Celebrate Four

Next Thursday is Thanksgiving and we have so much to be thankful for here at our home.  We are counting our blessings, what about you?  Celebrate, for life is good!

Celebrate Three

Hello from Florida,

I know, this doesn't look like a painting of Florida does it?  You would be right!  I painted this in Northern Wisconsin on a painting trip in late October.  I was with two great outdoor painting buddies, Lynn Rix and Lori Beringer.  It was cool and breezy but the day was warmed by our friendship and love of painting.  So today I am celebrating painting the beauty of autumn with dear friends.

Summer Garden

This stork visited my cottage by the St. John's River and I had a chance to paint him while he/she posed.  (It was a long pose for a bird.)  I was so happy that my art materials were close by and ready to be used when I realized the stork had landed by the raised bed gardens.

It is a good thing I have put away my childish ideas about storks bringing newborn babies to your doorstep.  If storks really brought babies we wouldn't be prepared anymore.  Our sons are grown and we are empty nesters now.  My current babies are my gardens (growing vegetables, fruit and flowers), my artwork, and volunteering.  

BEACH BUDDIES

After my sister's visit it was time to return to the beach.  These seagulls acted like best buddies as they flew together, found food treasures together, skirted people and obstacles on the beach together, and hopped up and down together.  What a joy it was to paint them and watch them move about - together. 

Copper Kettle

Yesterday, we ordered the Thanksgiving Turkey and I am certainly thinking about that up coming celebration of thankfulness.
I entered this painting, "Copper Kettle" into the current painting challenge to paint a painting about texture at www.dailypaintworks.com.
Yours in art,
Pamela

Ornamental Gourds

Being able to paint on a farmers property is really a privilege and I try to keep my easel out of their way, as they go about their very busy day completing their many chores.  Barb had just picked these ornamental gourds from the field and placed them by the outbuilding, when I asked her if I could paint them right where they were.  I set to work; but painting the gourds was a lot easier then planting, weeding, watering and picking that Barb had done before putting the gourds in the baskets.  

Free to Be

My neighbors yard is filled with flowers.  One whole flower bed is filled with Tiger Lilies that have been allowed to self seed and the bees and hummingbirds are benefiting.  I am so lucky to be able to paint the beauty that is right next door.  

On Thursday Give Thanks

My sunflowers have flowered and the heads are starting to have sunflower seeds. The sunflowers have  bloomed just in time for me to create this oil painting for the Daily Paint Works Sunflower(s) Challenge.  

NASTURTIUM

These nasturtium were a riot of color in my window box and it was an exciting challenge to capture their colors in paint for this still life.  Not only were these colorful flowers beautiful cascading down the window box, but as an added bonus, the flowers and leaves are edible. 

Diva Duckie

This weeks Daily Paint Works challenge was to paint a composition that was mostly warm or mostly cool with the remaining portion the opposite of the majority temperature.  This sounded very interesting to me and I started gathering my still life items to paint for the challenge.  As you can see I have created a mostly warm painting with a smaller portion of cool temperature pigments completing the painting.

Diamonds may be a girls best friend but it appears that rubber duckies (at least Diva Duckies) prefer pearls. 

Spring Bouquet

My good friend, Lori, sent me this lovely vase from Wisconsin.  The vase has been here for several weeks and I have been wanting to paint the dainty vase, but didn't have the right flowers to fill it.  Today I discovered wildflowers growing beside our road and knew they belonged in the peach glass vase.
Wisconsin has had a long winter so I painted a 'Spring Bouquet' for Lori and all who are still waiting for spring to arrive.  

Good News

What could possibly be good news after the Marathon Bombing in Boston and the Fertilizer Plant explosion in Texas this week?  I wondered that myself as I painted in my studio.  Then I heard this quote from "Mr. Rogers" (a children's television host and Presbyterian Pastor), "When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say,"Look for the helpers.  You will always find people who are helping."  To this day, especially in times of 'disaster', I remember my mother's words, and I am always comforted by realizing that there are still so many helping - so many caring people in the world."   It is always good news to remember that there are many more good people in our world that evil ones. 

Rubber Duckie Your the One

It's a New Year and I hope all of you are happy and well.  After painting larger paintings for a while, it was time to paint a fun small painting.
My rubber duckie has been wanting to be painted since last year, so I finally chose to paint him today.  He was an excellent model and held still the whole modeling session.  The only problem is now that the oil painting is finished and posted, the song, Rubber Duckie Your the One,  is still in my head.  Oh, no!  : 0  
I wonder if anyone will sing the Rubber Duckie song tonight on American Idol?

Outrageous Color 1 and Outrageous Color 2

What a glorious day it was to paint this outrageous color with my art friend, Lori.  This was my last painting trip in Wisconsin this year and it was a blast.  The next day it rained with high winds blowing the rest of the leaves off the trees.  Autumn is fantastic but short in Wisconsin.

The Fruit of the Vine

Autumn in Wisconsin is our most colorful month.  When I had the opportunity to paint this pumpkin field, I took it!  Painting the orange of the pumpkins was quite a challenge and I learned, early on in the painting, that using cadmium orange straight from the tube was not going to work.  I had to wipe that color off (thank goodness it was oil paint) and come up with another color game plan.
That is what I love about painting, you have to solve different problems in each and every painting you create.  The problem I tackled in this painting was how to paint orange pumpkins without using orange paint.  Exciting!

Duck Tail

This is one of farmer Greg's ducks.  He also has rabbits, goats, chickens, cats, a wife and three blond children.  Greg read an article about people in Europe paying farmers to camp on their farms and was intrigued by this idea.  The European farm campers stay in canvas cabins with flooring, a deck, beds, chairs, and a filling farm breakfast.  Even hot showers are available.  Most of the campers are families and they camp on the farms so their children can experience the farm life by gathering eggs, feeding the livestock, doing choirs and picking produce in season for a weekend. Would you pay to camp on a farm here in the USA?  I certainly would!

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 

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.  

Sunset Memory

Painting in plein air is so exciting!  You don't know if a storm will catch you in the middle of a field, a bull might charge you from afar, or a nest of irate fire ants will decide to attack while you are setting up your gear.  The most memorable outdoor painting adventure has none of the above, but instead includes a fellow painter to share the outdoor painting experience.  This painting 'Sunset Memory' included oil painter, Lori.  (www.loriberinger.com)  We painted together for one wonderful week in beautiful Central Florida on the banks of the St. John's River.  

Nestled

Several years ago I was able to go to the Britex Fabric Store in San Francisco, CA.  What a thrill this was for me since I love fabric.  Three floors of fabric!  Each floor had every wall stacked with fabric from the floor to the almost thirty foot ceilings.  Library ladders propelled the clerks to the fabric you picked out. The fabric bolts were in every color of the rainbow and every type.  Wool, silk, satin, linen, and cotton fabrics, ribbons, sequins, buttons, and thread.  What a treat!  You can now buy the fabric online, but if you are in San Francisco you should go into the store; it is stunning to see all that fabric in one place. Located right by the trolley turn around at 146 Geary Street.
Today I painted these three eggs nestled in some fantastic fabric I purchased when I visited the Britex Fabric Store.