Watercolor miniatures . . .

'Tis the season . . .

. . . and here we go

Two shows on the horizon for now and I'm busy with these little watercolor cards.

Quick, fun, easy, and I'm in love with the way they are turning out.

I'll be offering these as individual cards that are completely suitable for framing.

What better way to own a tiny piece of original artwork than this!

See? I make it so easy for you.

=-D

Sweet? 

In the Nick of Time . . .

In the Nick of Time

I'll just leave this here and come back later for details.

I'm back! Details.
I'm not sure where my reference photo came from but I loved the fresh cut wheat in rows.
The little town in the distance is from a photo I took while driving
back from Brainerd, Minnesota last month.
So iconic here on the Great Plains.
The white houses, a few steeples, and
grain elevators.
The storm on the horizon is nothing out of the ordinary for folks
out here in the middle of the country so to add it to
this painting was natural.
Always trying to stay one step ahead of Nature.
And with that, I need to head out to take in the last
of the garden, pull up tomato plants and okra and chop
out the invasive chives.
Who gave me that evil clump of chives, anyway?

Detail : 10"x10"
Oil on canvas

Back at it . . .

Ashland Road

I'm finally back at the easel after a couple of rough weeks.

With our garage finished and now extended to nearly twice its original size, 

it is officially bigger than the house.

I know, right? 

And with that project complete, we cleaned the workshop on the south side of the building and set up my shop studio in one side, 
complete with my lapidary equipment,

saws, stones and slabs, easel and all of my oil painting accoutrements.

LOVE it. Totally.
Warm, bright, spacious.

So.

I picked up this unfinished beauty yesterday and dug into it with gusto.

I like the way it turned out and have more to learn about

structures, buildings and houses and how to make them look realistic in the setting.

Sometimes they look like they're floating. Not grounded.

More work.

Details : 10"x10"

Oil on canvas

Gourd takover . . .

On a whim this Spring I planted two packets of gourd seeds.

One is gooseneck and the other is bottle.

I made a nice trellis out of some fencing and carefully nailed it to the overhang post.

You can see the tiny bit of vine that trained itself up the post on the right.

Then it decided to make a break for it and have a life in the wild.

Free! Free at last!

Off it went to the west of the barn, determined to not be held back by 'The Man'.

It made its own way, forged its own path, marched to its own drum.

Baby gourd.

So cute.

Triplets.

So now I have about 15+ of these little guys all over the place and frankly, I am wishing I had more.

I have started pinning on 'Pinterest the World's Greatest Time Suck' all kinds of cool baskets and work you can create with gourds and I think I'm hooked.

This year I'll just gather and dry them and see how involved this waiting process is.

Then next season, I'll have a better plan.

I'll plant what I want and somehow find a place where they can ramble.

I mean, look at this!

Seriously.

It's about the size of a watermelon.

Very happy gourds.

Roadside daylilies . . .

Roadside

Ah, yes.

Practice.

I just can't tweak the foliage any longer.

At some point, I will paint this again.

When my hand gets looser and more confident, I'll try the daylilies one more time.

For now, I still have the essential barns and outbuildings

that I see all day every day.

And that's good.

Figuring out how to release the flowers will be my challenge

for now and in paintings to come.

Still, I like the composition and color.

It's coming. It's coming.

Detail : Oil on canvas

6"x6"

Pennington Mine Lake . . .

Pennington Mine Lake

Have I mentioned this week what a wonderful weekend I spent

in Brainerd, Minnesota, last week?

I have?

I did.

Lisa toured me around the area that is covered with

mountains of iron ore and deep lakes 
all created by the mining in that area

not so long ago.

Rocks - rusty red rocks. Some with blue flashes and lots of quartz embedded.

It will be fun this winter to hole up in the shop and see what polishes from these.

In the meantime, I painted this picture from a photo I took of

Pennington Mine Lake at Ironton.

Lisa told me she takes her kidlets here in the summer for picnics

and swimming off the rocks.

You can see that this evening it was particularly calm.

Now I wish I'd taken more pictures but there WILL be a next time.

Details : Oil on canvas

8"x8"

Time to start over . . .

On the Way to the House of a Friend

Yes, I admit it. 

I didn't quite make the 30 Oil Paintings in 30 Days. 

Life just gets in the way of plans sometimes.

But with the last of my Big Push things now out of the way,

I'm ready to get back to the easel and paint.

Maybe not 30 in 30 but as close as I can come.

Love the way this painting turned out, I'm happy to say!

Taken from a photo when I was on my way back from Brainerd, Minnesota, last week.

I finally got to meet my long-distance friend Lisa Jordan at the Crossing Arts Alliance in Brainerd where she is the Executive/Artistic Director.

I taught a workshop in torchfired enamel, 13 fun, artsy women, and we had an absolute ball all weekend. Can't wait to do it again. Soon.

The Crossing Arts Alliance is hosting a fundraiser the weekend of 10 October

and asking their artists to take an 8x8 canvas and produce

a piece of art in their own styles to donate for purchase.

All works will be $50 and all monies will go to the CAA.

Great idea and I love challenges like this. 

Details : 8"x8"

Oil on canvas

Post Script : The Process
I love this 'feeling it out' part.