BRIGHT PASTURE oil on canvas, 8x10

After I painted this, I realized that I had painted almost the exact scene before. I was looking through some previous paintings and, there it was--the same scene. It's a little different, but the same place. I used a palette knife for this and the paint is really thick. For some reason, I just kept piling it on. I'm not sure why.

EMPTY oil on board, 6"x4"

This is a painting I did last night using a palette knife. I can get a lot more paint on the canvas with a palette knife than I can with a brush. This has a good bit of impasto.

STANDING WATCH oil on canvas, 9x12

I finally have something to post!!! I'm having a lot of trouble finding enough time to paint and finish anything. But, this is finished--I think. It's a donation for our museum fundraiser. The John James Audubon exhibition opens at the Museum of East Texas this weekend and everything donated for the auction has to be about birds.

I love humming birds! A hummingbird feeder and this dreamcatcher hang about a foot outside my kitchen window, so I watch them a lot and photograph them often. This is a Ruby Throated Hummingbird. He's guarding the feeder.

CHOLULA WITH FRUIT & FLOWERS acrylic, 8x10

The Museum of East Texas Art Camp is over for this summer. This is the last demo I did for my students, so I thought I might as well post it, even though it's not a finished painting. I'm, now, working at the museum temporarily, filling in for the Curator of Education while she's on maternity leave. So, I'll be busy, but I think I'll have a little more time to paint than I did during Art Camp. Teaching of any type is all consuming. I've always taught--high school, college--and it takes over you life. I'm not saying teaching's bad, it's just different than other jobs. Teachers are entirely responsible for what goes on in their classroom and they must plan at home, purchase materials, take items such as still life contents with them, and pay close attention to everything and everyone at all times in their classes, then often take home papers to grade and plans to make for the next day. It's all consuming. Teaching is very difficult and stressful (if done well) and good teachers deserve more respect than they get.

VIOLET IN WHITE watercolor, 12x9

YOUTH watercolor, 12x9

GLADS AND ROSES watercolor, 6x4

TOMATOES WITH LIME watercolor, 9x12

These 4 paintings are watercolors, not my medium of choice, but fun to do. I thought I'd post these since I haven't posted for a while. I'll get back to my oil paintings as soon as I have time.

INSIDE LOOKING OUT oil on canvas, 8x3.5

It was fun painting this little flower on the window sill in my studio. I love how the light comes through the clear glass and how the colors look through the glass. The flowers came from my neighbor's yard.

LOOKING UP oil on canvas, 6x4

I did this plein air palette knife painting yesterday afternoon in 100 degree heat! Can you tell how hot I was? I sat in the shade in front of my house and looked up at our flag waving in the breeze and painted as fast as I could. I started out in the shade, but finished with the sun on my legs and my palette, actually getting sunburned legs. I know--you're saying, "Why didn't you paint early in the morning before it got so hot???" I don't know... Anyway, here's the finished painting.

GREEN ON BLUE oil on canvas, 3 1/2 x 8

I couldn't resist painting these delicious grapes. They're so much fun to paint. If you look closely, you can see many colors and translucency in them.

Green on Blue
8" x 3 1/2" (20.4cm x 8.9cm)
Oil on canvas
$79 plus $6 shipping and handling in the US
E-mail me for International shipping rates or other inquiries.

LILLIES oil on canvas, 8x10

My son, Russell, brought me this bunch of lillies from his garden when he came to visit over the weekend. I'm glad I took pictures of them because they don't last long. I painted them yesterday and some of them were still pretty. I looked at a photo to get the composition and the actual flowers for the colors.

Lillies
10" x 8" (25.4cm x 20.4cm)
Oil on canvas on panel
$99 plus $12 shipping and handling in the US
E-mail me for International shipping rates or other inquiries.

MORNING AT THE FARM 20x24, oil on canvas

This is another view of my dad's farm which I've painted from numerous locations over the years. This view is looking northwest from the pond. The house where my grandparents lived is just past the buildings you can see up on the hill. This is a beautiful and very peaceful place in every season of the year.

Morning at the Farm
24" x 20" (61.0cm x 50.8cm)
Oil on canvas
$750 plus $12 shipping and handling in the US
E-mail me for International shipping rates or other inquiries.

CARLOTA oil on board, 6x6

This is my mother-in-law, a precious little lady. She's not even 5 ft tall, but before she became ill, she was a volunteer grandmother and a hardworking bundle of energy.

ROWING oil on canvas, 11x14

I used the photo on the Different Strokes site to paint this. I love painting water and this subject really appealed to me.

GIRL WITH BLUE BOW acrylic on canvas, 8x10

This beautiful little girl was a student in one of my Art Camp classes last week and I couldn't resist painting her. She was one of the youngest in the classes of ages 7-14. I used acrylics and painted very fast. As I've said many times before, I love oil paints!

QUIET ELEGANCE oil on canvas, 6x6

I haven't had much time to paint lately with Art Camp going on, but I'm off today and I'm taking advantage of the opportunity to finish this little portrait. And, the day's not over, yet.

BLUE VASE acrylic on board, 6x6

This is a demo for one of my museum Art Camp acrylic painting classes. I enjoy teaching painting, especially when I get to paint, too. I bought this bouquet of flowers on the way to the museum and it was painted by students in my 4 classes today.

SUMMER SUN acrylic on board, 8x10

This is a demo I did for a group of kids at our museum Art Camp. It's an acrylic painting class that I'm teaching and they are doing some nice paintings. I don't normally use acrylics. Oils are my medium of choice, but sometimes acrylic paint has it's advantages and it's necessary in this case. I could almost call this a plein air painting, but not quite. My class area has a huge window and I painted this of the view outside the window--from inside. My students also painted their view out the window.

Mural Repair

Here's what I've been doing the past 2 days. No, not creating this mural, (I did create it 3 years ago) but cleaning and repairing it. Vandals sprayed graffiti on my mural and another mural (painted by Lance Hunter) a few blocks away. So I helped a City Parks official remove the varnish, which removed most of the graffiti. Then I had to repaint parts where some graffiti remained and put an acrylic varnish on it. I'll go back in a few days and reapply Soluvar, a removable varnish. I don't understand why people vandalize.

OLEANDERS IN FOG oil on canvas, 4x6

My neighbor, Lucille, has such pretty flowers that I've painted them many times. This morning it's very cloudy and foggy, in fact, it started sprinkling rain before I finished this. But, since it's oil paint, I went ahead and painted while it rained. A "cold front" is coming and it's only supposed to be 85 the next few days. It's been in the low 90s for the past week.

WEEDING AND WATERING oil on board, 6x6

My husband is such a good painting subject! I don't know how many times I've painted him. I did this from a picture I took of him out the dining room window on Saturday. He was weeding and watering the plants (cactus) beside the mailbox.

THE LAST FLOWER oil on board, 6x4

This turned out to be rather surreal. I just sat down and quickly painted this scene in my studio and when I finished, I was surprised. It isn't how I had planned to paint it at all. I didn't really think about it or concentrate on it like I usually do.

KALANCHOE FLOWERS oil on canvas, 6x4

This is a cactus type plant growing in my back yard which has pretty little bell-shaped flowers on it. The common name for it is Maternity Plant because it has little baby plants growing on the edges of the leaves. These little ones drop to the ground and grow where they land. Although sunny earlier, it's now cloudy and looking like rain here. Hope you all had a nice, patriotic Memorial Day weekend.

LANDSCAPE FOR DSFDF oil on canvas, 4x6

This little landscape is from the Different Strokes from Different Folks site. It was fun doing this from a black and white photo.