Tooooooooooooo Hotttttttttttttttt

It's so hot and we have had very little rain for close to two weeks.  The leaves on my trees are no longer on my trees, but are crunchy things in my yard.  There is only one good thing about it.  I will be doing much more painting because I just can't go out in weather like this.  I'm working on flowers and birds.

Great Day

Tonight was a Meet the Artist night at Gallery 104 in LaGrange, KY.  They have a great car show on the main streets and many of the artists in the gallery were there painting, making jewelry, sculpting, making stained glass and enjoying each others company.  And, (drum roll please)  I sold a painting!!!!!!  It was a very great day.  The above painting is the one I sold.  Thank you!!!!!

Finished is a state of mind.

Waiting

With a hot steamy summer upon us and lots of work to be done in our gardens, it is a challenge to get paintings started and even tougher to get one finished.  I usually work on two or three pieces at a time, so sometimes you finish several in a few hours.  That happened this week.  It's funny how wonderful it feels to look over and see several finished pieces. 

Standing Gurad

The View

Pretty In Pink

Standing Guard

Standing Guard

This is an 8 x 10 acrylic on masonite and is ready for framing or can be placed on a small table top easel. 

$45 includes shipping

This tree is in General Butler State Park in Carrollton, KY and if you've ever ridden the train ride there it is back by the tunnel.  To me it looks as if it is standing and watching all that goes on around it.  I bet it could tell some stories of what it has seen during it's life time.  I photographed it on a ride with my grandson Aidan and painted it the same week. 

Standing Guard

Standing Gurad is an 8 x 10 acrylic on masonite and is a tree in General Butler State Park. If you've ever taken the haunted train ride it is back by the tunnel. It stands alone and appears to be watching all that goes on around it. This painting is ready for framing or can be placed on a small table top easel. $40 and it's yours.

sites of Carroll County

A few years ago I took a drive out E. Rt. 36 and saw this shed.  I took a photo of it and I painted it recently.  You can actually drive under it.  It was hiding beneath all the vegetation growing all over it.  I don't know if I could find it again, but it was one of many great photos I took that day.  This is an 8 x 10 acrylic on masonite and is framed with wooden deluxe frame with a dust cover on back and wired to hang.  $75 + shipping.  

Learning to paint in the Garden

Musing!  This morning Jim and I were outside picking green beans for the market.  He said, "sometimes there will be a whole lot of green beans in one little pocket."  Got me to thinking about how negative space is so important to make a painting come alive.  Some artist somewhere in time probably learned that from a green bean plant.  Hundreds of years later goofballs like me are still learning it from other artists and green bean plants. 

The Envelope Please

Here is a painting I've been working on that has been giving me fits.  It is of our barn.  I have changed it somewhat because I have artistic license, hehe, but it is our barn and our sheep and even our hay.  But I can't work on it any longer so that must mean it is finished.  It seems awfully green to me, but everytime I added another color it didn't look right either.  Have you ever finished something and were not sure if you liked it or not.  That's sort of where I am.

Thanks for stopping by.

Blog Lessons

Fall Sunrise framed 18 x 24 acrylic on Canvas with dust cover on back and wired to hang.

$200 + shipping

American Protector framed 5 x 7 acrylic on masonite panel

$50 + shipping

Well, I've been here for a little while and my genious daughter-in-law Amanda has reworked and taught me how to rework my blog to make it beautiful.  She is so smart and fast and I have an old brain, but I'm trying to learn this.  Back to the salt mine to learn a few more things before I head home.

I'm melting

It's funny, this past winter I couldn't go out cause it was tooooo cold and now I can't go out cause it's tooo hot.  But either way you look at it, I'm in my basement painting.  Not a bad trade-off.  I feel sort of like Goldilocks.  Nothing is ever just right!  At least weather wise and if it is, it's not for long.  I hope to finish something today and post it.  Going for my class on blogging with my daughter-in-law, Amanda.  She is a phenom photogragher.  Check her out at AmandaGravesPhotography.com.  She actually comes to you and has such a great eye.  She took my profile photo. 
I'm going to start a series on bluebirds.  My uncle loves bluebirds and I want to get one I'm really happy with to send him.  I'll keep you informed how that's going.  Birds aren't as hard as I thought they'd be.  It is so much fun to watch them come alive on the canvas, (but I usually paint them on masonite).
Have a great day and thanks for stopping by.

Too hot to handle!

Can't, won't go out today so I was able to actually get some painting done.  We have a small produce farm and participate in our local farmer's market twice a week so there is always lots of work to be done here.  But with this kind of heat and humidity, I can't go out to work.  I'm working on 3 paintings at once, with one of them being my interpretation of our barn.  I'm not happy with it, but I can't figure out what the problem is.  One painting is from an online class, and one is of a calf.  I am always so impressed with Kathie Papasso's cow paintings.  It will take a long time fr me to be any near that good, but I won't get there unless I try.  Right?   Right! 

I've spent segeral hours trying to get some photos on here of some of my paintings, but as I said, I'm not really computer illiterate, but I'm more like in the first or second grade of computerese.  But, as my floral design teacher always said, "I will not be defeated bya carnation," I will not be defeated by a computer.

OK, I managed to get this photo of Three Mums on here, but it wasn't  the painting I was trying to upload.  It is a framed 8 x 10 acrylic on a masonite panel.  The frame is a painted wooden frame and is approximately 3 inches wide.  It has a dust cover on the back and is wired to hang.  It's priced at $75, but does not include shipping.  If you're interested please contact me. 

Oh heck.  Contact me even if you're not interested. 

Thanks for stopping by.

Beginnings

I've wanted to do this blog for several months and tonight I'm jumping in.  Please bare with me as I learn how to do this.  I'll get better, I promise, but I'm going to have fun as I learn how to do this. 
I enjoy painting more than anything else I've ever done before, and I've done a number of other creative things.  I'm a certified florist and I thought I loved that.  I'm a writer and have been a reporter and I thought I loved that.  I sew and quilt and I thought I loved that.  I garden and craft and I thought I loved that.  I've been a studio and landscape photographer and I thought I loved that. 

But this I truly LOVE!  I love to paint, I think about painting almost everything I see.  I love to watch others paint, read about painting, learning to paint, deciding on what to paint. 

I hope to someday become good, really good at painting and I hope you'll check in on me from time to time, to see my progress or direction. 

Thanks for giving me your time for a few minutes.