they are blooming

they are blooming
I love the roses that bloom in my garden. These were painted outdoors when they were blooming profusely.

Cynthia's shoes

I called this Cynthia's shoes because I did a series of my daughters shoes. I went into her closet and selected a few shoes to take home to paint. These shoes had a cluster of stones attached over the toe section. I had been collecting fake diamonds from greeting cards, old necklaces to recycle on a painting. I knew I could fit them in somewhere and when I saw these shoes I knew exactly where the stones would fit. Cynthia  has a lot of fun shoes and although I painted 5 of them I may have to go into her closet again and see what's new..

sketching in the mall

Sometimes I like to take my sketch book with me and sketch people in restaurants, parks, etc. I am a little uncomfortable doing this as people will come up to me to see what I am doing. I don't exactly like to sketch them in detail but it is mostly their  activity that I am sketching.  Once on the plaza in Taos, New Mexico I saw an older couple seated on a bench and they were eating ice cream. Behind them  was a statute and I thought this would be an interesting sketch. Well no matter how I tried to hide my sketchbook they suspected what I was doing.I thought they would think I was writing a letter.  The lady came over and asked to see the sketch. I did show it to her although I had hoped she would understand I was not trying to draw them in detail. She seemed to appreciate my effort. The sketch above was in the mall.I just roam around the mall looking for something that would interest me.  I loved this  store window and the figures standing in it. I loved their trendy clothes. I did several other sketches of figures and their clothing thinking this might be a great painting with maybe a young woman standing outside the store looking in the window.

Leddy's Boot Store in Stockyards

My muse is giving me trouble. I haven't seen my muse around for a month or so so that is why I have not been posting. my art work. I never have trouble finding a subject to paint. In facet there are 4 paintings I have started and can't seem to finish. We have had some illness in our family and my concentration has been with the children. So all is settled down now but it will take a while for me to direct my thoughts on my art work. I tried to work today but nothing came out to my satisfaction. I suppose these things happen. Well I have been thinking about my blog and thought I would just post something from the past. This is a scene from the days I painted in a studio in the historic stockyards, Ft. Worth Texas. This was about 10 years ago.So keep on looking for my new art work and one of these day I may surprise you with a new painting.

playing the flute

I am currently working on this painting. I have not seen this subject. It  is from my imagination. At this time I seem to be interested in painting young girls in various activities,As the mother of two daughters I suppose they are my inspiration.  This work is being done in oil and acrylics with heavy texture. I did not plan the painting in advance. I just add and subtract  until I see something that pleases me.

cactus and wrens

The cactus plants will soon bloom here in Texas. I painted this a few years ago. The bloosomes are lovely and fragile, almost transparent looking. There are cactus plants in a park nearby and when I see the blooms I will be out there sketching them again. I included 2 wrens because they are always coming to the patio outside my studio door. I like to watch them go in and out of my ferns and hanging  baskets looking for insects.

Madonna and child

The bottom painting is one I reworked. over the top painting. The top painting was probably completed in the 80's and is rather dark. She is an artist mother with her books and brushes carrying her art bag over her shoulder. Layering more paint on top of her I changed the painting into a lighter painting and made it a little more whimsical with animals and birds. It was  just a fun thing I enjoyed doing.

Hosanna!!!

When ever I feel  happy about something or have a special event to celebrate I post my little bird. He is my little bird that sings happiness. Here he wishes you a happy palm Sunday. "Hosanna! Hosanna! Hosanna in the highest! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest."

Paint Brushes

The wild flowers are blooming along the Texas Highways. The state flower, the blue bonnet is the dominate flower at this time. Occasionally  among the bluebonnets you can see the paint brush flowers.  They are a beautiful contrast, orange against the blue. I have been watching for the paint brush as it is a favorite of mine but apparently the mowing machines  have eliminated a lot of them. Years ago I did sketches of the paint brush and have included one of them here. I broke the sketches down into sections of the flower. I always want to see up close, to hold  the flower I am painting.This is just a colored pencil drawing from an old  sketch book.  

Venerable 3

This painting is titled "Venerable 3, which is the 3rd in a series of paintings. . The spiral dominating all 3 canvases is made of beads. The beads came from the New Orleans Mardi Gras. In early March I was there during the Mardi Gras carnival. I brought the beads back with me dreaming of paintings that I would include them as part of.a painting.  As  I was attaching  beads to a canvas  I thought of Venerable Bede, therefore giving the painting that title. Don't know Venerable Bede? Google the name you will find it interesting. Strange name for a painting? Well I had to come up with something to title it. .

Venerable 2

I have been having fun playing with texture and color. I just layer and layer color untill I see something I like. This is the second canvas called venerable. I will have to explain the title maybe in another post sometime. This is an acrylic mixed media painting on gallery wrapped canvas At this time I am intrigued with the colors  turquois and azu nickel. Several of my previous paintings were done in these colors.

blue iris

I have been working on a series of abstract paintings and today I chose to paint a familiar subject.
I needed to get away from the abstract for awhile  Irises grow in my garden  and I have painted them so many times in oil paints and acrylics I guess you could say I can paint them with my eyes closed as I have studied them closely. Tomorrow I   intend  to get back to painting the abstracts. 2014 has been a good year for me to paint. So far I have been able to paint 3 or 4 days in the week. I try to do a little bit every day. An hour of 2 in the evenings on the off days. But to paint all day as I sometimes do is a dream come true.

Spring flowers

Spring flowers are a little slow in blooming  this year. Years ago I painted these that were growing on our deck outdoors. There was an area where I could plant bulbs and seeds among rocks that I had placed around because I love rocks. These bloomed among the rocks and I sat down on the deck and painted them as I saw them. I like to paint flowers the way they  grow instead of in a vase. But sometimes I will paint them as a still life. Painting this way perhaps goes back to the time of early art classes. My teacher insisted that whatever we painted we had to observe. She did not let us use  copies of photographs or magazine pictures. We could use our own sketch of a subject.

spiraling

Having fun today painting with the painting knife. Color here and maybe more over there. Layering and layering looking for just the right color combinations and design. Thick juicy  paint with lots of texture.  A little collage with several layers of colors, turquois,, burnt sienna, aztec  gold. Just playing watching the colors combine. So here it is and I may still eventually pick at it again.

Elliot Ness telephone painting

My Elliot Ness telephone painting won 2nd place at Trinity Art Guild in their Winter Challenge juried   show. This is acrylic / Collage on gallery wrap canvas. Size 14" X 11". Very thankful

Rusty goes to the Mardi Gras

So here we are again with my muse following me around. Rusty joined me in my home town to have fun at the Mardi Gras celebration. We know that Rusty is an anti-social creature but for some reason he got into the spirit of the festivities. He cast aside his attitude of hissing and clawing at people and attended the fancy balls and raised a paw to catch doubloons and beads at the parades of glittering floats and the music of marching bands.

Rusty goes to Paris

Since I just posted a picture of Rusty for Valentines Day I thought I would look over more of my Rusty paintings. I like the one where he visits Paris with me. Together we visit all the sites especially the museums. We both enjoyed the Musee d'Orsay. This was our favorite and then the Louvre.
what fun it was to travel down the Seine and sketch and photograph some of the sites from the river. In this painting Rusty is on a night tour of the City of Lights. How beautiful a city.

a valentine for you from Rusty and Betty

Well again here is my muse Rusty who follows me about urging me on to paint like an artist. Although Rusty has been an ornery old anti-social cat Betty has been working with him, desperately trying to teach him manners. It has been a while since he has swiped his paw at visitors and hissed and growled. Here he is trying to make up for his bad manners  by offering some roses and chocolates to those people he has mistreated.  So sweet! Happy valentines's day to all our friends who follow our blog.

Backyard cardinal in snow

When I woke up this morning and looked out the window there was snow. Snow, Snow, Snow. We have had a cold winter here in Texas. It was 19 degrees out side. The little juncos that had migrated south were huddled against our back door and wall. Maybe they should have migrated further South. I did have plently of seeds out there for them to eat so they didn't have to venture far for nourishment. The cardinal was sitting in the holly berry tree and I thought he looked very pretty. I took this photo with my cell phone camera and the color is not really good. He is seated on snow covered branches. I am working on a painting of the juncos while I can still observe them before they leave us. They usually leave in March.

Oklahoma Cattle

While visiting relatives in Oklahoma I sketched and photographed some of their cattle. It was a very cold winter day when I captured these two. I did other paintings of cattle but I really liked these two who seemed to enjoy staring at me.  This painting was done in oil on a size 9" X 12" canvas.