7 DEVILS AND GOOD CARMEN

Our painting group, Pieces of Eight, just returned from a fantastic week-long retreat in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains.  We had a great time staying at Cindy Michaud's condo (thank you Cindy) and traveled out daily to photograph and paint.  Lucky for us, it was peak leaf season and every morning we ohhhhed and ahhhhed over the increasingly colorful landscape.

The night before we arrived, Cindy had a dream in which problems abounded.  Her mother, trying to comfort her, told her not to worry as she had "good Carmen".  Hence the photo above, featuring 7 devils and our own good Carmen.  In case you are wondering, starting at the left is Cindy, me, good Carmen Beecher, Donna Vines, Phillis Holland, Kathy Garvey (our photo shop expert), Denette Schweikert and Mary Warnick.

We had the most wonderful time, painting, cooking (we will soon have a little cookbook for sale), drinking lots of wine and enjoying each other. My next post will include some of the fruits of my labor.  In the mean time, here is a recipe that I featured on our trip and is also included in our cookbook.  Contact me if you our interested in purchasing the book which features our artwork and kitchen skills.

Roasted Cashews and Rosemary

1 1/4 pounds cashew nuts
2 TBSP chopped fresh rosemary
1/2 tsp cayenne
2 tsp kosher salt
1 TBSP melted butter

Roast nuts in ungreased pan at 375 for about 10 minutes.  Combine all other ingred. in bowl, add nuts and toss until nuts are coated.  Enjoy!

ONCE UPON A TIME, 5X7, OIL, ABSTRACT,SOLD

As you can tell by the name, this one reminds me of a little fairytale. I cannot really tell you where my head was when I painted it, but I do remember that I enjoyed the process.

Is anyone, other than me, frustrated by the tagging process on blogger?? Maybe I just don't do it right. Once I use a tag, it will automatically appear when I type in the first few letters, which sounds like a good thing. But, when I type" landscape", I get "abstract landscape" and when I type "mountain" it gives me "Smoky Mountain" etc. Is there a way to stop this from happening? Do I need to change a setting? It gets very annoying sometimes. Not all of my landscapes are abstract!

CONLEY'SCREEK ROAD I, 5X7, OIL, ABSTRACT, SOLD

A view of the road we live on in North Carolina. The perfect place to spend a lazy summer day on vacation.

ANOTHER MOUNTAIN FARM, 5X7, OIL, SOLD

A farm on the Tennessee side of Smoky Mountains National Park. More beautiful colors!

CHEAT LAKE, 5X7, OIL,SOLD

My husband and I had the good fortune to visit W VA during peak leaf season this year. It was stunning to say the least! This is a lake outside Morgantown W VA, close to the PA border and home of Univ of WVA

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STORM OVER THE MARSH, 6X8, ABSTRACT OIL, SOLD

A really big storm coming in over the marsh last summer. Scary but majestic sight!

CHRISTMAS KITTY, 8X10, OIL, SOLD

My daughter-in-law is a big time animal advocate, so none of us were surprised a few years ago when she brought this little kitten home from her job at a local vets. office. The kitten was born to a feral cat. She fed it with an eyedropper and soon Frankie was spunky and ruled the roost. She also had a fascination with the Christmas tree and would climb it and bat at the glass balls. Many ornaments bit the dust that year.

SANDCASTLES, 11X14, PASTEL, SOLD

If you read my post yesterday, I was comparing my "angel painting" to my granddaughter's pose in this image. I thought it would be fun to post this today.

Happy Thanksgiving to you all! Don't eat too much or cook to much. Enjoy!

WATCHING ANGEL, 5X7, OIL, SOLD

Just a little fun image that popped out of my head one day. I had done a pastel several years ago of my granddaughter on the beach. I came across it one day and painted this little angel using the same body pose as my granddaughter who was building a sandcastle.

EBONY AND IVORY, 6X8, OIL,SOLD

Remember the "marina pup" I posted about a while ago? Well, these ducks live at the same marina. I cannot help but think of the great song "Ebony and Ivory" when I look at this work. I had the song running through my head the entire time I was painting.

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PEARS ON A PLATE, 5X7, OIL, SOLD

Have you tried the pears this season? Absolutely delicious! Green pears, red pears, they are all very good and just as beautiful as they are sweet and juicy.

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JOHN DENVER WAS RIGHT, 5X7 OIL-SOLD

Just returning home from a trip to West Virginia, Morgantown area, I must say John knew of what he was speaking. I would be hard pressed to come up with an area that is more beautiful that WVA in the fall. We were lucky enough to be there during the peak leaf season, and being starved for fall colors (I am a Floridian) I was suitably impressed.

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BLOG AWARD

Imagine my surprise when Marie Theron awarded me this honor! Marie is a kind soul who lives on the western coast of Africa (how exotic is that) painting and blogging, just like the rest of us. Thank you Marie, for all the nice comments you leave, and for sending this little ray of sunshine to me. I will do my best to follow the rules of sending it to 7 artists along with 7 facts about me, but I warn you I am pretty boring.

1) I have lived through 1 earthquake (Okinawa 65) and probably close to 25 hurricanes, so far.

2) I traveled the world with my Air Force husband for 15 years.

3) My favorite time of year is fall, especially if there are maple trees around.

4) I worked as a volunteer with the Guardian ad Litem progam for 6 years and helped to get 8 children adopted.

5)I once fell off a sailboat.

6)I had to drive myself to the hospital when my son was born (including over a mountain).

7)My mother is 89 and we "do lunch" every week.

I will spend some time thinking about who to pass this award on too. More about that later!

REFLECTIONS, 8X10, OIL, SOLD

The ocean was pretty active this time. I liked the reflection and the color changes in the

wave.

MOUNTAIN LAKE, 5X7, OIL,SOLD

Fontana Lake, one of many beautiful scenes in western North Carolina. I recently returned from a trip to West Virginia, my first, and I have to say, John Denver was right! It was stunning with perfect weather and gorgeous fall foliage. I took hundreds of photos and had at least 10 paintings lined up, complete with names. Cheat Lake, Cooper's Rock, New River, farms and a great neighborhood in Morgantown called South Park, full of Victorian homes and maple trees in full color. Of course, I accidently deleted all from my camera before downloading them on the computer!!!!! So, I am putting out a plea, if anyone out there has landscape photos of W VA they would like to share with me, I would be thrilled and would send you a print of any painting I complete from your photo.

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SOLD

AND THEY COULDN'T PUT HUMPTY TOGETHER AGAIN, 6X8, OIL

This month, our group challenge was an egg. Being me, I decided to get an egg yolk on it's way into the bowl. I actually got the shot, but the shutter speed was wrong so I settled for this one. Let me tell you it was not easy, reaching inside the light box, broken egg in one hand and camera in the other, trying to manipulate both at the correct time. Anyway, this is one of two paintings I did. The other was posted a few days ago.

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DRAGON FRUIT AND LIMES. 5X7, OIL, SOLD

Yes, this is a for real fruit! Probably something you have never tasted or even seen, unless you live in Mexico! My friend, Carmen Beecher brought this in as a set up for our paint group one day. Needless to say, none of us had ever seen or heard of this particular breed before. When we were done painting, we cut it open. It had a melon type center, no pit, white studded with tiny black specks. Very mild but pleasant flavor, very refreshing. If you see one at your market, don't be afraid. And look how pretty it is to paint!

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SOLD

THE INCREDIBLE, EDIBLE EGG, 8X10. OIL, SOLD

Our paint group is doing a challenge about every other month. This time it was my turn to choose a subject, so I went for the egg. It was something I always wanted to paint but somehow never got around to doing it. So here it is! Ta da!! I had so much fun, I did not one but two egg paintings .

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GRANNY SMITH AND STRAWBERRIES, OIL, 5X7

This one was fun. Set it on a mirror, in a light box, sit back and enjoy. It kind of makes up for all the ones you sweat over!

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VOTE FOR ME, 8X10, OIL

Just a little joke on my part....you know that commercial on television about "happy cows from California"?

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