Strawberries Anyone?

Back to work on the berries and bowl. I'm darkening the colors layer by layer. When you darken one area, then the other areas look light, so you go over there. Then you have to do the first place again. You end up going round and round! Enough for today. Tomorrow is another day to add more color, texture, shadow....and maybe the little seeds on the berries for fun!

Bird of Paradise

I've been procrastinating about doing my own framing. But, two juried shows I want to enter are coming up, so I thought I better get serious. I bought a gizmo that shoots thingys in the frame to hold your work in, some pre-cut museum glass and spacers. I "tested" two frames over paintings I've done over the last six months. While doing this, I ran across an older pastel I did on a black board. The flash went off, so the black-on-black strokes show up more than they do in person. Oh well, this will have to do for today's post!

Strawberries in a Bowl Painting, continued

Today was "watercolor with your friend day"! So, I got to resume where I left off with the strawberry painting. I am having fun with this piece. Doing glazed pottery is really quite fun. I have some granulating watercolor called "Goethite Brown Ochre" by Daniel Smith, and it really gives wonderful texture to the pottery. Today my Mom is being discharged to go home (with my sister and brother). This is a momentous day, I wish I were there.

Seaside Cliff

I had plans to paint this picture a month ago, and was delighted to finally get to do it. While the workmen did their work at the Truckee house, I set up in the kitchen nook which has windows on two walls, turned on the music, and painted away. This was from my photograph taken at Crystal Cove Beach in Newport Beach, California. There are lovely little red and orange plants clinging to the sandstone cliff. I just love a landscape that has a break from GREEN!

Paintings of Our Truckee House

While Mom is being well taken care of, I'm trying to catch up on things at home. Tomorrow I have to go to the Truckee house all day for various plumbers, painters and burglar alarm people to come and do work. (This burglar alarm thing became a requirement to get our home insurance renewed - what a pain!) I plan to paint while they are all doing their thing - hurray! Finally! In the meantime, I thought I'd post some oldies - the first sketches of the house I did before I started taking art classes. Later, I did a painting of an interesting tree in our backyard - I think it's called a Jeffrey Pine. And finally, a watercolor of the view out our livingroom window in a beautiful snow storm that I did in my first watercolor class with Jan Foss of Incline Village, Lake Tahoe.

Morning in the Rose Garden

I did this painting two years ago. I practised the large rose four times on scratch paper before doing this. It was a big accomplishment for me back then. Roses are so complicated and maze-like. But the practise paid off, and I understand how to do them now. I entered this painting in a little local show to commemorate the re-opening of our town rose garden. I won first place! I won two rose bushes, which are in my garden and have grown very large and have huge blooms with yellow centers and pink edges. So, I decided to post this older painting, because it makes me think of my Mom. I painted it with her in mind back then, and her love of her little rose garden. Tomorrow morning my daughter and I are driving out to see her for a couple of days and care for the house and her little dog. My sister has been there, and I assume all is going well with Mom's therapies.

Update on my Mom

My Mom is improving. She is in rehab now. She has 3 to 5 hours of therapy each day - physical, occupational, and speech. She is walking with a cane now. Her goal is to go home, be independent and be able to walk her dog again. My siblings and I are rotating going there to be support and take care of her house and her dog. Today we played her favorite card game and she won. It was fun. At times it was difficult for her, but she is coming along. I am home for a few days and then I will go back for a few days. After that, I hope to get back into painting.