update

Here's a little update on the window mural. I see a couple bits I want to fiddle with a little more, but otherwise pretty much done.

Contrada San Taddeo 27x36 inches, acrylic on canvas, work in progress

Having to take these pics at an angle to the easel because my studio room is so crowded. When it's all done I find a wall to pin it up on and get better pics.

New Works!

Yesterday i did a couple of rocks, then was inspired for something new and different!

Zebra and a cat

Contrada San Taddeo Mural on canvas, 27x36 inches, acrylic, work in progress

My new idea was to do a 'Mural to Go', that is, a mural on canvas. These can be stretched and stapled directly to the wall, with the edges covered with molding. Or they can be applied with wall paper paste. This one is of a dirt road leading to an old chapel on a hill top, near Force, Italy. Here I've finished the scene and am working on the window frame and sill.

Company!

I went outside about 8:30 this morning and something was in my driveway, at first I thought it was a dog, then realized it was way too big for the dogs around here. When I got to the gate at first I thought it was a goat (looking at it's butt) then realized....

There were 5 deer, this little buck and four does! They ran up on the hill and I grabbed the camera! They hung around browsing for a while then worked their way over the top of the hill.

Monday's Rocks

So yes I'm still painting rocks. Just don't get as many done on a work day as when I'm not working. Here's the ones I did on Monday.

A fawn, Owl, frog, white horse, cat

Back to the paint table I go! More rocks are waiting to become beautiful!

Sunday's rocks

I sat and painted most of the day Sunday and here they are.

Black & tan cocker, a calf, a whale, Pomeranian, Samoyed, red & white pit bull, American bulldog, Rottweiler 

Never made it to the river yesterday; I called to borrow mom's truck and missed my sister borrowing it by about 5 minutes. But she's not coming back until Wednesday. Which is probably just as well, I've tweaked my knee and it's not really up to walking all over a bunch of rocks anyway.

Yesterday's Rocks

Here are some more rocks I painted yesterday, the light is just too dark for the camera without a flash when it's time to quit and go to bed and the flash makes too much glare on them.

A Dalmatian, 2 chihuahuas, a beagle, golden lab, a cottage and a funky lamb

Going to have to make a river run today, I'm running out of rocks!

What's on the table today?

What's on the table today? More rocks. They are just so much fun to paint, they can be addictive!

a lop eared rabbit, brown turtle, Triangle Cottage, snail, ladybug

I'm hoping to get out to the river this weekend to get more rocks, especially larger ones. The really big turtles and fawns I've done have all sold rather quickly and it's been awhile since I did any. 

Did you know I do pet portraits? I can do them on anything you would like: canvas, wood, metal, stone-even the wall of your house! Just contact me to discuss the project you have in mind.

More Rocks!

all right here are some more rocks for you:

Appaloosa Horse

Grinch Cat

A pair of dragons hatching

A calf

A collection of Cats

More Rock Art

Here are some more of the new rocks. Anything that is left after Saturday's event will be available for purchase at Hill Street Mall. Of course they are all for sale now if there is something you are interested in!

A pair of bears

The three little pigs

A pack of dogs

A pair of babies

A sheep

There are more to go, but I have to edit some more photos!

Floor Cloth

In between other things today I have painted a floor cloth. This is done in Plaid's Folk Art Fabric paints on Roclon canvas.

The beginning

Partway finished

All done. Floor cloth 27x36 inches, acrylic on canvas

Rockin' Pictures!

I have been taking pictures of all the rocks I painted this past week, more than 50 of them! So here are a few:

Turtles, fish, frogs and waterlilies

A basket of strawberries

An Avocado, top

The Avocado, back

A box of chocolates

A flock of birds, Alexandrian parrot, Emperor penguins, rooster, peacock

A pair of bunnies

A pair of fawns

I am still editing the photographs, so more to come later. Next step is to clear seal all of them and pack them up ready for Saturday.

Just Rockin'!

Still rockin' out here. I was going to photograph all the finished stuff tonight, but realized after a few shots that the light just isn't good enough. But here is a little sneak peek!

Frogs, turtles, lily pads & flowers, even a koi swimming by. 

 

Painted stone, all can live outdoors.

A close up of the frogs and waterlilies. All of my stone art can go outside.

New Stuff!

Have been painting like crazy!

Italian Poppies triptych, 12x12 inches overall, each panel 4x12x1 3/8 inches acrylic on canvas

This triptych (three panels), Italian Poppies was fast and easy to do. I may develop this into a class. Each panel is 4x12 inches and they are painted on the sides, also. This is not any specific landscape, just a general impression of the area around Force.

Italian Poppies view of painted edges

Here they are at an angle, so you can see the sides.

I realized that I had never posted this one, painted last fall after I got home from Italy. I did this one from a photo I took the day we were painting at Monte Falcone. Everyone else painted this view on location. I turned around and painted the church behind us.

The View from Monte Falcone acrylic on canvas, 18x24 inches

This is Lavender Iris 11x14 inches, acrylic on canvas. This is from a photo I took of my aunt's garden a few years ago. The early morning sun highlighting the blossoms.

Lavender Iris 11x14 inches, acrylic on canvas

Whew, that's a lot, but there is even more, I have a pile of rocks on the paint table, maybe I'll get a pic of them tomorrow.

More Light & Rocks

Worked some more on Light through the Trees... more tweeking to go

Light Through The Trees 16x20 inches, acrylic on canvas, work in progress

I've also been painting rocks. I love painting them, deciding what they should be, making them look like that idea. Some are easy, the picture just jumps into my head. Others are more difficult; sometimes I repaint them more than once, trying to get them to be what they want to be....

Here are a few from the last couple of days; they are not all finished yet.

Light Through the Trees

Well several layers of glazing and painting later.....

I will probably tweek it a little more later on. Maybe add an animal or something to it.

Sunlit landscape

The sunlight through the trees; I have glazed in the light again, added rocks and bushes, strengthened some mid ground tree trunks. Waiting for it to dry so I can glaze again.

16x20 inches, acrylic on canvas, work in progress

Sunlit landscape

Just fooling around with an idea of bright light shining into the dark woods.... work in progress

Tomorrow I will glaze over everything to push the trees in the background farther back, add some rocks and bushes and paint over the foreground trees to bring them forward more....

Shopping

Well, you know as an artist I can't pass up buying new brushes. Have a ton of them at home but I am always on the look out for more. I especially like the ones they call wave, wisps, combs or rakes. These have about a normal size body of bristles, but then about 1/4 to 1/2 of them are twice as long as the body. They are great for painting fur, feathers, hair and grass. I bought some when I was at Vegas and today I got a couple more, along with a few canvases. Have lots of ideas floating around in my head, now I just need time to get the pictures in my head out into the world!

Vegas Paintings

Here is "Roll Out the Barrel" that I painted with Brenda Harris. She was lots of fun and the painting was easy to do.

Here is the metal leaf Magnolia I did with Marty Caldwell. This is a shallow metal dish shaped like a leaf. This was also easy and fun to do.

Home

Well, home from Vegas, has a great time. Took a couple of classes, got to meet Brenda Harris, she is fun to paint with. I'll post pictures later! i also painted with Marty Caldwell, she was also fun. Now I'm going great guns getting some ideas down on paper and projects painted to submit to teach next year. so back to the easel!