Ain't Nobody Here But Us Chickens, 6x8 Oil on Canvas Board

 PURCHASE

What is it about chickens? We all paint them, and many kitchens are decorated with them. They do have personalities, just look at their confident walks. There was a very funny record years ago with chickens singing "In the Mood." Cluck cluck cluck cluck cluck cluck cluck cluck cluck cluck cluck CLUCKKKK...

I know my friend the musical genius Bobby Braddock counted every one of those clucks to be sure I got it right.

Healing Ceilings

The Pieces of Eight painting group is painting ceiling tiles to donate to Healing Ceilings, to be installed in cancer treatment centers in North Carolina. Below are some of our creative contributions, which we feel are far better to look at during treatment than plain acoustic tiles. 

Carmen Beecher

Denette Schweikert

Kathy Garvey

Cindy Michaud

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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Halie and Bunny, 16x20 Oil on Canvas

This was done many years ago. Halie is now seventeen but I'll bet that bunny is in a drawer somewhere.

I mentioned in an earlier post that our political sign was stolen from our yard. Now we know there was an eyewitness, who said a man and his small children came into our yard and took the sign. They went around the corner, where the boys jumped up and down with the sign while dad took their picture. In one fell swoop, he taught them trespassing, stealing, violating others' free speech rights, and gloating about the crimes. What a dad.

Yesterday someone left at our door a "Hate DVD" with a swastika on it and the word "Reds" in reference to our President. I thought that word went out with the Cold War. Also yesterday, a woman stole an Obama sign, came back, holding the sign, to taunt the resident, then ran over her leg with a scooter. What has happened to our wholesome little town?

Pool Bird, 10x10 Oil on Stretched Canvas

This bird looks like he's standing his ground, no matter what comes along. He's actually doing what all birds of his sort do, looking for fish. This is gallery wrap canvas, and all sides are painted.

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Sunny Grapes, 10x10 Oil on Canvas

I'm so happy with this painting, because I see the light through the grapes exactly as I saw it in Grandfather Vineyard in North Carolina. I love grapes, whether they are on the vine, jam, juice, raisins, wine, or fresh at the produce market. Besides their deliciousness, they are wonderful to paint. And the seedless grape? What an agricultural achievement that was!

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Big Wave, 6x6 Oil on Canvas Board Seascape

Hurricanes always bring some nice waves, and this was a family visiting the beach just before Isaac passed by Florida. The child is thinking, "That's scary," Mom is thinking, "That's dangerous," and Dad is thinking, "I wish I'd brought my board."

SOLD

Waterlilies, 5x7 Oil on Canvas

I try so hard to loosen up, but it's difficult. I don't know why. I do like to leave a little for the viewer to have to mentally put together, but to achieve that  I need someone to hit me over the head to make me stop at a certain point.

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"Artists don't retire – they can't – otherwise they're not artists." (Don Getz)

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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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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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

Spoonbill in Flight, Collage 10 x 10

 I always reach a point in a collage where I think, "Is this going to work?" I was having trouble with the wings until I found some pink Gerbera daisies that worked just right.

Side View

This painting may be hung without a frame.

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Self-Portrait, 8x10 Oil on Canvas Board

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I flattered myself. It's an opportunity to have improvements without surgery. Still, it's a humbling experience to stare at yourself in the mirror for hours. Maybe two mirrors would be smarter, because it occurs to me that I have painted a reverse image of myself.

Sargent said a portrait is "a painting with something wrong with the mouth." I think he should have said "something wrong with the eyes," because I alternately looked startled, Asian, shifty, out of focus, and crosseyed. And artists are supposed to squint to get the values right; just try to paint yourself while squinting. That would be a pretty funny self-portrait.

This portrait is for the Brevard Artists' Guild show in April. If you are an artist in Brevard County and have not checked out the Guild, please do so. It is a wonderful place for artists to come together and work.

NFS

Sittin' and Fishin', 6x8 Oil on Canvas Board

This guy looks so peaceful. It was nice of him to arrange his accoutrements for me. He was unaware he was posing for a painting. I don't fish, but I understand why others enjoy it.

CLICK TO PURCHASE

House of Blue, 5x7 Oil on Canvas Board

Apparently I'm in my Blue Period, having painted a blue frog, a blue birdie, and now this. I was in Larry Moore's plein air workshop and we were at Ballard Park yesterday, a gorgeous location on the water in Melbourne, Florida. Well, what a day! There was a regatta of little sailboats as well as a pirate ship. Out of the pirate ship came--what else? a pirate, in full regalia. Larry immediately began painting a portrait of him, and it was wonderful. Oh, and the pirate had--what else? a parrot. You never know what you'll see around here.

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Larry Paints a Pirate with a Parrot with Painterly Perfection

Soft Landing, 8x10 Collage

Color follows trends, and I guess bright yellow is not trendy now, because it was difficult to find a yellow that would give this butterfly some "punch." I finally discovered this buttery yellow in Dr. Oz's sweater. He is always so helpful, isn't he?

 SOLD