Rosy Outlook, 8x10 Original Oil on Canvas Panel

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There's not much to say about a painting of a pink rose. A rose is a rose is a rose. I will share this Dorothy Parker poem about how she felt about a single rose:

A single flow'r he sent me, since we met.
All tenderly his messenger he chose;
Deep-hearted, pure, with scented dew still wet--
One perfect rose. 

 I knew the language of the floweret;
"My fragile leaves," it said, "his heart enclose."
Love long has taken for his amulet
One perfect rose.

Why is it no one ever sent me yet
One perfect limousine, do you suppose?
Ah no, it's always just my luck to get
One perfect rose.

Shady Cows, Original Oil Painting 8x10 Landscape

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It's been a while since I posted. I've been very busy working on a book that will be coming out in April. You will be hearing more about that later.

This painting is all about the light. I love the shade in the foreground, with a tiny couple of slivers of light on the pasture.

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Sky Vine, 5x7 Oil Painting Pool Series No. 3

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This is the third painting I've done while standing in the pool. In our record-setting heat, it's the only way to go. It's a good thing I got this done, because Hurricane Dorian is on the way and will devastate this Sky Vine and most everything else in the yard. My painting from the pool is coming to a screeching halt.

As you can see, I added a few more flowers to my painting. Just couldn't resist.

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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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Heliconia Painted from My Pool 5x7 Oil Painting on Canvas Landscape

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This is the first in a series of paintings done while standing my pool. I have been noticing how good my garden looks at eye level from the pool, so I started with a view of my Lobster Claw Heliconia, which is a fascinating and unusual plant. It likes all the rain we've had, and was good enough to put one of its blooms right in front for me.

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Coconuts and Allamandas, 6x8 Original Oil on Canvas Landscape

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This is my neighbor's coconut tree, which I have painted many times. I envy them those coconuts! We had a coconut tree until the freeze of 1989, and when it froze I gave up on growing coconuts; if I had only known about climate change then I would have immediately replanted. Now I grow tropical plants and never have one freeze. It's small consolation for the scorching summers.

In the foreground are my allamandas on our purple screen, a bit of whimsy we added to the garden. 

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The Boring Photo Challenge, 7x5 Small Daily Painting

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I painted this little oil painting in response to a challenge on the website DailyPaintworks.com. The challenge was to paint from a boring photo. That is a really good thing to practice, because I have lots of boring photos; however, I used the one they posted. I began with a black background, which helped add a bit more drama. Below is the boring photo.

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Royal Terns, 7x5 Original Oil Daily Painting on Canvas Panel Beach Art

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I love these birds with their cute little hairdos. I have jumped right from the mountains to the seashore in this blog, having returned home after almost three weeks in North Carolina. The contrast is drastic, but I love both places. Each is beautiful in its own way.

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Jellyfish, Original Oil Painting Marine Life 5x7 Daily Painting

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Jellyfish are so weird. The bell height and diameter can range from one millimeter to nearly two meters, depending upon the type of jellyfish. The tiny little box jellyfish is one of the most deadly, and practically invisible in the water. The lion's mane jellyfish has tentacles that can extend 36 meters! Surprisingly, the cosmopolitan hydrozoan jellyfish lives in fresh water. It is less than an inch in diameter, colorless, and doesn't sting. 

The jellyfish depicted above is the Pacific sea nettle.

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Moon Over Miami, Original Oil Daily Painting 11x14 Oil on Canvas Panel

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Our Pieces of Eight painting challenge for February was to illustrate a song or poem, so I chose the old standard "Moon Over Miami." Go to the Pieces of 8 blog to see all the challenge responses.

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Queen of Genoa, Small Oil Painting on Canvas Panel of Woman in Italian Cafe 5x7

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This was one of the funniest days of my trip to Europe with my sister. We got off a train in Genoa, Italy at the wrong stop. We thought we had lots of time so were lollygagging outside the station and had lunch at this woman's cafe. She never stopped moving; she was cooking, serving, taking money, and talking the whole time.

When we got back to the station we found out we were in the wrong place and had to dash to a train to go to the right station to make our connection to France. On the plus side, I got the picture that inspired this little painting. 

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Window on the Beach, Oil Painting, 7x5 Florida Seascape

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My painting group gathered at the beach on a beautiful Florida day last week and did some plein air painting. That is always an invigorating experience, and I was happy with my little picture. In picking my spot I noticed how vivid the water looked when viewed through the sea grape window. When I walked to the crossover and looked at the beach with nothing framing it, it didn't seem nearly as saturated with color. I'm sure my friend Qiang Huang could explain this to me in technical terms because he knows everything about optics and about art.

My cartoon today is one I did for a T-Shirt. It's called "The Pleininator" and features a hat with a brush holder, paper tower holder, citronella candle, cup holder, and viewfinder. My inspiration was when I painted in a cow pasture with weeds, bugs, and extreme thirst.

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Young Cardinal, 6x8 Oil Painting, Wildlife Art

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This was an experiment, adding punch to this painting with vivid color. Baby birds are just so cute, especially when all fluffed up.

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Stormy Day, 5x7 Original Oil on Canvas Panel Seascape

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The beach and stormy weather are an exciting combination. The colors become subdued, but the action does not, and I love being able to see the rain far off in the distance. 

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Basking Robin, Original Oil Painting, 5x7 Oil on Panel, Bird Art, Wildlife Art

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This little guy looks like he just ventured out for Spring. I give my husband the credit--or blame--for the title. Actually, I like it a lot. 

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The Garden, 11x14 Oil on Panel, Painting of Cheekwood Gardens Scene

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We were in Cheekwood Gardens in Nashville when I saw this scene. It made me think of the many Impressionist paintings I have seen of people sitting in gardens. Impressionists frequently made use of dappled shade in their art, but there wasn't any of that in this spot. The people were sitting in bright sunlight, and seemed a bit overdressed for the warm day.

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All About the Clouds, 9x6 Oil Painting on Canvas Panel, Daily Painting Skyscape

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This painting started out to be a cardinal (the bird, not the church office).  I went to my painting group, Pieces of Eight, with my palette all loaded with colors for painting a cardinal, and found I didn't have my photo of that cute little bird. I shifted gears and painted a cloud scene instead, using my palette of colors meant for painting a cardinal. 

Where is the red, you ask? It's there, helping make the brown. It's also in the purple of the clouds. 

Don't miss our group challenge on our blog on June 1st. It's very different from anything else we've done.

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Oil Painting, "Anna Maria Reverie," 5x7 Oil on Canvas Daily Painting

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Even though I just came from North Captiva Island, this painting of Anna Maria Island was started before my vacation. I finished it today and I'm looking forward to painting more of N. Captiva next. Both places are beautiful and the turquoise waters of the Gulf of Mexico are very different from our surf here on the Atlantic. 

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Pelican at the Port, 5x7 Original Oil Painting on Canvas Panel, Daily Painting

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I usually paint just what I see, and I am trying to get away from that in cases like this, where the photo colors were quite dull. I ramped up the color and I like it much better.

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SALE 20% off and Free Shipping, Oil Painting on Canvas Panel, Stepping Stones, 5x7 Landscape

Sale Ends Dec 20: Click Here to Purchase

I love the play of light and shadow on this scene. This is a wonderful memory from our artists' retreat in Boone, North Carolina. North Carolina enticed our member Cindy Michaud to move there, and Carol Schiff is soon to follow. I love to visit the mountains, but when winter comes I like living here by the beach.

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