PLEIN AIRE AT ROARING RUN

Hey Friends,  You should have come with us today.  We went to Roaring Run which is out past Botetourt and Fincastle on Rt. 220.  Positively worth the little bit of time it takes to get there.

Top photo I was almost finished with this 9x12 and I DID finish it and signed it.  Hoping that would keep me from fiddling with it anymore.

I was going to paint this spot on the creek (above) but the others were packed up and ready for lunch.

Time fly's when you are in the zone.

I will have to go back after I get my license to carry a gun.  Maybe an assault rifle so I can shoot at every little bird that breaks a twig.  You know, the paranoia of a bear leaping out of no where, to drag you back to the liar for the cubs to eat. 

I probably just need a good stiff drink before I leave the car. HA!

Happy Trails

PLEIN AIR AT GREENHILL PARK IN SALEM, VA.

Hey Friends,  Right this minute I can hear thunder and rain !!  A drastic change since this morning at Green Hill Park in Salem, Va. along the Roanoke River.

I usually take a million pictures every spring of the Mertensia (Va. Blue Bells) along the banks of this river.  Not this year, too late, the wild phlox is blooming now.  And I have felt really under the weather with all the allergies and colds that's why I missed the mertensia  and why I didn't feel like painting this morning.

I just took my sketchbook and made several little studies that I should paint from right away before the memories fade.

You can go to the DLP blog to see a couple little videos I made of the other gals painting.

It was a beautiful morning and the sun made me feel better.

Happy Trails

STRENGTH FOR THE JOURNEY AHEAD - EXHIBIT AT 2ND HELPINGS

Hey Friends,  One of my most favorite things to paint is the sky.  The big puffy clouds, the long skinny dark clouds of storms, of sunsets.  I could still lay on a blanket and watch them go by but you know how adults are.  No one wants to waste time, no one wants to appear lazy.  No one would consider that a meaningful use of time.  I'm thinking maybe the next time I go to plein air, I will just take a blanket and a camera.

Ya never know, maybe I will capture some glorious clouds on film for future paintings.

I would never consider that a waste of time, if I wound up with another painting I love, like the one above.

She is available to grace your home at my website HERE.

Or prints are available HERE.

Have a lovely week.

Happy Trails

VASES - SPRING SENSATIONS ART SHOW

Hey Friends,  I'm shaking it up here.  The photos aren't in their usual places.  And that's only 'cause they would not move to the places I wanted them.

Both of these paintings are in the SPRING SENSATIONS SHOW 
at 2nd Helpings Gallery on Williamson Rd. in Roanoke, Va.

 And a room photo showing how goofy they would look on these big walls.  The one above is a 24" x 12"  and below is 20" x 10".

Besides some really handsome ART you will find gently used furniture and glass items and gently used clothing, some of it still has the original sales tags.  And childrens stuff and mens.  And of course their famous cafe, with fantastic foods and sweets.







These two paintings were created with painted papers, ribbon, lots of gel
and mark making tools I found everywhere.  And of course lots of acrylic
paint.  And being vertical, it should be easy to find wall spaces for them to fit.                        

Hope you have a wonderful weekend

and a Happy Easter.

Hug all your bunnies tight.

Happy Trails

SMOKE OVER OUR VALLEY - ORIGINAL LANDSCAPE PAINTING

Hey Friends,  It's over whelming so I'm trying to make some room in my studio.  If I think a painting has some merit, I will offer it on Ebay as the last channel.  This was started on Mill Mountain, back when Wytheville was suffering with a lot of brush fires.  The wind blew the smoke into our valley and it sat there for a day and an evening.

This painted with oils and is 10" x 19".  This is a nice hand made frame and is not the garrish gold seen in the photo.  It has a softer golden look.

It is up for auction HERE on Ebay.

Thanks for stopping by

Happy Trails

TAKING THE WEEKENDS OFF FOR THE 30 DAY CHALLENGE

Hey Friends,  I decided to take the weekends off since there are NO RULES.  I bet if you had this job you would take the weekends off too.  Making art and marketing and photographing and editing and updating websites and displaying and shipping and blogging and trying to keep up with social media is really a full time job IF you want to buy more supplies and keep the electricity on so you can see to paint.

Anyhoo, I made myself some alcohol inks today.  and yes, you might say I did not take a break today but this was Play and it was fun.  All you need are Permanent Markers, like Sharpies, and 91% alcohol and spray bottles, 4 0z. are best size and a pair of pliers.  And nail polish remover seems to clean up the mess better than alcohol. (top photo)

The photo above, I decided to put silver and gold paint on deli paper to see if it would act as good as goldleaf in collages.  Gold & silver leaf are really frustrating, like trying to glue down spider webs.  And finally tried the beautiful turquoise paint Mary Anne gave me for Christmas.  My favorite color, Thanks Mary Anne.

Over on the right are some papers with the alcohol inks sprayed on them.  But I thought this little heater was funny enough to show you.  Last year I bought this heater hoping it would heat my studio.  What a Joke.  This year I bought a jet engine that runs on propane!  And it works great! 

Until today I could run the new heater for 15 minutes and the studio was HOT.  Then I could turn on the electric joke and it maintained it for hours.  But last night, today and for the next 2 nights, it will be single digits, like 9 tonight and 7 tomorrow night.  So the jet propane heater had to run longer.  But I'm thrilled with how warm it makes the studio.  Maybe I'll give a review on my weekend days  Snow is beautiful for about 2-3 hours then I want summer back.

Don't you feel sorry for me NaNaCat?

And since I took the weekend off I didn't even bother to look for my hiking boots to sweep the snow.  I just tied on some Kroger bags and they kept me dry.

I hope you have a wonderful little brother that will keep your driveway cleared just like mine.  I tell him over & over, I don't want to get out anymore.  One perk of being retired is you don't have to go out there at 7am and clean the car and shovel the driveway to go to WORK.  

Happy Trails

Shovel Wisely

BEAUTIFUL DAY AT SINKLAND FARM IN CHRISTIANSBURG, VA.

 Hey Friends,   I had a beautiful day in Christiansburg today with the DLP's.

We went to Sinkland Farm..  There were plenty of pumpkins

and children.  Several buses of field trip babies.  I thought this cow (above) was udderly cute!  You can test your milking skills

And how about their herd out in the pasture?

This metal steer (above) should have come home with me.

Loved this sign "How Tall this Fall"?  The kiddies loved

racing and chasing in this simple bale maze.

They have several kinds of critters for the Babes to touch

Sheep, goats, rabbits, donkey and horse.

 This cute donkey is standing at attention just like his Boss wanted.  They have chickens, peacocks and pigs.

They host all kinds of events and parties and weddings

Here is my pumpkin head.  And I had two more

photos I wanted to add but Blogger (Or maybe just the

Comcast service) is getting on my nerves.  I should have done

this much in 10 minutes but it's taken 30 minutes so far.

And it wants to make the text any color but black.

Happy Trails

PAINT OUT AT SOUTH PEAKS IN ROANOKE !! UP ABOVE TANGLEWOOD

Hey Dear Friends,  This photo is from last year at South Peak's First Paint Out.

The weather that weekend was a little raw.  They have a wonderful gazebo up there with a giant fireplace so we were cozy and happy.  Seems maybe about 6 or 7 of us crammed ourselves into this gazebo to stay warm and cut the wind a bit that morning.

As the day went on it go nicer and sunnier.

I do not know what Mother Nature has in store for us this year.

Just in case you do not know where South Peak is Click HERE.

Some of the other gals with DLP's will be checking out the Bath County Paint Out, so Click HERE to learn more and Here for DLP blog.

Hope to see you there, you will love the view.

Happy Trails

Travel Safely

HOME BUILDERS SHOW AT SALEM CIVIC CENTER AND HGTV

Hey Friends,  Time for the HOME BUILDERS SHOW at the Salem Civic Center.  Sat. & Sun, the 24 and 25th.

Last year it poured rain, in buckets!  So you will have decent weather this year.  Now come all the way to the back of the CC and you will find an art show.

All local artists.  Great Christmas gifts and anniversary gifts too.

This painting 18x24 will be in the show along with other colorful creations.

And this is a snapshot of some of the art work to be used by Potentially Chic for an episode being made by HGTV of local farm houses.  PC will be involved with the decorating and use of DLP's art work.

Come to the Civic center so we can chat.!

Happy Trails

I HAVE BEEN PRETTY BUSY AND HAPPY

Hey Friends, Hope you all are having a great summer!  It will be soon gone.  Yep, Mid August and the kiddie poos will be headed back to school.  How well I remember the feeling of dread.

Going back to school felt like a jail sentence!  I would have been happy to go to prison instead of school.  I was bored out of my mind every day in school.  Thankfully, I had one period I loved and that helped get me through the day.

I have finished (I think) these two and about 5 more this week.  I love to paint big and use BIG brushes.  Now that I see that top photo, I may have to tweek those dark colors or tweek the photo.

And you know I would love to hear critiques from you guys. 

I really would unless you are going to be JUST mean.

Also want to invite you to come to Montgomery Museum's HERITAGE DAY.

CLICK HERE for the info.

Me, myself, and the other Double Line Artists will be there painting.

We would love to see you.

Happy Trails

Travel Safely

National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day !!!

Hey Friends,  I'm thinking the title for this should be "TADPOLES BUBBLE" because that circle reminded me of the little bubbles we used to see the tadpoles in.

So now, go ahead and give me your honest opinion !  I'm working on more and I will ask you for your opinion on them too.

Hope you have a wonderful wet Thursday.

Oh yes, DID you know it is National CC Cookie Day?

Happy Trails

I FINISHED IT

Hey Friends,  I finished this painting started at Carvin's Cove last week.

Below you can see the underpainting/sketch done with Golden's Metallic fluid paint.

I almost finished it and went to the photos to see how well I had done!  BOY, what a disappointment!

I guess, in my defense, it looks like my memory.  But it does not look like the real scene.

There were not any yellows like I painted, or like my memory stored.

So now I will do the same routine with a small one I started Monday at GreenHill Park in Salem, Va.

Will post that memory tomorrow.

Happy Trails

ANOTHER GREAT DAY FOR PAINTING ! ! !

The only way to see the video is to go to the blogger site by clicking up there on the title of this post or on "Dairy of a Madd Painter up there.  And I just found out this video is 2 seconds long, the battery died.  Man, what a learning curve.  Hoping to get better at this.

Hey Dear Friends,  Hope your day was fun and fruit full like mine.  The painting above was started a month ago in the field.  Just got back to it and finished it.  I'm going to title it Fleece Vines 'cuz I think that's what the pinkish blooms are.

I made 4 videos today.  Of me painting 3 different works.  And they are all to long (too many MB) for Blogger.  Has to be less than 100MB.  I just need to figure out how many minutes or seconds that is ! 

Sheesh, as if computers aren't enough work already.

So whadda ya do with videos that are too long?  Get a YouTube Channel you say?  Well maybe I'll fool with that some day, when I can't get outside.

The video here is about trying Robert Burridge's technique.  I've seen several of his Bob Blast's and I've been hankering to try something new.

I've always painted fairly realistically and I just want to stretch a bit.

I have had this argument with myself for years.  the Art Establishment/Galleries say you should pick one technique, or one subject, or one theme and stick with it for years.  They say it will confuse your collectors to change.  Well, my feeling is "If you're a world famous artist this might be true".  But for me (since I'm not famous) I don't think it matters much.

We are always reading that we should follow our Bliss and paint what we want to see, so that's what I'm doing.  At least until I'm bored.  I really want to paint abstracted landscapes or maybe it's called expressive landscapes.  Whatever,  maybe I'll wind up with Suescapes.  HA.

More coming your way, so stay tuned!  And any healthy advice is welcomed.

Happy Trails

NEW WORK DELIVERED TO THE LITTLE GALLERY AT SMITH MOUNTAIN LAKE

Hey Friends,  I made the long trip to Smith Mtn. Lake this morning.  I took new paintings to the Little Gallery, in the photo above.

Click HERE for their website.

I have made big attempts to give my work some interesting titles this year.  Instead of the generic terms Lake#1 or Lake #2 etc.  This is titled "I Wish You Knew".

And these titles mean something to me, not sure anyone else will appreciate this creativity.

This one is titled "Chasin Tomorrow".

This is "Sweet Nosiness".  I just loved these cows!  They just looked so sweet and timid and like they really wanted to come closer.  When I spotted them on Hardy Rd. heading home, they were all laying down in the background in the sun.  When I came to the gate, they all got up and started towards me.  But this is as far as they would go.  There was a dark male to the right, all by himself and looking at me very sternly.  I think he told them to stop there.  

This is title "Tis Good to Wander" derived from that old saying "Not all who wander are lost".

Taken from a combo of several photos.

Hope you get to go to the Lake and enjoy some summer time fun and get a cone at the Ice Cream Shoppe after you leave the Little Gallery.

And don't forget the LAVENDER FESTIVAL at Evergreen Lavender Farm in Appomattox tomorrow. Sat. the 18th.  It's worth the drive.

CLICK HERE to read the article in their local paper, the News & Advance.

See you at the festival and hopefully at the lake.

Happy Trails