NEW ORIGINAL ABSTRACT PAINTING

Well, Hey My Friend,  I finished a couple new abstractions last night,  Photographed them today.

Then did a bit of cropping and resizing.

No color adjusting was needed because I was outside.

But I did put some on the walls in the Oh My Prints Ap.

This piece is 24" x 18" and is listed for sale in my website HERE.

And while you are here go to my FaceBook Page and like me! 'Cuz ya do, Right?

Hoping your week is going great.

HAPPY TRAILS

THE SHOW HAS BEEN HUNG AND LOOKS GREAT

Hey Friends,  The show is up! and the reception is Aug 17th from 5 - 7 pm.   Please come by and chat for a minute.  They will have some nibbles and wine.

Thank you to Nancy, Susan and Keith for hanging the works so nicely.  The hanging can make all the difference in how they look.

Thank you to WVTF for making this space available to the arts.  It would be nice if more business' made this possible.

Hope to see you on the 17th!

HAPPY TRAILS

A FEW THAT HAVE SOLD RECENTLY ON EBAY

Hey Friends,  A short note to tell you I"M STILL HERE!  and doing well.  I went to dinner with the Glenvar Girls last night and enjoyed the small turn out.  A few friends gives you a chance to talk to each other, really talk and listen.

And when I got home from dinner a wonderful woman in the state of WA had purchased 3 of my collages!!

These collages had been sitting in my store for a while and I had decided that no one liked them or maybe no one liked collages.  Then last month some on the East coast bought 4 of them and then someone bought 3 on the west coast !!  Go figure...that's why I'm not to quick to take things out of my Shop.  Ebay and Etsy are so huge it takes a while to be found.

So happy she liked SUPER BOWL, the top one and MAKE NEW FRIENDS and ...KEEP THE OLD.  Hope she will send a photo when she hangs them.

Getting ready to hang a show at the public radio station WVTF, across from Red Lobster, next week .

Hoping to see some of you at the reception on Aug. 17 from 5-7pm, that is a Friday evening.  I hear that they have nice refreshments and you will have my new work to look at and Bonnie Mason's gorgeous paintings of our local views.

Please share this with everyone you know.

Thanks for stopping by,

HAPPY TRAILS

PLEIN AIR PAINTING WITH THE DOUBLE LINE PAINTERS TODAY

Hey Friends, Judy got a good photo of some of us this morning on our ride down to THE bridge.  This place is awesome, so much prettier than the photos you see.  And it is Va.'s newest State Park so you can get a great deal on a year long pass to ALL of the state parks.

And here is Linda and Mary Anne taking a photo of the semi completed paintings.

We had a great new friend from the Lexington area join us today and then we had a super ranger named Veronica give us a tour of the entire park and a few hidden landscapes that we all think were worthy of a painting.

Huge THANKS TO Michael and Veronica.

HAPPY TRAILS

ROANOKE COUNCIL OF GARDEN CLUBS FOR DLP'S MEETING TODAY

Hey Friends,  Three of us went painting this morning at the Roanoke Council of Garden Clubs Home on Colonial Ave.  CLICK HERE for their FB Page.

I don't recognize that fat lady in my chair up there, but she looks like she may be having fun!

We got one of the Club ladies to take our photo with our paintings.  I'm not finished with mine.

Here is a shot of my first one almost done.

If you are looking for a place to paint, go here.  If you are looking for a space to rent for receptions or parties or whatever, go here.

Everyone is very kind, and generous.

HAPPY TRAILS

PAINTING AT VWCC AND 2ND HELPINGS RECEPTION

Hey Dear Friends,  Hope you are enjoying this wonderful weather as much as I am.  I have been outside painting every day.  And yesterday I went with the DLP's to Va Western Comm. College on Colonial Ave. to paint in their fab Arboretum.  They have so many gorgeous trees and perennials, I believe I could stay there for a week and never finish.

I thought I was almost finished with my piece until I looked at it hours later when I got home!

The beautiful yellow azalea just looked out of place( I usually try to put everything in my view in a painting).  It is almost always better to do a lot of simplifying for a stronger composition.

Here is the final version.  I removed the yellow and changed the bench and made the pink Rhodie bigger.  I like it much better.

I will be at 2nd Helping's Gallery tomorrow, the 12th.  The DLP's have a new show hanging and the reception is from 1-3pm.  I will be painting a landscape and you may enjoy watching a piece in progress.  I always love to watch other artists paint.  Hope to see you at the reception tomorrow.

HAPPY TRAILS

PAINTING THE FRONT BED AT SALEM'S TEA HOUSE

Hey Friends,  Saturday was a gray grey day indeed.  I still set up my tripod at the Salem Tea House.

Only once were there a couple drops of rain.

My attraction was the old stump laying on it's side.  It looked burned. charred.  You can see I have started with sky and boxwoods.

Had to get up and stretch several times so took this photo from West Main, across from the Dynasty.

Now you can see I'm moving right along.  The threat of a thunderstorm helps to keep from dilly-dallying.  They call it tickling the painting.

The poppies add a lot of interest.  Once they have had a few years they will be the focal point.

Now if you go around to the back, you are treated to these massive trees.  I would bet at one time that was a koi pond between the benches.  I can see some paintings done here.

This shot was taken from the fence you see up there in previous photo.  And you can see the edge of the patio with iron chairs on the left.  If they seat diners out there in the warm months, that would be an interesting painting.

Love these gnarly old trees.

Hope to get back there soon.

A BIG Thank You to Kim Arney for allowing me to paint.

HAPPY TRAILS

PLEIN AIR PAINTING AROUND THE NEIGHBORHOOD

Hey Friends,  I have been outside most of the last couple days. PAINTING!!

Summer is H-E-R-E!  Yay.  So I have not wasted too much time indoors.

The top photo is my annual painting of the Spirea.  It seems last year the Iris were blooming at the same time. Not this year.  But the iris seems to be struggling, they may need to be divided.

This 2nd photo is a home (it used to be a church) down the hill from us.  I love the old gnarly tree and it's shadow.

And this is the row of mailboxes at the bottom.  Looks so mundane, doesn't it?

I am in our little golf cart.  My tripod barely stands up in it.  But it gives me shade.

And it makes hauling my stuff around so much easier.  I love it.

Tomorrow, Sat. May 5th, I will be in Clifton Forge at their Mayfaire.  They are having a plein aire event and a wet paint sale at 4pm.  All kinds of vendors and crafters.

Hope you can join us.

HAPPY TRAILS

IT WAS A LOVELY DAY FOR PLEIN AIR IN SW VIRGINIA

Hey Friends,  Hope you made it outside today!  We don't get these lovely days very often anymore, so you have to make the most of them.

We DLP's, Double Line Painters, went to the Wheatland Farm on Rt. 639 to stretch our plein air muscles.  They have gotten pretty weak.  I even sat down and made a couple sketches, Notans.  The sketch book is on my palette above

Needless to say but it SUCKED out loud and I wiped it off.  And just pretended the sunflowers were up and gave it a whirl.  To Be Continued.

And on the journey home we saw a lot of cows and farms and old sheds and silos.

All that stuff you want to cram into one painting.  HA.

We all know it looks much more pleasing to concentrate on one thing at a time.

Get your stuff ready, It's Time !!

HAPPY TRAILS

HELLO SPRING TIME !!! MOTHER NATURE LET US PAINT TODAY.!

Hey Friends,  Do you recognize the gorgeous Blue Bells above?  Mertensia is proper name.

A shot of the Roanoke River as it travels through Green Hill Park in Salem, Va.  Not very far from where I live.  If you view this log from another angle it looks like a bear.

And here is a painting I started .  Will finish at home.

Can you tell which of these 2 stones has recently been rolled into the river?

The DLP's will be back in Salem next week and then we have plans to go to a farm in Buchanan and a plein air event in Clifton Forge soon.  And we have permission to paint at RIVERSIDE NURSERY in Salem too.  They have beautiful pansies and violas right now.  And houses of other goodies ready to burst into blooms.

HAPPY TRAILS

ENJOY SPRING

DWELL IN A NEW PLACE II 30 DAY CHALLENGE NO. 26

Hey Friends,  This is DWELL II.  They would look good hung together so I guess I'll call them a dyptch.  Soon, maybe later today, I want to show you some of my process photos.  That will either be fun or a total mess.  Stay tuned.

Hanging by your bed? Looks rather springy to me, that wasn't my intention but I like it.  Do You?

Day 26 of the 30 day Challenge.  Feb only has 28 days.  Wonder if we will cut it on the 28th or keep going?  Leslie may have told us and I missed it.

HAPPY TRAILS

TRAVEL WELL

WHISPERING IN THE WIND 30 DAY CHALLENGE

Hey Friends,  My latest for Leslie's 30 day challenge.  Inspired by a dream, which does not happen to me very often.  If anyone knows how to induce dreaming let me know.  Some of my most favorite work has come from dreams.  I don't paint the nightmares although it might be a way of purging them.

This is how it could look in your breakfast nook.  If you know anyone that is remodeling, or an interior decorator, please forward my work on to them.

You can view this on my website HERE  and  HERE at the 30 day Challenge.

It is beautiful weather today here in SW Virginia. so I had better get outside and sling some paint.

HAPPY TRAILS

30 in 30 CHALLENGE - #5 WEDNESDAY'S MORNING

Hey My Friends,  Wednesday's Morning is No.5.   Playing still with colors and drips and purposeful marks with a brush.  Almost looks like Fish Kisses up there !

I love being able to put my art on a wall virtually.  Gives it scale and a sense of worth.

My friend Judy sent this link to me if you want to try it out.

And here is a link to this painting on my WEBSITE.

HAPPY TRAILS

ORIGINAL PAINTINGS RECENTLY ADDED TO MY EBAY STORE

Hey My Friends,  Getting the blogs done a wee bit earlier than usual, because I pick up my 2 GranBabes at 3pm from school.  After the pick up, it is hard telling how the rest of the weekend will go !!  Since it is so cold and the flu is rampant, I hope we will be staying home for the most part.

These two pieces I recently added to my Ebay Store.  The clouds were created last summer and the Flamingo was created several years ago.  He has been squirreled away in the studio and I dug him out last summer.  Just getting around to showing him off.  You will find they are priced for moving!  and the shipping is free in the US.

Happy Trails

HELP -------- WHICH PAINTING IS YOUR FAVORITE ?

Hey Friends,  I thought I was finished with this 24" sq. piece below, but a friend suggested some flying birds would be cool. 

What do you think?

Anybody at all that wants to offer their opinion, it would help.

The birds in the top version are just cut out black tape, so I can remove easily.

I finished a couple over the weekend so more to come.

And if anyone wants to know, I love having a studio in the 202 Bldg. down town.

The only thing better would be a street level studio, more people might actually come in.

Happy Trails

HAD TO GO OUT TO THE POST OFFICE

Hey Friends,  I had to go to the PO today to mail this painting (above) to a Lady in Michigan !!  YES, it made me super happy.  I hope she will send a photo of it in her home.

And this is what I had to do before I could get out.  Just clean the car off.  With this Subaru you can get in and GO!  No need to shovel the driveway or worry about the ice on the next road.  The county has never, never, gotten the snow and ice off of Gum Springs.

I have not been very good about telling you of all the paintings I sell on the web.  I will try harder to let you know the art industry is still alive  ( a bit crippled) but ALIVE!

Thanks for stopping in and enjoy your snow days.

HAPPY TRAILS

PAINTING ON TERRA SKIN

Hey Dear Friends,  Normally on Friday nights I'm busy with my GranBabes or the First Friday Art Walk in DT Roanoke, Va.  But tonight is different because I have a cold and the worst nose ever.  The air is so dry because the heat runs constantly when it is 3 degrees outside and that does nothing for your sinus'.  I have water boiling on low to help a little.

Painted this bright happy little Spring Time painting last week.  A little at a time, between visiting my Sister and Nephew in the hospital.  He has Pneumonia and other stuff, poor Baby.

I also painted some original art work Cards which are listed in my EBAY STORE. Most are still life's with flowers and fruit and cups.

The rabbits and some others will soon be on Daily Paint Works and Ebay. Check them out.  Any painting in my store can be gift wrapped and sent straight to your recipient.  No Charge.

Hoping to be working on some abstracts soon.

Until then HAPPY TRAILS

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Hey Dear Friends,   Last minute wish to you.

Merry  Merry  Trails

HANG YOUR HEAD ORIGINAL OIL PAINTING

Hey Friends,   A new painting that I finished about a month ago and it's finally dry !!  I prefer to scan my work when ever small enough, to get a better photo.

This was painted for the majority of it at a sunflower farm in Buchanan, Va.  It was the end of their season and the heads were heavy and hanging a bit low, thus the title.  Really hoping to get back there when they are at their prime.

This is listed in my EBAY STORE for sale, with free shipping  and would it not make a NICE gift for your love?!  I will gift wrap it FREE also.

Thanks for stopping by.

Happy Trails