More from My Journal

 This is my next page from my daughter Suzanne's garden. She grows vegetables too!

Carmen

A Vacation at Last - A Page From My Journal

 

We visited my daughter Suzanne and her husband Kirk in Virginia and it was better for me than medicine. Suzanne is an avid gardener, so I had some good subjects to paint in my journal. An added bonus: she's a great cook.

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Purple and Yellow Iris, 8x10 Oil on Canvas Panel Flower Painting

Purchase on Etsy $140

When we were staying in the beautiful neighborhood of Lake Junaluska in North Carolina, I was fascinated by the flowers that we don't grow here in Florida, like these irises and the spectacular rhododendrons.

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Peach Canna Lilies Original Painting, 5x7 Oil on Canvas Panel

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This is another of my "Pool Paintings," a portion of my garden viewed at eye level from my pool. There are peach Canna Lilies, little blue Plumbago flowers, and in the foreground, bromeliads. When I saw the early morning shadows behind the Canna Lilies I knew I had to paint them. The bromeliads look big because they were much closer to me. 

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Canna Lilies Painted from My Pool, Original Oil Painting on Canvas 5x7 Small Painting

 

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This is my second painting in my series painted while standing in my pool. I love being eye level with my plants, especially stately ones like the canna lilies. Painting en plein aire while in the pool solves the problem of getting insufferably hot in the middle of summer. Another advantage of the eye level view: the weeds are less noticeable.

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Blue Sky Vine, Original Oil Painting 5x7 Floral Art on Canvas

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It's the middle of winter and this vine is blooming like crazy in my yard. Of course, it's hot one day and cold the next here in Florida, so it's confused like the rest of us. This was one of my 20-minute paintings, but I saw its possibilities and went back to it and refined it. 

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Lotus Buds, 6x8 Oil on Canvas Panel Floral Painting

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I was far from home while doing this painting, and I managed to leave my white paint home! I dealt with it by subtracting color with my turps. This produced a very dark painting, as my canvas was not white, but a toned neutral color. When I got home I mixed more color with white and finished my lotus buds. I like the way they stand out now. These lilies were at Palma Sola Botanical Garden in Bradenton, Florida.

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Yellow Plumeria, 10x10 Print on Canvas, from Original Oil painting

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This giclee print is available in my Etsy shop in varying sizes, starting with a 10x10-inch on canvas with deep sides (no frame needed). 

I have been invited to join a blog called Ask Me Anything (AMAfeed), and my questions and answers went live yesterday. My AMA feed is all about art, and people have asked some really good questions. Check it out here.

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Night Bloomers, Flower Art, 8x10 Original Oil Painting

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It is so hard to get photos of these flowers, because I have to keep an eye out to catch them blooming. The leaves that they spring from look very unsubstantial. They are white so that they can attract the sphinx moth, their pollinator. 

Cereus supposedly blooms in the summer, but mine just recently bloomed because Florida's winter is freakishly hot this year. We make lots of jokes about it, but it is not natural and I don't appreciate having to pull weeds in the off-season. 

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Tiny Zinnias, 3x5 Oil Painting on Wood Panel, Floral Daily Painting

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I think that's enough flowers for now. I am getting the urge to paint the beach, but who knows what will strike my eye next? These tiny paintings have been fun and I do love my garden, but the Devilweed is about to get me. It creeps under the ground and pops up everywhere. As if it's not hard enough to weed in the hot weather, this stuff has to give me a tug of war to get it out. If anyone has a solution for  this heinous weed, please tell me!

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Bronze Daylily, 3x5 Oil on Wood Panel Small Daily Painting

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 I enjoy painting these little paintings of flowers from my garden. This one goes nicely with two of my other paintings, "Blanketflower" and "Golden Daylily." This is a 3x5 original oil painting on wood panel, and it comes with its own little easel.

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Lily of the Nile, 3x5 Oil on Wood Panel, Daily painting with easel

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This is another painting in my series of flowers from my garden. It comes with a little easel, and goes nicely with the zinnia painting below, which is also in my Etsy shop at this link.

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Field Flowers, 6x8 Oil on Canvas Panel Floral Daily Painting

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I painted a big happy sunflower on this canvas, then decided I hated it, so I scraped it off. The result was a lovely background that looked like a green field, so I painted these flowers in the field and now I like it. "Scrapers" frequently produce interesting results. I think I'll do more of it. 

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Shadow Irises, 6x8 Oil on Canvas Panel, Floral Daily Painting

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I really like the play of the shadows on the wall. I love visiting Virginia in the Spring and seeing a lot of flowers we don't see much in Florida. My daughter always has a spectacular yard, and in my family we call it "The Chulie Gene." Chulie was my grandmother and she had a plant nursery. Most of my family inherited the Chulie Gene and at this time of year texts fly back and forth among them with images of their beautiful flowers. My grandmother would be so pleased. 

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Purple Posies, 5x7 Oil on Panel Floral Painting

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After my last painting, which was quite complicated, I felt the need for a painting that freed me up, so I selected this from my bouquet. This is a very "floral" week, with Mother's Day flowers and visiting Bok Tower Thursday with the Pieces of Eight painting group. I grew up a few miles from Bok Tower, and when I was young the Big Three tourist attractions were Silver Springs, Cypress Gardens and Bok Tower. Of course, Disney changed all that. Bok Tower has no thrill rides, just beautiful gardens and a gorgeous building. Below are a few pictures from our very pleasant day.

The postcard view 

The Golden Door

The last Spring blooms of the azaleas

Window on the Pond

Pretty in Pink, 8x10 Oil on Canvas Still Life with Roses

Giclee Prints on Etsy

This is my favorite still life. I really like the reflections of the bottle on the vase and the vivid pink of the roses.

The original of this painting will be available at my April show in Middleburg, Virginia.

Carol's Roses, 6x8 Floral Oil Painting, Pink and White Roses

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A rose is a rose is a hard thing to paint. My painting group had two different bouquets to choose from and I started with the entire rose bouquet until I got hold of myself and narrowed it down to these.

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Yellow Plumeria, Floral Painting, 10x10, Original Oil Painting

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This painting is for sale in my Etsy shop. It has deep sides painted black and can be hung without a frame. I now have giclee prints of it as well, with 1.5-inch sides painted black. See more of my available giclees below, in various sizes:

"Cathedral Rock"

"Breakfast Club"

One-Eyed Rose, 10x8 Original Floral Oil Painting on Panel

$115, Buy Now

I called this painting One-Eyed Rose because when I painted it I had a patch over one eye. I had cataract surgery the previous day and the patch was still on. It was very interesting painting with one eye, because my depth perception was a bit off. I would reach out with the brush, ready to stroke the canvas, and I wasn't quite there yet. Once I got going, I compensated for that easily. When they took the patch off at the doctor's office, everything had a lavender hue except for my chartreuse-tinged Kleenex. Colors are so much brighter now, and I am so glad I did it. I didn't even appreciate HDTV until now!

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Datura, 6x9 Oil Painting on Canvas Panel

$99, Click to Purchase

This beautiful flower was blooming in Silver Springs State Park. I was peacefully painting the river while the glass bottom boat floated by, as well as the occasional kayaker. We artists took many pictures of the huge Angel Trumpet (otherwise known as Datura) plant. 

Glass Bottom Boat

Swamp

Silver Springs is a beautifully maintained state park now, and well worth visiting.

Carmen