unfinished business

OK enough of social networking, I need to get down to some serious creating. I have started painting a little again. For some reason I don't seem to finish anything, not sure if it's because the painting subjects are so varied or what. Anyway here are a few pieces that are so called orphans.....really no home and really not complete.

At least it's a start.

After about 6 months of not painting, I finally picked up a brush last week and began working on a floral piece. It started out as a challenge from one of my painter friends. Florals are not a subject that I usually paint. We took pictures of a flowering crab apple tree and were both going to paint using the same reference photo and see what each of our interpretations would be. My work is much different than hers, and this project helped get me out of my painting rut. It felt good to get a brush back in my hands. Painting is very relaxing for me and helps me get to know myself. Here is first glimpse of my crab apple tree, using only about 3 colors and water soluble oils still not sure if I like them..... I miss the smell of turpentine.

Never say never.

I said it once and I will say it again....I'll never have a rummage sale again. That was the event for the weekend. After hours and hours of sorting, hauling, stacking and marking I think I made a whole $70.00. Oh well, sometimes the payoff is in the moment. For instance who would have thought that Frank our pet gorilla would have been bought by a nice couple in convertable and wisked away. I found all kinds of silver jewelry that I had forgotten and even some items that took me down memory lane....back to my Texas roots. Now that it's over.....the task for the day? Load up the remainder of items and head to Goodwill. Maybe I should have just done that in the first place.

Springtime in the Midwest

This is the time of year that I have to eat my words...... I have to chew up all those negative comments I made complaining about the long Iowa winters. It's amazing how beautifu foliage can make you forget the long winters. This time of year the flowering crab apple & purple leaf plums begin to bloom in all their glory. Here is a picture of one outside my office building. These beautilfu trees are all over town creating eye candy on every corner. Next will be the tullips, then lilacs, then peonys. Coming from West Texas, I was amazed by the synronised blooming each week during spring. My friend and I took lots of pictures of this tree in hopes of great paintings for the future. Enjoy!

Everybody loves Fridays don't they? There is so much hope, and so much possibilty, we can't wait to get started doing exactly what we want to do right? This painting is named "Red" I love it because she is a woman contemplating......Maybe she is contemplating what to do on her weekend. For Nikki........

Ok, so now I am compelled to put something on this blog other than my face....how about the painting "Bungalow in Pink". This is an oil on canvas painting that I painted looking out my back porch across the street. I love making the everyday ordinary sites into beautiful paintings. It's hard to improve on a beautiful sunset that was created by God but it takes real creativity to make a little bungelow house in the poor part of town look beautiful. When the art professor at Morningside college saw this painting he told me I had a very painterly style. I took that as a complement. This is a typical style of the houses here in the Mid-West. I hope you enjoy this work. By the way....this is my Sister Carla's painting.

Hey, Hey, Hey......you know sometimes when you have this elusive date set way in the future that you only think about occasionally and feel it's way too far in the future to contemplate? Well that just happened to me yesterday, that's right Fif-tee, the big five-oh, five decades, five-diddly-oh, ten till sixty, five-dash-zero....it arrived yes it did. I kicked, screamed and protested but all along I knew it was inevitable. I actually had an amazing show of support from friends, co-workers and family to help me celebrate my birthday. What I thought was the end of an era in my life as I know it turned out to be a refreshing show of support to me, and gave me great hope for the future. I was showered with gifts, fresh flowers, cards and lots of decorations. I am very fortunate to have many people that care about me. Now....the great part is that I get to plan the next 25!