Salem House Creek

 

                                                8x6 Oil on Canvas Panel

                                                        Salem House Creek

Carl’s Barn in Spring

 

Carl’s Barn in Spring

11 x 14 

Oil on Stretched Canvas

I haven’t painted since January. Too long. This is the barn on my daughter’s place in Tennessee. It was originally her husband’s grandparents barn and home place. I plan to do some more of this barn from a different angle and the next with a snowy winter scene. I do like painting snow! So I am anxious to get on to that. Hopefully it won’t be as long getting to it this time. This is an 11 x 14 inch, oil on stretched canvas.

Peace In the Valley - Not for Sale

48 x 24

Oil on Stretched Canvas

I see that it has been nearly a year since I last posted. Where has the time gone!? This is a larger painting and it did take a while, but there was too much time between sessions spent in front of the easel. This painting reminds me of Cade's Cove in Tennessee. It is such a beautiful and special place. 

Five Mile Trail, Big Horn Mountains, Wyoming - SOLD

 Five Mile Trail

Big Horn Mountain, Montana

36 X 24 Inches

Oil on Stretched Canvas

Commission

This was a commissioned painting for a friend. This location can be found at the end of a five mile hike into the Big Horn Mountains in Wyoming. This is the family's favorite place to go backpacking and camping. I hear there are some wonderful trout to be had from this lake. My son and his family also made this hike. Three of the adults made their way up to the top of the rock face on the right! My friend's husband made the frame and it is a beautiful addition to the painting. They compliment each other well. 

Another Sunset

Another Sunset

11 x 14 

Oil on Stretched Canvas

Finished on All Sides

     

A Fair Day

The final update! I added some more hi-lights and put some shadows in the clouds so that they don’t look so flat. 

 A Fair Day

     20 x 16 Oil on Stretched canvas

I posted a version of this last April. I have updated it by adding some more elements to give it life and interest.  

 

 

Old West Texas Farm

36 x 24 Inches
Oil on Stretched Canvas

This was a commission by a family member. If you refer back to my October 24, 2019 post you will get more about the development of this painting. This is the final outcome. It is a farm that belonged to the Grandparents of my husband and his cousin, Jay, who commissioned the painting. Jay gave me the details from his memory of time spent on the farm that was located in West Texas. It no longer exists, just a West Texas field. This is sort of a drone’s eye view of the place. Jay told me how many and what kind of cows, the pigs, chickens, farm implements, kind of car, Ford truck, peach trees, garden, watermelon patch, windmill with his bathtub below, root cellar, rattle snake, jack rabbits, the five oak trees, many acres of Cotten and the cotton wagons, the windmill. I think it is an interesting painting with some fun details to look for. If you look inside the truck you can see someone. Jay says that he is the one driving. This was a long process, getting everything just the way Jay remembered it. A new family heirloom perhaps. 

Trees Apart

20 x 16 Oil on Stretched Canvas
Finished on all Sides

I’m calling this one finished, unless I take a notion to edit it, which happens sometime after I look at it for a while.
It seems that I have a rather large, 2 x 3 ft commission coming up. It will be a rugged mountain scene from Wyoming.  

Oil on Stretched Canvas
14 x 11
Finished on all Sides

This painting was done by permission from an Indiana Photographer, Bryant LaValley. It is a scene just north of Sherridian, Indiana

Birds At Sunset

11 x 14
Oil on Stretched Canvas
Edges Finished With Black
Ready to Hang With or Without a Frame 

Between Rain and Rainbow

20 x 16 Oil on Stretched Canvas

Finished on All Sides

Below is a photo of the painting as I did it originally. After looking at it for a while I decided it needed something to make it more interesting so I got rid of the canola fields and replaced them with a country two track road, meadow with flowers, rainbow, rain, and a man and his dog. Now it is interesting. 

Beyond the Sunset

20 x 20
Oil on Stretched Canvas
Finished on All Sides

Beyond the sunset was my Mother’s favorite song.  

Winter Tree

20 x 16
Oil on Stretched Canvas
Finished on all sides 

                       

On the Easel

Here is a sneak peak of what is going on in my little painting corner right now. Maybe painting some snow will get us some soon! As I have said before, snow is my favorite subject to paint, and bare trees. And a nice snowfall would be greatly appreciated! 

Evolution of a Painting From Memory

An Old West Texas Farm 

This is a first for me!!! Jay has commissioned me to paint a picture of a place from his memory, his grandparent’s farm in West Texas. It has been quite a challenging project. The first photo below was Jay’s first rough sketch of the farm, which no longer exists. It is now just open prairie. So we started with this sketch and as you can see from the photos following, that it evolved quite a bit. We had to figure out the placement of everything, and then I drew it from three different possible angles. Jay picked the one he liked best of those three. Yesterday, after many months of getting our heads together and coming up with the right scene, I finally finished the painting. I cannot post it on here just yet because Jay does not want to see it until he can see it in person. So when that happens I will post a photo of the finished painting. It is an interesting painting that I am sure stirs a lot of memories!

I see my last post was April 7. It has been a while! 

The first rough sketch from Jay’s memory. 

A few more details.

Some instructions for the barn. 

Jay decided on this layout. 

A rough sketch of the old house.

Adding some things.

Moving some things around. 

Adding some more things, cotton wagons in this case. 

Got it started! This is all you can see of the painting for now! Finished product late!!

Jay wanted these next three farm implements included.

Jay said they had six of these brown and white cows in the pasture. 

The field in the background is a cotton field, so naturally we needed some wagons to hold the cotton. 

Two of these black and white pigs in the pig pen. 

This car and this tractor!!

I borrowed this photo reference for the right angle of the car. 

1938 John Deere. 

You will see this washtub under the windmill where Jay used to take his bath. 

Jay wanted a tornado in the painting. After all, it is west Texas!

Meadow Walk

Meadow Walk
20 x 10 Inches
Oil on Stretched Canvas
Available - $175 Plus Shipping
See Left Side for More Info

Below is a photo of this painting as it was after I dd it with a painting group. We did it in one sitting so were limited on the time we could spend on it. Later I did some more with it, adding some interest with flowers, cows, water, ducks, dog, birds, and changed the figure to a better one, I think. 

Misty Forest With Deer Family

 

Misty Winter Forest With Deer Family
28 x 22
Oil on Stretched Canvas

I started this painting a couple of years ago. It originally was just snow and trees, no creek or deer. It sat for a while as I was contemplating what to add to it for some extra interest. So far this is what I have. I may "contemplate" it some more. I will re-post if I make any additions. 

 

A country Road in Nebraska

A Country Road in Nebraska
30 x 24 inches
Oil on Stretched Canvas
This is a scene in Nebraska, somewhere south of Omaha
Finished on all sides and ready to hang, with or without a frame.
It will need some drying time.
Contact me if you are interested in purchasing this painting.

I see that I have not been on here since May of last year! I have done very little painting since then, especially since we had spent almost 7 months traveling in the western U.S. Recently I finished two paintings, the previous post and this one. I have to give credit to Mark Norling for the inspiration for this one. He is a wonderful photographer and I became acquainted with him through the FB page "God's World Through the Lens". He gave me permission to use his photo for this painting. You can see his photos on that page. It is a closed group but you can join if you are interested in photographing or viewing God's creation.  

Carrie's Place

Carrie's Place
Original
Oil on Stretched Canvas
20 x 16

     The story - The Hopkins (My daughter and family) had me do a mural on their large dining room wall in their Ohio house, about 10 years ago! They left for a year and I never quite finished it. Before starting the big one, I did a smaller quick study. Carrie had drawn the basic picture that she wanted me to paint. So I found the small one in one of our many packed up things, and worked on it to give to Carrie for her birthday this past year. After that she wanted a few things added, little animals. So I have done that and touched up a few places. See if you can find all the little critters I added, not counting the sheep.

Blogger Test

I am just doing some blogger testing. 

Snowy Cabin Sunset

Oil on Stretched Canvas
36 x 24 Inches
Original

Someone asked me recently what is my favorite thing to paint. Well, snow of course! And bare trees. This is a 36x24 inch oil painting on stretched canvas, started probably three years ago and pulled out of the bottom of the pile to edit and touch up. Calling it done. I think....You just never know.
 

The Protector

30 x 24
Oil on Stretched Canvas

It's been a long time!

In the past I have not been an ocean painter. It all looked very daunting to me, and still does. But now a couple of people have commissioned me to paint this subject matter. So I guess you can say they were my first experience with the ocean and water on a large scale. I did paint a couple of very small ocean paintings, which are back in my blog a good ways. But painting on a large scale is different. This one and the two commissions were on the larger scale. I guess I did it backwards, but after the fact, I did this painting lesson from Byron Pickering who is a wonderful artist and painter of the ocean. He is fortunate to live on the northwest coast of the US. I might be jealous! His title for the painting is "The Protector". 

Commission for Becky

The photo below is from the first posting of this painting. It has been sitting on my easel for a couple of weeks now, staring at me. This is a good thing as it gives me time to look at the painting casually as I go through my day. I realized that I did not have a reflection of the seagull, so have added that and also did some adjusting to some areas that were bothering me. Also, this is a better photo than the one below. I THINK I am calling it finished.

Oil on stretched canvas
40 x 30 x 2 inches
Finished on all sides

This is why I have not posted in a while. I have been working on this large painting and it is one that is a change from my usual subject matter, so it has been a learning experience for me. It will be sitting on my easel in line of sight in my main living area, so I will be looking at it and likely get the urge to do some tweaking on it.
This was painted from a photograph. The setting is the east coast in North Carolina. 

Purple Trees

Purple Trees
24 x 18
Finished on all sides
Acrylic on stretched canavas
Available
For purchase information please email me.

Carrie and I went to a painting workshop together and this is the painting that we did. It is done in acrylics. I do mostly oils so this was some practice in acrylics and also a reminder of why I prefer oils. Painters will know, but if you are unaware what they say about acrylics - "The good thing about acrylics is that they dry fast. The bad thing about acrylics is that they dry fast". :-/
This painting is available at this time, as is. OR in a while I plan to "edit" it with some oils, after I finish a commission that I am working on now. 

Snow and Fire

Snow and Fire
12 x 9 x 1/8 Inches
Oil on Board
For purchase information please go HERE

The two things that I love to paint the most would be snow and bare trees. Snow gives me such a warm fuzzy feeling and this painting shows that very well. 

Chickadee Spring

Chickadee Spring
9 x 9 x 1/8 Inches
Oil on Canvas Board
For Purchase Information Please Go HERE

     Other than some tiny accent birds, this is my first real bird painting. My daughter Carrie picked out this painting for us to do. That would be Carrie, four of the kids and me. Sue was with us also. We do painting for some of their schooling. Three of the kids that did this one were pretty new. One has been a regular and she has made very good progress. it is interesting to see the different styles that each person has.

   Below are all of the groups paintings together, except Sue. She had to leave and we didn't get a picture of hers, but she did a very good job!