Day 20 " Alley #1 "

Hey Friends,  While at Myrtle Beach last month, I rode around a bit on the tricycle of my sisters Son.
He is handicapped so the cycle is adult sized.  I had fun riding it and it really amused my niece.
Pedaling along on Ocean Blvd., I saw several alleys of interest so I went back at sunset and the setting sun was just right to create nice little streaks of light in the darkness.  I really want to do a bigger version.  This one is 7"x 5" and is for auction in Ebay - CLICK HERE.
Happy Trails
Travel Well

Day 4 of Leslie Saeta's Challenge

Hey Friends,  Here it is day 4 already.   This watercolor on 140 lb. paper is embellished with scratches from a water soluable graphite pencil.
Click here if you would like to bid on it in Ebay starting at a penny.
Happy Trails
Travel Well

Summer Spot

 Hey Friends,  A neighbor at the end of our little country road, has a pair of these old metal chairs on his patio.  I've painted chairs very similar in the past and hope to paint more in the future.  They have such character.  His have a few rust spots but you can't see them at this distance.
You can have this reminder of summer time by clicking here in my Etsy store.

 And I wanted to show you and NaNaCat the haze of smoke hanging over the Roanoke Valley today. Wytheville is about 60 miles SW of us and there is a big forest fire burning since yesterday.  As luck would have it, there is a wind from that direction blowing it up here.  It stings my eyes a bit but it is pretty, isn't it.  This valley is gorgeous anyway you see it.  After playing with my gran babe, I drove to Mill Mountain about dusk.  Was hoping to see more Sun interacting with the smoke, but. . . .

And when you turn around, you see the famous Star.  We are called the Star City of the South.  It's a beautiful symbol, especially when flying into this valley at night !

Happy Trails
Travel Well

Day 29 - Right Side of Diptych

 Hey Friends,  This is the other half of the diptych, I posted the left half yesterday.

 These close ups show you how much texture there is

 I used Golden's Glass Bead Gel to form the flowers.  Conventional work for the BumbleBee's.
This is in my Etsy Shop along with the other half.   Click Here.
The last day is almost here.  I think I'll post what I painted at Centerfest  in Bedford, Va.  This is a plein-aire piece and I asked for critiques, so it looks a bit better than the majority of my plein-aire works !  But I'm getting better, slowly.

Happy Trails
Travel Well

Thought I'd throw this in at the last second.  For anyone that doesn't know what a diptych is.  And this is before I was finished.   Diptych's hang togather.

Day 23 in Leslie Saeta's Challenge

 Hey Friends, Another stamped image, using just 2 different sized hand carved stamps.  I started with the purple stained tissue paper and gelled it to the canvas.  This created little ridges ( it's almost impossible to get tissue paper on smooth) which made me think of seaweed.  So there you have the fish swimming through the seaweed in a purple ocean.  No, I don't drink or do drugs.  Some things are meant to be. 

 Here is a sloppy close up, sorry, to tired to fool with photoshop.  I will put this in my Etsy shop.
Happy Trails
Travel Well

Day 22 of Leslie Saeta's Challenge

Hey Friends,  I must be honest,  this piece of work has not been shown before BUT I didn't paint it yesterday.  I made this about a month ago.  There now you can chastise me.  I made a post here on my blog sometime ago, I will attempt to link to it so you can see that I made the stamps for all of these critters.  I did enjoy carving the stamps and thoroughly enjoyed creating a design to fit them into.  So please leave a comment, tell me what you really think of this.
You can also check some close-ups in my Etsy shop.   Click Here.
Happy Trails
Travel Well

Day 10 in Leslie Saeta's Challenge

 Hey Friends,   A good friend gave me this tiny nest.  She found it in her yard after a hard storm.  I'm hoping the Mom and Babes had already left to find a bigger home.   I took photos of my Babe, Lillie, holding it, to paint from.  She is so sweet and indulges my every photo wish.

 I cut this string of paper birds out of some deli-paper I had painted for another project.

 I drug a toothpick around and around in some heavy gel for this nest to have texture.  And I used more deli papers in the background, along with stencils.

 And I'm just showing these 2 photos to NaNaKat  'cuz she loves birds as much as I do..   I've had my moulding saw outside all summer 'cuz it's so crowded in the studio.   Wrapped in plastic and a heavy tarp, folded 4 times and clamped with big work clamps, 8 clamps!

But a silly wren got in there and with all this material.  I hope she raised some babes without trouble.  I never saw her come or go and I passed by at least 50 times a day!  Moma Birds on a Mission !!!!
Happy Trails
Travel Well (little moma bird)