Pyrography: I started wood burning a while ago and I don't know why I've never tried creating any serious work with it before now. I guess it's because Im still learning. Always learning something new. This is one of my silly grandcats that lives in Mississippi. Yes, I said grandcat. It's burned onto a 4x4" plaque.

I've had a lot of posts popping up in my FaceBook memories from this blog I started way back when. It was intended to encourage myself to make time to paint every day. Now, it would be a nice visual diary of my work, methods, and progress. Its always nice to see how far you've come with your work. That's what seeing some of these older paintings has done for me. You don't realize how far you've come until you look back.
 Reference photos: I tend to horde reference photos for rainy days. Some of which are bad quality, others way beyond  my capability to recreate. After years of doing this I’ve learned that eventually I’ll work out an approach in my head, tackle it, and  have a work I’m pleased with. The photo for this was very grainy and the bluff seemed overwhelming. I started the painting with an olive green background which helped me tremendously in creating the shadows for the light filtering down. This photo is of my son and his new husky mix puppy on one of their first outings to Red Bluff in Ms. It's one of his favorite place, in the region, to hike. It was taken by his girlfriend with a camera phone so it was kind of grainy. At first, it was an obstacle because I wasn't sure how to approach this photo not being able to see details. The blessing in that is that it forced me to stay loose and not focus on the details, but instead, the light.
Puppy break, 8x10 Oil

Oil, 30x28"

Red String of Fate

I read about a Japanese tale and was inspired to do an abstract.The red string of fate, also referred to as the Red Thread of Destiny. It is an East Asian belief originating from Chinese legend and is also used in Japanese legend. According to this myth, the gods tie an invisible red string around the ankles of those that are destined to be soul mates and will one day marry each other. Often, in Japanese culture, it is thought to be tied around the little finger.

Feb. Paintings

This month, I've been cramming in painting whenever my family allows. These are the ones that are completed, so far, this month.Go Fourth Falls, 7x5" Oil

Blue Sneakers, 10x8" Oil

Mary, 16x20" Oil

Angel 18x24" Oil

Radiance, Acrylic 20x16

My Monet 4'x4'

Every since I was a girl, I have always loved Monet's work.  I was in my 20's when I first got to lay eyes on some of his paintings. I was frozen in place, in disbelief, because they were so much more colorful than they were in the books. All those subtle seemingly greyed down paintings had peaches, pinks, and lavenders in them.
I painted his waterlillies for myself and made it my own. I made the colors a little more vivid because of the dark room it was going to be put in.
I really do want to try one of his more subtle landscapes. We'll see.

Paintings for a band

These three paintings are going to be auctioned off to help raise money for a lot of deserving kids in the Petal Band.
The Petal Indoor Percussion Theatre is gearing up. They placed 15th in a World Competition last year and would appreciate donations. It doesn't have to be a lot, but every little bit counts so that they can travel to these competitions. They can be made at this site ~
http://www.gofundme.com/aaw9g