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.