Sunday, July 05, 2015

4th of July Pancakes

Red, White, Blue
Blueberry pancakes made from walnut, millet, coconut flour with greek yogart , Honeysuckle Rose syrup

Wednesday, June 24, 2015

Wagon Race Girls

This is a little painting I did after attending a wagon race in Oklahoma.  We just happened upon it on a Sunday drive. 

Monday, June 15, 2015

Gathering Herbs

To Bid

This painting started out by using a master work as a jumping off point.  Originally this girl was in a cathedral or castle and holding something totally different.  Since I like being outside and in the woods, and I like foraging, I thought I would put her there as well.  She has been out gathering greens for tonight's supper.  Can you see the fiddle heads?  The dandelion leaves?  Anyways she is actually residing above the fireplace in my house but would be happy to move to yours... To bid, click above.  It will take you to my ebay auction and also give you access to my online Ebay Gallery, Store.

Monday, June 08, 2015

Where to find inspiration

I think you find inspiration best when you are not actually looking for it.  It is best found when you keep an open mind and when an idea presents itself, instead of saying, "well that's not really my thing." just stop a minute and ask yourself if you might want to give it a try.  Sometimes, of course the answer is 'No' but every now and then when you say 'yes' powerfully and step into the moment, you find your new joy or new direction.  Here are a few things that presented themselves in that way to me.
1.  Tulsa Artist Coalition had a 5x5 fundraiser.  They supplied the canvas and asked you to paint on it or create something w those dimensions.  I had never painted small, nor did I have any desire to do so.  Here is what happened after accepting that challenge:
   1.  I loved it.  I could paint something that didn't take all day and had a beautiful resulting painting which of course, sold in their sale.
   2.  I joined an online daily painting group which inspired me further as I saw what others were doing.
   3.  I began to fill my kitchen wall w daily paintings which changed often as...
   4.  sales increased in my ebay gallery.
   5.  I found that my little photos of beach figures transferred perfectly to the snapshot size of a 6x6.
   6.  My students loved trying out the same thing.
   7.  I got a commission from an ebay buyer for even smaller paintings and discovered the idea of 'art cards' which were trading card size.
   8.  I got multiple commissions for clients who wished for me to paint from their own beach photos.  Below is one of the finished paintings.

2.  I went to France and stayed in an abby where an old friend is a sister.  I got to paint the beautiful countryside in Provence where the convent was. While there I met a French woman with a hideous painting on the side of her mini van.  With the help of a translator she asked if I could paint something on the side of her van to cover up that painting.  I tried to get out of it every which way and finally agreed to cover the old with a painting of Provence.  I had done several sketches prior to that so had some things to work from as well as looking out over the olive grove where the van was parked.  It had been 30 years since I had worked in acrylics and I gave it the old college try.  It turned out great and she was so pleased.  Now I can say I have a traveling show in France ! ha ha...Actually after that, I got tons of hits on my ebay site and blog from France as I am sure she shared the story of her new painting where ever she went.

3.  One of my students wanted to do a painting of umbrellas in the rain and brought in a file morgue photo to work from.  I didn't much like it and rearranged the figures and decided to try something out of the ordinary with it and try to create a real atmosphere of a rainy day.  It was very impressionistic as there were lots of lost edges as I drug the brush across well painted umbrellas and figures.  ( that is a jump for me as I want to work towards a painterly way of painting but my brain keeps wanting to paint things w perfect edges)  This idea gave me the push I needed to make the jump.  I have since been inspired to paint some cityscapes in the rain from my own town.  Finishing two that have both won entry into recent shows.

4.  Seeing the cityscapes and wanting something in that vein for his drum head, my son asked me to paint on his drum head ( the big one that you use a foot pedal for )  He also liked my big sky paintings.  My other son suggested a tornado. ( we are from Oklahoma, remember?)  Unable to decide, I told him I would surprise him.  I combined a rainy Tulsa with an approaching tornado.  I figured it would be perfect... his city, pitter patter drum/rain beats, and an approaching loud, exciting storm.
If you would like to visit my online gallery and bid on my latest daily painting, Click Here







Saturday, June 06, 2015

Blooming Vetch


To bid

I took a walk with my pup way down into a  hollow that spread out into a beautiful field the other day.  The temperature was perfect, there was every kind of wild flower blooming.  I even spotted a deer and watched while she considered if I was a friend or foe.  She decided to lean toward the safe side and got up from her hiding place and made it across the field and into the woods.  I thought it was such a beautiful place and the weather was perfect that I decided to  hike back up the hill and go get my painting supplies and come back  I completed two little sketches that I am very pleased with.  They both feature the 'weed,' vetch which turned the ground to a pretty violet where ever it sprang.

Monday, June 01, 2015

It was too pretty to pass up...

It was too pretty today to pass up an opportunity to paint.  I took my dog for a walk down on the back 40 and then decided that the weather was perfect, the scenery was perfect, the birds were singing and so we hiked back to the car, went home, got painting supplies and hiked back down to paint.  A beautiful day

SOLD


Friday, May 29, 2015

Thoughts on gardening on the wild side

I was out in the garden yesterday and picked lettuce and some spinach.  I noticed purslane growing in with the basil, sorrel and lambsquarters growing in with the lettuce and dandelion and poke scattered around as well.  I wish people would stop seeing this stuff as weeds and realize that they grow without any help from you, provide food during more than one season and plant themselves again for the following year.  Why would I dig or pull these things up?  I no longer do.  I bring the sorrel in to add to my mint tea and pestos, lambsquarters for anthing that uses greens including salads, purslane for fresh salads and poke for cooked greens and to freeze for the winter.  We need to start seeing things differently if we expect these valuable plants to survive corporate farming. My garden probably doesn't look as organized as those with out a weed and everything in its proper rows but I have decided to see it as useful and beautiful as it is. 

Saturday, May 23, 2015

Testing the waters

Memories... Everything about the beach makes me feel good.  Some of my favorite years as a child, as a teen, as a mom and now.... still makes me feel young to be there although I no longer catch the eye of the cute lifeguard :-)  This painting came out of some great photos sent to me by a client for a commissioned painting.  I have since used these photos for some lovely little paintings.  This is one of my favorites.


To Bid

Friday, May 22, 2015

Mulberry Tree

One more day in the tops of the trees and I think it is finished. 
I love my job.  Who else gets to hang out in the tops of the trees all day, listening to the birds, watching the squirrels race around and eating fresh berries while doing so.... oh, and did I mention, getting to oil paint too?  What a life.
If you want to bid on this it is on ebay for the next few days on auction.  Bid here

Wednesday, May 20, 2015

A work of art from the garden


Revisiting a painting from this time last year

I decided not to paint the peonies this year and just pick them and enjoy them.  I do love to paint them but this year put my energies into some other kinds of paintings like my rainy city series and my tree tops.





To Bid

Tuesday, May 19, 2015

Mulberry Tree

Sometimes the question pops up... " Should I pick it, or should I paint it?"  That was the case the other day as I climbed the steps to our little tree house garage apt. to check out the mulberry tree.  They are nearing ripeness but still white.  In the mean time I had a flash back to when I was a young girl who loved to climb trees and sit in the tallest branches.  Soooo I decided to paint the tree instead.  It is almost finished but not quite.

Thursday, May 14, 2015

Saturday, May 09, 2015

Mayfest Invitational

I am excited to be invited again to participate in the Mayfest International Invitational show this year.  It opens Wednesday night ( tickets are around $25 and go to support the Mayfest) After that it is free until it closes on Sunday afternoon.  Always exciting to see what my artist pals pull out for this show. 
This is one and dang it, I can't find the photo of the other one which is a painting of a city street in the rain.

To Garden or to Paint? That is the question.





I love Google.  I googled a recipe for honeysuckle jelly and decided to add a few rose petals for good measure and color.  I thought I had everything covered and went to get the pectin and mine was powdered and the recipe called for liquid so I did some very quick reading and my fingers are crossed that it will jell properly.  If not, I will do the old trick with cream cheese w jelly poured over it, served with crackers and just say, " I meant to do it." :-)

Wednesday, April 22, 2015

The Journey

A lot of people think that when they see a painting on the wall that the artist had a specific idea of how it should look in the end and that is how it turned out.  For most of us, it is a journey.  We have a very vague idea and we jump in and see where it leads.  I did this painting last year as a class project.  My class wanted to do a landscape and a portrait and so we combined the two.  I really liked the landscape and I liked the pretty face on my portrait but wasn't pleased with the rest of her and didn't like the way the two fit together.  It took me a year to give it a second look and so here is where we are today....

Wanna bid on this on Ebay?  Click here

Friday, April 17, 2015

To Garden.... or To Paint.... or Both!

This week I am doing a lot of both. To start off with the harvest of lots of dandelion and redbud blossoms a few weeks ago is going to pay off in another few weeks ( my fingers are crossed) with some tasty dandelion wine.  I tasted before I bottled it and it was pretty darned good so hopefully nothing goes wrong with the rest of the process.

I am also working on a painting of the lilac bush that was in full bloom last week, a painting from our trip down the Buffalo River last weekend ( a mere pleine aire sketch at this point,) and finishing a painting from my adult class.



Wednesday, April 08, 2015

a short painting demo

I had forgotten about this until someone commented on it today.  A pretty good little demo if I do say so myself.  It is me painting one little white cup.  It takes about 5-7 minutes or so. 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLy5nQlqmkE&authuser=0

Tuesday, April 07, 2015

Oklahoma Artists League Show

This Thursday, April 9th at the Circle Cinema in Tulsa, OK opening 5:30-8:00
Those of you in the area, please stop by.
It will be up for 2 months so feel free to stop in later and take in a movie as well :-)