My Prissy Cup of Coffee -SOLD

I am submitting this to the tea cup challenge for this week on DPW.  My husband and I are living out one of our "bucket list" items by living at the beach this month and I have the most wonderful studio located on the third floor of our house.  It is called the Eagles Nest, it has wonderful light all around, it is equipped with two couches, a daybed, a covered porch, small kitchenette and bathroom.  I am in love!  I am painting, painting and painting.  I have several commissions to complete (I am so honored) and I painted this little coffee cup to warm up for the tasks.  In the mornings, I bring my coffee to the studio and read my devotional before starting the day after a walk on the beach.  Yes, it is a dream come true.

Even with all this - I find I cannot get completely satisfied with anything I am painting so today my goal is to relax and stop trying.     Today I am going to try and paint with limited strokes and limited "thinking" about what I am trying to convey.  That is when magic happens.

Wedding Bells at Sloss Furnace - GIFT

Sloss Furnaces produced iron for nearly 90 years and is now interpreted as a national historic industrial site. The dramatic scale and complexity of the plant's industrial structure, machines and tools make the Sloss collection a unique contribution to the ironmaking technology of the past.  It is an important reminder of the hopes and struggles of the people who worked in the industries that made some men wealthy in Birmingham, Alabama and contributed to creating the "Magic City". 

Today Sloss Furnaces is a unique place to have a wedding or other event.  It has six unique rental areas and each one offers the opportunity for a one-of-a-kind, memorable event.

The lovely daughter of some long time friends, Jodi Messer,  will be marrying Sean Mabry this summer.  Their wedding will take place at Sloss Furnaces and she asked if I could paint a picture for a keepsake that she could also display at the wedding.  

Congratulations Jodi and Sean!!

I Am Right Beside You - Gifted

I am very thankful for all of those people who have purchased my art this year and the wonderful comments and support I have received.  This has been a big year for me, I retired from a wonderful job where I felt I could make a difference in the health of mothers and babies and to travel all over the country and work with some of the best co-workers in all of healthcare.  Now I am blessed to be able to concentrate on my art full time and hopefully make a difference in someone's life with my art.    I have been able to study with some exceptional artists and develop my own style and technique, sometimes "dreaming" the painting.  One of my friends called me "Ms. Peaceful" this week....I think she was right.  

"I Am Right Beside You"  is a gift to one of my customers.  She purchased my male cardinal, "I Am Right Here" along with several other paintings and I just felt this little female needed to be with her partner painting.  Merry Christmas Deb!

My Lifesong Sings - SOLD

Again I want to mention Rodney Campbell.  Rodney is a photographer out of Oxford, Michigan.  Every time I see one of Rodney's bird photos I am aware that he communicates with them in some way.  They allow him to capture the most expressive moments, as if they are saying, "I know secrets about nature, weather and living that you do not know."  

Rodney is also gracious to share his photos for artists to paint which is a gift.  You might want to see more of his amazing work and you can find it here - he is also on Facebook.

http://www.morguefile.com/creative/acrylicartist

 I have said over and over again I would never paint on burlap canvas again because it is so hard to do.  You have to plan in advance every stroke and color and how you want it to lay on the material because once it is there the canvas soaks it in and there is not much room for error.  But when Rodney posted this little cardinal I told him I had to paint him and then I listened very closely and the cardinal told me how to paint him.  When he said, "burlap", I said "OK" because I know he knows secrets that I do not.  

P.S.  The name came from the song I am playing while painting by Casting Crowns. "And Now My Lifesong Sings"

Framed - NFS

I rarely ever paint for a frame but I found this frame at some quaint little shop on one of my many trips with my previous job and I loved it.  I then took a picture of some flowers on display in a flower shop and I think they were made for each other.  There is a part of me that wants to keep this for myself because it works so well with my colors so I think I will.

A Good Man - GIFTED

I have heard it said that a good man is hard to find.  Well in the spirit of Christmas, this man is free.  He is a 6" x 6" oil on gessobord and I will give him away to someone from my Facebook page.  Just visit Marcia Hodges, Artist on Facebook and share the picture and then write "share" under the photo.  I will draw the winner on Thursday, December 17 and post that page at 8:00 p.m. CST that night.

Merry Christmas!

A. Cook for Lynn - SOLD

What a sweetie!

Simply - SOLD

This is my wreath for Christmas.  I want to keep it and the whole season simple.  I want to enjoy every grandchild's smile, every pecan pie, every Christmas story and every moment without distraction from what is really important in my life.

Little Angel Boy - SOLD

I have been spending some wonderful times with my little grandsons so I guess I have "little angel boys" on my mind.  The model for this painting was actually a doll that is an angel.  I know those of you who paint will understand this but this painting was just in my head just waiting around to come out onto the canvas.  I still find it very hard to capture exact color on digital pictures so the colors are a little off from the original painting - usually the people who buy my art tell me that they love the painting "in person" even more than the representation on the computer screen.    I am very happy about that but I sure which I could the color more exact.

Enough about that --I hope all of your enjoy your angels this season - even if you do not have kids or grandkids.....you have an angel hovering about.

Santa Checking His List Again - SOLD

Santa, Santa, Santa......he is checking and rechecking

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree - SOLD

I had so much fun last night and this morning.  I had 3 little four year old boys spend the night.  We have gone to the park, played baseball, played Go Fishin', ate graham crackers, ice cream sandwiches, watched Paw Patrol and Alvin and the Chipmunks, painted and talked a lot about the Christmas tree and every ornament.  There is a story for each ornament and they want to know them all ----some of them really don't have a story but they do now.  These little guys make Christmas so special.  I did have to talk to my daughter about her son though, he is a little confused - not only was baby Jesus in my manger but also baby Moses?

Innocence - SOLD

This little girl captures innocence to me and that has been on my mind a lot this week with all the terrible problems of terrorism we have seen this in the news.  This morning on the Today show,  I saw a interview with a young child who was describing how his teacher taught his class to respond if a "bad person" came into their school.  This breaks my heart that children have to even think about that as a possibility.  My prayer this season is for Peace on Earth.

The reference photo for this painting came from a wonderful photographer, Jim Little.  This is actually his little granddaughter, Evie.  Jim Little's Photography can be found at 

http://www.jimlittlephotography.com

Jim has years of experience and is an artist of photography.  I am lucky because his daughter is married to my son so I get the advantage of wonderful photos of my grand children.  Check him out!

Angel Friends

Today I worked on something totally different.  I rarely ever paint with acrylics but since I have been taking a class from Chantel Barber I have become interested in them again.  Today I worked on a group of angel friends and experimented.  I am meeting an old friend for lunch tomorrow and she and I lost a dear friend last year....we were good friends for many years.  I wanted to bring her a gift and because my oils take forever to dry - I thought I would use acrylics.  I hope she likes it. 

There are a couple of things I would have changed about this painting and if I had painted with oils I think I could have done them but with acrylics it is a little more of a challenge for me.  I think you have to wipe them down to the canvas and "redo".  I have to spend a little more time with acrylics.