Little Digger - SOLD

I took this photo of a little guy at the beach this summer who was working so hard on digging and not getting anywhere.  I have a lot of experience with little guys - this one reminds me of one of my 4 grandsons.

Happy Anniversary - SOLD

Every woman loves flowers

This 8" x 10" oil on stretched canvas can be purchased at paintingbythelake.com 

Namaste - SOLD

This little hummingbird came from a reference photo by Valavan Manohararajah.  I am looking for photos to paint as I am committed to painting something every day as often as I can.  I am getting out early before work and then painting in the evenings when it is cool outside after work.  This one is a little different but I like the way he turned out.  I am also trying to be more consistent with my morning yoga.  In Yoga, the gesture Namaste represents the belief that there is a Divine spark within each of us that is located in the heart chakra. The gesture is an acknowledgment of the soul in one by the soul in another. Nama means bow, as means I, and te means you. Therefore, namaste literally means "bow me you" or "I bow to you." This little guy looks peaceful and is viewing the bird of paradise flower as if to say "I bow to you."

Ladies' Man - SOLD

This guy is struttin'. 

Superman - SOLD

What else is there to say?

Crusin'

  It is 91 degrees at my house right now and I think this little fellow has the right idea.

This is a 7" x 9" oil on canvas panel - I would love for him to have a home.  You can purchase here:

paintingbythelake.com

Photo reference supplied by:  Nicole B

Mine ! - SOLD

I love watching the hummingbirds outside my office window.  In fact, I have even resuscitated two of them who tried to fly through the window.  I used a tiny syringe filled with sugar water and they were both able to be revived.  I guess word has gotten around the hummingbird community that I have sugar water because now they will come to my window if their feeder is low on food and they will just hover there until I replace their food.  Last weekend my granddaughter, Whitney and I were on the porch in our big white swing and a hummingbird flew by and landed about a foot away and just stared at us.  I told Whitney, "he wants more food."  We filled up the feeder and watched as he and 3 others started fighting over the new supply of sugary, red liquid.    This is the thing, the feeder can accommodate 4 birds but each one wanted to be THE ONLY ONE.  They can actually get aggressive and knock each other away.  When I saw this photo reference by Michael D Utin on Paint my Photo it reminded me of one of those aggressive little hummingbirds, the stance and the facial expression said it all!  "Mine!" 

Ummmm....there might be a life lesson here somewhere.

Yes!

My daughter asked me to paint this for a friend of her's who loves being out on her boat.   Another version of "Intimate Landscapes".

My Hiding Place

I have a friend of many years.  We put our husbands through graduate school together and we watched our families grow with children.  Our children played together and now we watch our children's children.  Truly the circle of life and friendship.  My friend is Marsha Thomas.  I have always known Marsha to be a great artist but if has been recently that I have noticed her photography skills.  She has a gift for choosing just the right shot and her photos are so expressive.  The painting group I belong to had a challenge for this week to paint an "Intimate Landscape".  I asked Marsha if I could use one of her photos of her sweet granddaughter, Hope.  Thank you Marsha!

Besties - SOLD

I thought I had a great idea.  I have noticed some burlap canvases at Hobby Lobby lately and I thought those would make such a great texture to work on.  It has a very rough texture and I like the color so I thought it might be nice to have some of the color show through the painting.  

There are times when someone will ask me to paint a painting similar to one that has already sold.  I never paint the same painting again but there are times when I try to accommodate the request by painting a similar one.  I can honestly say I will NEVER paint on burlap again (unless the price is right, of course).  The burlap soaks and soaks up the paint and you have to keep applying, keep tweaking your colors and then apply again and again.  The texture is very rough and because of that the strokes are very hard to control.  When I come up from the deck where I have been painting, my husband will always ask me, "Well, how did it go?"  My answer is usually, "I learned something today."  That is truly the case with this one.  

Heather on Sunday Afternoon

The challenge from DPW this week was a photo of a lovely young lady sitting on a blanket under an umbrella reading a book.  I have been recuperating from pneumonia this week and have not felt much like painting so I am late submitting this but working a little each evening helped me move around a little in the evenings after the sun went down and helped me feel like I might be normal one day soon.  (Well at least as "normal" as I can be.)  This is an 8" x 10" on a canvas board and can be purchased at  http://www.dailypaintworks.com/buy/auction/249723

Croquet on the Lawn - NFS

We have some very good friends who actually have a croquet area in their yard.  I found a reference photo by Lynne Fearman that depicted several ladies playing croquet in their finery from the 1800's.  I painted this card for my friend to celebrate our croquet games.