Forest Home Farm Windmill

Windmill

20x16 oil on panel

I have been to the Forest Home Farm several times and I've always wanted to paint this windmill. I was there for the sheep shearing event in April and took a shot of the windmill and its mid-morning shadow. This is one of a couple of larger paintings I've been working on. I might have to do a couple small ones to build up my confidence.

Red Vespa.....

9x12 oil on gallery wrapped canvas

I was asked to paint more Vespas. This is a 70's vintage cutie.

Tulip Fiesta

"Tulip Fiesta"

8x10 oil on panel

This is one of many set-ups Janette Jones had at her workshop. Just simply a bunch of tulips in a Fiestaware pitcher.

Sweet Madeline

Madeline

8x8 oil on wood panel

I was honored when my friend asked me to paint a little memorial portrait for her friend. They had recently lost their sweet Madeline who was the apple of the family's eye. I can see with that adorable face why they would miss her so.

Janette Jones' workshop

Lilacs & Lemons

20x16 oil on linen mounted board

Thanks to a couple of friends, [Dominique Eichi being one of them] I was fortunate enough to attend a painting work-shop last month. I learned more than I expected. I am still trying to practice what I learned [one particular lesson is to keep the paint more transparent and I don't have to glop one gobs all the time]. Janette Jones is a wonderful artist and a terrific instructor. What a treat to have other renowned artists in the class learning her techniques right beside us.

Shona Macomber dazzled us with her watercolor techniques on the day's lessons. You can check out her beautiful work HERE. Then there was Elizabeth (Libby) Tolley. Libby is a renown plein air painter and Janette Jones even had her book as a reference guide. I highly recommend it. Her book "Oil Painter's Solution Book" is currently sold out at Amazon.com but you can buy it directly from her HERE.

Lastly, I have to say the grounds in which the class was held were a little bit of heaven on earth. Milifiori in Douglas Flats is a place I'd like to return to one day but right now I need to put my lessons into practice!

My love/hate relationship with my computer

Dottie's Gifts

20x20 oil on gallery wrapped canvas

I've been AWOL from my blog. I'm so proud of not committing PC homicide on my desktop because its been giving me so much trouble. After not being able to upload photos, it is still crashing without warning and what used to take me a half hour will sometimes take a whole day. Okay, enough of that!

I just got back from Michigan where I got to deliver a birthday present to a very special lady. Mrs St. Pierre is the mother of my high school boyfriend with whom I have been blessed to rekindle a relationship with after forty years. This painting is based on a B&W photo that my friend Terry took. He explained he set up his camera on a timer and ran back up to stand with his younger siblings Cheryl and Mark at the mouth of a cave they were exploring in Japan. I've talked about being raised in Japan and his father Wayne was stationed at the same US Army HDQRS I was at. The St Pierres were there for 3 years. I cropped and glazed the background to what I thought it might look like on a late hot afternoon as he described it. When Mrs St. Pierre opened the present, she said, "Oh, my Babies!" I see her "Babies" as very special gifts she has given the world.