Merry Christmas 2018

This is our 2018 Christmas card.  Click on it to see an enlarged size.

I have not finished any new paintings since my last blog post.  I went through my files and found some paintings from the past that had a Christmas feel so will post photos of them.

The painting I am working on now is another version of this deer painting.  When I finish it I will start working on a series of horse paintings that I will show in the BAL Gallery when we do the next change over.  I hope to have 8 horse paintings done by then.

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Things Happen!

Much has happened since my last post a week ago.

It started on Dec. 8.  We had ordered new bowling balls and they came in that day and we went to have them fitted and drilled that evening.  Before we left the house I had Roger take a picture of me with our Christmas tree.  (I was having a good hair day.)

Around 9 PM the balls were done and we were given an alley to practice.  I got 7 pins on my first throw and got a spare on my second throw. As I was watching the ball roll down the alley I backed up and as it hit the pins I backed into the ball return and fell backwards onto my butt and tried to catch myself with my left wrist.  I knew something was wrong when I stood up and tried to pick up my ball and realized I had no strength in my left hand.  I didn't think anything was broken but because a massive snow storm was predicted to start in the middle of the night I decided it might be smart to go to the ER which was just 2 miles from the bowling alley.  It was the right  decision.  My wrist was broken.

They put on a soft splint and told me to go to the orthopedic doctor the following week once the roads were cleared of the snow that was coming and come it did.  It started in the middle of the night and snowed most of the next day.  It was a record breaking snow for NC.

 
We were snowed in for three days.  I went to the doctor on the 12th.  Surgery to put a plate in my wrist was recommended.  I was told it would give me more flexibility in the future and that it would be a shorter recovery time.  They scheduled the surgery for the next day which was yesterday.  I had the surgery at 4 and was home by 7:30.  All went well and I am in no pain.  I was told to keep wiggling my fingers and that using a keyboard was good exercise so I decided to do a blog post.

I'm so glad it was my left wrist that broke because I was still able to paint.  That is all I did on those three days we were snowed in.  I finished a peacock painting I had started a few day before and did a Pretty and Prickly painting from start to finish.  Here are photos of both.

Roger took advantage of the time to design a stained glass window that will go in a window in our entrance hall.

I'll post pictures when it is done and installed.

I have one more painting to show you.  This is the last tray I painted in MI.  With all that was going on with the move I never posted a picture of it.

 
I think my fingers have had enough exercise so I will end this post now.  I'll do a Christmas post soon.

Dogs & More

I have been very busy since my last post 20 days ago.  It seems my life has gone to the DOGS.  That is my painting life!  I had commissions for 3 domino train stations with paintings of dogs.  Two of the dogs are pets of a customer from IN.  The other one is a dog that is owned by a friend of a friend.  My friend here in NC dog sits occasionally for one of her friends.  She had me do a painting of this dog to give to her friend as a gift.

Meet Keika above and Dog below.  Yes his name is Dog.  These are the two that live in IN.

This next one is Wubzie who is in NC

I also had a commission for a Fun Flowers train station from another person in IN who previously lived in Vicksburg, MI and was familiar with my work when I had it in the gallery there.

I painted a round box that I will show in the BAL Gallery here.  I painted the box black and the design in white.  It looks like a lacy doily. 

I have a number of Christmas parties to attend and have to bring something for a gift exchange.  I painted this double sided pedestal sign for one of the parties.

I painted this small bowl for the other party.

Now that my commission and gift painting is done I am free to work on some new canvas painting.  My inventory of painting is at the lowest it has ever been in many years so I must get busy on a new collection of wall paintings.  I just completed this one that I think I will call "Leafy Splendor". 

I painted the back ground on two more canvases.  One is 16X20  and will have a peacock as the subject.  The other is a square the size of the one above.  I have not decided what the subject will be on that one.  I am tossing around the idea of doing a prickly pear cactus in bloom.  I have seen some prickly pear cactus growing in a few neighbors yards on our street so I know they grow in NC. 

As always, I'll post photos of my new work when it is completed. 

Happy Thanksgiving 2018

We have been in North Carolina for 4 months.  Time has a way of going by fast the older we get. It is hard to believe it will be Thanksgiving a week from today.  We had three Thanksgivings when we were in Michigan.  The family came to our house all three times.  We had around 17 to 20 family members who came.  Everyone brought food so it was not a hard meal to prepare.   This year it is just Roger and myself so we decided to go out.  We found a small restaurant called It's All Good that will be serving Thanksgiving Dinner.  I'll let you know how our meal is. 

I've done a couple of design paintings and two boxes since I last posted.  Here are photos of what I did.

I call this one "Entwined Designs".  The size is 11X14 stretched canvas.

This one is also stretched canvas size 11X11.  The title is "Artistic Designs".

Here are the two boxes. 

Currently I am working on a Cowboy Santa painting and as soon as I get my shipment of blank domino train stations I will start work on two of them that are commissioned. 

Wishing everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving.

"Mr. Hoots" is back with his friend "Hoots in Boots"

I have some new art that I am showing at the BAL Gallery.  The Burlington Artist League has a great website.  I now have a bio posted there.  Go to Exhibiting Artists and look for my name to see it. Here is the website address:
  https://www.balartist.com/


 This is the new version of "Mr. Hoots" that I did for the gallery.  This one is 11X14 on stretch canvas.

I've done a number of "Mr. Hoots" paintings in the past few years. My inspiration for this subject came in 2015 shortly after we moved to Michigan.  My grand-daughter Samantha who was 16 at the time bought a wooden owl and asked me to paint it for her in my colorful style.  Here are before and after photos.

We called him "Hoots in Boots".  I had fun painting him and decided to do an owl painting on canvas.  That was my inspiration for "Mr. Hoots".  Samantha keeps telling me that I should to a painting of Mr. Hoots wearing the boots.  I think she is right.  I will put that on my list of future paintings.

I also completed three boxes that I took to the gallery along with the painting.  Two are round and one is oval.

I love painting the intricate designs that are on the first two boxes so am now working on an 11X14 painting that features this style of designs.

 I have never been sure what to call these designs so I did a little research and found they are a mandala which is a complex abstract design that is usually circular in form.

That is not to be confused with the Mandela effect which is where many people remember something clearly that actually never really happened.  Two popular theories on the Mandela effect are time travel or a parallel universe.  I thought I would throw that in to let you know the kind of things you can find when you do internet research!

Occasionally my husband and I think we may be in an alternate universe meaning our being here in North Carolina.  We often ask each other "How did we get here?"   We knew when we moved to Michigan we would eventually leave and move somewhere warmer we just didn't think it would be this soon.  Six months ago we were not even thinking of moving but suddenly things changed and our house sold in 3 days and here we are living in this new place.  I guess you really never know what God has planned for your life.

Burlington Artists League Gallery

I have had a busy week and am finally finding time to post photos of the Burlington Artists League Gallery.  These were taken at the opening reception of their Regional Art Competition. 

The gallery is large with over 30 artists who are participating members of the gallery.  There are also more artists who are part of the regional show.  You do not have to be a member of the league to enter the competition.  I have three paintings in the show.  Here is what I entered.

I also have more art in the gallery including a number of paintings and craft items.  Here is a photo of the paintings.

When we moved I gave a number of paintings to friends and relatives. For that reason I do not have much of an inventory of art to put into the gallery.  I am trying to find time to paint most days so that I have more items to show closer to Christmas.  I just finished a new "Mr. Hoots" painting that needs to have the polycrylic applied.  I am working on a box and another painting and both should be done soon.  As soon as they are finished I will post photos.

I have had one training session at the gallery and will work again on Friday and next Tuesday.  That should complete my training.  I am getting to meet more of the artists and they have been very welcoming to me.  I am happy to be a part of this group.

First paintings done in my new NC home studio.

Life in NC has been very busy.  We have been here eleven weeks.  In that time we have met many new people and got involved in many activities.  We  have found a church and a Sunday School class, we bowl in a couple's league and I bowl in a ladies league.  We have started taking ballroom dancing lessons.  I joined the Burlington Artist League and now have my art in their gallery.  I have entered their regional art competition and have begun training sessions to work in the gallery. 

I will post photos of the gallery next week.  The opening reception for the art competition is on Sunday.  I'll be attending and will take photos then.

I have completed 5 art projects in the past few weeks.  You will probably recognize the subject matter.  Since no one here has seen my art I decided to start with things I have painted in the past that have been good sellers. 

The first is my signature "Endless Rose" painting.  Size on this one is 22X22.

 While working on this painting I "christened" my new art studio.  I accidentally dropped a jar of red paint.  The paint flew everywhere.  It was on the floor, my CD player, my chair and all over me.  It looked like a blood bath.  Roger was working in the garage so I called him on the cell phone and told him to come up to my studio because I needed his help.  I told him not to panic when he saw me because it was paint and not blood.  We were able to soak up most of the paint but the red stains will be there forever.  Luckily my CD player still works even though it is now red.  I'm glad I had enough foresight to cover the carpeted floors with rubber mats.  My new art studio is no longer pristine.  It looks like I have been working there for years.

Next is "Mare & Foal" size 11X14

The third painting is "Rooster Reveille" which is also 11X14

All of these paintings are on stretch canvas.  I did not bring any frames with me and have only gotten a few at garage sales since I got here.  For that reason I will be painting on stretch canvas for awhile.

Not long after I started work on the first painting I received an email from someone in Surprise, AZ with a request for 2 of my domino train stations.  They were special order so I took a break from the canvas painting to do them.  Here are photos of both.

It is over three years since I moved away from AZ and I am still getting orders for the train stations!

My new North Carolina Art Studio

I'm happy to say that my new art studio is done. We were able to spend all day yesterday working on getting it set up because of hurricane Florence. We are on the fringes of it and did not get any bad weather yesterday but because they were telling everyone to stay home we did.  That gave us a whole day to work on the studio. We are getting some rain today so will stay home again and I will start a new painting.  It is over 3 months since I held a paintbrush in my hand. 

Here are photos of my studio.

The studio is located on the second level in the open loft area.  This is the largest work space I have ever had.  The size of the room is 17' X 17' which is even bigger than the basement studio I had in MI.  Roger installed peg board on one wall.  I set up my painting area by that wall.  My prep table and framing table are in the middle of the room.  I have two places that I put my grid walls to hang new paintings.  You can see one set of grids in the above photo with a few of the paintings I brought with me.  The photo below shows the other set of grids with a few more paintings but a big empty area waiting for my new work.

The room is big enough for me to have a sewing corner.

This is a table with the small art I did before we left Michigan.  I was thinking ahead to the Holiday Show when I decided to concentrate on working on small paintings.  I had no idea at that time that I would  be leaving MI and moving to NC in July!

I don't think I mentioned in my last post that I joined the Burlington Artist League.  They have a gallery in the Holly Hills Mall.  I plan to show my work there and will be entering their Annual Regional Fine Arts Competition.  I will be attending a meeting next Thursday.  I am happy to be able to meet other artists and to get information on opportunities to show art.

The next photo is a close up of my painting area.  In the past I have had Roger build me long narrow shelves for my paint bottles.  They always looked nice but I usually removed the bottles and set them on my painting table when I was working on a project.  I decide to try something different this time.  I set all the bottles on a desk grouped according to color.  I can look at the color spot on the top of the bottle to pick out what I want.  If this doesn't work I will then have new shelves built.  I have always liked having a U shaped painting area.  I work on a low table propping my canvas on my knee.  I have everything I need handy and can swivel my chair around to get what ever I need.  I think I am going to like working here.  I got a new colorful lamp that I can adjust to give me lots of light.

The one negative to this shop is that I have no sink in the room itself but there is a bathroom close by that will be my source of water. 

Here is my "Brag Board" and my Art Studio letters which I proudly display.

And.... here am I ready to start painting in my new studio. 

I have been thinking of what subject matter to paint and realized that everything old is new again!  No one here has seen my colorful animals or for that matter anything I have painted before so I will dig out the old patterns and do new versions of things I have done in the past before I move on to new subjects.  I'll post photos of my "NEW-OLD" as soon as I get paintings completed.