cows

I left for Austin early one morning and this was the scene that made me stop the car and pull out my camera.

There are not many things more peaceful and pastoral than grazing cattle.

I think this one wanted to get in with me and go. I was tempted...

This one is my favorite; the bright, green, new grass...the trees and hills turning from green to blue as they recede into the horizon...the big, blue sky. You can almost see forever.

Talk about happy cows...and a happy me!

anna's birthday "card"

When you live far, far from town, you have (get) to be creative if you are not extremely organized. Which I'm not. But, thankfully, I'm usually glad when I've gotten myself in a mess and have to get myself out creatively. This was the situation on my daughter's birthday (back in November). She loves to bake and play the piano - thus the cupcake and musical butterflies. Her room in her apartment is brown and blue and she loves pink. I covered the back of the painting with the same paper the butterflies are made of and made a pocket where we placed our sentiments and some money (which she requested for clothes). Whew...I think she liked it!

cupcakes and sweet peas

This is old news, but worth sharing...David and I spent Valentine's Day in Austin. We walked along South Congress where there are neat shops and good restaurants. Ate lunch at Guerro's Taco Bar - the best fish tacos I've ever tasted!


Strolled past a little grocery called Farm to Market and David bought me these sweet, sweet peas. Here they are in a water bottle in the cup holder of the pick up. I always like things like this - the dainty, little flowers contrasted with the big, rugged truck.




Then, to our delight, we spotted this!


It's called Hey, Cupcake!


Look at the line. There were this many more people behind us.


Guess which one is mine. Yes, the chocolate with whipped cream inside and oozing out the top. It was even more delicious than it looks!




And, of course, live music. It's Austin. Music is everywhere. He was good.





My sweet peas at home.

It is so nice to be able to say at our age and after all these years (you young people out there reading this), that this was one of our best Valentine's Days ever.

little houses

I love houses. All kinds. I had hopes of becoming an architect, but my high school counselor advised against it because of my poor math grades, my least favorite subject. Well, I don't need any math at all to design my little houses. These are probably more fun and less stressful than the big kind anyway.

The thing that made these so much fun to work on was my watercolor crayons and charcoal pencils. I don't know if these close-ups will allow you to see the detail but I am really happy with the effect.

Speaking of houses, consider supporting Habitat for Humanity with me so that everyone can have a decent home!

gameboards

Here are some gameboards I've been working on. They are big - 24 x 24 - and come with nice, wooden checkers in a drawstring bag. They hang on the wall when you're not having fun with them and are $150.00 each.

this is why a painting-a-day will be hard for me

Okay. I think I'm finished with this one and ready to move on. There are still some things............I need to quit looking at it! I think these will make a nice, little snack right about now. Out of sight, out of mind.

mandarins

Oh, my goodness. What was I thinking choosing this busy background? Not a good idea for what is supposed to be a quick painting. By the time I got to the mandarins, I was ready to be done. But, they looked so pretty on this tea towel. And pretty always wins. Tomorrow's painting will be much simpler.

I just made a couple of little changes to the painting after looking at the photo. And since I don't know how to delete the first photo, you can compare and try to figure out what I changed. It won't be the last change - I've got to fix the "floating" one in the middle...

PS. I changed the title when I read the bag. I thought they were clementines.

paintings

I didn't think I would post these paintings - I am still at the beginning of this art journey. I am so happy to be on the path with Roxanne who is at the same place in life regarding art. We've both been busy at our art "jobs," but have been yearning to explore our talents in fine art, namely oil painting. It is encouraging and motivating to have someone to share thoughts and ideas with. So...here is what I've done so far. My only goal/hope right now is to get in a lot of painting time and discover my style and what God wants me to express. I've never been happier and had forgotten how important, no, necessary, this is to me.

This little landscape is the pasture before we built our house in it. I'm taking an art class from Paul Friske (thanks to my other art friend, Marianne) and you can see his influence (if you look very closely!). His work is incredible.

This is a good example of how I naturally paint, but don't want to - too stiff.

This was fun! I'm trying to imitate the style of one of my favorite painters, Carol Marine - deliberate brushstrokes. It is a stretch for me because I tend to blend, blend, blend. She does a small painting a day, and if I'm able, I will, too, and post them as they come along.

Do you think that maybe I like the color orange?