New Work

Untitled, small 4"x4" and 2" sides, venetian plaster, oil stick, oil, and graphite on cradle board.

I love to hear your thoughts.

Thank you for all your love concerning Bella, see post below for an update (she will be fine).

Today is the last day of my ETSY sale, 15% off everything!

Happy Monday! XOXO

Bella!

Bella got bite by a rattle snake this morning on our hike, she is at the vets. The vet says they rarely lose a dog to this, so I am not horribly worried, but please pray or think good thoughts just for good measure. I will update this post as I know more.
Thank you.
*Update: Bella is drugged up and sleeping, with fluids, I maybe able to pick her up at 7 this evening.
I will be doing fluids and drugs for the next week if all goes well. Keep praying :-).
**Update, Monday morning. Bella had a rough night with the pain and we did not get much sleep, but we had an early vet visit this morning and my zen vet says she is doing well, Bella is very swollen and unhappy, but she will make it. She will be on meds for the next few weeks, but should be back to her old self by Friday. And hikes by the weekend, Yay! However after hiking out where I have been going for 12 years without ever seeing a snake, we will be going to the woods from now on as the vet says there are no rattlers out there, of course there are bears and big cats, so I am not sure which is better! It is either that or she stays on lead and we stay on the road. I don't blame Bella, she was just doing what she does and I don't blame the snake it was just protecting itself, I am the one at fault for putting them both in harms way.
She is sleeping and eating and all is well. Keep thinking good thoughts though as she is in a lot of pain.
Thank you for your love and caring. Happy Monday! XOXO

Alice

This painting is an odd duck and for that reason it is a favorite. 12"x 12" (a favorite size), Venetian plaster, oil, acrylic,oil stick, graphite on cradle board. I call it Alice for Alice in Wonderland because I half expect her to peek out from behind the three level mushroom :-). From top: the entire painting, then side view then close ups.
If you click image it will enlarge. Love your comments.
Have a wonderful weekend.
I will be painting, what else!?
I have many paintings almost finished and will be sharing soon.
Happy Saturday!XOXO

Animal Wednesday

It has been a while since I did an animal Wednesday, in the last week these are the critters I have seen, a horn toad with still a lot of dirt on him from crawling out of his hole and a sweet quail. I also saw a coyote, but was not able to get a photo because I wanted to watch her and not miss a minute by running for my camera.

In other animal news, Bella is surviving the thunder we are having nearly every afternoon, she still hates it and I hope that the prozac kicks in more, but I have seen a bit of a difference in her, so I think it is starting to affect her, I am hopeful that soon the thunder will be nothing. Keep your fingers crossed.

By the way the thundershirt has no effect on her :-(.

P.S. This is the last week for my sale in my ETSY shop, 15% off everything! HAW! XOXO

New Work

So I finally got a few decent photos of a new painting, "Tumble" , 16"x 11" x 3"on the sides.

Venetian plaster, oil, oil stick, acrylic, and graphite on board. I have two more finished and I am off to work on 3 others. Never a dull moment :-). Happy Sunday and Happy Earth Day! XOXO

P.S. Click on image to enlarge, it's worth it :-).

Magic

I think the key thing is that it’s a discovery for magic. I’m looking for magic. And the magic’s got to be compositional, it’s got to be paint. If there’s magic in the subject matter, that’s fine; but I’ve got to surprise myself. And that process of leaving the painting open, not knowing where I’m going, seems the best avenue for me to ending up someplace where I go, “Whoa, did I do that? -Tom Prochaska
This is how painting is for me. I just wanted to share.
I have struggled all day to get photos of new paintings, so hard to photograph my work, it just does not translate well, so I have nothing for now, even the light cube does not help with these graphite pieces, very frustrated. I will try again tomorrow. I did get some nice detail views though so I will share one.
Happy Saturday! XOXO

A Winner and New Work!

I did my best with the photos here, graphite wants to glare (a lot), so for now this is it, the painting is not as dark as this photo shows. 12" x 10"

Venetian plaster, oil, graphite and coffee stain on cradle board. Thank you for your comments.

Now for the winner of the giveaway: Mermaid Gallery! I will be picking out something for you and packing it up this week, I just need an address for you. My email is on the side bar, so please let me know where to send it. Congrats!

I am off to paint! And it's snowing! Happy Sunday!!! XOXO

New Work

The first two photos are close ups and this last one above is the total painting. You can also click on the image to enlarge.

This should be called a drawing because that is what is; venetian plaster and oil and graphite on cradle board, 10"x 10" "The other". I had to take this photo outside, my light cube and any artificial light makes the graphite glare. I have another painting finished, but could not get a good image yet due to all the glare, I will give it another go tomorrow. I am very excited about these new works, drawing is my first love and I have finally found a way to get the feel of a drawing onto a painting. I am on my third piece today and will start a large 40"x 40" tomorrow. This painting will not be for sale yet as it is part of a big project I will tell you about as I get closer to completing it.

I always love your thoughts.

Also I am having a give away, I will pick the winner tomorrow evening and alert them Sunday. The give away is a surprise, I will tailor it to the winner. Just leave a comment here or in the previous post to enter.

Happy Friday the 13Th! Always a lucky day for me :-). XOXO

New Work, Give Away, Updates

Actually this painting is one I did a few months ago, but never got around to showing you. 8"x 8" oil and graphite on board. Untitled.

It is going to my ETSY shop soon, where I am having a sale for the whole month of April, 15% off everything in case you missed it. I included 2 close up photos here and the last photo is a detailed shot of my porcelain book that has not quite worked out. I finished it, but it is not totally successful, so I am putting it aside for a while and will get back to it later, but I do like some details like the one I am teasing you with here. I love the texture.

Inspired by Lori's give away I am having my own, it has been a long while. I have not decided what I will be giving away yet, so you will just have to be surprised. You don't have to do a thing, but leave a comment, I will draw a name next Saturday, so stay tuned.

As for updates, some of you maybe wondering how my dog Bella is doing with the Prozac. No weird side effects, but also no change, they did say it could take up to 6 weeks to kick in and it has only been 4 so I am trying to be patient. We are having thunder storms the next two days so

we will see what happens. Okay, that is it for me, back to painting :-). Happy Monday! XOXO

Happy Easter!

Painting by one of my favorite artists: Alexandra Eldridge, the spelt coffee makes me smile.

I have big plans for my 3 day Easter weekend: Hiking and painting.

These are things I do most weekends, but they never get old and I never tire of painting or walking in nature. I could not wish for a most wonderful time. Happy Happy Easter everyone!!

NOW

As part of my spiritual practice I try (I mean really try) to stay in the moment.
When I was younger I would hear people say to be here now and I had no clue what it meant.
Over the years I figured it out and then just sort of let it slide, not thinking about it very much, but knowing that I was not very successful at it. When I happened to be in the moment I was thrilled and vowed that I would try harder.
The last few months I have made it part of my life and never realized how out of the moment I truly was until lately.
I discovered something shocking about myself.
I tend to not be too much in the past, I am more a future girl. I don't mean way into the future, I mean just a few minutes or an hour or two. What I discovered by watching my thoughts is that while I am hiking I will sometimes be thinking about what I will do after the hike. While I am doing most activities I will be thinking about the next activity. Which means that I am not really living my life. Mostly I think this is just a bad habit and one that I can change.
I also noticed that when I am painting, reading, or watching a movie I don't do this jumping into the future thing, I can stay present and engaged in what I am doing. Same for if I am having dinner with a friend or hugging my dog. Which is why I think I like these activities best. I am really alive when doing those things. Makes a lot of sense.
So these days I am breaking this very bad habit and living more, thinking less.
I thought that perhaps this little insight could help some of you as well.
BE HERE NOW :-). XOXO