The Photographer, 8x10 Original Oil on Canvas

I took this photo of our Pieces of 8 member Kathy Garvey while she was intently photographing poppies. She liked them as much as I did. It was really fun to paint her, and of course it was an excuse to paint more poppies. Here's a little slideshow of the painting as it progressed:

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Perky Poppies, 6x8 Oil on Canvas Board

I have so many wonderful things to paint, I guess I will soon get off the poppy kick. I haven't tried them as collages yet, though. Hm. That might be interesting.

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Floorcloth

I've had a little break from daily painting this week. Since my studio has carpet on the floor and I tend to sling paint, I decided to make this 4' x 6' floorcloth to stand on. I figure if I drop paint on it, I'll just transform it into another posy. Or a bug or a butterfly. Clever, eh? Of course, the hardest part will be stepping on a work of art that took me several days to create.

This is actually a dropcloth coated with polyurethane, painted with acryclic, then coated again with polyurethane. If I do another floorcloth, it will be on a proper canvas for that purpose, because this stuff was not easy to paint on.

Yellow Poppy, 6x8 Oil

Oh, how I love painting poppies. I am used to tropical flowers, so poppies are a novelty for me. Their shapes, their colors, their curvy stems--I love them!

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Iris, 8x6 Oil on Canvas Board

I am mining the gorgeous blooms at Brookgreen Gardens, South Carolina for floral daily paintings. Sometimes I think I'd like to be locked away to just paint for days with a "Do Not Disturb" sign on the door. It worked for Rembrandt, at least artistically, but he forgot to pay the bills. That was unfortunate, because he was quite the consumer.

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Poppies at Brookgreen, 10x10 Oil on Canvas

 I love poppies, and these were abundant at Brookgreen Gardens in South Carolina. They surrounded a long reflecting pool and were so beautiful against the dark background of the water. This is painted on a deep stretched canvas. Look at the photo below to see why I love my iPad. It's wonderful to paint from.

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Denette, Cindy, Me on Surfside Beach

Shadow Dancers, 8x6 Oil on Canvas Board

This was my entry into the Daily Paintworks Shadow Challenge. I had already planned to paint this from a photo I took at Brookgreen Gardens, SC. Sometimes it's just about the shadows and the design they make.

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Beautiful young people are accidents of  nature, but beautiful old people are works of art.

 - Eleanor Roosevelt

Big Oak, 6x8 Oil on Canvas Board

We visited the Hopsewee Rice Plantation on the North Santee River and it was fascinating to find out how rice was grown in the old days. Did you know at one time they grew more rice in the Carolinas than anywhere in the world except India? There were beautiful buildings to paint, but this tree was so interesting that I couldn't resist it.

Of course, I got home with bits of dirt stuck to my painting, but I got it out. On the plus side, I didn't bring any bugs home on my painting this time.

SOLD

Beach Therapy, 5x7 Oil on Canvas Board

NFS

Four of the Pieces of Eight just returned from a glorious trip to Surfside Beach, SC. We visited Mary Jo, a collector of our art, and even though we had never met, we immediately clicked. She took a leap of faith by inviting us to her beautiful beach house. We not only saw wonderful places, we learned so much from Mary Jo about the history and culture of the area. We saw everything from a rice plantation to shag dancing, and we learned what Beach Music is all about. When we parted, it was tough to leave our New Best Friend.

Denette, Carmen, Mary Jo, Kathy, Cindy

Plaid Pears, 8x10 Mixed Media

This was just plain fun. I didn't know where I was going with this, but I rather enjoy the result. It's hard to get me away from oils and collage, but sometimes it's good to play around with other media. This is definitely a kitchen painting, wouldn't you say?

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