HENS AND CHICKS AND BABYTOES, 12X12 OIL

I find that for my life, succulents are the perfect plants.  This time of the year in Florida we have blazing heat when everything dries up, followed by tropical downpours.  In the winter we may have temperatures below freezing.  We spend a lot of time traveling in the summer, so if I want my patio to look good I have to buy plants that are tough.  These babies seem to fill the bill.  So, this is my little ode to succulents, the amazing plants that come in thousands of shapes and spieces.

CARROTS, 4X12, OIL

Back to my comfort zone, things to eat.  Hopefully I will be able to paint these items instead of eating them as I have been noticing a strange shrinking problem  with my clothing.  Or maybe I should be eating more of this and less chocolate, cakes, pasta etc.  Life is full of choices!

Sunbaby, 6x8, oil, SOLD

I saw this cute little girl on the beach a few weeks ago and took several photos.  This is the second painting I have posted with her.  In the first one she was with her sister, who was wearing the pink hat.  This one was later in the day and she has both the sister's hat and  her mother's t-shirt on over her bathing suit.  I think she had a good day.

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More Cabbage, 6x8, oil, SOLD

As if one cabbage painting is not enough, I did another!  Same cabbage, different view.  You can see how pretty is was with the big leaves surrounding the head.

Cabbage, 11x14, oil SOLD

I seem to have fallen in love with fruits and veggies.  I definitely appreciate their beauty more than I did in the past, and when I saw this cabbage in the produce department, I had to bring it home.  It had a small but perfect head and these beautiful, large leaves fanning out from the head.  I begged the bagger to treat it kindly and he did a perfect packing job.  I know this sounds odd, but instead of painting from life, I photographed it.  I was working on another painting project at the time and didn't want it to loose it's freshness.  I ended up with, what I think is a great photo, with lots of purplely shadows, so in the end it was a good decision for me to paint from an image.

MOOD

Here is part two of my post covering NYC.  By popular demand...MOOD!  We had a hard time finding it and finally realized that it is on the third floor of an office building.  The elevator operator has made many trips to Mood, it has become a popular tourist destination.  (Just when we thought we were so original to go there.)  The picture of dresses is a display on the main floor.  The amazing thing about it is that the dresses are just straight pinned together!  Those designers really know what they are doing.  The second picture is another display that shows dresses made for the show and a sample of the fabrics used.  We ran around looking at everything and having a grand old time and of course, when it was time to leave we had to say "Thank you, Mood", something they probably hear 100 times a day.  Tim was not around.

Well, I spent part of the day trying to find a picture of Tracy London's killer shoes, but no luck.  They were sandals, all black straps.  Each strap was rimmed in gold and the heels were probably 6 inches.  She looked fabulous in skinny jeans, hiding under her hair, and with no makeup.  If I looked like her, I would never wear makeup!   If this post doesn't make sense to you, scroll down to the previous one.

TODAY SHOW

I was in NYC week before last and one morning we wandered over to the Today Show.  We made the crowd scene...here I am (in sun glasses) with Meridith Vieria.  She is gorgeous and so very sweet.  I am with my friend Donna Vines, a paint buddy.  Next is a picture of Matt, waiting off camera to do his 30 seconds , a view of what it looks like to face the camera and Al Roker looking very surprised.  This is what I love about NYC.  At any time you can come across a group of people, just doing their thing and the rest of the world just streams by.  This was May 8th and Laura Bush was being interviewed, but she stayed in the studio.  We did run into her Secret Service escorts and limo when we turned the corner.  They are not so secret, you can pick them out from a mile away.  Later we were strolling down the street and found Stacy London from "What Not To Wear" hanging out.   She was not impressed with our street wear, but we WERE impressed with hers.  SHE HAD ON THE MOST KILLER SHOES I HAVE EVER SEEN IN MY LIFE!

If you like this post, let me know and I will show you my pictures of MOOD !
Stacy, help me out here...bring me back to NYC and make me cute!

THE DECK, II, 5X7, OIL

A few weeks ago I did a post of the backyard view of our home in western North Carolina.  This is another one, featuring our deck on the back of the house.  I just love spending time there.  It is the perfect place to enjoy a good book, cool and shady with the hummers flitting around and dogwood blossoms in the air.

We have a 3 bedroom, bath and 1/2 just outside Smoky Mountain National Park. As much as we love it, we need a bigger home for our growing family.  So we have listed our home for sale.  If anyone is interested please contact me and I will send information and photos.  It's really a little slice of heaven.

TOUR EIFFEL, 7X5, OIL, SOLD

Is the Eiffel tower "in" these days?  I seem to notice lots of home items in the stores that feature an image of the tower.  I have also noticed several sites on Etsy.com featuring all things French.   Not being one of those individuals that is aware of what is "in" or "out", I have to trust my instincts on such things.  This is an image from my trip to Paris a few years ago. That tower is just so very, very massive!

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PEAR AND A HALF, 6x8, OIL

I think pears must be the single most painted object.  I, myself have painted so many I can no longer remember them all!  They are so pleasing to the eye with their beautiful and unique shapes and colors.  Hope you don't mind looking at yet another version.

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ARTICHOKE HALF, 7X5, OIL, SOLD

A few weeks ago, I did a painting of the whole artichoke, then I cut it in half and photographed it.  And did nothing with the image.  I had to work up my courage to give it a try.  I am not sure this is up to par, but here is what I came up with.  As my grandchildren would say....tttaaaaaaa ddaaaaaaa!!

Speaking of grandchildren, today is my son's birthday.  HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DAVE!! 

I was in NYC last week and what a joy.  Other than all the bomb scares, it was perfect.  Beautiful weather, great traveling partners and yummy food.  We managed to get in a crowd scene on the "TODAY" show. Meredith  Viera is both beautiful and gracious, I shook hands and had my picture taken with her, and we loved "Jersey Boys".  We also spied Stacy London on the street, went to Mood and attended the King Tut exhibition.  It was an all around fun week.  Now, back to work.

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THE SURF, 5X7, OIL, SOLD

If you read my post yesterday, you may remember that I did a post of the ocean then too.  I am seeing that my style has changed quite a bit since I first started doing these little seascapes last summer.

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SOLD

OCEAN SUNRISE, 6X8, OIL SOLD

Some days it is really hard to find something to paint.  It is always fast or famine with me and today was a famine day.  I decided to do a little seascape as I have not painted one for months.  In fact, I painted two of them today, so tomorrow I will post the second piece.

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ORANGE HALF, 7X5, OIL, SOLD

Did you think I have given up on my series of fruits and vegetables cut in half?  No way!  I still have  more I want to do.  There is something about this series that is very compelling to me.  So, same old windowsill, same old backlighting, different fruit!

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SUNBABIES, 6X8, OIL, SOLD

Several months ago I was at the beach when I noticed these two young sisters.  They both had very long hair, but what really attracted me was the hot pink hat the older girl was wearing.  They had a great day at the beach, running around and having lots of fun, and I had a great day painting, enjoying the difficult (for me) shapes and rich color.  A win/win situation.

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SOLD

CARROTS AND RADISHES, 6X8, OIL, SOLD

Sunlight and vegetables...two of my favorite things.  I placed these vegetables on my window sill and took several photos.  I just love the reflections that are seen when you lay something with strong color on a white surface.  Painting this one was a real joy.  I tried something new and for the most part just put down one layer of color.

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