Stained Glass, Friends, Fall and New Paintings

October was a busy month.  Much went on and I have lots to post today.

 The first is the new stained glass windows that Roger built and installed in our great room.  I helped with the design of the windows and selection of glass.  It took him a couple of months to complete the windows. We love them and they add so much beauty to our home.  The first photo was taken in the day time from the inside and the second photo was taken at night from the outside.

  When two different neighbors saw these windows they asked Roger if he would take a commission to do some stained glass for them.  Both cases are smaller projects.  He will be consulting with them soon to give them an estimate.  He enjoys having projects to keep busy.

I mentioned in a previous post that we have had lots of out of town company this year.  The latest company was a couple of weekends ago when our good friends and next door neighbors from Tucson came to stay for a few days.  This is George and Gloria.  We met them in 1995 when we contracted to have our house built in Sun City Oro Valley.  They over saw the construction of our house and sent photos.  We have been good friends ever since.  George and Gloria are both quilters.  Their quilts are beautiful and artistic and they have both won many ribbons in quilt shows.  It was so nice to see them again.

After a long hot summer Autumn is finally here.  This has always been my favorite season of the year no matter which state we live in, OH, AZ, MI and now in NC.  The leaves on the trees on our street have turned a beautiful shade of red.  These are Maple trees.

Even though this has been a busy month, I still had time to paint.  The two paintings I finished this month were at the suggestion of grand-daughter Sam.  She wanted me to paint a dragon.  I titled this one "Happy Dragon".  Size is 16X20.

Sam also requested that I paint this scene.  I call it "Mission by the Sea".  It will hang in her bathroom here and when she moves out she will take it to hang in her next home.  Size of this one is 8X10 for the painting but framed size is about 13X15.

We will be having more out of town company later this week and I am not sure what will be on the schedule for the holidays.  It is hard to believe that October will be over in a few days and we will be into the holiday season soon.  I will try to squeeze in painting time between all the activities and as always, will post photos of my art when it is done.

Two Prize Winners in the Family!

Samantha and I entered art in the Burlington Artist League 2019 Regional Exhibition and both of us won an honorable mention ribbon.  How cool is that?  Grandma and grand-daughter win a prize  in the same art contest!

Sam's piece is a colored pencil drawing titled "Midnight Meeting".  This is not the first time she got a ribbon in an art contest.  She won honorable mention at the Kalamazoo Institute of Art along with a scholarship for a series of art classes.  A good start for a 20 year old.  I'm sure she will have more ribbons in her future.  Here is a photo of her art.

I entered two paintings.  The first was one that I painted for the contest called "Rainbow Ruffles"  I posted a photo in my last blog post.  I'll show it here again.

I decide to also enter a painting I did in the past and had never shown before titled "Masquerade" and it is the one that won the ribbon. It is an abstract with a hidden surprise.  If you look closely you will see silhouettes wearing masks. Here is a photo of that painting.

This prize is the 13th that I have won since I entered my first contest in 2007.  I have 5 Third Place ribbons, 5 Honorable Mention ribbons, 2 People's Choice awards and 1 Special Award from the Oro Valley Historical Society.  Eleven of these awards were in contests in Tucson, AZ,  one was in Three Rivers, MI and two are here in Burlington, NC.