"Antique Book"

16 x 20

oil on stretched canvas
sold

I've used this old book in another still life set up before and love how the light plays across the cover and other objects. It's a Shakespearean book dated 1858, beautiful with a gold embossed cover and spine. Being so fragile, just by opening it, it causes pages to loosen, therefore it is not handled very often. 

If you follow my blog, you know how much I painted in the month of January...a great start to the new year, but I've slowed down the daily painting this month since I am getting ready for a number of Spring shows. That involves a little more time dealing with special frames, hangers, entry forms, etc. This is one of the entries I have submitted to one of the shows and will find out in several weeks if it is accepted.

"October Color"

9 x 12

oil on hardboard
sold

Painted this en plein air on a recent trip to Tennessee. Happy Halloween!

"Valentine Rose"

8 x 10

oil on gessoed hardboard

Daily Paintworks has a new Valentine's Day challenge this week posted by Qiang Huang, a very gifted artist from the Austin, Texas area and an incredible master of painting roses. Be sure to check out the other dozens, and I do mean dozens, of posted rose paintings. Wishing you a very happy Valentine's Day!

"Copper Teapot"

8 x 10

oil on stretched canvas
sold

Just found this teapot at an estate sale, and the cantaloupe and grapes were a part of our dinner. My husband says he can't tell if I'm buying food to eat or to paint! How about both!

"Herbs"

11 x 14

oil on stretched canvas

These parsley, rosemary, and basil plants were nice enough to "pose" for me before I repotted them! They will definitely end up in some summer dishes before long.

"Azalea Trail"

11 x 14

oil on hardboard

My second plein air painting! Our group went back to the Turtle Creek area in Dallas since the azaleas are in full bloom. There were only four of us today, but lots of fun to see the different interpretations of almost the same scene. I quit a little early to run out to SouthWest Galleries to see the plein air exhibit there. Be sure to go by if you are in the Dallas area.

"Pansies" and I'm a Winner!

8 x 10

oil on stretched canvas

The pansies this Spring have been "out of sight" beautiful! Hope they last a little longer, but I'm afraid they won't be happy with the approaching Texas heat.

On another note! Not long ago I discovered the wonderful artwork of Lisa Daria, and signed up to follow her blog. To my great surprise, this morning there was an email from Lisa announcing that in a drawing (by her dog, no less) that I had won her 300th daily painting. Check out her blog and enjoy her colorful, fresh style. Can't wait to receive my new painting...my birthday's next week, I'll consider it an early gift!!! Thank you, Lisa, and Brie (the dog)!!!

6 x 6 acrylic by Lisa Daria

"Solo Daisy"

8 x 10

oil on stretched canvas

Just realized that I started this blog one year ago. It's been a great year for artistic growth and especially for meeting and connecting with other artists in the blogging community. Thanks to each of you who have been so loyal with your comments and the wealth of information that you are so willing to share. I appreciate your friendship more than you know!

"Qiang Huang Workshop #2"

8 x 10

oil on stretched canvas

sold

Qiang paints the most beautiful roses and many in the workshop today requested that his demo include roses. So when it was time for the students to paint, I felt that I should follow his lead and give it a try. My hats off to all you floral painters! This was another great day in the workshop with lots of valuable information given in a power point presentation, followed by Qiang's demo and then the class doing a still life of their choosing from a number of available props.

Thanks to each of you who have shown interest in these workshop posts, hope to have one more post tomorrow after the last day of the class. It's been a blast!

"Dots and Daisies"

11 x 14

oil on hardboard

Guess I should have titled this 'dots, daisies, limes and peppers"! The gerber daisy arrangement is from a birthday party I had for my husband, and the peppers, well, they were just too delicious looking to resist.

I'm taking a workshop at the end of this month with Qiang Huang and thought I'd better work on a still life for a little practice.

"The Gift"

8 x 10

oil on masonite

My husband has a golfing friend who works for a nursery and on occasion sends a plant home for me. These gifts are usually at their peak of blooms and seem to always arrive just when I'm looking for the next subject for a painting.

"Hydrangeas"

9 x 12

oil on masonite

My husband came home with these beautiful hydrangeas. Known to be real showy plants, both of these were just that, full of blooms and lots of color!

"Daisies"

9 x 12

oil on masonite

Spring rains have been perfect for the outdoor plants. Thought I better paint the fresh blooms before the upcoming Texas summer heat changes their minds!

"Plants"

Both are 9 x 12

oil on masonite

Nothing like cramming in some painting time when you know you are going to be away from the easel for awhile. Our grandson's school is closing for a couple of weeks because of a swine flu case diagnosed in his building, so the working parents need help during this unexpected "vacation" from school. Knowing that I would be busy with other things for awhile and feeling the need to keep up the "almost-daily" painting, I quickly tried to capture these two flower pots from our backyard. I guess being in a hurry sent me back to old habits, so the paintings are not as loose as I would like. That will still be my goal when I get back "at it"!!!

By the way, do you know how hard it is to photograph a black background? These took numerous attempts, but it looks like I avoided most of the glare!

"Echo Park"

9 x 12

oil on masonite

This is the most beautiful triangular shaped park right in the middle of the city of Highland Park in Dallas. If you haven't seen the azaleas here in the Spring, it's a must-see! Our family calls it Echo Park because our children used to play in the gazebo and when you stand in the middle, you can hear your echo. Several years ago, our son proposed to his wife in the gazebo, and months later, she had her wedding portrait made here. For their first anniversary, I gave them a similar painting to this one.