Celebrate Five

Today I am celebrating how fortunate I am to work in my raised garden boxes, year round.  Even when most parts of the USA are too dry or are covered with snow, here in Florida, I am planting and harvesting fruit and vegetables in the late fall and winter.  Today I will be planting my turnip seeds.  Exciting! 

Baby Rubber Duckie Dancing

After painting this little (5" x 7") gouache painting I decided to donate it to the Oklahoma Tornado Fundraiser auction through my sales site at www.dailypaintworks.com.  100% of all of the proceeds from the sale of this painting will go to the Red Cross to help the victims of the Oklahoma Tornado.  

European Turnips

My neighbor gave me these turnips because she knew I would want to paint them.  How special is that a gardener/friend/neighbor who gives me her hard earned, labor intensive vegetables to paint that may spoil before I even get to eat them.  I finished this painting a week ago and forgot to post it (after all my work at the easel).  So I decided I would post it today, since I am 'wall' painting at our sons and I am not at the easel for many days.
Yours in art,
Pamela 

Dana's Gift

This turnip was a gift from, Dana, at the garden center, which he gave me after pulling it out of the soil.  He wanted me to 'eat' this gorgeous turnip to show me that the fertilizer and compost he sells really helps to grow delicious vegetables.  He washed it off and handed it back to me, but Dana was surprised when I told him I wanted to 'paint' the turnip.  Once I explained I was and artist and would put the turnip in a still life to paint it before eating it, he understood.  By the way it was the best tasting turnip I have ever eaten!  And I love turnips! 

Sunrise and One Lump or Two - The challenge paintings

It has been very, very hot here this week (makes sense since it is Florida in the summer!) and I have been painting indoors.  Both of these paintings were inspired by The Daily Paint Works challenges.  The first one was in response to the challenge to paint a raw egg yolk.  The second painting was for the challenge to paint a light bulb.  I went a little overboard and painted three bulbs instead of one and also included a sugar bowl and lid all on a six inch by six inch panel.  Oh well, I guess I just can't follow directions very well.  Both of my paintings and all of the other challenge paintings can be seen on www.dailypaintworks.com by clicking the challenge button.  

I love the sound of waterfalls.  Their water song cadence changes as their headwaters increase or decrease.  This summer day waterfall music was like a waltz and was very peaceful.  As summer turns into fall and a busier time for all of us, I hope you can find a waterfall to sit by and find a little peaceful tune.

Saturday is my birthday and my new age will end with a three!  To celebrate this number I have painted three plums, which is one of my favorite fruits.  To challenge myself I decided it would be interesting to paint on gold leaf and see how the oil paint might 'behave' on this shiny surface.  It worked extremely well, as long as I just laid down a stroke of paint and then left it alone.  After I completed the painting I went in with my palette knife and 'scratched out' small areas to expose the greenish toned gesso behind the plums.
I want you to celebrate my birthday with me so I am starting the bidding on 'Three Plums' (6" x 8") at $3.00 at www.daillypaintworks.com.  I hope you win the bid.
Yours in art and birthdays,
Pamela 

May Lilacs

I enjoy going to flea markets, estate sales and antique shops to find just the right vase for my still life arrangements.  I found this vase at an estate sale with our sons in Detroit.  This vase had evidence of heavy use by its former owner, which made me wonder if it had held lilacs before.
My palette for this painting was viridian, cadmium lemon, cobalt, alizarin, and cadmium red.  The perfume scent from these lilacs infused the entire cottage studio as I quickly mixed these beautiful pigments to capture the lilacs before they wilted. 

Robin's Egg

I discovered this 'almost' intact robin's egg on my morning walk last year.  It saddened me that the egg never hatched and we would never be able to watch the robin hop about the yard looking for worms.  At least,  I was able to include the beautiful egg and the shell color in my daffodil painting.
You can buy this painting at auction at www.dailypaintworks.com starting May 1, 2012.  

NOT A PEEP!

I have not heard a 'peep' from these little yellow birds, so I still don't know who has been pecking on the foil wrapped chocolate eggs.   10% of the profits from the sale of this painting go to Heifer International.  www.heifer.org.  Just for fun go to www.peepresearch.org.  

Opalescence

This painting was the first egg painting that I painted in this series of egg paintings.  'Opalescence' was accepted into the WPSE (Women Painters of the Southeast) exhibit at the Corse Gallery & Atelier, Jacksonville, FL.

(www.corsegalleryatelier.com)  The exhibit opens on April 28, 2012 and closes on May 26, 2012.   

Broccoli & Bamboo

My neighbor, Debbie, has a beautiful garden full of vegetables and flowers.  The other day she invited me to paint in her garden while she ran errands.  It was peaceful listening to the birds sing while I painted on that sunny day.  The late morning sun shining through the broccoli leaves was what I had wanted to paint for days.  I was so happy when Debbie invited me over and I could paint this beautiful plant.  Thanks, Debbie. 

Don't Worry Be Happy

Eggs are not only wonderful to paint but they are also very nutritious.   10% of the profits from the sale of this painting will go to Heifer International.  This organization helps alleviate hunger by giving chickens to those in need to raise for their eggs.

So be happy - buy a painting through www.dailypaintworks.com - and feed the hungry.

Three Plums

I have Celiac Disease and I am symptom free as long as I eat a gluten free diet.  Often referred to as a GFD.  Not only does my diet NOT allow wheat, barley, oats, and rye, but milk products are also off the list for me.  "So what does a person with Celiac Disease eat?", I am often asked.  Well, good and yummy REAL food that's what I eat.  No mixed up in the lab 'food' for me!  ('Food' that can sit on a shelf for months and years and never mold or rot is probably not nourishing anyway.)  No, our meals are made out of fresh vegetables and fruit, nuts, brown rice, free range eggs, fish and grass fed animals.  I am one lucky woman!  I not only eat well but I can also use my food choices as models before they are transformed into meals.

This painting of three plums was so much fun to quickly paint before I turned them into plum sauce.  (I use coconut oil in place of butter in the recipe.)

Tiger Lilies in the Wind

This painting was so much fun to paint. I really enjoyed mixing the various colors to achieve the look of these orange flowers with purple slash like stripes. Not having cadmium orange on my palette may have been a disadvantage but it was exciting to mix away and paint these moving targets in the wind.