Christmas Card

This is a watercolor painting i did several years ago of a house that is stone and looks like a castle.
I always loved the way it was decorated for Christmas with the toy soldiers lining the stairway.
I have been very busy the past couple of months with other projects so I decided to use it for my Christmas card this year.
It is presently at the printers.

My Least favorite Painting

Just finished my least favorite kind of painting. Just a few cupboard doors to go back on tomorrow then some house cleaning and I can decorate!!
Made my Kitchen curtains Thursday night but I decided I want to shorten them more. Love the cardinals though!!

Iris Step2 (see July's Post step 1)

I have just got back to working on this Iris Painting. You can look back to July on my blog to see Step 1.
Tonight I have gone over a lot of the lemon yellow under painting with various greens to start the foliage. I have used Hookers green and Perylene green as well as combining Hookers green and Lemon yellow on the palette before putting it to paper.
The Iris is painted using washes of alizarin , permanent rose and ultramarine blue in various combinations of concentrations.
I am now debating going in with ink or leaving pure watercolor. Stay Tuned!!
Coming up for locals to the Quispamsis area I am planning an Open house Art,Jewelry and Christmas decorations sale at my home Sat. Nov. 19th.
Still time to book those commissions for Christmas. What a great gift an original painting!! All I need is a good photo.

My Nieces Cat Lulu

Tonight I have also carved my nieces Sam & Emma's Bengal Cat Lulu.
Unfortunately they live in Winnipeg so they will only see this post but I am sure they will be pleased with it.
I will also take it to work for a silent auction for our Christmas Family.
I also want to remind locals of the Art Show at St. Davids this weekend. Opening Fri. Night . I also have Artist cards at Klaussen's. Gallery Hop Fri evening. Oct.28th 5-7pm

Scary Tree & Bats

This Pumpkin I have done to try to raise Money at a silent auction for the Christmas Family we will support this year.

Marlene's Owl

This Pumpkin I did for a friend who loves Owls.
She loved it so much she cried when I gave it to her as a surprise.
Unfortunately I was not able to capture his true beauty as each feather actually lets the light through where his wings and head have feathers.
It makes me feel good to make other people happy.

Janices Dog (Sheltie)

I did not have a photo of Janice's Sheltie but went by one on line.Shelties look like miniature collies.
They have very long fur and long pointed noses.
Hope you like it Janice. Janice is the Dietitian at KV EMP where I work.

Allyson's puppy Bella

Bella is another Nurse Allyson's dog. Bella is a short haired tan dog of mixed breed.
She has prim little ears that she holds proudly. she reminds me a bit of Scamp and Rascal who were dogs I had when my boys were little.
Hope you like herAllyson!!

Joyce's Bernese Mountain Dog Pumpkin

Another Puppy Pumpkin done. This is for another nurse I work with whose name is Joyce. She has a Bernese mountain dog puppy. Hope you like him Joyce. I tried to send the photo to you but it said your firewall stopped it.

Cindy's Clancy

Cindy's Dog Clancy. I am really glad you liked your surprise .
He was fun to do and he greeted me when I drove in your yard to drop him off.
Tell all your friends, next year they will be for sale!!

Christines Rudy

This is Rudy, Christine's dog.She gave me my Quaker Parrot Diego so that she could get Rudy.He is a beautiful Puppy but I would not trade Diego now for anything.
I am happy that she is happy though, and pleased that she likes her pumpkin.

Schnauzer Pumpkin

I carved this Puppy tonight for Carol Ann my Boss for Bosses week. It needs a light in it to fully appreciate it and for his eyes to show better. I was having a problem to photograph it that way though.
Hope she likes it. It is actually from a stencil i got at BHG not my own drawing.

Collie Pumpkin

I did this Collie Pumpkin for my friend and administrative assistant at Extra Mural where I am a nurse.
Sue raises and shows Collies.My older sister also has a collie and my dog as a child and growing up was a Collie.
In the original photo behind the pumpkin you see the ears are not prominent so I did not think the first attempt looked right . I attempted tonight to make the ears more pronounced.
This was done with Faber -Castell Pitt Artist Pen Bold Indian Ink,Prismacolor Gold and Jiffy Art-Line 400 White acrylic Paint Marker.
Hope Sue likes it now. Happy Birthday Sue!

My three birds on Pumpkins

I have started decorating my Pumpkins for Halloween. This year instead of the usual Black Crow I decided to do my own birds.
Spike,my male cocktail,Puffy my female Cocktail and Diego my Quaker Parrot.These were all done with a Pitt permanent Indian Ink bold Pen. The white is a white acrylic marker I have. The Green on Diego is the color of that Pumpkin. On Puffy I just used the ink lighter and burnished it with my finger for shading. I also used a Mr. Clean Magic erase to remove some Ink I did not want.

Fall Birch Grove Step 6---Finished

To finish off this painting I have added some evergreens in the background, Grasses in the lower right hand corner and enhanced the dark's in the bark.
Unfortunately this painting cannot be fully appreciated unless viewed in person.
This is one of the paintings I am putting in St. Davids Art Show on the 28,29th of October.

Fall Birch Grove Step 5

Tonight I have added gold leaf flakes to represent the fall leaves.

Fall Birch Grove Step 4

I have added some texture and depth to the trees by using the same colors. This is where I am stopping for tonight.

Fall Birch Grove Step3

In this step I started by adding a light wash of Cad.Yellow Orange to the tree trunks. I then made a gays in various values by mixing the cad. Yellow orange with my sky mixture.

Fall Birch Grove Step2

This step simply shows the masking has been removed

Fall Biirch Grove Step 1

Step one shows that I have sketched in the larger birch trees and then added masking to retain the white paper of the trees while I put on a thin wash of cobalt blue with a little ultramarine blue mixed in for the back ground sky.
I gently blotted the top third of the painting to keep the sky light.

Downy on a feeder

Since I love birds as much as flowers,I was delighted to find seven Downy woodpecker fledglings playing in McLeod's apple tree in their garden.
I thoroughly enjoyed photographing and watching them play and take turns at the feeder. I also was inspired by the turquoise metal chandelier that cast a shadow through the mess feeder. Since I still have this 5X7 painting as well I plan to deepen the colors in it.

Asian Lily @ Bloomin Artist

This is one of the paintings I did in Mrs McLeods garden in Hampton during Bloomin Artist. On site we artists try to complete works to sell in a silent auction and we often feel rushed so that our work is not as detailed as it may have been in the studio. I feel I may work on this further as it did not sell and I can see it still needs some highlights.

Bloomin Women

This is the last of those Bloomin Women.The artists here from right to left were Kathy Hooper,Sue Hooper and mine.
Hope you have enjoyed seeing our projects.
I will post a couple of the paintings I did there in a couple of days.

Bloomin Women

Wow!!! A lot of work went into this one.

Bloomin Artist

I found this one amazing!!!! Each piece swivels

Bloomin Women

This was one of my favorites!!A tribute to'''''''' Guess who?

Bloomin Women

This is my last one for tonight. Post more Bloomin Women tomorrow.

Bloomin Women

I do not remember who did each women but I know the Mae West one was done by George Dry.

Women in Bloom

I bought the Egyptian Women with the flow pot that says Bloomin Women in hieroglyphics.
The green and yellow women was made by my granddaughters mom Alison Murphy. Ali is a textile artist who does beautiful wall art with textiles.
Apiece of her art was the poster for this years fundraiser.

Women in Bloom

Here are some of the Women in Bloom done by various artists. Hope you find them interesting.

Iris's (Step 1 WIP(work in Process)

I have started this 8x10 Iris painting with watercolor washes of lemon yellow, permanent rose , alizarin and cobalt blue.
I am still undecided if I will do this all in watercolor or use it as an under painting for pastel.
Stay tuned.

Bloomin Lady

This is the beginning of my Bloomin Lady. I am painting her on watercolor paper that I plan to apply to the wood and then apply fixative.
She presently is just in the initial stage.
As you can see from my previous posts it is always interesting to see what other artists come up with.

Bloomin Bird

This bird was flying past High Low Farm on the entry to Hampton. It was painted with acrylic and the birds feathers are from ones my cocktails had shed.

Bloomin Fish

My granddaughters mom Alison Murphy(Textile Artist) fish.
Now you see what I mean about how we put or own spin on it.

Bloomin Fish

Another artists fish

Bloomin Fish

Another artists fish

Bloomin Fish

This was my Pollock Fish. The Poster was an example of how they could be used as a scare crow. The owner would set them in the garden Hold onto the reins and be a scarecrow.
I will post a couple of other examples.

Bloomin Lady

At Bloomin Artist (a fund raising activity for John Peters Humphrey Association that occurs every two years each artist is given the opportunity to have a a project that has been prepared by the organizing committee and put their own creative spin on it. In previous years we have been given, three carved wooden fish,a dowel and a stand(2009) ,A bird and a short dowel with a flat board(2007) and a birdhouse (2005).
This year we have this wooden female form.
Bloomin Artist will take place the weekend of July 23 & 24th in Hampton N.B. Various artists set up on location in gardens and spots around Hampton and paint or work with various mediums and then the works are sold in silent auctions that occur 2-3 times each day. There are also previously done works for sale with part going to the artist and the rest to JPH Association .
It is usually a great time.

Back Yard

Garden at the side of ny house

More of my gardens

This is the garden at the front of my house.It is filled in alot more now

My Garden

This is one of my flower gardens and the reason I haven't posted in awhile.
I have been busy Planting and tending my flowers but now I am ready to paint some.

The Iris

This painting of a purple Iris is done in soft Pastel on black Stonehedge paper.

I also did this painting a few years ago but would like to share it with my followers and wish all mothers a Happy Mothers Day.

I love working in Pastel and must get back at it. Although I am not as detailed I still like its empressionistic manner.

The other thing I love about Pastel is the brillant pure pigment you can put on the paper!!!!

Spike & Puffy

This is a watercolor painting I did a couple of years ago of my pet birds Spike and Puffy.

They are white faced Cockiteils. Spike is the male and he has the all white face while Puffy the female is dappled in color and her tail feathers are especially dappled.

Spike now looks more like a baby eagle.

They both have very destinct personalities. Spike can saw Hello which he does in the am, when the phone rings and when the door bell goes. Puffy does not speak but can make herself know.

Spike can also whistle "Pop goes the wheasle" which my husband taught him. He will often whisle it to Puffy, your feet or his favorite thing "the Phone book"

My birds are really beauty in my world. They helped me through cancer treatment and are always there for me with a special greeting. Pets are Gods gifts to us, like children they fulfill our lives!!!

RNS ART SHOW

This painting is also available at RNS Show.

It is of the panman in Castera, Tobago, West Indies.

I did it several years ago and have sold many prints of this original painting.

He only knew a couple of songs but he was a great entertainer.

I did not have a photo to put on RNS site so I post it now

RNS ART SHOW

This painting is called Siesta time in Venice as you can see the Gondilear taking a break.

It is also watercolor and another painting in my series Mediterranean Moments.

The sale at RNS goes tonight until late tomorrow afternoon.

RNS ART SHOW

Tonight is the opening at Rothesay Netherwood School Art Show. Go to www.rns.cc then Whats happening)

I have three paintings for sale there.

This one is Positano Shop Front from My Mediterranean Moments series.

I combined a photo of the shopfront with another shop that had the beautiful colorful peppers hanging outside it.

Skittles Family Step 1

This painting is from a photo I took of these georgous baby birds that were hatched by the same avian breeder that I got my cockiteils from.

I have called it Skittles Family as one of Erica's birds like these was called Skittles. You will see why as the painting progresses.

I have started with the drawing and added a couple of washes to both the sky and the ground.

I have used a salt technique to add texture to the ground.

Blue Mask finished

I have now finished "The Blue Mask" The final step was spraying it with two coats of Fixative.

I have added silver to the mask itself as well as the ornament on the right side of the mask where the feathers attach

The edges of the canvas have been painted with black acrylic.

This painting is certainly now mixed media!!!

I look forward to any comments or suggestions.

I hope to be able to use just watercolor on my next canvas but there certainly is a learning curve with the canvas as compared with 300 lb Arches coldpress paper.

Blue Mask Step 7

This photo shows the background still wet where I have applied Turpnoid to the pastel.

I have also defined the plumage abit more.

When this dries I will add the finishing touches.