There can be no other occupation like gardening in which, if you were to creep up behind someone at their work, you would find them smiling. ~Mirabel Osler
One of the most delightful things about a garden is the anticipation it provides. ~W.E. Johns
©Copyright 2009 by Jennifer MacNeill-Traylor. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit her website.
Colorado Asters 5 X 15 Oil on canvas board $115
Includes shipping and insurance
The snow has been falling all day and the wind has blown like nobody’s business. Yesterday it was 79 degrees. I got sunburned working in the garden, and I was inspired to paint flowers!
I awoke this morning to blustery winds, 32 degrees and fat snowflakes, desperately trying to stick on the warm ground.
Mike and I were scheduled to ring the bell for the Salvation Army in front of the local WalMart at noon, so we journeyed into town through the blizzard.
Until today I had been rather glum about this year’s Christmas, but standing in the blowing snow and wishing friends and neighbors “Merry Christmas” totally changed my mood. By the time we finished our assigned hour, had shopped and visited a friend in the nursing home, the roads were becoming dangerous so we headed slowly for home. We passed 6 cars in the ditch in our 12 mile journey. (All were being helped.) A long, cold afternoon in front of the fire, listening to old time radio programs, reading and painting loomed. Life is good.
We all need to remember that the reason for Christmas is NOT to have a contest for who gets the biggest pile of goodies that hold our interest for 5 minutes. We need to remember that God only wants us to be more like him every day of the year – giving and FORgiving. And every time we do so, we get closer to him.
God bless ya’ll this Christmas and remember to keep laughing at Al Gore – Global Warming hasn’t hit Texas yet!
Ephesians 4:32
Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.
©Copyright 2009 by Debbie Grayson Lincoln. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit her website.
The weather lately has be the most awesome…bright sun filled days followed by cool starlit nights. I love it! The garden is winding down for the fall and the deer are nibbling their way through our backyard each evening. The beautiful zinnias and morning-glories in my veggie garden are like hors d’oeuvres for them. So I picked one bright zinnia to grace my windowsill in my studio. The sunlight pouring through the old jelly glass [One that we use as a juice glass for morning orange juice] prompted this small ‘gem”….. 7 X 5″ Casein on board. I have placed it in my Small Works Collection on my website too.
I am still working on the larger canvas of the Belgian draft horses.
The summer days have just seemed to fly by here at Cob Cottage.
©Copyright 2009 by Kathi Peters. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit her website.
‘Lush Blooms’
24 x 24 inches
Oil on Canvas
Contact me to purchase: Laurie
© Laurie Justus Pace Graphics One Design 2009
“You should be a light for other people. Live so that they will see the good things you do and will praise your Father in heaven.” Matthew 5:16
The Painting: This is part of my Backyard Blooms for 2009. It is a series where I am blocking the painting with acrylic before painting it in oils. It is a longer process but the painting seems richer for the extra time.
The Thought: I read something from “A Gentle Thunder” written by Max Lucado.
“You want to make a difference in your world? Live a holy life.
Be faithful to your spouse.
Be the one at the office who refuses to cheat.
Be the neighbor who acts neighborly.
Be the employee who does the work and doesn’t complain.
Pay your bills.
Do your part and enjoy life.
Don’t speak one message and live another.
People are watching the way we act more than they are listneing to what we say.”
Max is such a gifted writer with a direct heart string to God. I have never picked up a book of his I didn’t like.
Reflecting on this passage makes it seem simple. And it truly is simple. We make it more difficult on our own. I am the biggest complainer to my poor husband… I use to not be a complainer. I took ALL of it in stride and didn’t say a word, but after years of marriage and a bit of aging, I have become more verbal of my feelings so I complain worse. That is something I need to work on daily.
The next one I fail miserably on is “do your part and enjoy life.” I think every one else is doing this but I have totally forgotten what it is like to enjoy life. It seems like I work twenty four seven. Where is my trust in Him that He will provide? How do you draw the line in our human brain of “I am responsible for this, I have to work.”?? Oh Lord, hear me, I would LOVE to take part of my day and forget everything around me and ENJOY LIFE. (… and the little voice inside says.. then you will have twice as much to do tomorrow.) What do you do about the little voice?
And the last one… eek, here I am sharing with you a message and I don’t live it…Seems like it is time for an attitude adjustment.
There are those that slack off and don’t take responsibility and they are definitely out there enjoying life. Then you have on the opposite side those that work and never take the time to live. Which one are you?
Read over that list above from Max….time for positive change.
Laurie
“being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” Philippians 1:6
Website, Laurie Justus Pace
Website, The Painted Pony
Blog, A Texas Contemporary Artist
Blog, Wonders of the Heart
Galleries:
Jackson, Wyoming – The Rare Gallery
Penn Yan, New York—Earthworks Art Gallery
The Village of Granville, Ohio—The Gillian Jones Gallery
Marble Falls, Texas – Patina of Marble Falls
Dallas, Texas—The Dutch Art Gallery
Atascadero, California – The Red Tree Gallery
El Dorado Hills, California—Our House Gallery
Hong Kong – SR Gallery
Erie, Colorado – The Daily Painters
Dallas,Texas – The Daily Painters of Texas
Centennial, Colorado—The Daily Painters Abstract
Organizations:
WAOW, Associate Member Women Artist Out West
OPA, Associate Member Oil Painters of America
AWS, American Watercolor Society
The Five Graces, 5Graces
Ask Art, Blue Book of Artists
©Copyright 2009 by Laurie Justus Pace. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit her website.
‘Iris’
24 x 36
Watercolor on Canvas
SOLD
Contact me for Commission Work: Laurie
© Laurie Justus Pace Graphics One Design 2009
“For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land—a land with streams and pools of water, with springs flowing in the valleys and hills;” Deuteronomy 8:7
The Picture: This is a watercolor on big watercolor canvas. I did it during a class demonstration on watercolor several years ago.
The Thought: I was reading Christian Fiction recently and part of one of the character’s flaws was the ‘gift’ of manic depression. The Lord often has a serious sense of humor on these gifts. But truly it is one if you can embrace it. In every gift or challenge there is something there for us to receive and then give back to others. The character in the book referred to the ‘handling’ of the mood swings by comparing it to hills and valleys. Our life journey always has hills and valleys. That is a given we can agree on. The character had to mentally keep focused on the next hill top when they found themselves bottomed out in the valley of depression. They knew this too would pass.
Now for our family this is a serious illness having manic depression. I believe in many cases the only functional choice is often medication. Yet as I read through this verse above and pondered it… the little light in my head went off. The description of where God would bring you talked of those valleys and hills, AND spoke of the springs running through them. I would liken the springs to that of God in motion through all our valleys and hills. Forever present, His love is like that stream of water…. continuous motion in our lives running right beside our path as we walk.
On the drive into Jackson Hole Wyoming from the south, from the dry barren town of Rock Springs… you think you are in isolation on the moon and suddenly as the altitudes increase…the Snake River appears next to the road and you find it dancing beside you weaving from one side to the other and back.
Today imagine that in your life. God is a never ending stream at your feet, you only need to reach out to be refreshed.
Laurie
“Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill made low. The crooked roads shall become straight, the rough ways smooth.” Luke 3:5
Website, Laurie Justus Pace
Website, The Painted Pony
Blog, A Texas Contemporary Artist
Blog, Wonders of the Heart
Galleries:
Jackson, Wyoming – The Rare Gallery
Penn Yan, New York—Earthworks Art Gallery
The Village of Granville, Ohio—The Gillian Jones Gallery
Marble Falls, Texas – Patina of Marble Falls
Dallas, Texas—The Dutch Art Gallery
Atascadero, California – The Red Tree Gallery
El Dorado Hills, California—Our House Gallery
Hong Kong – SR Gallery
Erie, Colorado – The Daily Painters
Dallas,Texas – The Daily Painters of Texas
Centennial, Colorado—The Daily Painters Abstract
Organizations:
WAOW, Associate Member Women Artist Out West
OPA, Associate Member Oil Painters of America
AWS, American Watercolor Society
The Five Graces, 5Graces
Ask Art, Blue Book of Artists
©Copyright 2009 by Laurie Justus Pace. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit her website.
I guess I am still on a flower kick. These fast alla prima florals are a fun way to get my painting kick in between a family reunion, a holiday and First Friday. Someone brought a vase of pretty sweet peas to put on the table for the family reunion so tonight I painted them.
©Copyright 2009 by Sue Steiner. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit her website.
Red, white and blue from my garden…
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
The Declaration of Independence July 4, 1776
©Copyright 2009 by Jennifer MacNeill-Traylor. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit her website.
This is a commission that a regular to my studio in Canton had asked me to do a couple months ago. This painting is based on Van Gogh’s ‘Irises’ painting. That alone is kind of intimidating. I think too the idea of all those irises kind of kept me from moving forward on this after I got about half way thru. I ended up hitting the wire for a deadline so just plunged back into it. A funny thing happened as I did. I discovered that the faster I worked and the more I gobbed paint on the better those irsies were looking! Maybe that is my own delusion but hopefully I learned something this! 
I will be able to take this to my studio tonight for First Friday — wet but it will be there!
Too many days have gone by since I got to paint like I did today! This was fun! I made a mess– paint everywhere…. I think at one point I may have sat on a paint tube. But it was worth it. I got my painting fix and I feel MUCH better!
This is big– maybe 24 x 24 ? Something like that. It will be at my studio in time for First Friday. I want to go back and add more lights when it dries. I just could not get the yellows light enough… that may have had to do with all the paint flying around everywhere– couldn’t keep the yellows ‘clean’. Oh well, I will have more restraint now that I got to play!
My Mom, daughter and I went to meet my aunt yesterday where she has worked for the last 30 years, Winterthur. I haven’t been there since I was a small child so I forgot how nice it is. So I thought I would share some of my photos today to celebrate Earth Day.
As their website says, Winterthur is “A wonderland for garden lovers.”. Winterthur is near Wilmington, DE and was the country estate of Henry Francis du Pont. It sits on close to 1,000 acres and has 60 acres of gardens including a children’s fairy tale garden called the Enchanted Woods.
I suppose many people go to Winterthur to see the collections of early American furniture, soup tureens and needlework but I was there to see the woodlands and gorgeous wildflowers (my new favorite is Virginia Bluebells).
Here are just a few of my favorite photos. Click on each photo to see a larger image.
Waterfalls and woodland ponds galore!
Pretty little stream with primrose.
Fairy house in the enchanted garden.
Friendly little snake.
Sparrow takes a bath.
I could sit here all day…
I want this tree!
Too many frogs to count. My mom pet one.
Huge koi followed us around the pond.
My new favorite flower.
Fields of daffodils planted everywhere.
Cute little chipmunk says hello!
©Copyright 2009 by Jennifer MacNeill-Traylor. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit her website.
70 degrees, super sunny, sweet spring air – what more could you ask for?
Here’s just a few shots from the backyard today…
Meadow Rue
Unusual small yellow tulip.
Zazu chases the hose.
Tender pea shoots.
Grape Hyacinth coming up in the yard.
Zazu and the gargoyle keeping watch.
One of my favorites, Bleeding Hearts.
©Copyright 2009 by Jennifer MacNeill-Traylor. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit her website.
I’ve been playing… probably because I soon will need to pack and move to the new studio. Demos are starting up this week and I have a commission I need to finish. So what do I do??? Play with finger painting!! I sound like my 12 yr old when it’s time to do homework! ~In my defense though I did get 3 paintings shipped off this week! In my son’s defense he actually is good about getting homework done.~
I will say there is value in finger painting. It is relaxing. It is freeing — you can’t get bogged down in details- you just go by feel and experiementation. And hopefully I have gotten the distractibility out of my system so I can paint walls, gather supplies, make lists, pack boxes, frame and mat. The next two weeks will be busy. I want to be ready to go for May’s First Friday. I also would like to get my commission completed before then. So now you know and maybe by virtue of telling you I can get all that I need done. If you are coming to First Friday stop by Second April Art Gallerie Studio #207 !
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©Copyright 2009 by Sue Steiner. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit her website.
I want to make another garden today! Yeah, I know, April showers, blah, blah, blah.
I just got a tiller and I want to till! I have been wanting a rototiller since we bought our house and, well, new ones are too expensive and used ones go so quickly. Every time I would find one in the paper it would be sold by the time I called. So my dear, sweet mother has given me/loaned indefinitely her precious old John Deere. They have two large tractors to plow their monstrous garden and didn’t really need it. The poor old thing had been sitting in their shed unused for years. My step father took it out for me on Easter and had it running in about 30 minutes. Nothing runs like a Deere, right?
So I managed to double the size of my veggie garden yesterday. I think I’ll make a few smalled beds for cukes and pumpkins. I already have the hose out on the ground mapping my next flower bed and I have a bunch of plants lying around waiting to be planted… Scotch Broom, Lupine, Delphinium, foxglove, Siberian iris, heuchera, forsythia, blueberries, meadow rue…
Is it time to go to Longwood again? (I put a little Flickr Slideshow widget on the right hand side so you can go to Longwood too!)
I did manage to paint one sign over the weekend. A bay overo Paint horse. He’s currently on Ebay this week. I started a mini donkey foal today which I hope to have up on Ebay soon too. Haven’t had a chance to work on on oil yet.
©Copyright 2009 by Jennifer MacNeill-Traylor. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit her website.
A wander through the garden yesterday showed that all sorts of little green”noses” were popping up through the dark, wet soil, the Irises among them. I don’t tend to look at flowers just the way a hobby gardener does, although that is exactly what I am – I sometimes look at them through the portals of faery land. So many blossoms seem to have a magical personality to them, and no where is this more apparent to me, than with the Iris. She is regal, stately, and leads the way into summer with much ceremony. In this painting, I wanted to underline her regal presence by having her stand pretty much alone against a green/gold background. Seeing her like this makes me believe that true, warm, delightful Spring is just around the corner.
Now I need to turn my attention back to the dogs, cats, and horses that I love to paint.
LADY IRIS is an 11 x 14 watercolour, and is available on my website.
Heather Anderson
www.heather-anderson-animals-in-art.com
©Copyright 2008 by Heather Anderson. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit Heather Anderson’s website.
I have been struck this week with Spring FEVER! So many plants popping up in the yard. My first daffodil has bloomed along with another pretty little purple flower (who knows what this is??).
Inspired by the gorgeous Andalusian horse in the “Trash the Dress” video (see post below for link), I painted a romantic grey horse in flowers. I should have him up on Ebay shortly.
Last but certainly not least, in all the craziness that was March, I completely forgot to mention the gorgeous tulip photo I won in Meghann of Little Studio Photography and Jewellery’s giveaway. Can’t wait to frame it, I think I have just the right place! You can have one of these too, here is a framed one that she has in her Etsy store!
©Copyright 2009 by Jennifer MacNeill-Traylor. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit her website.
We went to Longwood Gardens over the weekend to see what was blooming. Oddly enough it’s one of my 3 year olds favorite places (and mine too). Not much going on outside – some crocus, aconite and a very cool Korean rhododendron that had no foilage but beautiful purple blossoms. Inside they were having a big orchid event so I snapped a bunch of photos of some really gorgeous flowers to share…
©Copyright 2009 by Jennifer MacNeill-Traylor. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit her website.
We had spring like weather today with this beautiful, warm sun! I’ve been doing some unpleasant tasks like getting my records ready for taxes so I welcomed the distraction of this beautiful flower that is opening up in this sunlight. I have plans to start working on a couple new equine paintings as soon as I get my taxes ready! Look for a Black Shire and a chestnut Thoroughbred wok in progress paintings soon. To see finished work go to http://www.suesteiner.com For info. on pet or horse portraits go to: http://www.suesteiner.com/mbr_purchase.php
©Copyright 2009 by Sue Steiner. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit her website.
I am in from my morning chores. One of my favorite chores is the handling and feeding of my colt, Ricco. He’s been out with the herd but since his feed requirements are higher than the rest of my group I single him out to make sure he gets what he needs. This also becomes a good time to do some handling. The feed becomes his reward and he is responding very well. Today while he munched on his grain I held the bucket for him and had time to just stand and feel the sun’s rays on our backs. The air is cold, the ground still hard and frozen but the sun felt warm. Ahhhhh. The promise of spring was told to us as we felt the warmth. I listened to the birds sing anticipating spring and all the newness, freshness, hope that comes along with it.
I will leave you today with a tulip I did a few months ago. This is a watercolor/mixed media piece and will be offered for sale at my Open Studio during Canton’s First Friday on March 6th. I am in my Canton studio every First Friday in suite #222 above Second April Art Gallerie on the corner of 4th and Cleveland Ave. If you come in the door by Arcardia Grill I am at the top of the stairs. Stop in and see my floral watercolor art along with animal and equine art. I am also available for pet portraits in oils or watercolors.
Thanks for stopping by!
©Copyright 2009 by Sue Steiner. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit her website.
