Winter Beauty

Amaryllis In Bloom, 16 x20" oil on canvas, SOLD

This is a painting I did quite a while back and really liked the result.  One of my current Amaryllis bulbs is blooming and has six huge red and white striped flowers. I am working on a painting of it which I hope to show you soon. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this one!

A Few Radishes

Fresh Radishes, 6 x 6 " oil on panel, ©2012, Fay Terry

There is something I love about painting red vegetables, especially with greens attached.

These three are on the cutting board ready to go into a nice big salad.

I love the way the light is hitting them and the nice shadows they are making.

Sunlit Door

Sunlit Door, 5 x 7 " oil on canvas panel,©2012, Fay Terry

This is another version of a door that I have painted several times and I think this one is my favorite so far. I plan to paint a larger version of this from a slightly different angle.

I hope you all had a most enjoyable week-end. I am looking forward to the month ahead and spending  time with family and friends as well as painting some additional holiday paintings.

Back To Birds

Winter Bird, 5 x 7 " oil on archival panel, ©2012, Fay Terry

I have taken more photos of birds recently as they seem to be everywhere outside right now. This cutie looks pretty well fed and plump.

I am jumping around with my subject matter for daily paintings and I can see that art parallels life.

The  days feel strange while I am without the comfortable familiarity of a kitchen.  This seems like camping out with too few of the conveniences of home. I am excited about the end result of tearing out the old kitchen and starting over but I am having a hard time remembering that I have no cabinets, sink, countertops or appliances, especially when I walk in the kitchen to get something. It is like flipping on a light switch and then remembering the power is off.

It certainly does make me realize how much I can be thankful for because my situation is only temporary.

Bright Bloom

Poinsettia On Lime, 6x6" oil painting, ©2012, Fay Terry

Today was cold and rainy so painting something bright was necessary and fun.

I love these flowers and the many ways they are used to decorate at Christmastime, especially at the Biltmore House in Asheville, NC.  

My husband's grandmother knew how to keep hers growing indoors so they would bloom again the following year. I always toss mine in January when they start looking pathetic.

Hoping tomorrow will be warmer and drier.

Potted Bulb

Growing Up, 5 x 7 " oil on archival museum panel, ©2012, Fay Terry

This is how one of my Amaryllis plants is looking already so it will probably be the first to bloom. This one is going to be red and white so it will be fun to watch it get taller and fatter in the next few weeks.

I had fun painting the fabric behind the pot because it has so many fun shapes in it.

Pomegranate And Grapes, 6x6" oil on archival museum panel, ©2012, Fay Terry

The Camellias are really starting to bloom now, even the ones that usually start flowering in December. Some of them are double and this one is a single layer of petals which makes these look much more delicate and the color is a little more deep pink than red.

Today has been a wonderful day for working in the studio while a fine misty rain continued most of the day.

Museum Visit

The Ameya, (glassblower) Robert Blum, 1893

We just returned from a trip to New York City where we had a wonderful time and amazing sunny weather.

The Metropolitan Museum Of Art was one of the places we spent a good deal of time. I discovered  this painting which was incredibly beautiful and appears almost three dimensional when you are standing in front of it.  The colors are very pure and rich. (click on photo to view larger)

 Robert Blum (1857-1903) was an American artist from Cincinnati, Ohio.

Pomegranate

Pomegranate On blue Plate, 6x6" oil on panel, ©2012, Fay Terry

Chicken In The Morning

Chicken Shadow, 6x6" oil on museum quality panel, ©2012, Fay Terry

The Morning After

Winter Sunrise, 6x6" oil on museum quality panel ©2012, Fay Terry

This was an attempt to capture the beautiful light coming in our bedroom window this morning and reflecting on the mirrors and windows in one corner. It was very fleeting, but beautiful and fragile for several minutes. This was really fun to paint.

The Nutcracker

Nutcracker, 6x6" oil on museum quality panel, ©2012, Fay Terry

When Bill and I were first married, we lived in a little house in the country on the outskirts of Raleigh.  We were fortunate to have several pecan trees in the yard and had many pecans to shell each fall.  We had a fast and efficient nutcracker called a  Reed's Rocket nutcracker.  We still have it but most of the pecans I get these days are already shelled.  

This nutcracker is strictly the ornamental type and could not do any heavy duty cracking of shells.  He is cute and colorful with lots of fluffy white hair.

Winter Squash

Squashed, 6x6" oil on museum quality panel, ©2012, Fay Terry

Butternut, Acorn, and Delicata squash are all favorites of mine this time of year. I am going to make some soup and thought it would be fun to paint these shapes and colors before I cut them up to cook.

I am always trying new recipes and have found some really good ones recently. My cookbooks rarely come off the shelves anymore because it is so much fun to cook with my iPad in the kitchen for recipe references and photos.

Pansies

Purple And White Pansy, 6x6" oil on museum quality panel

This is one of the giant pansies we planted in September and they are blooming up a storm.  This bloom was so large it just kind of draped itself over the edge of the vase.  I don't usually pick the pansies because they are so much prettier on the plant where they will stand up tall and show their colorful faces but I wanted to paint this particular one.

I hope you are having a  wonderful week-end.  We are enjoying being outdoors in the sun even though it is a little chilly.

Memories Of Amaryllis

Red Amaryllis 3, 6 x 6 in. oil on museum quality panel, ©2012, Fay Terry

I am watering my newly planted bulbs in great anticipation of having more gorgeous blooms like this one from last year. My mother always had Amaryllis blooming in December when I was growing up which is probably one reason they are so dear to my heart.
 I am so in love with these flowers and I recently came across a poem that I liked by Connie Wanek.  I hope you will like it too.

Amaryllis

A flower needs to be this size

to conceal the winter window,

and this color, the red

of a Fiat with the top down,

to impress us, dull as we've grown.

Months ago the gigantic onion of a bulb

half above the soil

stuck out its green tongue

and slowly, day by day,

the flower itself entered our world,

closed, like hands that captured a moth,

then open, as eyes open,

and the amaryllis, seeing us,

was somehow undiscouraged.

It stands before us now

as we eat our soup;

you pour a little of your drinking water

into its saucer, and a few crumbs

of fragrant earth fall

onto the tabletop.