Small Floral Still Life, Daily Painting, SOLD, "Horizontal Point of View" 6x8"

Well, Christmas has been here and gone, and now life will start to slow down a little and return to normal, except for New Year's, of course.

I am sure some of you will have a "Horizontal Point of View" on New Year's Day, so I decided this was the perfect painting for me to post.

SOLD

HAPPY NEW YEAR ALL!!

Small Floral Still Life #1, 6x8 Oil Painting

As you know, I have been working on a series of small floral paintings.  This is the first one I did, which inspired me to try a few more.

$96 + 6.50

I enjoyed the strong simple shapes and tried to reflect that in my brushstrokes.

This was a joy to paint and I could hardly wait to get back to the easel to try it again.

This is one of seven so far.

This may well be my last post until after the holiday, so I want to take this opportunity to thank all of you for viewing my art journey this year and to wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas.

Small Floral Still Life, Daily Painting, "Purple and Yellow" , SOLD

Floral Still Life Series, #2, Daily Painting, 6x8" SOLD

I have been working on a series of small floral still life paintings in the past week or two.  The images are all from small floral arrangements that I cut from my garden and photographed over the five years.  I never painted them, but always kept the images in my files.

SOLD

It's odd how you ignore something, something you may see many, many times, and then one day you look at it and magic happens.

When I noticed one of these little pictures last week, it was like the first time I had seen it.  The strong shapes drew me in immediately.

Since then, I have been in a floral frenzy.....painting one after another.  The common factor, other than that they are all flowers, is that each image had back lighting, sometimes strong, sometimes not so much.

So here is #2 in the series.  I will be posting them all, but not in painting order and probably not every day.

This week I am doing several portrait commissions.  After a few weeks of struggling with those projects, I will be ready to return to these simple and refreshing daily florals.

Small Floral Still Life, Red and White Flowers, 6x8 daily painting

Like all the rest of you, I am busy, busy, busy these days.  The holiday season passes in such a swirl of activity.  Rush, rush, rush!

$96 + 6.50

I decided to paint a floral still life with a holiday look, but not so "holiday" that it would look out of place the rest of the year.

I found this image in my computer files.  A little arrangement I did from the flowers in my garden in North Carolina.

I set the flowers in the window, creating nice back lighting.

  I like to use black frames to really make the paintings pop.  How do you finish off your paintings?

Painting this little scene took all the stress out of my day.  When I had finished, I felt as refreshed as if I had taken a short nap.  Take a moment out of your day, take a deep breath, and try to enjoy the season.

Palette Knife Still Life Painting, "Vase and Pears" 10x10" ,SOLD

SOLD

I painted this a few weeks ago at the Student Artist's Guild.  My paint group meets there every Monday morning.  It's in a very large loft area that is equiped with easels, many windows, props, stages for models and any kind of music you may want to hear.  It's really like an artist's dream come true!

On this day, I came equiped with three pears and was arranging lights to get the best shadows etc, when I spotted this large ceramic jar.  I was not too inspired by the pears, but the jar got me excited.
It's not always easy being creative.....

Pear Still Life, Fruit Daily Painting, 6x8 Original Oil Painting

Tomorrow is our Christmas Sale (see yesterday's post) and I like to clean out some closets this time of the year.  It always seems like the perfect time as they are all very messy after I dig out the Christmas decorations.

"Red Pear Reflecting"
89.95

While I was searching for Christmas decorations, I found this painting that had been pushed to the back of the closet and forgotten.  Great inventory control, huh?

I decided to post it today as a form of confession!  I have Fibber McGee closets!

For those of you in Brevard County, don't forget to stop by our sale tomorrow and pick up some REALLY unique gifts.

A special HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my "Sister" LaVerne!

Killer Christmas Sale Saturday

I can hardly believe that it is time for our group Christmas sale...but it is.  In fact it is only two days away!

If you live in or around Melbourne, Florida, you don't want to miss  PIECES OF EIGHT ANNUAL HOLIDAY SALE AND ALL AROUND GOOD TIME!   The last time we had a sale, it was so much fun.....even Google Earth showed up!!

Yes, that's us out there in the drive way having a great time.  We are 9 talented ladies with a lot to offer including, poetry,scarfs, pillows, earrings,  original paintings, cards, pottery, and much more.  Each year we do a group project to fund our annual trip to the mountains.  Last time we published a cook book featuring recipes we tested on our trip and artwork from each of us.  It was such a hit we had to re-order several times and still get requests for copies.  

We put our heads together to come up with the perfect product to offer this year.  Eventually we settled on hand crafted earrings.  We have been working together the entire year on this project and did we have fun!

Just to make it even more unusal....WE PACKAGED THEM INDIVIDUALLY allowing you to 
MIX or MATCH designs.

Don't forget to REGISTER for the FREE GIFT BASKET and enjoy yourself with refreshments.

I want to show you just a few of the paintings I will have at my table.....at a very special, one day only SALE PRICE.

Thistle Love
8x10"

Hunkered Down
6x8"

Cindy Grows Tomatoes
6x8"

Did I mention the date???  
Saturday, December 8th

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PIECES OF 8

Carmen Beecher
Carol Schiff
Cindy Michaud
Denette Schweikert
Donna Vines
Fay Picard
Kathy Garvey
Phillis Holland
Mary Warnick
(YES THERE ARE 9 OF US.....IT'S A LONG STORY!)

Abstract,Mixed Media Oil and Acrylic, 10x10" "Layers II"

I have been feeling really adventurist lately and have been experimenting with some mixed media works.  The key word here is "experimenting" which means I have put in lots of hours and not so much in the "results" catagory.

I used an acrylic pouring medium on my support and found a nice harmony of colors. When it had dried, I started working over it with my oil paints

 

I tried to let areas of the underpainting show through.

I always enjoy working on something new and I am sure I will be trying this technique again in the future.

Small Still Life Painting, "Hello? Who's Calling?" 8x10 Original Oil Painting SOLD

If you are older than 20 years, you probably remember the days when phones were only in our homes, or maybe in a phone booth.  How quickly everything you knew can change!

Original 8x10 Oil Painting

These days, we are all tied to the credit card sized phone we carry everywhere..........and of course, it is so much more than a phone!

This may be the only phone you will see sitting on a desk these days, a little reminder of days gone bye.

My 1/2 price sale on Etsy is ending this week.  I want to take this opportunity to post a few more of the small works that are available.

The link is here, a great chance to pick up some unique gifts at a great price.  Many are priced under $30.

Abstract, Original Oil, Non-representational SOLD"Blue and Green" 6x8"

You know me.......I am off the beaten track again!  I did several abstract paintings last week and decided to show you one today.

SOLD

This is a study of color interaction and composition.  Because I love texture in my paintings, I threw some of that in too.

I find abstract work to be very rewarding and relaxing.  The perfect activity to counteract burnout or other stresses of life.  It only works for me for a week or two.......then the desire for structure, the desire to produce a recognizable image, overwhelms me and I retreat to my still life and landscapes.  How do you deal with burnout?

Now that we are into serious Christmas shopping, I wanted to show you another of my little daily paintings that is on sale at half price this week.

You can find the link here.