WIP

It's been a while since I have posted on here so I thought I would give you a peek at what I am doing. I'm working on two paintings in particular right now. One is a large 3 x 2 feet and the above two photos are a little part of the painting. It is a snow scene and has some nice bright warm colors and a naked winter tree, about my favorite thing to paint, along with snow.

Below is a bit of the Van Gogh that I am doing for Jeremy. This sure does use up the paint! And it's not anything compared to the amount of paint that Van Gogh used. I don't know when I will get these finished. Probably not until next year! We have a busy two weeks coming up, but fun weeks!!

Standing in Yellow

Standing in Yellow
5 x 7
Oil on Canvas Panel


I planned to do this one with Sue's group, but at the last minute they were unable to come. So we will get to it later after the Thanksgiving Holiday. This is the one that I did to have as an example for the others to see. This was a really fun painting, again trying to be looser and succeeded pretty much.  Now if I can just get some of my perfectionist to loosen up also!

Snowy Dawn - Not for Sale

Snowy Dawn
12 x 12
Oil on Board

I haven't painted a really good snow scene in a very long time. It seems it used to be the about the only thing I painted. I do love snow. So does this little rabbit. I think I will frame this one and hang on to it, unless someone wants to buy it for $1,000. I think I am safe there. 
Thank you Alan Kingwell for sharing "A Winter's Dawn".

Old Rose Painting

Old Rose Painting - 1972
24 x 36
Oil on Canvas Panel
Please visit my Etsy Shop HERE

I call it "Old" because it was painted before I was married. It was painted in 1972 and it has my maiden name for the signature. It is now hanging in Rose Marie Paden's living room. She was kind enough to give it a home. I forget about this painting since I don't see it very often. Funny thing is that we tried to sell it when we had a personal property auction once and no one wanted it. I haven't been able to paint lately, traveling, company, life, etc.  So I thought you might like to see another oldie. We were just at Rose Marie's for a visit and I took this photo of it. Not the best as it has some glare on the right side. I think I painted this from a magazine cover photo. Don't remember what the magazine was.
After I post this I am going to go do some painting on something newer!

Old Autumn Painting, 1983

30 Year Anniversary
18 x 24 inches
Oil on stretched canvas
Please visit my Etsy Shop HERE

I had forgotten about this painting.  "Someone else" had it for a few years and they are finished with it so it found it's way back to me. I can't believe it is 30 years old!  Hope my painting has evolved some since then. I guess it is a vintage painting now.  Hmmmm, maybe I could sell it on my Etsy vintage shop! I wonder where all my old paintings will be 100 years from now.
Oh, that "Someone" was also finished with another painting that is very old, relatively speaking. I will post it another day.
BTW, no problem with "Someone" being finished with my paintnigs. Their tastes are just evolving too!!
P.S. someone took me home :-)

Snow is Coming

6 x 8 oil on canvas panel

Available when dry

For purchase information please contact me. 

Again, here are two photos of the same painting. The one below I did with one of our painting groups. I even worked on it a little more afterward to try and get it more finished. I don't really finish a painting with the group lessons. I do that later. So with that said, since I first did this one I have been doing some more self education, finding videos to watch, reading books.  It is an ongoing process. The above painting is a re-do of the below photo. Not a different painting but the same one just revised. I think I like the top one better. No, I do like it better. It is more satisfying and that is a sign that it is time to stop playing with it and call it finished.

Add caption

Sunset Silhouette

7 x 5 inches
Oil on canvas panel
For purchase information please email me. 

I just added a few things to this one that I did with the group yesterday .
It will be available for sale when it dries. Contact me if you are interested. 

Cora's Corner

Cora's Corner
7 x 5 oil on canvas panel
Please visit my Etsy Shop HERE

This is the painting we will be doing today for our lesson. This is from a photo that Cora took of a corner of their house. She though it would make a nice painting and I agree. 

The Old Apple Tree

The Old Apple Tree
8 x 6 inches
Oil on canval panel

This little painting is one that I did with the Home School group. For purchase information contact me.

The Sower, After Van Gogh

The above painting is revised from the one below. The sowers boots weren't working for me. I hope this is better now. 

The Sower - After Van Gogh
24x20 x 2
The sides are finished with black
This painting is for Jeremy.
Please visit my Etsy Shop HERE

This above painting is for Jeremy. He saw the original while in the Netherlands and really liked it. Jeremy, this looks better in person.  This one is 20 x 16 x 2 on gallery wrapped canvas.  We got the canvas with the deeper edge and that will be painted black so that this can be hanged unframed. It will make the painting stand out more too. (Like it needs it!)  I might still play with it some in some places that are bothering me, but it is mostly finished. The next one will be the 15 x 30. Looking forward to that.

Below is the photo that I used for reference, of the original painting. Because of my camera and your computer monitor, the colors may be different for you. Some colors are hard to get accurate, at least with my camera. 

Before and After Ocean Scene - SOLD

10x8 inches on canvas panel.

The above painting is the updated version of the below painting that I did last year. I've been wanting to get to it and do some changes, so finally did. This above painting is not on a new canvas, but on the same one below and only added to. The mood of the sky is totally different and there is more definition to the wave action. There is a small change to the rocks and their reflections added. In the painting below I was limited on the time, so it was not the way I wanted to finish it. It was one that we did with our Home School painting lessons. I think having waited as long as I did to work on it, it turned out even more differently than it would have if I had done it earlier. Probably a good thing. Again, the bones of this painting were from Nel and she kindly allowed me to use it.

Van Gogh and Me

   In 2005 I had the privilege of going to the MET in NYC and there saw quite a few Van Gogh's original paintings. At this time I had painted two Van Gogh's for Jeremy. They are below. Carrie, my daughter, decided she wanted this one called "First Steps", so as luck would have it this was on display at the MET. So I was able to see it in person and get detailed photos and accurate colors so that I could do it for her. In the photo below me with the original, is the painting that I did. The colors look different from the original, but that is the camera's fault. The colors are the same as the original that I am standing by here. So now, I have a commission to do a few more Van Gogh's. Jeremy wants some to hang in his new office. For those that don't know, Jeremy is my son who recently became a Nurse Practitioner and has a new office with bare walls. So we will see what we can do about that! 

   Below the photo of me are the four Van Gogh paintings that I have done so far, First Steps, Night Stars Over the Rhoan, and then one of his many Wheat Fields and Cyprus paintings. Also a version of Starry Night where I changed up the color scheme to reds and greens and this one belongs to Amy now. Below that are some teasers for your, Jeremy!! I'm working on it! Lots of strokes in that one!!

   These painting are a lot of work. Van Gogh usually finished one in a day! Just a little tidbit - You can order copies of these from China for about $25 (The canvas that Jeremy just bought me was about $25!!) but I read that they have an assembly line and each person does a small area that they are very quick at, so each one is done pretty easily by multiple painters. But they are good nonetheless.  Just not special!!! 

Watch this short: Vincent Video It is awesome! It is a clip from the TV show Dr. Who and one of his time travel adventures.

Me with Van Gogh's original First Steps in NYC. Van Gogh actually copied this from Jean-Francois Millet. He was a great admirer of Millet.

My version of First Steps.

My version of Night Stars Over the Rhone. Some call it Starry Night Over the Rhone. 

My version of Wheat Fields and Cyprus

My version of Starry Night in Reds and Greens

Some Teasers for Jeremy!!!

Jeremy, this one is something else to paint. Especially the field!!

Please visit my Etsy Shop HERE

New Project

It doesn't look like much yet. But this is just the beginning. I have a new "commission" from a certain favorite medical person who has an office with bear walls. Well, actually I did "loan" him some paintings to use until I get these new ones done for him.  This is mostly a teaser for you Jeremy!!
I have done several paintings like this in the past, some for Jeremy and I guess he liked them enough to want more. Excited to get this going!
Anyone want to guess what this is?
More to come!!

Prairie Thunder Snow - SOLD

Prairie Thunder Snow
12 x 12 inches
Original Acrylic painting on stretched canvas
Finished on all sides
Signed by the artist
This painting is Sold

When it is very cold out during the winter and I hear thunder, I am pretty certain that it will soon be snowing. So thunder on a very cold winter's day can be quite exciting. 
I think I would like to do this on a larger canvas.

Click on the closeups below to see them larger.

Prairie Church

Prairie Church
10x8 Acrylic on Stretched Canvas
Finished on All Sides
For purchase information please contact me

I love the prairie. I even love driving across Kansas. Others don't seem to care for it so much. Of course going west in  Kansas means going to Colorado to me. I'm sure that doesn't hurt things. But the wide open spaces are beautiful and a wonderful place to watch the clouds. Nothing gets in the way. And the prairie can produce some awesome cloud formations.
A little more impressionism, I had painted only the sky a while back. I was just playing around really, trying to be looser and working with acrylics. No lightning at that time. So I just added the foreground, with the church and road and some lightning. I really like painting lightning. 

Closeups below.

Prairie Moon

Prarie Moon
Acrylic on stretched canvas
10x8
Edges are finished with a dark color
I have paintings stacked up, stuck in corners, piled elsewhere. I got most of them out yesterday and put them out on my long dining room table. I just need to find homes for most of them. I will be putting a lot of them on eBay, at bargain prices. Most of them are smaller, from 5x7 and up a bit. Most are oils, some acrylics, like the above. This is just a goal and I am just beginning the process. I will let you know as things progress.
I have a few paintings, quite a few, that are in need of being finished. That was the case with the above painting. I had done the ground and the sky a while back and then wasn't sure what I wanted to do with it. So yesterday I added the moon, house, tree and stream. This is a loose, more impressionistic painting, which was my intention. I have a few more very similar to this, with mostly just the sky finished. I will be working on those for my next projects.

For purchase information go HERE

Below is a closeup shot of the little house. Hmmmm, little house on a prairie.

Four Seasons

I posted the photo right below a couple of days ago. I wasn't happy with the trees that I was working on, the top two in the collage. So I changed them up a bit and you can see in the second photo below. The autumn and winter trees are the same. I think they are better.  If you wish to see these larger, click on the photo.

BEFORE

AFTER

East Tennessee Somewhere

Oil on Gesso Board
4x4x1/8
Contact me for purchase information

Just wanted to play around a bit and do a quickie with some thicker paint. I've been watching some video on YouTube of some painters and one in particular. His are beautiful. The support is only 4x4 inches and I used a #4 flat sable, so it was a little like doing a larger painting with a bigger brush, only in miniature.  These are fun. It is hard to mess up. Although it has a long way to go!!
The setting is in East Tennessee, somewhere near Muddy Pond. That has been a favorite place of ours to go visit for years. It is the location of a Mennonite store. They used to make good sandwiches and we would go there and eat outside the store on the grass. But unfortunately they quit doing the sandwiches, so we don't go there any more. We have found another place where we can get the sandwiches, although it is not nearly as pretty of a drive.  And no grass to sit on :(

Below is the photo reference. Nel, I would love to see you do this one!

The Muddy Pond area is beautiful. I get our sorghum made from there.

Below is a closeup of some brush strokes. 

A Blue River - RESERVED

A Blue River
Oil on Stretched Canvas
20 x 16
NOT For purchase at this time
***Reserved***

From a Scene Somewhere in Colorado

Autumn Dream

Autumn Dream
Oil on Stretched Canvas
20 x 16

Hydrangeas - SOLD

5 x 7 
Oil on Canvas Panel

This painting is Sold

Just trying to loosen up my hydrangeas. Learned a different technique for doing the background. I was reading about using transparent colors. I never knew the possibilities. There is so much to learn! I started by covering the green area of the canvas with just Sap Green which is a nice transparent color. Then highlighting with Thalo Yellow Green/Cadmium Yellow Light/White while it was still wet. The blossom was done with a filbert and the greenery with a bright. Fun to do. There is so much freedom doing it this way and hard to do it wrong. That's a great thing. I know these are not what hydrangea leaves look like, but I was just working on the background technique, not so much a particular leaf. In the photo, the darker blues are showing more exaggerated than they really are. That seems to be a problem with certain colors when photographing and I'm not sure how to remedy it. 

I planted another hydrangea bush this spring, next to one that I planted a couple of years ago. They are so beautiful and covered with blooms.

Just for comparison, here is one I did a good while back. Tighter yes, but I do like the blossoms.  With this one I used more Pthalo Blue so that the color is like they would be if they were in acidic soil. I like the background technique on the new one better. Hmmm, now I think I need to marry these two somehow. The top one was a quickie, which I wanted it to be. Next time I'll take a little more time and try to put the things I like best together and also use a larger canvas. I like to use these smaller ones for studies. I think there might be a difference in the quality of the photo also. That can be a real challenge.

Shrooms

Oil on Canvas Panel
7 x 5
For purchase information go HERE

For my painters, this is the next one. Sorry Jamie, I wasn't thinking about the colors!! I did add a little blue accent. It is a fun painting. You don't have to get bogged down in the details and we can do it fairly quickly. I may play with it some more but just wanted you to have a picture to reference and print it if you like. I did this one on a 7 x 5 but we will be doing it on our 8 x 6's.

Thank you for looking.

Home Away From Home - SOLD

Home Away From Home
Available for $475 plus shipping


Done. From an online lesson from Jerry Yarnell. He has a wonderful technique and makes it a lot easier than it looks.  This painting is on stretched canvas and is 40 x 30 x 1.5 inches. It is going over my mantle. It needed a change. I have started two more from his lessons that will both be 20 x 16 inches. One will be an autumn scene, the other a mountain river scene.

Yarnell School Online

I have just enrolled in the Yarnell School Online. This is Jerry Yarnell's site, Yarnell School of Fine Art. I was fortunate to be able to take one of Jerry's two day workshops a few years ago. He is an awesome painter and a wonderful Christian man. He paints primarily in acrylics and I wanted to try to learn to use that medium. The painting above is the one that I did at his workshop and my first attempt at an acrylic painting. After giving acrylics a try I have gone back to oils. Jerry has his website set up where you can get access to anything on it, instructional or whatever, 24/7 for a monthly fee. I'm going to give it a try for a while. He has a painting called "Heaven on Earth" that he has taught in several of his workshops. See it HERE. I loved this painting and wished I could take a workshop when he was doing it. Well, now I have access to that through his website. He has a show on PBS, local time is 1:30 EST, Saturday on channel 14 WPTO. It is called "Paint This With Jerry Yarnell". It is easy enough to follow along using oils if Jerry is using acrylics. He does sometimes use water miscible oils. So I am looking forward to starting this painting. Stay tuned!
Another good site for Jerry is HERE.

The Path Out Back

8 x 6 Oil on canvas panel
This was a fun little painting that everyone was interested in doing. I haven't gotten a group photo yet, but hope to soon.

Thank you for looking 

Country Road - SOLD

This painting is from a photo that I took somewhere in Middle Tennessee. I'm not sure exactly where, but probably in the Hickman county or Williamson county area. I was trying to do one a little faster and not worrying about details.  I'm sure I could improve on this taking a little more time with it. But then that would defeat the purpose. I think I might need to warm up that road a bit. Maybe I will play with it some more.
This oil painting is a 7 x 5 on canvas panel.
The photo is below.
This painting is SOLD