The Church

Church at Palmetto Bluff

16 x 20

Acrylic on Canvas
Sold

This painting began with a photo that my friends brought back from a wedding in South Carolina at the beautiful Palmetto Bluff. I used some artistic license with it, by adding stained glass windows! I love stained glass windows! I hope you enjoy it!

Three New Paintings

14 x 11

Acrylic on Panel

"Right Where We Belong"
NFS

12 x 12

Acrylic on Canvas

Robins' Eggs
Sold

10 x 10

Acrylic on Canvas

Three Grannies
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I haven't posted in a really long time, but I have still been painting, just not lots of time for posting! But I am on Fall Break now and had a chance to photograph some of my latest pieces and wanted to share them with you. I hope you enjoy them!

Italian laundry

Laundry Day

16 x 20

acrylic on canvas

I started this painting when I was painting at Carole Foret's studio during one of our weekly Color Cafe days. She was kind enough to let me bring the photo home so I could finish it and I had a lot of fun with it! I am trying to add more texture to my pieces and I think this one definitely has more than my others. Enjoy!

Broadening My Horizons

Fourth of July

8 x 10

oil on canvas

Well I took a terrifying leap and painted a figure! Oh my gosh it was so scary but now maybe I will have the confidence to try some more. I know there are all kinds of issues with this one, not the least of which are all the stripes! But she was wearing the dress and it has some sentimental value so I painted it that way. But what drew me to this was the way the light was hitting the tree and her back, the swing and the shadows that were being cast by all of the above. Well, the first one should be the hardest, I hope!

Vegetables Anyone?

Summer vegetables

10x8

oil on canvas

This is another painting done for Karin Jurick's DSDF challenge, however I was attending a workshop right after I finished it and never got it e-mailed to Karin for her to post but you can see everyone else's versions on her blog. I really had fun with this one and finished it in under an hour! 

Painting in the Garden Workshop

Daylillies

8x10

oil on canvas

Hydrangea Blooms

8x10

oil on canvas panel

It has been a long time since I have posted and I apologize for that but I have been really busy painting and have not made time to sit down at the computer! Isn't that terrible! I think I was just so glad to be out of school and not tied to a computer that I took a vacation from it. But I have been to two wonderful workshops and will be telling you about both of them. The first was "Painting in the Garden" with Kim Barrick and Diane May in Nashville. We painted en plein air for three full days and had such a great time! Kim and Diane are great teachers and I learned so much from both of them. We painted for the first two days in Diane's backyard which is absolutely beautiful and filled with poppies, hydrangeas, a koi pond and many other magnificent things. My painting of the poppies was not worthy of posting but I do have poppy seeds to plant now so maybe I will improve! The third day we painted in Kim's garden and that is where I painted the daylillies. I will definitely paint with these girls again when they offer another workshop, they were absolutely delightful and great fun as well as being fabulous painters!

Plein Air Painting!

Big Red

20 x 16

Acrylic on Canvas

Now that I finally have internet restored to my home I can finally post the results of my Plain Air adventure from this past weekend. Some friends and I attended a workshop by Melissa Meeks of Rather Be Painting in Taft, TN close to Fayetteville. This was a glorious day with absolutely perfect weather and incredible subject matter! One of the most interesting things there were the roosters and chickens! There were tons of them everywhere and many different varieties. The largest rooster there was named "Big Red" and he was definitely the top dog amongst the animals. Thanks so much to Melissa for offering this opportunity! Enjoy!

The Latest from my Easel

Love One Another

10 x 8

Oil on Artist's Panel

$50

This is my most recent painting in my sheep theme. This time I tried backlighting them and I like the glow around them. It was a challenge but I enjoyed it. I am also using oils again after my latest workshop with Gayle Levee where we spent an entire weekend mixing colors in oil and I was absolutely amazed at some of the colors we could mix! It was so exciting! Below I have my most recent pet portrait of a little Havanese named Lucy! I hope you enjoy them and if you are interested in purchasing any of my work please send me an e-mail, Thanks!

Lucy

8x8

Acrylic on Artist's Board

NFS

The Good Shepherd

20 x 16

The Good Shepherd

Acrylic on Canvas

I started this painting while I was on Carole's painting retreat and finished it once I got home. I had been saving the photo and we had a free paint night so I started it. This painting reminded me of the verse in John 10:11 that says " I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep." Even if that only sheep had been you or me, Christ would have died just for us. That is so humbling. I hope you like it. If you are interested in this painting please e-mail me. Thanks!

C & C Creativa Painting Journey

Carole's Studio

16 x 20 Acrylic on Canvas

Pink Gerber Daisy

6 x 12 Acrylic on Artist Board

I had a marvelous time last weekend at the C&C Creativa Painting Journey with Carole Foret and Claire Kayser! This was such an inspirational time as well as a great time of fellowship, relaxation and excellent food! We painted outdoors all day on Friday and the weather was absolutely beautiful. The painting of Carole's studio was done from across the street on the courthouse lawn! Since I was with Carole I decided to try her WAVY style and I waved a little but probably not enough. At any rate it was lots of fun. Saturday we had a great day of painting indoors and I completed the painting below of the Gerber daisy along with a couple of others that I have not finished yet. We had a great time doing yoga with Steffan De Graffenreid at Updog Yoga! We also got a surprise visit from one of Carole's friends, Jason Gray, who is a Christian music artist and he played a little bit for us. I would highly recommend this retreat to anyone interested in painting, having fun, getting away, etc.... I hope to get to do it again sometime in the future.  Great job Carole and Claire!

10 x 10 

Acrylic on Canvas

This painting was done at Carole Foret's Wine and Paint she did at The Ledges last night. There were 25 people there and it was lots of fun!  I hope you like all the paintings and I hope to post more very soon.

He Is Risen!

"Behold the Lamb"

8 x 10 oil on canvas

I have been wanting to do a lamb portrait for quite some time and this week just seemed the appropriate time with it being Holy Week. I love the innocence of the portrayal of a lamb as the figure of Christ that was sacrificed for all of our sins, when He indeed had none. It says in Isaiah 53:7 "He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth." According to the Word,  Jesus Christ was indeed the Lamb of God in terms of his obedience and silent submission and he continues to be so in his glorified status. Praise the Lord the Almighty for providing for us who did not deserve anything, a way to know Him!

Artichoke

6x6 Acrylic on canvas

Clearly this has nothing to do with Easter, I just forgot to post it earlier. Both of the above paintings are for sale. Please e-mail me if you are interested. Thanks for visiting!

Flowers

Pink & Green

14" x 11"
 oil on canvas

With the arrival of spring I have been in the mood to paint flowers, so yesterday on my way home from work I stopped off at Fresh Market and picked up these hot pink roses. The Granny Smith apples in the fridge looked so great with them that I knew right away this would be my composition. Now I want to paint even more flowers! I hope you like it! Please contact me if you are interested in this painting.

Sunflower still life

Spring Break!

11 x 14 oil on canvas

Green Mountain Stream

It has been a great Spring Break for me! I spent 2 entire days outside taking pictures and finding new things to paint and this is one of them. This is a little stream that flows down Green Mountain and I took at least a million pictures of it. I just loved how all the bright green moss was growing all down the banks and up the trunk of the tree. I definitely had fun with this one! I also took many pictures of cows and sheep this week so you know what will be coming next! E-mail me if you are interested in this painting.

Another Different Strokes Challenge

6 x 8 oil on linen panel

Beach Family

Here is yet another one of Karin Jurick's Different Strokes Challenge paintings. I really enjoyed this one, because I love the beach and I have never painted a beach scene before. I may try some others after I take my annual trip to Orange Beach this summer. Go to Karin's blog and check out all the other paintings!

Farm Landscape

11 x 14 Oil on Canvas

The Red Barn

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Okay so now I am really back and I am on vacation so lots of painting time! I did this one yesterday from a photo I have had for a long time. I changed the background from mountains to trees and of course added the sheep because I love to have animals in my paintings. I hope you enjoy it! If you are interested in this painting please contact me.

Completed Landscape Painting

36 x 48 oil on canvas

In the Hollow

If you thought I fell off the face of the earth, well I almost did! Shortly after the workshop I came down with the creepy crawly crud and was sick for 2 whole weeks! I didn't get to paint at all because I felt so bad. But I am back!!! I decided to call this one done even though I could fool with it forever. But overall I am happy with it. Jim Richards was a fabulous teacher and I hope to be able to take another one of this workshops very soon. This one is going to hang in my Dining Room! Hope you enjoy it!

This is my next exciting adventure! My sweet friend Carole Foret and her twin sister Claire Keyser are having a painting workshop in Athens, AL that should be a blast! I always love Carole's events and am looking so forward to it. I would love for some of my friends to join in the fun! 

Jim Richards Workshop

This is Jim's Pallette, and yes he only uses 4 colors! I freaked out at first but after he demonstrated what he could accomplish with these 4 colors it actually makes things easier and the color harmony he achieves is amazing!

Jim working on his demo

Jim's nearly completed scene

My WIP 36 x 48!

This workshop was absolutely amazing! If any of you ever get the chance to take a class from him you should! He is a fantastic teacher and he spends lots of time explaining why he does the things he does. He explained alot about composition and why he placed certain things in his composition and not others. He also taught me alot about color values and color harmony. The biggest challenge for me was working on this huge canvas! It is sooooo big. The fumes in my car on the way home from Atlanta were really strong! I still have some work to do on this so I wasn't super concerned with the picture quality I posted, I know it is cropped poorly but I will post a better picture when the painting is complete. I took this class at "The Art School in Sandy Springs" and it was fabulous! Thanks Donna and Jim!

Still Life Mood

Grannies in a Bowl

9 x 12 Acrylic on Canvas

$40

I have been working on several still life paintings lately, trying to get back to basics and simplify my painting in an attempt to loosen up. I have done two paintings with green apples, and two paintings with flowers........ugh.....I'm not very good at flowers, but I will keep practicing! I may post photos of the other paintings if I can get good photos. I painted some of them in oils and I have a difficult time getting good photos of my oil paintings because of glare. Hope everyone is doing well!

Cows....Again

Party of Three

11 x 14

Acrylic on Canvas

$50

This past week I went to Carole Foret's Wine and Paint Night where we painted a cow so this inspired me to paint these 3 cows that I have had a picture of for a long time and just never got around to painting them. I just loved the way they were all looking at the camera.  I just love the shapes of cows and they are really fun to paint. These cows all had the same hairdo as if they had bangs! The colors in the pic did not come out exactly right and I tried to adjust it but I haven't quite got the hang of photoshop yet. So, come see it in person if you are interested!!!

Different Strokes Challenge

San Francisco Victorian

8 x 10

Acrylic on Canvas

This is another of Karin Jurick's Different Strokes challenge pieces. I chose to crop the photo down to this small section because the entire house was overwhelming to me. One wrong angle and the whole building is leaning, off, etc... So I chose what I felt was the most interesting section of the reference photo and this is what I got. This was definitely a challenge and I guess thus, the name! I hope you like it!

Still Life

Peas in a Pod

10" x 10" 

Acrylic on Canvas

SOLD

I felt like I was getting way too tight in my painting and wanted to do something to loosen up. I decided to go back to still lifes for awhile to try and make that happen, using as few strokes as possible to get the image I wanted.  I still think I could loosen up some more so next I am going to do some green apples. Can you tell I love green! Hope you like it.

Jefferson Memorial

Jefferson Memorial at Night

8 x 10 Acrylic on Masonite

This is another challenge painting from Karin Jurick at Different Strokes From Different Folks. She chose this scene of the Jefferson Memorial at Night for everyone to paint and I really enjoyed painting a night scene because I had never done that before. She told us to work from dark to light so I did. I started by toning my canvas with Payne's Gray which is really dark and went from there and it was really fun and different. You should check out her blog and see all the different paintings!

Workshop in Atlanta

JAMES RICHARDS

BRINGING THE OUTDOORS INTO YOUR STUDIO

February 21 - 22, 9 - 4 pm

http://www.theartschoolinsandysprings.com/WORKSHOPS.html

I am so excited about the workshop I have signed up for in Atlanta! It looks like it will be really wonderful. I am really excited about working on landscapes and also working on a larger canvas than I normally use. This should really stretch me and I am all about that. If anyone else is interested in signing up I included the link to the workshop above and the link to James Richards website below. It should be lots of fun!!!!

http://www.jrichardsstudio.com/index.html

The New Year

We Will Follow

11 x 14 Acrylic on Canvas

$75

Tuscan Landscape

9 x 12 Acrylic on canvas

$50

Well I really had the chance to enjoy myself after Christmas. My husband got me a brand new easel, it is the H-style and will hold much larger canvases, plus it has rollers on the bottom and a shelf for holding paints and such. So exciting! So I dove right in and began painting a couple of things I had really been wanting to do for a long time. The Tuscan landscape is something I have always wanted to try and it was so much fun. I don't know if you can tell from the picture or not but I used the Golden molding paste to give the piece alot of texture. It was so much fun and I really liked the way it turned out. The painting with the sheep was a photo that I have had for some time and just now got around to painting it. I love to paint sheep! Hope everyone is having a fantastic New Year!