Copper Pot with Apple, 10x8 Oil on Canvas

$99, Click to Purchase

Taking a break from my San Miguel series to post a still life. This one was started in the Qiang Huang workshop in Melbourne. I have been so pleased to get thank-you notes from some of the people attending the class. Learning from Qiang is a very enriching experience, and some people came from a long distance and were glad they did. It's so gratifying when all the effort to put on a workshop is appreciated.

Ocean Dawn, 8x8 Oil on Canvas

$89, Click to Purchase

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. 

Fall Island, 8x6 Oil on Canvas

$89 Click here to buy

Well, my ten-year-old Mac finally let me down, and at a crucial time. I did manage to post on my iPad, but not everything worked exactly like I wanted. Now I am looking at my brand-new marvel of technology with a giant screen and no box, no round little base, no nothing that indicates there are magical things going on inside to help me do my job. Once you go Mac...

The painting above is on Lake Oconee, Georgia, a little island we pontooned to and explored. It is just a beautiful place. 

If you are in Central Florida, save the date! The big Pieces of 8 Holiday Sale is December 7, and you can click here to link to the map.

Dragonflower, 20x20 Oil on Canvas

When I shot this picture I practically had to stand on my head; it was fairly dark but the light was shining through the flowers. This is the flower of the dragonfruit, and I have always heard it referred to as Night-Blooming Cereus. After doing a lot of daily paintings, and I mean a lot of daily paintings, I just had the urge to paint a big floral. I like using my big bristle brushes now and then.

SOLD

Cyberspace, 5x7 Abstract Acrylic Painting

To Purchase

This is poured acrylic over stamped gold gesso, and the title is a nod to the internet, because of the most amazing coincidence this week. In our painting group, when it's someone's birthday, that person brings the cake. This keeps it simple. This week I brought a pineapple upside-down cake for my birthday (more about that later), and Carol Schiff gave me a birthday card that I immediately recognized as being made by my niece, Marta Pelrine-Bacon. Carol's cousin bought a set of the cards on the internet and sent them to Carol, who gave me one for my birthday, having no idea I was related to the artist who made the card. What are the odds?

I wrote to my niece, who has had serious health problems lately, and saw that she was having a big craving the same day for pineapple upside-down cake!  Again, what are the odds?
Here is the very cute card:

 Link to Card

Seven Palms, 6x6 Oil on Canvas

This is Satellite Beach, Florida, on a beautiful sunny day. The weather turned interesting later on, a real frog-strangler. We needed the rain, so I don't complain

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Hobbitat, 9x12 Oil Painting

I call this Hobbitat because it looks like Hobbits would live there. It is a cool, lush forest and that road leads to some interesting places. No Hobbit sightings, though. Yet.

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Cathedral Rock, 20x20 Oil

After what I went through to get this scene, I thought it deserved a bigger painting, so this one is 20x20 on stretched canvas. My husband and I went to a park, looking for this view of beautiful Cathedral Rock. We turned the wrong way and hiked and hiked, but that was a treat, because it was a beautiful path along the river. We came upon a forest of cairns that people had built of stacked stones--hundreds of them. We finally found the above scene 100 yards from our car after we hiked back. This is a much-photographed Sedona spot, and you can see why.

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Cairns

On the Upside, 6x6 Oil on Canvas Panel

"Ocean"

Upside down, "Whitewater"

This is two paintings in one. Rightside up, it is an ocean scene. Turn it upside down, it is whitewater in a river. I am feeling very original today. This can be set on a little easel, or if framed, put two hooks on the back of the frame, and you have an absolutely unique work of art. What fun!

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The Gossips, 5x7 Oil on Canvas

Doesn't it look like the two birds on the right are gossiping about the other one? Though the birds are white, the side nearest the viewer was in deep shadow on a bright sunny day, so I made liberal use of blues and purples.

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I Like Big Birds and I Cannot Lie, 8x10 Pen and Ink

I enjoy these zentangle-inspired drawings, though they are pretty time-consuming. There is something meditative about all those patterns. This past couple of years I have undertaken new techniques and adventures; doing collage, zentangle, and now I am working on a Mystery Build project with Cindy Michaud which we will unveil later this year. Mystery Build is an online competition that is completely unique. Stay tuned.

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Black Swan, 6x6 Oil on Canvas

I was so lucky to catch this swan in this light. It turned and made a nice swirl in the water, and gave me such a nice composition. Sometimes all you have to do is paint what you see.

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Drying Off, 6x6 Oil on Canvas Panel

I was going to paint this Anhinga in the Everglades with its wings spread, which is its typical pose. These birds don't have oily feathers, so they must air-dry after being in the water. When I looked at its head, I found it so distinct and comical, I decided to paint just the head instead.    PURCHASE

The Usual Pose

So many birds are funny. The other day we watched people across the street trying to shoot a video commercial, and there were five people whose efforts were completely thwarted by a mockingbird. The bird sits on a very high pole every day and sings as loud as its little lungs can muster, which is pretty darn loud. The people were banging the pole, jumping up and down, waving their arms, but the mockingbird just sang his happy little song. They had to move inside to shoot the commercial.

Barn Chickens, 5x7 Oil on Canvas

This rooster has a mighty fancy tail. This is a docile rooster, unlike the one on my grandchildren's farm in Pennsylvania. Their rooster used to attack them. They would drive up and he'd be outside the car, jumping up and down gnashing his vicious little beak. He didn't last.

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On Da Beach, 6x6 Oil on Canvas Board

I have done this scene before in watercolor, and no matter what I do it doesn't look real; however, this is exactly the way it looks. I can't help it, I am not going to dull it down, though it is unbelievably vivid. This is at a restaurant called "On Da Beach," and oh my goodness, the coconut pie...but I digress.

This place is on Elbow Cay in the Abacos Islands, Bahamas. It is an unbelievably beautiful place, and  all you folks up north in the cold and the snow, .this is for you. Just visualize yourselves there, eating the coconut pie while the sun warms your skin and the island breezes blow...ahhh.

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Zentangle® Woodland, 8x10 Pen and Ink

Inspired by the Zentangle® method of pattern drawing.

Off I go, into my own little world of Zentangle, and what a delightful place it is. Reality is highly overrated.

Oil painting is my daytime work; this is my nighttime work. I usually have about five games of online Scrabble and Words With Friends going, and in between, I draw Zentangles. I listen to TV, except when Downton Abbey is on, at which time I throw everything down and watch with rapt attention. I do the same when Big Bang Theory is on. I don't like to miss a word of Maggie Smith's or Sheldon Cooper's dialogue.

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Tree Frog Collage, 10x10

 This is the collage version of my previous tree frog. This way is much harder. It is more tedious, and strains my brain. Still, I enjoy it.

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