Irish cottage

painted for Virtual Paintout
sold

a year of paintings 2010

Happy New Year!

Wishing everyone a year of health & happiness!
I'm linking to Mosaic Monday at Mary's
& I think there's enough blue for Smiling Sally, too!

season's greetings

and wishes for a wonderful holiday!

This little chickadee turned out to be our Christmas card.

I can never find much time to paint in December.

There's just too much to do.

I do love when life slows down in the deep winter

and I feel free to paint and knit and relax.

Until then...

wrapping, baking, cooking, etc, etc.

Enjoy!

do you have a budding artist?

As an art teacher, I was always asked by parents 

for good drawing book recommendations.

This was my favorite.  

I taught hundreds & hundreds of children how to draw in 3-D

(they REALLY loved that!) using the basics from this book.  

It's not at all intimidating and lays the foundations for 

inventive and creative drawings with simple lines and shapes.

Ages 9-12 (I started the basics with my second graders).

224 pages of FUN!

here's a good one

Oh, yes!  This book would not let me go.

It's a tangled suspenseful puzzle of

three stories.

I was not disappointed!

new photos

 

Bridge of Sighs

Venice

I have added some photographs to my Etsy shop

They were all taken by my daughter who has

a wonderful eye for detail.

Sacre-Coeur

Paris

 Paris Opera House

View from Notre-Dame

Paris

something new

blank cards on Etsy

Great Chinese State Circus - Swan Lake

A friend sent this to me & I thought I'd share.
The performance is amazing!

just finished reading

I've been thinking about it ever since I finished reading.

To me, that's a good book.

Happy Thanksgiving!

a new little bird

watercolor

5" x 7"

morning glory

Hope your mornings

and your days are glorious!

morning glory watercolor

I'm linking up to Mosaic Monday

@ Little Red House.

There you'll find links to many wonderful mosaics.
Thanks for visiting!

following Van Gogh's irises

I love the work of the Impressionists and Post Impressionists,

most of all the work of Vincent Van Gogh.

I am currently reading a little book called

There is a very interesting appendix that follows the ownership

of Van Gogh's "Irises", one of my most favorite paintings.

I often wonder how museums come to own such famous works.

Vincent Van Gogh painted "Irises" in 1889, while being treated at 

an asylum in Saint-Remy-de-Provence.  He considered it a nature study.

Theo Van Gogh (Vincent's brother) who was an art dealer, 

saw that it was much more than a study.

Theo had stored many of Vincent's painting with Pere Tanguy, 

who owned an art supply shop and gallery.  "Irises" was among those paintings.

Theo died shortly after Vincent and Pere arranged a sale of 

Vincent's work for Theo's widow.

Octave Mirbeau was the first owner of "Irises" in 1892.  He bought "Irises" 

and "Three Sunflowers" for 600 francs.

The second owner of this painting was Auguste Pellerin, a margarine manufacturer,

who bought it in 1905.  He sold "Irises" in 1925 (probably to finance 

the purchase of work by Paul Cezanne).

The third owner was Jacques Doucet, a fashion designer.  

"Irises" hung in his study along with works by Manet, Monet, Degas & Cezanne.

Before his death in 1929, the painting had been loaned to The Museum of Modern Art in NY.

In 1935, Doucet's widow arranged for the sale of her late husband's collection. 

The painting was loaned to museums for Van Gogh exhibitions. 

The records become vague until it was purchased by Joan Whitney Payson in 1947.  

She was hesitant to buy it at the asking price of $80,000.

Whitney's son inherited the painting in 1975 and placed it for auction in 1987.

Purchase price was $53.9 million to Australian Alan Bond.

Bond had a turn in fortune and had to default on the purchase.

In 1990, the Getty Museum acquired the painting, in a private 

& undisclosed transaction.  "Irises" was made part of the permanent

collection in the J. Paul Getty Museum.

it's my birthday

morning glory

8"x10" watercolor

It's my birthday!  I don't mind getting older at all...... I never have minded age.

I make it a  point to treasure each day, each year.

Free shipping, today only, at my Etsy if you mention

"Happy Birthday" with your order.

morning in the sun room

 

The day is crisp and clear here.  

Blue sky and lots of sunshine through the leaves on the trees. 

I'm glad I brought my geraniums in this year.  I'll probably paint them.

I love the beauty and challenge of white flowers.

I just saw

a little slow in spots, but I really liked it.

I am reading

and really enjoying

A little girl is orphaned aboard a ship from Ireland

and is brought to a plantation to live and work as a slave in 1791.

blue forget-me-nots

watercolor 8" x 10"
sold

I plan to be a better blogger next week.  

This week was way too complicated.

In fact, the last several weeks have been too complicated.

...and this week, I have something filling the calendar

every.single.day.

Good thing I'm retired.

I'm linking up with Mary's Mosaic Monday.

Lovely week to you all!

rose of sharon print

5.5" x 7"

Have a great weekend!

new blue

10" x 10" acrylic canvas

this peony

This peony is the very first one I ever painted....

way back when I decided that I had to start painting.

I remember painting it from a photograph,

while we were on vacation at the shore....

sitting at a little kitchen table very early each morning, 

before my family woke up.  

Isn't it funny how strong some memories can be?

I can distinctly remember the morning light, the quiet of the house,

and...most of all...

the feeling that I had finally painted a painting.

I signed up for my very first workshop with Arleta Pech.

I had her book and admired her work so much.

We needed to bring a painting for the critique on the last day of the workshop.

I was so nervous!  I can still remember that feeling.

I brought my little peony.

I was so intimidated that I almost didn't put my painting in the critique.

When it was my turn, Arleta said

"This peony.  This peony is soft, delicate and beautiful."

She told me to trust myself and trust my style.

I remember driving home that day, practically floating on air.

..and in my journal I wrote

"I am an artist".

Thanks for visiting today.

Please visit Mary's Little Red House

for more Mosaic Monday!

a re-styling

parrot tulips

8"x10"
sold

I painted the tulips below awhile ago.  I loved the tulips, but was bothered by the background.

Today I added more leaves and painted the background black.

Now it's more my style.

new print: peony

peony

8" x 10" print

Rain is on the way, hooray! 

Looks like a very rainy Monday for my very dry garden.

new print: agapanthus

Agapanthus

8"x10" print

Agapanthus is also known as lily of the nile.

So much fun to paint all those petals!

Have a sunny weekend!

welcome autumn

I am so happy that Autumn is here!

This summer was so hot and dry. My garden is just making it's

fall comeback, but we need to be careful with watering.

I joining Mary's Mosaic Monday today. 

Make sure you see her gorgeous mosaic of goldenrod!

A switch to acrylics & back to watercolors this week:

 

my new pumpkin painting

acrylic 8" square

 Have a lovely autumn week!

*Gift of Jewels*

           Don't you love getting mail?                   
Last week I mailed a package to Australia to someone I have never met.

This week, a very large envelope was in my mailbox from Libby in Salem, MA.

Libby sent me a lovely hand-made collage!
Thanks, Libby!

    I do enjoy participating in *Gift of Jewels* hosted by

sweet Se'Lah of The Necessary Room.
Se'Lah matched us all up for a wonderful international pen-pal exchange. 

I'm looking forward to next year, Se'Lah!

a house

It took me all weekend, this little 8" x 10" watercolor.

My very talented daughter managed to paint three houses to my one,

but that was ok.

I was painting a house...very calmly, very happily...

on the sidewalk of Howard Street in Cape May.

The weather was perfect and I was actually comfortable 

sitting on my folding chair painting en plein air.

If you read this post, then you know I was a tad anxious,

comfort zone, etc.

But, I wasn't once I started...I just painted.

Sometimes we need to just get started.

I used butterfly pictures from Saturday to fill my mosaic.  

They were everywhere in Cape May this weekend.

I'm joining Monday Mosaics at Mary's Little Red House.

Mary is so sweet to host this fun event & her photos are just breathtaking.

Have a great week!

I love Lucy

No...not that Lucy.

I love Lucy Willis,
extraordinary watercolor painter of light and shadows,

and author of several wonderful books.

Lucy is my go-to-woman when I need a back-to-the-basics pep talk

and a reset of thought processes. 
Just looking at her books inspires me and quiets the doubts.

I'm  getting ready for a wonderful weekend workshop in Cape May with Marge Chavoosian.
Marge is an excellent artist and a very patient teacher.

The weather looks beautiful for our torture test  plein air painting
in front of the grand no way can I paint those Victorian houses.

My stomach is already in a knot.  Why, you wonder?

Because painting houses is out of my comfort zone,

painting houses in plein air is really out of my comfort zone.

My sister asked "well, then why go?"

and of course, the answer is

because it's out of my comfort zone.

It's intimidating, and frustrating and anxiety-producing,

but I'm going to be there painting along side my daughter,

my architect daughter whose houses fly right out of the end of her pencil.

I'm packing my Lucy books for comfort.

If I produce anything not too humiliating I might post next week.
Have a great weekend!

frog blog

NJ has been so hot and dry this summer,

so this clever little frog found his own private swimming pool

right in my garden fountain.

It's a great spot....

lots of bugs to eat, fresh water every few days & plenty of sunshine.

Today he decided to pose for me.

Later on, when my son came over, there was a little garden snake

slithering up over the edge of the fountain to take a drink.

So now.....

it's a community pool.

Meanwhile.....

while I'm inside trying to paint

Buster decides to keep me company..

and that was the end of that!

new treasury

My cabbage painting is in a beautiful brand new treasury:

 here

pink dahlia...new painting

I think dahlias are the prettiest flower at this time of year,

especially the pink ones.

I painted my dahlia a very pinky pink...quinacridone pink!

sold

Hope you're in the pink this week!

Joining the fun at Mary's Mosaic Monday.

white clematis

sold
new watercolor of white clematis from my garden

8" x 10"

selected for this lovely treasury

blue poppy..new print

my newest print on Etsy

5"x7"

new little nest

sold
new little acrylic painting

8" x 8"

I like switching to acrylics every so often.  In watercolors, I work from light to dark.

It's just the opposite in acrylics & the work is much faster for me.

Have a great weekend!