Ring Around the Roses - SOLD

A Dozen Roses - SOLD

My husband came home with a dozen roses for me this week for no reason.  Smart man!

Ann Margaret and Ford - SOLD

One Happy Single Girl - SOLD

I am so fortunate to have several commissions to work on for Christmas and many times before I start a large painting, I will complete a small work just to play with colors and shapes.  This morning I also had work to do in the yard.  Every rose bush has had a trim and I salvaged four little roses.  I placed one in my favorite white vase to sit on my desk and it kept screaming to me, "Paint me!"  The other 3 said "Good Bye" as they are definitely the last of the season.  

6" x 6" on board

Cat Woman

The DPW challenge this week is to paint a feline friend.  I do not know cats very well as I am allergic to them so I cannot get up close and personal but I do love to watch them from a distance.  I love the way the walk (or stalk) and the almost shy way they come up and rub up against your leg.  I think their eyes are so expressive and I often wonder what they are thinking behind those fixed stares.  

I read that cats have distinct personalities depending on how much of each trait they possess.  They can be affectionate and sociable, sociable and chatty, the movie star, 
shy and aloof loners or the leader of the pack.  According to the definitions I think this Cat Woman is the leader of the pack.  Described as acutely intelligent with a takeover personality and is not a lap cat.  This personality will investigate newcomers, people or other animals to make sure they are up to their standards.  The look on her face tells me she is a pack leader.

Cow Girls - SOLD

I have several commissions to complete and have my canvases ready and ideas flying around my head but there are times I just need to paint without a serious agenda to just "loosen up" and be free with the brush so that I can carry that attitude into a more serious painting.  That helps keeps freshness and lack of "fussiness" out of my brush.  The challenge at Daily Paintworks this week was to paint cows and try to capture their personalities.  I really liked these three I found on Paint my Photo by Joke Rietveld.  I felt they truly had personalities.

I'm Just A Mess - SOLD

This weekend we went to the Farmer's Market, Pepperplace in Birmingham.  I love all the fresh vegetables and the mason jars of wildflowers.  I used these wildflowers with my pumpkin painting earlier and almost let them wilt before I painted their portrait alone.  They were dropping little pieces of pollen and small leaves all over my desk and I was painting using several colors and no gloves.....so we both were "just a mess".

Pumpkin In the Wildflowers - SOLD

I love Fall and I love all the colors, pumpkins, wildflowers, cool weather and expectation of the new season.