pics, but then I got all consumed and completely forgot!  So all I've got is the very beginning.

My hubby came home and said something like, "you've got some green in there...", like maybe it was a mistake.  But no!!  IT WAS ON PURPOSE!  A rooster's neck just begs for a splotch of inappropriate color!

Pulling Out the Oils

"UNDER FOOT"

"FADING FAST"

The other day I pulled out my oils to do a chicken for a friend (I'll post him later), and OF COURSE, I couldn't waste the left over paint!  So I played and came up with these.  We're just coming to the end of our fall colors, and I've taken a plethora (love that word) of reference photos.  We'll see if I can wrangle my self-doubt long enough to paint a few more!  It was great fun.  I dearly love painting with oils!

Blown Away

"Blown Away"

10" x  20"

Oil on canvas

Oh, how I love painting with oils!  They blend so delightfully.  They move so smoothly.  They stay workable for so long!  No fast-drying sticky brushes.  It's a delight to play with them again.

As I drove home the other day, the wind was whipping about, and the leaves were flying along in front of my car...and I thought, 'wouldn't that make a lovely painting?'  For this canvas I actually gathered aspen leaves from my yard and brought them in and taped them to my easel (my hubby laughed at that).  We're actually getting RED this year!  That's not overly common with aspen trees.  Reveling in the colors was a gift from our Generous God!!

(Psst....you can make the image larger by clicking on it.)

And the Elephants are Finished!

Just a few in-progress shots for you.  The initial sketch went on some craft paper (the largest paper I've got).  I inherited this fantastic roll from my grandfather, and it comes in very handy for big pieces!

Then I transferred the drawing onto the canvas...I had to ask a friend HOW to do that, because I didn't have a clue.  Evidently they teach you odd tidbits like that in art school!  The above pic shows the first colors.

And some more color....until finally...ta dah!!!

I don't know if this is a sunrise, or a sunset, but I don't care.  I'm delighted with it!  This is actually a family portrait for some friends who live north of town.  If they have more kids we'll just add another canvas!

Who Are You?

I just finished a Christmas commission for a friend.  She asked me to do 6 canvases, all 12 inches square, each one speaking to some beautiful truth in the lives of her family members.

It raises a question:  if you were to choose one word, and maybe one image, to describe yourself....or to describe what God has done in your life, what would it be?  It's a curious thought to ponder.  I love how my answer would have been different 10 years ago from what it would be today!  God's activity in my life is SURE.  STEADY.  FAITHFUL.  KIND.  For that, I am thankful.

Finished!

Chives.  Certainly not my favorite thing to eat, but great fun to paint!  I started this yesterday and just finished it this morning.  Now my easel is full of wet paintings, so I have to wait before I can paint more.  Maybe I need to get my brilliant hubby to build me a drying rack!!

A Good Read

I just painted this a couple of days ago.  It's a combination of two reference pics.  A couple of summers ago we went camping and Murphy took the ever-present-book with him.  Right in the middle of a delightful morning, there came this butterfly.  Just dropping by.  Checkin' out the book.

Truth be told, the real butterfly was a bit bedraggled.  Really bedraggled.  And I happened to have another shot of a  perfectly healthy butterfly on some purple flowers.  So I combined the two reference pics.  I'm learning!!

Neither Murphy no I can remember what the book was.  It was thick, that's all we know.

Waiting

Could anything be more endearing?!

I took this picture last summer in the McDonald's parking lot.  Evidently the owner of this truck was inside enjoying some fries, while the faithful hound was waiting.  Patiently.  Waiting.  Looking out one window.  And then another.  Back to the first window.  Waiting.

It just struck me that I am called to wait, as well!  It's this delightful and angst-filled thing...this longing...And God instructs me to watch and wait.  Jesus WILL come.

Blue Bird

Learning, learning, learning.

I learned all over again that I MUCH PREFER oils to acrylics.  I learned that straight lines are really hard to paint.  I learned that sometimes you need to tweak the composition and not EXACTLY follow the photo.

After learning all that, I think I love it!

Flowers in Glass

Shame on me!!!  I found the reference pic for this painting in a magazine, which probably isn't the most ethical thing to do.  I tweaked it significantly, which speaks grace all over me.

The water bothers me.  The glass vase bothers me.  But I love the flower!!  And I love the background!

This is currently hanging in a friend's home, which is delightful.

The Process

I thought I'd show you the process!!  It was great fun.  I started with a black canvas and just went to work.  The colors really pop against the black, don't they?  This is sort of backwards painting, because I painted all the light spots, and left the black canvas to show through on the dark spots.  My friend Lois taught me how to do it.  Thanks Lo!

Here's the finished product:

This is a commissioned piece, which means it leaves my house on Tuesday.  I may have to paint another one just to keep!

(the previous post was practice for this one.  You notice I HAD to get more blue sky in it.  After all, that's one of the things I love about  Colorado.  The skies are almost NEVER gray!)

Playing Around

So today, while I was waiting for some paint to dry, I decided NOT to live the cliche!  I was NOT going to give in to boredom!  So I got out another canvas and decided to play around.  And this was the result!  I love, love, love it!  Who knew a painting doesn't need a ton of planning, and preliminary sketches, and another photo shoot, and more sketches, and then some color sketches .... JUST PAINT ALREADY!!

Pikes Peak!

This was commissioned by a friend a really long time ago.  It took awhile to find the right reference picture...which is funny, considering I look at this mountain every single day!  Once we agreed on the pic, I fell off the ladder!  So this job was delayed repeatedly.

But now it's done!  We took it to the framer yesterday, and within the week it should be ready to hang on the wall.  To quote my sister-in-law, closure is good!

God, the Multiplier

I painted this for a friend a year ago.  She gave me the quote but gave me freedom over the image.  I wanted to paint the idea of God multiplying our small obediences.  My first thought was to paint a purple thistle.  You get just ONE of those that goes to seed, and the following year you'll have a yard-full!  And the thistle itself is pretty beautiful...all rich purple.  I even went for a drive and got a bunch of reference photos.

But as I was standing in front of my easel, I discovered that I couldn't bring myself to paint a weed for this friend!!  So I went hunting for a different idea, and landed on scrub oak instead.  They're magnificent in the fall, and they really can take over a hillside.

One step of obedience to God, and He goes to work and multiplies it.  I love the thought.