Black and White and Fun With Photochop

The Black & White Show in October, at Studio 1212 is going to be something special this year. It is the 40th anniversary of the group of artists who represent the longest lasting artist's cooperative in the Tampa Bay area. While there are none of us who have been there 40 years, it is an accomplishment for this type of endeavor to have that kind of longevity.

Among other things, we will have a wall of 40 works of art to be created on 12 x 12 inch canvases for $40 each. So I am starting to think of what to do this year for my two 12 x 12 paintings, as well as the regular size pieces for the show - all black and white.






My two kitties were last year's pieces I did for the show. I had to mail them back to the gallery, so they were on smaller 8 x 8 inch chunky canvases. I have just now put them on Etsy. Meet "Research," the white aloof kitty, and "Ambush" the dark, attack-planning cat.

I have listed them together, because they look cute that way, but also because the cost to ship them priority mail would be the same, whether they are together or separate. These canvases have wooden stretcher bars that are made of heavy wood.




After playing with Photoshop to come up with some way to show both paintings in one of my views on Etsy without having to photograph them again, I stumbled onto a couple of techniques that were new to me.


Now, I am completely self-taught in the art of Photoshop, and this may be kindergarten stuff to those who use Photoshop all the time, but I discovered this function of the paint bucket yesterday completely by accident by pressing the right mouse button when I was trying to do something else by pressing the left, and presto, my white cat turned pink. Thought it looked so cute, I used it in a poster.


Then I made another one that looks like the moths have eaten part of it away by finding out that Free Transform has some other interesting features associated with it.

Ah, if not to play and have silly fun with simple things, what would life be?

Wildflower Season

With the exception of two Springtimes spent in south Texas, I have never lived anywhere that has a real Spring. Certainly in Colorado where one day is 70 degrees and the next has two feet of snow, there is no Spring! Daffodils peak out forlornly when the snow melts.
This painting is titled "Give Me Lemonade."

Now, here on the west coast of Florida, there is a definite change, but other than fallen oak leaves everywhere and new green leaves replacing them and a few azaleas here and there, no true Spring. So our Spring Break to the Panhandle of Florida and Alabama was a treat for me, and I went crazy taking photos.
On the way home I fixed a water bottle in my map compartment and painted "little things" most of the way while hubby listened to ball games and sports things on the radio. Here are a few inspirational photos and some results so far.

"Daffodils Say Spring" below and "Renaissance Bouquet" at left are now in my Etsy shop. They are both 2.5 x 3.5 inches and are original watercolor paintings that are artist card size ACEOs.
"Daffodils Say Spring" [SOLD]


It was a fun way for me to pass the time, and when I am painting time really flies. I just loved the flowers everywhere. I took pictures and painted wild growing things with pretty blossoms that many would call weeds, I am sure, but they were lovely to me.


I had never seen Wisteria growing anywhere until a few years ago in Oregon, but that was planted and in someone's yard. In the panhandle region, it grows wild and is beautiful.

This last ACEO original watercolor painting is titled "Flowerlets Gone Wild." [SOLD]


Ahhhh, Spring!

Here Comes Mischief in Cat Form!

Misty Gray Cat is a painting about a kitty that we used to have. A soft, pretty gray-colored shelter kitten we got when my son could hold her upside down in one hand, she grew into a beautiful, although squirrely, cat who could be gentle and loving or as fierce as a tasmanian devil when she visited the veterinarian (which thankfully she rarely needed).

Misty, the painting, is done in pure watercolor on Arches 140 lb. Cold Press Watercolor paper with mostly Winsor-Newton paints. (I have a few other brands, all professional quality, and intermingle them on my palette.) It definitely reflects the personality of this loving tasmanian, split-personality, kooky kitty. Cool colors dominate the composition.

Misty Gray Cat can be found at DreamON by clicking here. Enjoy!

Just Discovered - I've Gone Blue!

"Curacao In Venice" [SOLD]

Unconsciously, once again, I have found myself painting most everything in the same triad of colors. The last time I did this, it was red, yellow, orange: that was my Orange Period. This time I'm stuck in the blue, violet, green combo. It takes awhile to become conscious of this, because not absolutely everything comes out in these colors, especially landscapes. However when I look over the body of work I have created for the last month, it is readily apparent that I am in my Blue Period. Hm!

I remember from studying Art History that certain famous artists had their red, blue, green, purple or yellow periods. I thought at the time that this was awfully pretentious! So coming into my second color phase - at least that I've actually noticed, and it amuses me to have discovered this. It's most curious. Have any of you other artists ever experienced this?

The photo above at the left is of my painting entitled "Curacao In Venice." It was even more orange before I gave it a treatment of purple long after it was first painted along with the rest of the orangies.



Here are some of my latest (my bluies). First, on the right is "Abstract Pansies."






Back again on the left is "Before You Were Awake."










On the right, "Connection" [SOLD]


And my latest painting which is entitled "Connection." I did three that day, but that was a conscious thing that they were all the same colors, because I had seen a painting done by a friend of mine in those same colors. Her painting was a different subject and considerably larger, but the color combination totally resonated with me. Why is that? Looking back I can see it's the Blue thing.



It's proof for me that when we paint or write poetry and who knows what else that our inner thoughts and emotions enter into the product.

Except for Curacao in Venice(sold) and Connection(sold), the other two are available in my Etsy shop. You can click on the photos for more information.

Fun With Acrylics - ACEO Style

Abstract Flowers 2[SOLD] Abstract Flowers 3[SOLD]Abstract Flowers 1 (Available)

For these latest three ACEOs I started with backgrounds of Napthol Red Medium, Naples Yellow and Chromium Oxide Green Golden Liquid Acrylics combined with White Gesso. These three colors make some lovely shades when combined. As soon as the backgrounds dried, I drew floral images on each of the ACEO-sized pieces of watercolor paper. This size is always a constant 2 1/2 by 3 1/2 inches. Using some darker green combinations of the same three colors and changing the colors frequently from a more green to a more red combination of these colors, also varying intensity and temperature, I painted negatively around my drawings. Then I putzed around a bit to paint in stamens and centers.

The colors proved difficult to correct the photo and adjust for accuracy, but I finally achieved a reasonable likeness. The images look quite nice together against a background of neutral rice paper with a border courtesy of Corel Paint Shop.

ACEOs and Note Cards '>to view ACEOs later in my Etsy Shop in my ACEO Artist Cards Section!

Palm Island

As I was sitting at the Artists' Guild Gallery yesterday, I painted this landscape of Palm Island. The day had started out pretty cool, and having the door open early felt pretty chilly, but as customers came and went and sales happened, the temperatures heated up also. It was a good day with enough of a lull at times to paint, but also quite a few visitors kept me busy.

One comment still has me chuckling. A lady said that she thought my husband was posing for me. Well, hello! Unless he looks like a tree, I think he was just sitting there reading. People can be kinda funny, I think!

This one is available in my Etsy shop, DreamON. Click on the photo of the painting for a link to my shop.

Painting On Tissue Paper

I had what I call a spirit painting on a piece of watercolor paper with a variety of pastels that seemed a bit too bright for a background. To get a good background this way, wet the watercolor paper thoroughly, let it reach the "sheen" stage, and then drop in the watercolor colors you want. This technique works well to start a modern type of floral where you aren't painting from reality, but you can tell it looks like what it is supposed to be. It's a good start from which to begin painting negatively.

So anyway this particular background was too intense, so I got the idea to cover it with tissue paper which muted the colors considerably. I just applied pieces of tissue paper to the watercolor paper using acrylic gel medium. I liked the result and ended up making two paintings out of it. One of them is a cute little clothesline painting using the scenes I remembered from our Italian trip.

It makes a nice little piece of whimsey! It's painted in acrylics with black marker and a white gel pen to finish up.

For more information, click here.

(This painting sold in February.)

Fruit of the Gods

What's Up In The Kitchen? What A Fine Fruit, in the spotlight for tonight, is a watercolor honoring the Bosc variety of pear. The Bosc is known for its long neck and brownish skin color.

Called by Homer, the ancient Greek poet who wrote The Iliad and The Odyssey, "the fruit of the gods," the pear has a lot to live up to. In the United States, second in popularity only to the apple, pears are actually related to them genetically. Most pears are grown in Washington and Oregon where the mild, moist climate promotes optimum growth.

Pears are said to be a healthy choice, being free from fat, cholesterol and sodium. What makes them soften, however is the gift of sugar created from starches as it ripens. It provides the sweet nectar advertised by Homer who was thought to be blind, and therefore who must have been oblivious to the characteristics of over-ripened feminine pulchritude when exposed to a diet of such sugars. Pears, on the other hand provide a wonderful amount of fiber, potassium and Vitamin C. Such is life; balance the benefits against the disadvantages. Enjoy pears! You can especially appreciate this one because its inedible and therefore calorie-free eye candy.

This little pear has been captured and held by a digitally created boundary of burnt sienna which enhances its quinacridone base color. I painted this while I was gallery sitting at the Artists' Guild Gallery this fall on one of the quiet days that season provides. The original painting is a 9 x 12 inch watercolor on Arches Hot Press Watercolor paper. Prints will be for sale here in my Etsy shop, and pears can be found in your local supermarket.

A New Spin On Margarita

What's Up In The Kitchen? This week I've found a new toy while editing A New Spin On Margarita. Not that the toy hasn't been available to me ever since I've had the Corel Paint Shop software, but I just found it, and I've been having fun trying out the "picture frames" on my new series of paintings which for the most part have a white background. This very lacy one reminds me of a valentine. I had to try it out in six or eight colors before deciding on this one. What's cool is I can print it out this way (on the right) or I can print it out without any background at all.
There are other options available also, including a small band of color, which I like the best of all. Aren't new discoveries wonderful?

Check out A New Spin On Margarita in my Etsy Shop to see this one. Then, come on back!

New Wine

What's Up In The Kitchen? New Wine is my painting for today and joins the series. There are no "kitchen peeps" in this painting. Anyway I had been wondering how long wine needs to age before it is drinkable. (This painting sold in February).

So I was exploring the net and found Wine Spectator's top wine for 2008 was a 2005 wine from Chile.

Casa Lapostolle
Clos Apalta Colchagua Valley 2005
96 points / $75
5,987 cases made
Chile

In fact the majority of the top ten were bottled in 2005. Numbers 9 and 10, however were a 2007 vintage.

Mollydooker
Shiraz McLaren Vale Carnival of Love 2007
95 points / $90
2,596 cases made
Australia

Seghesio
Zinfandel Sonoma County 2007
93 points / $24
68,000 cases made
California

If you want to see the whole Top 100 list of wines for 2008, here is the link for Wine Spectator's list in a PDF : http://static.winespectator.com/Wine/Images/Graphics/Redesign/images/top100-2008-atGlance.pdf

Undoubtedly the most famous quotation mentioning new wine is in the Bible in passages where Jesus is questioned about fasting by the disciples of John the Baptist. In Matthew 9:17, "Nor do they put new wine into old wineskins, or else the wineskins break, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But they put new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved."

The practical application is that wine was stored in the skins of animals in those days. When new wine is put into a wineskin it stretches out, once. If new wine is put into an old wineskin that has already been stretched out, and the fermenting causes bubbles that need to expand, the wineskin would rupture and the wine would pour out. So new wine needed to be put into a new skin, and neither the wine or wineskin would not be harmed in the process.

This is one of the parables of Jesus, using a practical illustration to get across His point. My (while others may agree or disagree, keep in mind it is just mine) simple interpretion could be that Jesus, is telling the followers of John that He is the new wineskin, their legalistic beliefs are impossible to live up to, and now that He has come they need to put their trust (wine) in Him, and not depend on what works they do themselves (old wineskin) to earn salvation.

What's Up In The Kitchen?

I'm back after taking a holiday break, and I have a new series I've started called What's Up In The Kitchen?. These are kitchen peeps who live in vegetables, fruits, glassware and who knows where else they'll turn up. On the left is Girl Caught Hiding In The Celery. I guess there must be kind of a little miniature celery forest out there in the celery fields, and before they come to the kitchen the little peeps must be out there playing hide and go seek.

I have no idea where the motivation for this series came from, but right now I'm finding the kitchen peeps rather fun to paint. You can just never be sure what's going on in the artist brain, but it's for sure different than what's up with the brain of an average Joe.

My dear hubby reads the newspaper every day. Once upon a time I read the newspaper too - the front page section, the weather, the section with ''Dear Abby" in it, the sports section and sometimes the classifieds. Now I find no time to read the newspaper. I have Etsy to play with, and kitchen peeps to paint, and lots of other art-related activities to attend to. I'm not that one-dimensional, but reading the newspaper just doesn't come to the top of the list very often.

The peeps on the right side are called Carrot Dancer Understudies. I was thinking about calling them Carrot Dancers Waiting For Their Wings, as kind of a play on words for "waiting in the wings", but I decided that understudies conveyed the idea, without making them wingless. After all carrots aren't lacking appendages of any kind, are they?

In any event, I've just started the series, but I can tell you that some of the paintings have peeps and some don't, but they all have to do with nefarious and not so nefarious kitchen activity. Stay tuned.

Interview With Miz Katie

I got to know Miz Katie a little bit from my convos with her about my Treasury about clotheslines. That has lead to our exchange of features about each other's Etsy shops. The following are questions I posed to her and her answers to my questions.

I notice that you are in Kansas and wondered how long you have lived there?
Almost ten years, minus 2. It's actually a very long story, so I'll try to keep it short. I moved to KS in 1999 from Maine. Ended up moving to West Virginia in 2005. I LOVE West Virginia. But, I came back to Kansas in 2007 to be near family. I will never regret that choice, but honestly, I miss my friends in WV.

Are you in a rural area or closer to KC?
I am in extremely rural Kansas, three plus hours away from KC, and about 40-45 minutes away from Wichita. Except for the 932 people and all the barking dogs, it's a bit like a ghost town here. The grocery store, two restaurants and barber shop were closed when we moved here. There is absolutely nothing to do. It is about a 20-25 minute drive to the nearest little city. But, we have a liquor store, which just opened. I heard it is doing very well. Wine is a top seller.

What do you like about it, and what do you dislike?
I love being near family.
I love my house.
I love the flat land.
I love the hot, arid summers.
I dislike/disagree with the majority of political views.
I dislike people not caring for their animals, and leaving them out all night, barking, no matter what the weather.
I wish the neighborhood kids weren't so loud, disrespectful and rude.
I miss my WV "hillbilly" friends.

Are you involved in any art groups or do you show in a gallery?
Only online. I belong to so many art groups, it would take days to list them all.
I don't think my art fits in a typical gallery.

How long have you been painting?
Oh, gosh! Well, hm..my obsession for painting started soon after I moved to Kansas in 1999..I was very lonely, depressed, and unhappy. I began to paint for that reason. Painting made me come alive. It gave me reason to get out of bed each morning. I couldn't wait to paint..still can't. It's something I look forward to doing every day. Before that, I was more into collage, writing, and photography. I've been published a few times in magazines/newspapers, and several times online.

What time of day do you find is best for you to paint?
Anytime is fine with me. I'm not one who has to sit around and wait for inspiration. I HAVE to paint. It isn't a choice. I usually paint from around 1pm to 7pm, though. That time works for me. I have the morning to get the boring stuff done, and I can play all afternoon. Sometimes, I can't wait for 1pm, though, and I head to the studio as soon as my first cup of coffee is brewed.

What do you like about your work space, and what do you dislike?
I have a pretty big room, which I call my studio. I love everything about it, except that it's freezing cold. I can't seem to get it above 60F in that room, no matter how high I crank the furnace. brr!!! I have to use a space heater the whole time I'm working.

Do you listen to any music while painting, and if you do what kind of music?
Sure, sometimes. I like Alternative. I usually go to Pandora.com and listen to the Foo Fighters station. That gives me non-stop music with no commercials the whole time I paint.

How did your "style" evolve?
Oh, there are so many ways! The most important is that I stopped taking myself and art seriously years ago. I used to be so anal retentive. It was incredibly boring and painful to make art back then. I was so careful. Ugh! The day I learned there are no mistakes in art was the greatest day I've ever lived. I know now that no matter what I do, I can NOT mess up. It's impossible. That's why gesso was created! All I have to do is paint over it if I don't like it, and try again. What a relief! Whew! The pressure is OFF.

I am much happier these days, so I insert humor into my artwork more often than I used to. I like to take something ordinary and twist it until it's humorous. Sometimes, absurdly so. I'm from New England; therefore, I am sarcastic. ;) Most everything I make comes from my imagination, made up stories, exaggeration, half-truths, and complete and utter lies! Oh, there is a pinch of reality thrown in from time to time, but eh.. I like to keep it as unreal as possible.

I hope you have enjoyed this feature on Miz Katie and will check out her Etsy shop, MizKatie!
I think her art is very fresh and lots of fun! Enjoy!

Beautiful Fall Colors To Share

We have been admiring the beautiful fall colors in the mountains of Colorado and taking lots of pictures. it was a crisp, fall day when I took the photo that inspired this little watercolor. I loved the contrast between the pale blue-green of the sage in the foreground with the gold of the Aspen trees in the background and the dark green and gold-greens of the tall evergreen in the mid-area. The far-away trees on the mountains lose their dark color because of the atmosphere and the distance.

Here are some additional photos we took that day. You can see just how incredibly beautiful, that Autumn's gold dress looks on the hillsides.





I have put Colorado Gold up in my Etsy shop, DreamON. Click here for more information.

The Italian Wash Job - ORIGINAL Mixed Media Watercolor and Acrylic on paper

It's finally done!

I started talking about this painting on July 12th as a sort of demo and did another feature on it on August 7th. Then I got busy preparing paintings for art shows, and did not get back to working on it again until this week. Final touches included straightening the lines of the shadows with acrylics and painting shadows under the laundry with a watercolor mixture of Cobalt Blue, Winsor Violet and Burnt Sienna.

I wasn't sure until the shadows went in that I was going to even like it, but they made a tremendous difference. One thing that has befuddled me for quite awhile is where the focal point is. I like the pane on the left the best, but the pane on the right is bigger and closer. Theoretically it should be where the center of interest is found; so I put some red socks there and increased the contrast of light and dark in this pane, but I still am more interested in the left pane, and I think it still dominates. I look at the lower window in the left pane, and I'm not sure that is a bad thing. After all it is located in the Golden Triangle. Where do you think the focal point is located?

More information about this painting is located here:

Miniature Horses - Cute Animals

A year or so ago I took some photos of the tiniest horse I have ever seen with the thought in mind that one day I would paint it. Such a precious sight, it was the cutest baby, only a few days old, and with its mother at a street fair in Colorado. A little child had reached out to make friends with the foal, and because the little boy was unsure, he kept his left hand on his outstretched right arm as if to pull it back if the horse took a nip. It was a cute sight, and both of the babies (horse and human) were delightful to watch.

I had seen miniature horses before, but never a baby one. This horse was so incredibly small, yet exhibiting perfect, yet tiny, characteristics of a horse and acting like quite like a horse and not any other species, even though it was the size of a dog.

According to Wikipedia, "The American Miniature Horse Association AMHA was founded in 1978 and was dedicated to establishing the Miniature horse as a distinct breed of horse. In the AMHA, Miniatures cannot exceed 34 inches at the withers (which the AMHA defines as located at the last hair of the mane). There are two divisions in American Miniature Horse Registry (AMHR) - the "A" division for horses 34 inches (86 cm) and under, and the "B" division for horses 34 to 38 inches (86 to 97 cm).

The AMHA standard suggests that if a person were to see a photograph of a miniature horse, without any size reference, it would be identical in characteristics, conformation, and proportion to a full-sized horse.

According to the AMHR, a "Miniature should be a small, sound, well-balanced horse and should give the impression of strength, agility and alertness. A Miniature should be eager and friendly but not skittish in disposition."

I was painting animal pictures one day this week, and decided to paint this little one. You can find more information about my painting by clicking right here.

ACEOs Come To The Blog

OK, I'm following the leaders and have started creating ACEOs. There are many shop owners on Etsy creating ACEOs, and it really does offer an inexpensive way for a buyer to start collecting art. The ones in this post are the first I've done on Etsy.




The ACEO acronym stands for Artist Cards, Editions and Originals. The only rule for making your very own ACEO is that it be exactly 2 1/2 by 3 1/2 inches or 64 x 89 mm (which is the same exact size as are baseball cards) . ACEOs grew as an offshoot of Artist Trading Cards which had the stipulation that they be traded and never would any money change hands, in fact, trading face to face was the desired means of transfer. However, this is the real world, and reality is that the real world is a commercial pig, and somebody started selling them. Soon they began "trading" on eBay, and the rest is history.



Actually, before I ever heard of Artist Trading Cards or ACEOs I find I've made very similar cards only a quarter inch smaller in each direction for the Glenwood Springs Art Guild for quite a few years. We use these as place cards at our annual banquet. A stand-up tag is applied to the back of each, and it's always fun to walk around the tables and see who got who's mini painting. At the end of the evening we take our place card home if we wish, and we have a new piece of art.

There are oodles of ways you can use these mini pieces of art. You can find frames which are magnetic and put them on your fridge, or you can put them into a larger frame and hang it either alone or in a grouping of your ACEO artwork. They can be put into plastic sleeves made just this size in an album and display it on your coffee table for guests to enjoy. You can scrapbook with them, use them to decorate your handmade book covers, and the list goes on.

I've joined in the fun of the Great ACEO Swap Thread on Etsy started by Trinkets Treasures, and I'm very much looking forward to seeing what my swap partner (Rustic Diva Designs) will send me.

Just click on any of the above ACEOs to get more info about them.

New Travels Among The Leaves

Poor Blog! It was neglected all last week while we went on a foray to the Pacific Northwest. There was too much for me to do, to consider blogging last week, and so I took a blog break.

I wish I enjoyed flying like my husband does, but I fit kind of wedged into the too small space of one of these tin cans. If they would only take one row of seats out and distribute the space evenly among the remaining rows of seats, it would make a real difference in comfort, especially to tall people. But that would mean the airline's losing out on five full fares, so I'm going to ask you a small favor: the next time you fly, have mercy on whoever is behind you with legs and please do not recline the seat.

Luckily the flights were pretty short, but coming back my “neighbor” in the aisle seat had this super-annoying habit of repeatedly pulling at her “forelock” (grown-out bangs or what ever you call that bunch of hair that is shorter than the rest). I guess this behavior must have been comforting to her, but it absolutely made me feel like restraining her hands behind her back with one of those twister thingys. But I didn’t have one of those; consequently, it just made me really uncomfortable. I mean this was extreme, because she didn’t just occasionally push back her hair or pat it to make sure it stayed where it was. After a constant one and a half-hour toying with this hair thing, no kidding, I was looking for the whole thing to come out in her hand.

Well enough about air travel. . .on to more fun things.

Although it was at least 20 degrees hotter returning to Colorado than it had been in Oregon and even though no trees have started turning, I just have this feeling that autumn will be early this year.

For the last few years, fall has made me wanting to make leaf prints. This year is no exception, and on the road back I was collecting leaves of different kinds and shapes for my projects.

What I do next is to paint the back of the leaf (or leaves) I’m using with white Gesso. Then I place those, with the painted side down, on watercolor paper and use a brayer to roll over the top side. I do this while thinking about a pleasing arrangement of leaves on the paper. When dry, the imprint leaves will be white on white paper and not be overly visible. You can use the painted leaves over and over again until you run out of paper and motivation.

The next step is to get out the watercolors, and paint over the leaves which will resist the watercolor paints. It is a fun thing to do, and other than messy, rewarding with its results.

I will be putting some of these up in my Etsy shop before long and wlll post the clickable addresses as I do. The image on your right is called Leaf Season. Click here for more info.

Smashing Flowers

OK, I've heard of smashing pumpkins and Smashing Pumpkins. But, have you ever thought about smashing flowers as an art form? A fellow artist sent me an email about Betsy Dillard Stroud's article which you can find by clicking here. Look for Printing with a Hammer, August 07, 2008, by Betsy Dillard Stroud. It looked interesting, so yesterday I gathered some flowers and leaves of different kinds including stems. Then I prepared my watercolor paper, padded it, laid wax paper over it, and proceeded to beat the living daylights out of some innocent plant life. (I'm still not feeling good about this.) Anyway, this first photo on the left is what my initial effort looked like.



Still feeling sorry for the flowers, this morning I thought I needed to make as much as I could out of it, so I grabbed a Tomball pen and my watercolors and went to work. First, I outlined to find the flowers and leaves that were obvious and invented a few more . Then I began to do some negative painting with the watercolors, and by now I'm not feeling so bad about the flowers, now that I've made something that I like a lot more. I hope you will like it too!

It's something different. It really doesn't matter if you use some kind of dillapidated flowers though, so if you get a chance you might try it with some past-their-prime poseys. I guess you could also try it with some blooming weeds you want to clear away anyway or on that bouquet you get from someone you now dislike with a passion (to relieve stress).

Click here for more information about this painting.

Memories of Cottonwood Trees

This painting is about cottonwood trees, not just one like you see in the photo, but remembrances from my life that these trees bring to mind. There were the childhood tire swings that were so much fun, and the fallen leaves that needed to be raked into piles to play in.

I remember many trips across the Great Plains where these are practically the only trees you see for miles and miles.

There was the painting workshop I took, in the mountains on someone's ranch ,where one of the painters was holding used brushes in her mouth. (The rest of us were voicing whispered speculations about her early demise from heavy metal poisoning acquired from Cobalt, Cadmium, Titanium - all lovely ingredients of paints.) This had nothing to do with the tree we were painting, but the memory of painting the tree includes this scenario.

I loved the volunteer trees that came up in our yard from seeds along our driveway that we transplanted and watched grow into 30 ft. trees. Of course, there's the annoying cotton floating in the air at times, but as a child I remember chasing after it floating in the air.

Cottonwood trees are a part of my memories and therefore of me. I understand just how welcome is their shade in a hot snd treeless area. I appreciate just how fast they grow, but also remember cleaning up fallen limbs and green leaves from an unseasonal heavy snow.

This painting was taken from the photo of the cottonwood that I took on that 104 degree day as we drove through Oklahoma and Kansas a few weeks ago. I tried to capture the feeling of dry heat and the late summer bleached out dry prairieland grasses in my watercolor painting. Purchase information about the painting entitled Old Cottonwood can be found by clicking here.

On To Tennessee

A few days have passed since my Charleston post. Over the weekend we visited with our daughter and her two lovely pussycats. The pretty gray one, Shadow, was selected from a shelter by our daughter years ago and is now 14 years old, but she was a part of our family for a long time and, eccentric as she is, we miss her and her antics.

Shadow (above)


The other kitty, Gizmo, is kind of skittish with us, but loves to be outside on the porch and didn't need to keep us company.

The photos are some of the sights we have enjoyed in the last few days in our travels across the USA. This mill in North Carolina is still in operation and has a shop in the back with different types of flours you can buy which have been ground there. This was something I've never seen before and was not only very picturesque, but also quite interesting.

The geese were at the mill and were quite obviously welcomed heartily with goose food in the feeder. What do you feed a goose? Probably something delicious (to a goose) from the mill, aka grinding leftovers.




Then we came to Tennessee and found these Queen Anne's Lace everywhere. OK, they're weeds, but they are beautiful anyway.


The Queen Anne's Lace were in a field by this wonderful old barn and water or fuel storage container on stilts. This was just such a great scene and will probably end up in at least one painting someday. Oh, I do take these photos with the idea in mind to paint them, and by now they number in the thousands. I could paint for the rest of my life and never catch up to all the photos I've taken with painting in mind.

Make new goals. Paint, paint, paint!

Oh, just to remind everyone, my Etsy shop, DreamON is still open during all of my travels. As soon as I can, I will be painting new things from my trip and getting them in there too. Click here to go to my shop.