Finally!!

Can you believe that this painting took me 2 weeks? I've never worked that long on one piece. But, here it is. This is King David playing his harp and worshipping God after a victory in battle. It's quite big, nearly 3 feet tall. And I'm sooooo happy to be finished!! I'm posting pix and at the bottom I had to add a detail shot of his feet. I've never done detailed feet before and I have to admit that I'm pretty proud of myself. Thank you to my new 'anatomy for artists' book!

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Quick Visit....

I just wanted to pop in and show you this painting I'm putting on etsy tonight. A friend of mine who is a member of a group of artists I meet with gave me and 3 other painters a challenge: 18" x 18" inch canvas, a palette of only white, blue and brown and somewhere we had to incorporate coffee. Fun! I've never limited my palette before so here is what I came up with.

I embellished it a lot with collage papers and some fun antique crackling. It was fun!

I'm also adding in this little ditty I did a few weeks ago and just set aside. It's a funky wedding cake that actually looks more like a stack of boxes. Oh, well. I still think it's kind of cute. Lot's of cool stamping and thick beeswax on this piece. And it was done on a salvaged cabinet door, my favorite.

Hopefully I'll post again at the end of the week before I leave for the beach. I'm working on a commissioned piece of King David playing the harp with his armour on the ground behind him. It's called 'The Warrior Worships'. A friend gave me this great idea (and the painting title) and I'm really excited about it. I have to admit, though....it's kicking my butt!

Finally finished the landscape I wanted to do. It's not my best work but I wanted to paint one, I did it and now I can move on! This is a painting of a place called The Breaks Interstate Park in Pike County, Ky. Actually some of it lies in VA as well. It's just the most beautiful place. My husband proposed to me there because he knows how much I love it. I even have a picture of my mother as a child standing right in that same spot up against the wood fence. I think we did all our church picnics there when I was a child. I actually stole a big wooden sign from there once that read, 'Please do not molest trees, shrubs and flowers'. Who wouldn't have stolen that?

Not long ago I found this wonderful childrens book called, "When I was Young in the Mountains" and I bought it for my kids. It talks about swimming in muddy swimming holes, chasing black snakes with a hoe, eating soup beans and cornbread, a young girl watching her grandfather come home every night from the coal mines black as tar......all the things I remember and try to explain to my girls and they just can't get it. To find a book that illustrates it all was so cool and helpful. It helps them to understand a little bit about my childhood. Here are a few pix of the mountaintop in KY. It's just beautiful.

It's funny the particular things you remember about the place you were raised. I used to lay on the riverbank and pretend I was at the beach. All that seems like a million years ago. Growing up in the mountains is unbeatable. If nothing else, it definitely taught me not to be afraid of snakes.....they are everywhere in KY!!

Goodbye for now!

Okay, I lied....

In the last post I said I was totally burnt on large paintings. Well, that didn't last long. I had a 'mommies night' on Monday so I went to Barnes and Noble and looked at art books all night. Looking at all the older works by Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Botti and tons others.....I was so inspired by all the Madonna and Child works. So, naturally I had to come home and paint one myself. I've done one before, probably 6 months ago, but I wanted to try again because I feel I've improved in some areas. Plus, I was dying to try and paint some different hand and feet positions (isn't it so strange what makes me excited?).

So, here it is. My next 'venture' is to try a landscape, something I've never done. I'm going to attempt to paint a picture of a mountain top park from my hometown called 'The Breaks'. I'm cautiously optimistic!

I also, of course, had to add a pix of the girls. It's so hot here we've started filling up the ole plastic pool. They love it. Ah....simple pleasures.

A Few Changes...

I've been doing such large paintings lately that I've started feeling a little burnt. I used to do l1 or 2 ittle paintings a day when I was doing smaller works. As much as I love the bigger ones I think I need my 'instant gratification' fix again! So I sat down yesterday and actually got 3 pieces finished and I had such a good time. I'm taking Janes texture class so I worked with some texture I haven't used before. I used plaster cast strips to make a tree on a little piece of poplar. Never in my life would I have ever thought of that. Fun, fun! She and Maureen give the greatest how-to's. If you've haven't checked the class out, I would highly recommend it.

Anyhoo..here's a few that I'm putting on etsy. Hope you all are having a wonderful weekend!