Little Tourists, 8x8 Original Oil Painting on Gallery-Wrapped Canvas

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I took a lot of pictures in the Smokies, especially in the great spot known as The Sinks, but this last one was the one I knew I would paint.

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But Cereusly, Original Oil Painting on Panel 8x8 Flower Art

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I have called these flowers Dragonflower, Cereus, Night-Blooming Cereus, and I still am not sure of the proper name. I welcome any enlightenment anyone can give me. All I know is, it's very hard to catch it blooming, and I was happy to get a good picture of it.

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Van Gogh Slept Here, Original Oil Painting on Gallery-Wrapped Canvas 8x8 Provence France

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This is Saint-Paul Asylum, Saint-Remy, France, where Van Gogh spent a year. He was seeking treatment for his mental illness, and he painted 100 paintings while living there. The place is still a facility with patients, but we only saw the part open to tourists. It was a thrill to actually be in Van Gogh's room. His mental health improved there so much that he was allowed to wander the countryside and paint to his heart's content. 

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Waterlily, 8x8 Original Oil Painting on Canvas, Floral Painting

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This painting was done in response to a challenge to paint with three primary colors and white. Every color was mixed from those three colors. Yes, I did long to grab my handy-dandy tubes of Permanent Green Light and Sap Green, but I resisted.

Our painting group, Pieces of Eight, has a challenge each month. My waterlily is for October's challenge, done early because I will spend much of October in Europe. September's challenge is to use patterns from nature, and may be viewed online here.  Each challenge is uploaded in the Pieces of Eight blog on the last day of the month.

 

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Everglades Grass, 8x8 Oil Painting on Canvas Panel, Florida Everglades Scene

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This is a grassy plain in the Everglades, and those clumps of trees are called hammocks. They are little ecosystems that look like islands. The Everglades has wetlands, mangrove jungles, ponds, pine woods, gumbo-limbo trees, and swamps. It is a fascinating place.

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Ocean Dawn, 8x8 Oil on Canvas

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While ice storms are predicted today for much of the country, I get to see scenes like this while walking on the beach. I am very fortunate. I was interviewed after winning a competition and was asked, "Where in the whole world would you most like to live?" After thinking for a moment I responded, "Right here." I like to think I have always known when I was well off. 

Sunrise in the Heartland, 8 x 8 Oil on Canvas

This was painted from a windshield photo of the stark fields along Highway 30 in Illinois. There are many Hopper-esque farmhouses in the middle of huge bare fields, and there was still a bit of snow on the edges of the road. Even barren, lonely cornfields have a melancholic sort of beauty.

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Siesta, 8x8 Oil on Canvas

Ahhh, the warm Mexican sun...just makes one (or should I say Juan?) want to have a little snooze. I thank my sister Genie for the photo that inspired this.

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Wetlands, 8x8 Oil on Canvas

This is a typical scene in the Florida wetlands, an area that is a big draw for birdwatchers, or as they say nowadays, birders, from the verb to bird (ha ha).  Sometimes nouns changed to verbs sound pretty funny to me; however, birders don't just watch these days. They record, report, photograph, study, and have conventions, and Florida has lots of interesting birds for them to bird.

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He Feedeth Among the Lilies, 8x8 Oil on Canvas

This was done from a photo shot by Uncle Emmett, who is not my uncle, but the uncle of a friend. That makes him my Fruncle.

The artist Robert Genn has many made-up words like that in his blog, The Painter's Keys, today. They are all about art and they are very funny. I was inspired to make up a few of my own:

Liarkinding: Complimenting an artist on a painting you hate because you don't want to hurt their feelings.

Clownvisagia: Going out in public unaware you have paint on your face.

Saddergaller: Depression because you didn't sell well at your show.

And my favorites of Robert's: 

Snooler: A person who gushes over your work but who you suspect privately thinks he can do better but actually can't. 

Superalphabetted: A person whose name is followed by a lot of letters. 

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Corncrib, 8x8

The Pieces of 8 went to the Oconluftee Visitors Center in Cherokee at the entrance to the Smokies, where we painted farm buildings. This was a corncrib in pioneer days, and it is completely painted on location. I didn't touch it in the studio. That was really an accomplishment for me, because one always wants to nitpick and perhaps destroy the spontaneity. The visitors center is wonderful, with recordings of mountain people talking about their very colorful lives.

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