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Friday, September 30, 2016

Is It Day 21 or Day 30

Not Sure How I Got Here
In This Challenge.

Day 21 I sat down to sketch out my final dranddaughter,
Kelsie on the 10" x 10" panel I selected for her painting.
Before I had it half way done,
it became painfully obvious,
I was very sick and there would be no painting that day,
or the next 10 days.

After going to my lung specialist,
he began treating me for the flu,
and 
pneumonia.

Many of you know, I have scleroderma
which has filled my lungs over the last 20 years with scar tissue, making it difficult to breathe on a good day.

Many of you also know,
I've been on a quest this whole year to improve my health.
I've worked out many days a week and I have improved my lung ability.  I guess that's a good thing,
because I used it all up during the 11 days I was sick.

But today, I headed to my studio to finish my Kelsie's painting.  I've never been a figure painter and I've been using this challenge to learn about it.
I've struggled every single day with every painting,
but I have learned a ton.

So on Day 30 I was able to paint Day 21,
Kelsie.

   Kelsie turns 21 in January.
I know, how can anyone as young and lovely as me,
have a 20 year old granddaughter.
She is a long tall drink of water,
coming in right around 5'11".
Her face here is too narrow,
(wish I would have noticed that before the point of no return).
She is a knock out and has a beautiful long neck and gorgeous full lips,  (The kind lots of the ladies pay big money for).
While this is far from perfect,
there are parts of it that look like her.
So, after not painting for 11 days,
I am no unhappy with it.  

Tuesday, September 20, 2016

Day 20 - Lakyn Picking Asparagus

Day 20 - Lakyn
Picking Aspragus

Lakyn came to stay with Papa and Grammy this past spring and while here she fed bunnies and chickens, gathered eggs, picked berries and this asparagus.
She is a sweet little girl
and loves getting bunnies out to pet.

Only 10 more days in the 30 in 30 and I'm beat.  
These figure paintings are killing me.
But I have learned a ton and am thinking all the time on what to paint next.


 Blogaversary Update

I put a page on my blog about my blogaversary
with pics of what I'm giving away
and everything you need to know to win a paintings or an online art course. 

Click HERE to see that page.
 

Monday, September 19, 2016

Day 19 - KJ - I Love To Paint

Day 19 - KJ
I "Love" To Paint

 You Had Me At Hello

Did a little tweaking on this one.
I paintedfor about 12hours yesterday and I was exhausted when I finished it up the first time, and didn't realize I was channeling Picasso.  So this morning I woke up and realized the problem and tried to fix it.  
Happy with this one. 

KJ is a step grandson, and I first met him when he was 4. He was killer cute then and still is.

We don't get to see him very often, but whenever he does get to come over 
he always wants to paint. 

I had to paint two paintings today
to make up for yesterday not painting.

I am thoroughly exhausted. 

The good thing about this painting is,
I didn't have to paint everything behind him.
I was able to clean up my studio in this painting
if not in real life.

Click HERE to see what still hasn't been won in my Blogaversary and who won what.   

Thanks for stopping by today,
see you tomorrow.  

Day 18 - Karen - Ballet In The Roses

Day 18 - Karen
Ballet In The Roses

Day 18 - a day late and a painting short.

I don't paint on Sundays so I have always tried to get ahead,
but this week I wasn't able to.

So here is Day 18.
 
This is Karen, and she has always loved to dance and tumble and show off her talents. 
She is another one of my very busy grandkids.

This was taken several years ago and it is so her;
dressed up,
hair perfect,
and cute as a button.

I'm learning a lot as I continue to paint figures.
I only have a few grandkids left,
so some of you might be surprised to see what comes next.
 Some might not be.

It's still September, so I'm still celebrating my blogaversary.
I'm still giving away lots of art and art classes.

Get signed up to be a winner by
Scrolling back up to the top on the right hand side and put your email in the box that says
(wait for it)
"Subscribe To My Blog"
(get it - Blogaversary)
Put your email in the box and then when you receive an email asking you to confirm you actually did sign up,
confirm it.
Then you're in and there's nothing more to do.
If I draw your name out of my virtual hat,
I'll send you an email with 
"NO Joke! YOU WON!"
in the subject line.
Answer me in 24 hours and you get the prize.

Not hard, just lots of goodies to win.

Here's what I'm giving away this week.

(If you've already done it, don't worry, 
you're in)



 This is my last small painting
 I'm giving away.

I'm also giving away one more single subject iris painting class this week and one next week.

So get jiggy with it and get signed up. 

 

Saturday, September 17, 2016

Day 17 - America - Tennis Camp

Day 17 - America - Tennis Camp

 Meet America,
one of my granddaughters.
Yep, that's her name.
It's an old family name on my husbands side.
We tried several different nick names, 
but nothing really worked.
She is America.

This was her at tennis camp a few years ago.


 

Friday, September 16, 2016

Day 16 - Caleb Eagle Pin

Day 16 - Caleb
Receiving His Eagle



Caleb is our oldest grandson and has always made us very proud.  
He received his Eagle Scout award over a year ago.
He's such a great young man.
His Dad was an Eagle Scout,
Papa was an Eagle Scout and was 1 of the first 4 brothers in Ohio to receive their Eagle Scout award.  

 This was hard for me and the photo is not good.  
But it does sort of look like Caleb,
more in person than in this photo. 

 My computer  is giving me fits recently.
It's slow as Christmas.
It took all afternoon to get the photos uploaded,
so I'm not going back and taking more pics to take another hour to load.

Oh the joys of country life. 

Thursday, September 15, 2016

Day 15 - Aidan - Remember Learning to Play Golf

Day 15 - Aidan
Golf On The Farm



This is Aidan, age about 3, and he is one busy little boy.
I have an uncle who loves to play golf, and he took some of his old clubs, cut them down and bought a cute little blue leather bag and brought them and a huge box of balls up one summer for a visit while Kari and Aidan were living with us. 

Aidan and my uncle Bud played golf out by the orchard almost every day.  We're still finding golf balls!
Aidan is nearly eight now,
and he is still busy and still plays golf.

We don't have a lot of flat ground here at JumbleBerry Farms,
but this one place out by the barn is flat and has pretty good grass.
He's facing an orchard on a sloping hill 
and Bud taught him to line up a bunch of balls
and then hit, hit, hit until you run out.
Rinse and repeat.

The problem is getting him to go out and retrieve the balls.

One Step At A Time.

*********************************************************

Blogaversary in full swing!!!

I'm trying to give away a single subject iris class, and I'm having trouble getting people to respond to my email.  If you receive an email from me with No Joke! YOU Won! in the subject line, open that bad boy up and get back with me.
 
I still have lots of paintings and online painting classes and a full blown art course to give away.
Scroll back up to the top on the right hand side and put your email in the box that says
(wait for it)
"Subscribe To My Blog"
(get it - Blogaversary)
Put your email in the box and then when you receive an email asking you to confirm you actually did sign up,
confirm it.
Then you're in and there's nothing more to do.
If I draw your name out of my virtual hat,
I'll send you an email with 
"NO Joke! YOU WON!"
in the subject line.
Answer me in 24 hours and you get the prize.

 I'll be giving "Shaky Legs" away on Saturday.

 And this fun guy will be given away next Wednesday.

And I'll also be giving away two more online single subject iris painting classes.

Heavens to Betsy!
Get signed up.

If you've already signed up, Thank You So Much.
You don't need to do it more than once.

 
 

 
  

Wednesday, September 14, 2016

Day 14 - Another Day - Another Grandchild

Day 14 - Ren - The Stance


Ren is three and this was his first year playing tee ball.
He loooovvveeesss baseball.
I was watching him one day, and I tossed so he could hit for over an hour.  He wouldn't have quit then,but Grammy got tired.
I took this photo at the one game I was able to attend this summer.  It was only the hottest day of the summer. 
I don't know how those little guys, not to mention their coaches stood it.  I was under a chair with a canopy guzzling water like no tomorrow, and I thought I was going to pass out.

Back to the painting -
I had such a hard day yesterday, I woke up at 4 a.m. and decided to get up and get at it.  
For whatever reason, I didn't struggle quite as badly today as I did yesterday.  I even managed to work on Josh's nose from yesterday and it does look better.  Made a tiny stroke to make it rounder and it's amazing what that tiny stroke did.  That's one of the amazing things about painting.  Sometimes it really is just a tiny adjustment that takes it from eh to Ahhh.

I tried to keep the face very simple because it is so small and not to screw it up.  I think it worked out good.  I'm trying not to paint beyond myself in this challenge, but to learn about figure painting.  What makes it work and what is problematic.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Blogaversary Update

Blogaversary in full swing

I hand delivered one painting yesterday,
I'm mailing out one today,
and I'm waiting for someone to respond to their email that they won my single subject online iris painting class.
 
I still have lots of paintings and online painting classes and a full blown art course to give away.
Scroll back up to the top on the right hand side and put your email in the box that says
(wait for it)
"Subscribe To My Blog"
(get it - Blogaversary)
Put your email in the box and then when you receive an email asking you to confirm you actually did sign up,
confirm it.
Then you're in and there's nothing more to do.
If I draw your name out of my virtual hat,
I'll send you an email with 
"NO Joke! YOU WON!"
in the subject line.
Answer me in 24 hours and you get the prize.
 

Receive my blog in your inbox

About Me

My photo
Ghent, Kentucky, United States
I'm a nature artist and I love to paint old barns, rivers and lakes, trees and fence rows and flowers. I work almost daily. You can purchase paintings by contacting me at slgraves6@gmail.com and there is also a tab across the top of my blog for available paintings and one for small paintings with buy now buttons. You can also purchase through my Etsy shop using the name of Fine Nature Art. . Thank you so much for stopping by.