Road at Versailles, 6x8

One could spend an entire day at Versailles and not see everything. Even Ponzi Scheme Perpetrators don't live as well as Louis and Marie. They came to a bad end, which is what I wish upon all Ponzi Scheme Perpetrators.

Speaking of living well, my husband and I now have iPhones, thanks to my diligent shopping and ATT's good customer service. We have spent many, many hours figuring out the phones and downloading special ringtones and apps. My husband used to say, "I just want a phone that's a phone!" until he got this one. We had a very nice Christmas and it's hard to get back in the painting groove. My pace was interrupted. I need a good dose of painting with the Pieces of 8.

BUY

Roxy, 8x10

This adorable dog is Roxy, at rest among the sweet potato vines. Gotta love that face.

My fellow Daily Painter, Karen Appleton, is painting wrapped boxes with elaborate bows, and says she is greatly helped by her iPhone and its various applications. I have an iMac, and i must admit that i want anything that begins with lower case "i." iPhone, iPad, you name it. i even dreamed about Steve Jobs one night, and he was presenting me with an iPad. i have a bad case of the iWants.

BTW, Karen has a great thing going, called Present and Accounted For. Check it out!

SOLD

Rain on the Horizon, 7x5

I love it when I get a shot like this of rain over the ocean, especially with the golden light in the background.

BUY

Red Passionflowers, 8x10

It's that time of year to set goals, and I think one of mine needs to be to figure out how to do a blog, an Etsy Shop, a website, and daily painting and be more efficient about it. After all, the main thing is to paint! I need to find shortcuts through all the other activities related to my painting. I want to do less keystrokes and more brushstrokes.

BUY

John Wayne's Birthplace, 7x5

I painted this as an entry in the monthly competition at Street View Paintoff, in which artists paint from a Street View in Googlemaps. This great idea came from Kay Zahn, and every month she sets the boundaries to be used for that months' entry. December's boundary is the state of Iowa. This is a competition, so please click here to vote for me if you like this painting.

BUY

Eastern Bluebird, 5x7

I go from snow to this Springy little scene. Bluebirds are so unbelievably colorful, they just make me smile.

SOLD

Snowy Farm, 5x7

This is my multi-purpose painting, which I used for my Ecard Christmas greetings this year. I'm fascinated with snow because I seldom see it, and I love the late afternoon light on the snow, with the long shadows. It's beautiful, but I'm thankful to be in Sunny Florida!

BUY

Apple and Friends, 6x6

I'm starting to prefer painting apples to eating them. I haven't had a good apple in months. Is it because I'm in Florida and they have to be imported? What's with all the mealy apples? If we can import fresh tulips from the Netherlands, how hard is it to get fresh apples from the northern U.S. (which to a Floridian means anything north of South Carolina)? At least they are still beautiful on the outside, so I get a  little of my money's worth by painting them.
Note to Tia's Grandmother: I can't answer your comments because I don't have your email address. I'd be happy to make a print for you. Email me at hbeecher@earthlink.net.

SOLD

Me and My Shadow, 8x10

This is the demo painting I did yesterday at the Studio Tour Sale. The Pieces of Eight had a good time and we met such nice people all day long. Two women came all the way from Orlando.
This little girl is the granddaughter of my cousin in Alaska. I just love seeing children ponder their own shadow. It reminds me of a poem in one of my childhood books:

"I have a little shadow that goes in and out with me,

And what can be the use of it is more than I can see."

Now we know the shadow's use--it's for artists to enjoy painting...

Pair of Pears, 6x8

It was so nice to get together with the Pieces of Eight to paint again. We have pledged to do still life for a while, to reinforce what we learned from Qiang-Huang.

BUY

Venice, 11x14

My sister and I took a trip to Venice a couple of years ago, and I've never been to a more magical place. It's an artist's dream, and I would love to go back. No wonder the artist John Singer Sargent spent so much time there, it is absolutely irresistible.

NFS