Big Pine Cone

Big Pine Cone

I was doing yard work with Bill and picking up pine cones.

Many had fallen during the storms on Thursday.  I decided to do a painting of one.

I'd never tried this,  but I really had fun doing it.  It was 

beside my easel with a  spotlight on it. What a good lesson in

observation!  I think I will do this again just to challenge

myself.  This pine cone is a full  eight inches long, but skinnier than most.

6 x 6 in. oil on museum quality panel

Tulip Interiors

Tulip Interiors  SOLD

Yesterday my son Hampton, and his wife Kim, brought me a pot of tulips in

bud.  By today they were wide open, and I could not believe they went from

bud to such fullness in one day.  Now I realize it was warm in the kitchen causing them

to show their glorious interior colors.  I find it amazing that now as the sun goes down

and it has cooled off, they have closed back up. 

What fun to watch!

6 x 6 in. oil on museum quality panel

All Grown Up!

All Grown Up!   SOLD

Some of you may remember the painting of the baby lettuce

plants.  I am happy to report that their beautiful green-ness

provided me with another painting-op today.  It rained most of the day

with intermittent bursts of sunshine, at which time I picked lots of lettuce.
This was really fun to paint.


6 x 6 in. oil painting on museum quality panel

My Blue Berry Bowl

My Blue Berry Bowl

I guess I am a creature of habit, especially

when it comes to breakfast.  In the cold weather it's oatmeal but when

it warms up I usually go for fresh berries and yogurt.  Just as I have a certain bowl

for oatmeal, I also have this one for berries.  Tomorrow it will be filled with

fresh raspberries we just bought at the market.

8 x 8 in. oil on museum quality panel

Kitchen Glamour

Kitchen Glamour   SOLD

These beauties really light up a kitchen.

They look good and they know it!

Most of the other veggies steer clear because they know they

just can't compete with these two.

6 x 6 in. oil on museum quality panel

Available framed at One Eleven Main,
Aberdeen, NC

Juicy Cantaloupe

Juicy Cantaloupe
This is a sweet one!

6 x 6 " oil on panel

"Swan" Iris

"Swan" Iris

The colors of these flowers are beautiful.

They grew in the back yard, shaded by a tree, and bloomed infrequently.

I wanted to get rid of them because they had brown and yellow flowers  (not pretty).

 Bill moved them to the side yard last Fall, where they get sunshine

and they are no longer the Ugly Ducklings of the garden.  They have

completely changed color.  I think I'll be painting more of these!

6 x 6 " oil painting

Dogwood-North Carolina's State Flower

Dogwood-North Carolina's State Flower

Every N.C. Fourth Grader studies North Carolina history.

I did, and all three of my children have done the same.  It turns out to 

be really fun and some wonderful projects are produced.  As a result,

most of us have pretty good knowledge of our state, well beyond the

state flower and the state bird.  Of course, my favorite story is how N.C.

came to be called the Tar Heel state. 

6 x 6 in. oil painting

Blooming At The Beach

Blooming At The Beach

These daffodils love being surrounded by

seashells in the spring when they start to grow

on the porch.  The ocean air is most

refreshing after being underground all winter.

6 x 6 in. oil painting

NFS

Chive Blossoms

Chive Blossoms
Chives are so handy for cooking and so easy to
grow.  I have sent countless clumps of chives
to be planted in other gardens and my friends always report great success
with them.  I usually cut off all the buds because it makes for
healthier plants. This year I let a few of them bloom just because
they are so attractive.
6 x 6 in. oil on
museum quality panel

We Be Jammin'!

We Be Jammin'

Yes, the first batch of strawberry jam has been

made at our house and goes best with a nice hot biscuit.

Thanks, Kelley for giving me the idea for this painting!

Guess who ate the biscuit and jam when I was finished painting?

I did not eat one bite of it, but Bill came home right when I finished-pretty good timing-

8 x 8 in. oil on Gessoboard

Sharing

Sharing

These two have been friends for a long time and spend every

winter together in my basement.  The wooden bunny is very good-natured

and doesn't even mind when he is made to dance all over the table.

The chick used to have a bag of jelly beans over her shoulder so now

we have to get her new ones every year...but she shares.

6 x 6 in. oil painting

Pencils From Papier+, Paris

Pencils From Paris   SOLD
These are my favorite art pencils because they are fat, soft,
wonderfully bright, and French.(which is most always a nice attribute).
They came from a great little shop on Rue Pont Louis Phillipe,
called Papier Plus. I am pretty pleased with this colorful and lively
painting.  This one and several others will be at One Eleven Main,
the wonderful gift, home, and tableware store in Aberdeen, NC.

6 x 6 in. oil on
museum quality panel



Available framed at ONE ELEVEN MAIN,
Aberdeen, NC

Tulips

Pink Tulips  SOLD

I don't have tulips in my yard, but found these

bright ones at the market. Looking at this

really makes me feel like Spring has finally arrived!

6 x 6 in. oil on gesso board

Espresso Set

Espresso Set

Two of my favorite things are Maine Lobster

and espresso.  This was a gift from someone dear

who knows all my obsessions.  There are four little cups

and saucers, the creamer, and a sugar bowl. I love using it!

6 x6 in. Oil

Pink Dogwood

Pink Dogwood      Sold

The Dogwood trees are all in bloom

here in North Carolina.  Ours seem to have

more blossoms than usual.  I always look forward

to April for this reason.

6 x 6 in. oil 

                         

Local Strawberries Ready

Local Strawberries Ready

So long, limes-HELLO strawberries..
The pick your own strawberry farms are now open here.
Bill and I are going very early next week to pick.
The first year we were married, we entered our strawberry jam
in The N.C. State Fair and won a blue ribbon.
We are planning to do that again this year and see if we can win again.
You never know...

6x6 in. oil painting

Who You Callin' Chicken?!!

Sold

Who You Callin' Chicken?!!

That just flaps my wattles.

"Actually, in reality, I am Super Chicken." (81k)
(click to listen)


Okay, I'll admit I had fun with this one.


6x6 in. oil painting
on gesso board
$99 framed

Making Salsa

Making Salsa!
We've got the lime juice, got the orange juice, but where
is the mango? We can't make the mango salsa to go on
the fish with no mango.
6x6 in. oil painting on gesso board

   

"Slide"

I saw one of these on Kelley MacDonald's blog, which I love, and it gave instructions but now I can't get it onto the side of my blog-just as a post.  If anyone can help me, I'd love to hear from you!  Thanks

Lovin' Limes

Cut-Ups

This has been a very productive painting day.

Finished a large painting and did three small ones.

Forgot to put the highlights on this shiny bowl but did not realize it 

till now.

6x6 in. oil on gesso board

Three Of A Kind

Three Of A Kind

I don't care if you are bigger-three of a kind beats

two pear!

6x6 in. oil painting

on gessoboard panel

Floating Flowers

Floating Camellias

I'm including the photo of the flowers in one of my grandmother's

"ribbon" glass bowls-the bowl is very old and made from pale pink glass.

I threaded some ribbon through the outside edge and found this to be a rather difficult

set-up to capture even though I was painting from life, not from the photo.

The glass, reflections, water, and shadows were all challenging so I look forward to trying

this again sometime. I welcome any suggestions.  I think the values are not quite right.

5x7 in. oil on museum quality panel

Curve Ahead

Curve Ahead

This is a landscape painted from one

of Carol Marine's photos she took in Germany.

I will be sending it to the Daily Paintworks Challenge.

It is so interesting to see the different interpretations of the two landscapes 

that are posted for the challenge.

6x6 in. oil painting on museum

quality panel.

Watch Out

Watch Out

Better hide, she's talking about making

an apple cobbler. There's whipped

cream in the fridge.

6x6 in. oil on

museum panel