Journaling

Wild and Wonderful...

Great weekend in West Virginia. Good company, good food, warm fire, lovely hike. Entertained by busy chipmunks. I'm always inspired to paint the scenery up there. See the photos below.

West Virginia

Heady stuff...

I just got another painting accepted in a November show at FCCA. This one is themed "Secret Places" and I'm delighted to be part of it.
The openings last Friday were great fun and, as expected, I did a lot of running back and forth between galleries.
Took a workshop with Dave Daniels this past weekend. Learned some stuff, met some people, had fun. It's not a style I'm comfortable with and I felt like Dave was trying to make all of us paint just like him, which would be impossible, but I picked up a few things. It's fun to mix colors on the paper instead of on the palette. They stay rich and saturated and the blending together (using lots of water) creates surprises. Lovely couple of days at the beach.
This weekend is a long one so I'm hoping to be productive.
Later...

First Friday

I need to be in two places at once on Friday night but this is a good problem. It means I had work accepted at two galleries for October. I've mentioned the Regional show at the FCCA and today I heard that two works were accepted for the "About Face" show at LibertyTown. These two pieces are shown in earlier blogs below--"Rita" and "Judy." I submitted the 3 girls on the tractor but it was rejected. I think it might have been because all the other entries were a single person. It couldn't possibly be because the judge didn't like it!!! I'm honored to have 2 accepted.

I'm beginning to feel a little spoiled. Something has been accepted in every show I've entered so far. It's very validating and I'm quite humbled by it.

There's a workshop this weekend with David Daniels who does very vibrant, colorful watercolors so I'm excited about that. I'll let you know how it goes.

Below are the two paintings that were accepted in the Regional Show for October at the Fredericksburg Center for the Creative Arts. The opening is Friday, Oct. 2.
The yellow waterlilies grow in the goldfish pond in my backyard. The Shagbark Hickory grows on Pyne Mt., WV, where I go at least once a year to recharge my batteries. It's a magical place.

Pyne Mountain

Shagbark Hickory on Pyne Mt., WV

(detail)

watercolor on Torchon paper

Waterlilies

Waterlilies

watercolor on Arches 300# paper

Hollyhock

Watercolor on Arches 300# paper
8"x10"

detail of girl on tractor

Girls on tractor

Watercolor on Arches 300# paper

16"x20"

random thoughts...

I have been on a bit of a painting high lately. Just entered 4 pieces in a juried show at the Fredericksburg Center for the Creative Arts(the osprey, the water lilies, and the garden shed shown below, and one I completely forgot to photograph of a shagbark hickory tree that I started at Orkney Springs. Hope I will still have a chance to get a photo of it).

This weekend is the deadline for another show at LibertyTown called "About Face." I'm entering the picture of Rita and the 3 girls on a tractor. If there's time on my day off Friday, I might try to complete one more.

Then Oct. 1 is the deadline for another show at the FCCA called "Secret Places." I've got one done and 2 more almost finished so I anticipate I'll be working pretty hard this weekend.

I've sketched 9 more flower paintings from John Earl's photos so I'm anxious to get to working on them as well. Plus he has a photo of an old doorway that I want to paint. The hollyhock above is from one of John's photos.

So much to do, so little time. But what fun!

Rain with Osprey

This painting was done on the last day of the plein air class I took with Gwen Bragg through the Workhouse Art Center. We spent 4 weeks (one class per week) working outdoors and on the last day it rained! Fortunately one of our classmates had invited us to paint at her house on the Potomac River and she had a large, covered deck so we were able to paint the rain without having to get wet. The ospreys gave us quite a show and I often found myself just watching them instead of painting. I think this little painting was fairly successful nonetheless. I was told that Mount Vernon was directly across the river (right above the osprey) but it was so overcast that day we couldn't see it.

Rain with Osprey at Moss Neck

New stuff

The three flower images below were done from photographs that my co-worker, John Earl, took for an online photo course he was taking. He would come in every day with a new picture (they were concentrating on close-up photos of flowers) and I asked if he minded if I tried painting some of them. I had great fun doing it and have many more I want to work on. We've been talking about doing a joint show which would be lots of fun. I just have to try to keep up with him! Hope you enjoy.

Gallardia with Raindrops

From the collection of M. Rudzinsky

Rose with Dewdrop

Obedient Plant

Morning Glory

new work

Just finished these little flower paintings for an exhibit in Colonial Beach this month at the Wide River Gallery. They are small (about 3"x8") done with watercolor and ink. The opening is August 14th from 6-9. Stop by and see the originals.

Lacecap Hydrangea

From the collection of L. H. Glenn

Rose of Sharon

Iris

Sold to B.Lyons 2009

flower series

New work

Below are 3 new pieces that I did at Orkney Springs last week. I've got several more in various stages of completion and will post them as soon as they are done. Trying to get ready for a show in August and will be taking a plein air course at the Workhouse Art Center for the next 4 weeks. I'll post what I do in class as I do it.
I feel like each time I pick up the brush I learn something new. It's very exciting. I only wish I had more time but I've still got to pay for my habit. More later...

Greek Isle

This was done from a photo I took on vacation a few years ago. One of my work colleagues bought it. I found that amusing because I thought of it as my "warm up" piece. I'm glad he liked it though.

Judy

This was done from a photo I took of one of my classmates. She's a beautiful woman and I didn't do her justice but it does look like the photo.

Garden Shed

The assignment was to paint an interior. I decided to tackle my garden shed since I had a photo of it. I left out half of the clutter but it was great fun. I enjoyed the freedom of the piece.

It was the 3rd of June...

Remember that song, Ode to Billy Joe? I've had it rumbling around in my head all day. I just realized that I didn't paint anything (but some wrought iron garden chairs) in the merry month of May. Bad artist! June will be better. I'm going to summer camp in the mountains where I can paint my heart out and not have to cook, clean, answer the phone, turn on the computer... Can't wait. Hope to have lots of new stuff for you to see when I return in July.

Where did April go?

I can hardly believe it's almost May! It's so pretty here in the spring--I wish we could have about four months of April. I've decided to try to sell my paintings at LibertyTown Arts Workshop instead of on this blog but if you are interested in anything you see here, just send me a 'comment' and I'll let you know if it's still available.

Green Pepper

Watercolor on 300# Arches paper

for sale at LibertyTown Arts Workshop

Some exciting new things in my life lately. I was honored to be invited to join the North Windsor Artists. They are a small group of painters who have been working together for years. Two of their members have decided to give up their membership to pursue another gallery so I was invited to join North Windsor in the place of one of them. My friend Robyn Ryan will be joining as well. NWA has a long wall of space that they rent in LibertyTown Arts Workshop, a local gallery, and I will get to display my paintings there and hopefully, sell them. This means however, that the work I hang there will not be sold through this blog. I will continue to post my work here and if you are interested in purchasing anything, just leave me a comment and I'll get back to you. If it's hanging at the gallery, it will need to be purchased through them.

I have had a small piece (the green pepper above) accepted into the current exhibit at LibertyTown. It's a show all about food so my work is a natural. I was delighted to have a piece accepted. It's a fun show.

Making plans to do a workshop with Gwen Bragg this summer so I hope to get a lot of work done there. Stay tuned. Meanwhile, check out Robyn's work (http://www.rryan.myexpose.com/) and my BFF Jeanne Bauer (http://www.jeannebauer.blogspot.com/) on their sites.

Later...

Pear for Kathleen

Pear for Kathleen

Watercolor

5x7

SOLD

February 16, 2009

I can't believe I haven't posted anything for so long. I've been busy but haven't painted much. I have written an article for my local newspaper, and I took an acrylic workshop earlier this month. That was fun--we painted outside on one of those rare, warm February days. The most important thing I learned was I'm not a big fan of acrylics. I did get interested watching the instructor work in oil with a tiny palette knife though so I'm going to try that. My painting isn't finished but I'll post it when it is. Meanwhile, here's a pear that I did last month in watercolor.

More soon...

Happy New Year!

Here's wishing all of you a very happy and fulfilling new year. Hope all of you are able to be creative in some way in 2009. It's not here yet but I'm ready for it.
Yesterday it was 75° so I christened the new garden shed studio. I tackled the bottle painting again, this time doing a detail rather than the whole set up. Let me know what you think. It's another beautiful day here today but colder. I may go sit in the sun and read. I could really get used to this time off.

Bottles

Bottles

8.5"x11"

Watercolor on Arches 300# paper

in the collection of DFD

Longer days!

Hello and happy day after the Winter Solstice! I don't know about you, but even though winter has officially just begun, I'm already looking forward to longer days ahead. Something odd happened this year on the solstice...I woke up from the longest night of the year at 5:30 a.m.!!! This is very unusual for me and even more unusual, I got up and was productive for the 2 1/2 hours before I had to be at work. Usually, it's a mad 1/2 hour dash to get dressed and out the door. Don't know if it had anything to do with the solstice but when I mentioned it at work, several other people had similar experiences.
I'm happy to report that I spent last weekend painting. I did a small landscape for my mother for Christmas and started work on a still life of bottles for a friend. I did 3 versions of the bottles and ended up ready to give up painting all together. Glass is one of my most challenging subjects and I never seem happy with the results. I'll share these pictures with you after the holidays. I'm off next week so I plan to spend it painting. Wish me luck.
Meanwhile, I hope all of you who are celebrating this month have a wonderful time!

my new garden shed studio

When I first moved into my house a few years ago, there was the beginning of a gazebo in the back corner of the garden. It had a wooden floor and four corner posts connected at the top on all four sides by 2x6 boards. Being the scrounge that I am, I had collected a few unusual windows over the years for just the right project. Then I found a French door and realized that I had what I needed to turn the gazebo into a shed. I hired a friend to help me and between us, we constructed a very usable structure. Of course, as soon as it was up and filled with garden gear, I began thinking it would be fun to make it into a studio. This fall I finally decided to make that happen. I got rid of any extraneous garden equipment, hung a lot of things on the wall and moved it all to one side which gave me room for a small table and a comfortable chair facing the large window. I have plans now to add electricity since, without heat it won't be very user friendly until spring. But at least it's a space. See the images below.

The real shed

My garden shed studio

Ginko follow-up

As I left home this morning for work, I noticed that the big Ginko tree I mention earlier was raining yellow leaves. I fully expect it to be bare by the time I get home this evening. Love that tree. Wish I had room for one in my yard.

Almost heaven...

Just got back from spending 3 glorious days in wild and wonderful West Virginia. Ate, drank, talked, laughed, hiked, painted, wrote in my journal, laughed some more. Even though it's a long drive, it's always one of the most relaxing vacations I can take. Thought I'd share the two little watercolors I made. The one of the shagbark hickory leaves was a first for me. I drew it in my journal in pen from life, then later used the drawing to create the painting. I usually paint directly from the subject. I was rather pleased with the outcome. Think I'll hang on to this one.

Shagbark Hickory Leaves

watercolor

5x7 on Arches 300# paper

NFS

Maple Leaf

Acer rubrum

5x7

Arches 300# paper

SOLD

Leaves, squirrels and words, oh my!

Today the rain has brought down most of the leaves in my yard. The crepe myrtles are the last to go and they are almost bare. I'm keeping an eye on the ginko at the end of the block. Its leaves are all still attached but mostly yellow now. I'm anticipating the day that I look up and every single leaf is in a neat pile at the base of the tree. Ginkos are the most polite trees around.

The squirrels are busier than I've ever seen them. Or maybe I'm just more tuned in to them this year. There are several who call my garden home that I have named because of an identifying anomaly. There's Carmen who has a crooked tail. She started out being "Crooked Tail", then "CT" which made me think of an old friend named Carmen Teresa so the squirrel became "Carmen." There's another with a white tip on his tail so he's "Tipper," and a juvenile with a bald tail that looks like a rat, hence "Pettigrew" for the character in Harry Potter who's animal form was a rat. Sounds like I need to get a life. I recently named my "estate" (a small city lot) Squirrels' Leap. I read that James Madison said his home at Montpelier was a "squirrel's jump from heaven" and it's how I feel about my home, too.

I've been thinking that almost-a-painting-a-day is a misnomer for this blog. Then I thought I could try to "paint" with words even when I can't get the watercolors out. We'll see...

Happy November!

It really looks like autumn around town now. The crepe myrtles and dogwoods in my garden have turned a lovely red and the river birches are almost naked already. Didn't have as many trick or treaters Friday night as last year but still ran out of candy by about 7:30. Friday night football at the field near my house was in full swing so maybe that kept the teenage crowd busy. As promised, below are images of the cover and some of the pages from the nature journal I created at Flower Camp last weekend. I'm still working on a couple more. Enjoy!

Nature Journal 2008

October's almost over...

Hi. I would love to think that someday I might be able to do more blogging about my painting but at the moment, I'm too busy living. Maybe when the weather changes and daylight savings time is a thing of the past for another year, I'll spend more time in front of my computer. I wish we could just stay on daylight savings time year 'round. Actually, I think it would be really great if we could have standard time in the morning, add an hour around lunch time that is "free", then have daylight savings time into the evening. More daylight all around and an "extra" hour in the middle of the day. Of course I guess that would mean we have to lose that hour while we were sleeping each night and I just read where there are more heart attacks after we switch in the spring than when we switch back in the fall. Okay, so there are still some bugs to work out but it's an interesting thought.

I just had 2 whole weeks off from work. My friend Jeanne B. visited from California for a week and it was wonderful to see her. We totally relaxed and just enjoyed each other's company. Did a little painting, took at trip to D.C. to see the George O'Keeffe show, and generally just goofed off. I hated to see her go.

Last weekend I spent 3 days at Flower Camp. If you don't know about it, Nancy Hugo (an amazing woman and a born naturalist) owns 50 acres in Buckingham Co. south of Richmond VA where she has turned a collection of delightful buildings into a retreat space where she offers workshops in flower arranging and nature journaling. I took the latter with instructor Rhonda Roebuck and had a ball! There were 12 of us in the class plus Rhonda and our wonderful chef for the weekend, Rosanne Shalf, and everyone of them was an exceptional person. I'm going to upload some pages from the journal I created as soon as I finish it so come back to check that out.

I'm also doing a PowerPoint presentation for the Master Naturalist course I'm taking on nature watercolorist Cathy Johnson. If you're at all interested in nature journaling, Rhonda and Cathy are 2 of the best. Check out their websites when you get a chance.

Meanwhile above are a few photos of Flower Camp.

finally! something new...

For all of you who thought that I had taken the shuttle to Mars, I'm back! I was inspired recently to try my hand at colored pencils and with an exhibit coming up about my town, I found great subject matter to draw. I've not foresaken watercolor, but pencils have been great fun!

Let me know what you think.

update

Thanks to all my loyal friends for continuing to embarrass me into picking up a paintbrush again. I can only say that my other career has taken an incredible turn and needed all my attention. As a marketing/pr person, getting worldwide attention for a project is one of the highs of the business but it sure takes a lot of work.
That said, I actually painted this past weekend but didn't finish anything. It was pure pleasure though just to put brush to paper.
Meanwhile, I thought you might like to visit the site of my great friend, Jeanne Bauer:
http://jeannebauer.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2008-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-08%3A00&updated-max=2009-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-08%3A00&max-results=33
Jeanne is an incredible artist and is one of those people who makes a success of everything she does. I hate that we live on opposite coasts now but she's always in my heart.
Enjoy the summer and keep encouraging me.

Rita's Birthday Party Invitation

Not for sale.

March Madness

As you may have noticed, painting has not been high on my list lately. However, I plan to enter three of my works below in an art show in April so have put them "on hold" until May. If they don't sell at the show, I'll offer them again here.

I plan to take a vacation in May and will have my paints with me. I'll be somewhere new so I hope I'll be inspired. Watch this space...

Happy Spring!!!

February

I can't believe I've been so bad about keeping up with this blog. Sometimes other things happen. January turned out to be a very sad month--many deaths--and I just haven't been in the mood to paint or write or do anything but what I had to. The crocus are blooming (sometimes with ice on them) and the daffodils are up so I know spring is on the way. I hope you all saw the lunar eclipse last night. It was incredible from my back porch. It had been cloudy all day so I had little hope for a viewing but it was clear, and very cold and beautiful at 10 p.m. I can surely understand why the ancients would have been worried to see something like that. Even now, knowing what causes it, it's pretty eerie.
Hope you have a good rest-of-the winter and I'll do my best to post some new paintings soon.
Rowdy

Granny Smith

Watercolor on Arches 300# paper

7"x5"

$100

sold

First I'd like to thank my friends for keeping tabs on my blog and fussing at me when I don't put up new work fast enough. So, even though I have lots of excuses for not painting, I won't bore you with any of them and instead hope you like the new painting. Happy New Year!!!

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving! I've been working on a large painting for a friend and haven't done any small works to put online. Please be patient. I hope to get back to posting more paintings after the holidays. I would like to thank those of you who have purchased my art. I love painting what I want to (as opposed to commissions) and then having people like it enough to buy it.
Have a wonderful holiday!

Tea bag on dish

Watercolor on Arches 300# cold press

5"x7"

$100

SOLD

November already???

How did that happen? Some of you have noticed all the inactivity on my blog recently -- and a few have complained :-( -- so I apologize to all. Truth is, I've been out of town some and working on a commission for Christmas. I'll share that with you if it works out.
I could throw in the fact that I hate standard time. By the time I get home from work, it's dark and all I want to do is curl up with a good book and a glass of wine and hibernate. I have a theory that we should have standard time in the morning so it's light when most of us wake up, then get a free hour at noon that just isn't counted, then start daylight savings time in the afternoon, switching back to standard time sometime in the middle of the night. Of course that would play havoc with air travel and that's hard enough as it is, so I guess it wouldn't work. Thank you all for you patience--I promise there's more to come.

Eggplant and Salt Shaker

Watercolor on Arches 140# cold pressed paper

7"x5"

SOLD

Eggplants, onions, and elephants, oh my!

This was a fun, and productive, weekend. Friday night I went to a benefit for the elephant sanctuary in Tennessee. If you don't know about this, and are interested, check out http://www.elephants.com
I also got two more paintings done, and as you can see, I've sold one of them. The process of painting is incredible, but having the validation of someone actually paying you for your effort is heady. Hope you enjoy seeing them.

Life

Studio is finished and ready to be used, however, it's still summer in Virginia so I'm not yet giving up my spot on the screened porch. I've found it's a great place to paint during the day (hence I can only work on the weekends since I'm at work all day). This past weekend however was spent entertaining house guests so, obviously, no painting got done. Sounds like a lot of excuses, doesn't it? I have high hopes for the upcoming weekend, however, so stay tuned. PR

Mango and Frog

Walls and mangos

So this past weekend I started putting furniture back into my newly painted studio then, before I put the paint away, I cleared out and painted the laundry room! Glutton for punishment. My reward was to sit down and paint Mango and Frog, my newest addition to this site. Hope you enjoy!
Rowdy

I got real tired of painting the studio floor this weekend, so I stopped and did this painting of the artichoke. I had gone to the market and bought food based on how it would look painted rather than how I would cook it (I'm no cook), but I do love to eat artichokes! As you can see, so does someone else!

Artichoke and Butter

Watercolor on Arches 300# paper
6.5"x4.5"

SOLD

Painting blues (and I don't mean the color)

Hi everyone,
thanks for checking on my blog progress. Some of you have expressed disappointment that I haven't posted more paintings so let me 'splain. I've been painting the ceiling, walls, trim, and even the floor of my studio so I haven't lifted a brush smaller than 2" for about a week. I hope to get set back up to paint small again real soon, so stay tuned...
Rowdy