Magnolia Still Life

Here is my newest painting that is currently untitled. Anyone have a suggestion for a name? Now that I've photographed it I can see some changes that need to be made but for the most part it's finished.

Wow, another year has disappeared and tomorrow will be 2008. This is a good time to reflect upon our life and the direction we have chosen. Life is good and I'm looking forward to a New Year!

Party Animals at the Library

My party animals caught their fish and also picked up a clam along the way. Now they are visiting at the library. Who says you lose your imagination when you get older? Carla, my painting buddy, and I have been having a blast setting up these still lifes. She paints faster than I do but I have the advantage because it's my studio so I can paint every night if I wish.

This painting is larger than the previous ones. If I remember correctly it's 18" x 24". We have already setup another still life and I'm using the same size canvas but I'm not ready to post a photo of it yet. We retired the party animals but you never know they may show up again in the future.

Still Painting

I'm still working on my still lifes. This is a photo of one I posted earlier but I made a few changes. I think it's finished now......it's hard for me to determine when I'm finished with something. I have to 'live' with it for awhile because it just takes a little brush stroke here or there to make a remarkable improvement. Party Animals is 20" x 20" and I like that size. I'll have to order more canvases in that size.

This other piece is Party Animals - Gone Fishing which I also updated. I'm finished with this one....it told me to move on. I like the vase in this one but I'm not crazy about the rest of the composition.

I seem to get better with each painting so I'll continue in this vein for a while longer.

Portrait of Laryssa

This is a portrait that I painted of my great niece, Laryssa Nunn, when she was two years old. My niece, Jenny, took a photo of her daughter Laryssa at her dance class while she was tired and leaning up against the mirror. It was such a darling photo so I wanted to capture it in oil on a canvas. This is the first portrait I've ever painted so it's not perfect but it actually looks like Laryssa so I'm pleased. I just hope her parents like it because it's their Christmas present!

Lots Wife

Lots Wife comes home after touring the country for four years. I was invited by Ruth Harris to participate in a traveling exhibit that she named Women of Biblical Proportions. I was instructed to choose a woman in the Bible and construct a quilt that was exactly 22" square. I chose Lots Wife because that was one story in the Bible that had made a lasting impression on me as a child. I think there were 50 quilts in the exhibit that toured the US from 2003 thru 2007. It's nice to have it home but I decided to gift it to a good friend, Cherri Willis, that is a manager at a local religious radio station, KMSI 88.1FM. Cherri will hang it in her office so it is going to a good home.

Another Professional Photo

Here is another professional photo by Photo Factory, this is "In Kandinsky Time". It's a felted piece that has been sewn to a painted canvas. The canvas is deep with wrap around edges so it doesn't need framing.

Professional Photos

This is the professional photo that I had taken by Photo Factory of "Another Place In Time". They do excellent work and are very reasonably priced. This one is framed with a black wooden frame as pictured.

I really enjoyed making this felted piece.

Party Animals - Gone Fishing

Here is a second oil painting that is almost finished. I've named this one Party Animals - Gone Fishing. Once again, this is a still life. The ceramic fish and the funky ceramic vase were purchased at the City Arts Center pottery sale. They teach pottery lessons and have this sale once a year as a fund raiser. Some of the pottery is made by students and some by the teachers (I believe), anyway they had some great pottery pieces at rock bottom prices.

Party Animals

I'm a fiber artist by heart but I also love to paint so I've taken up oil painting once again. Carla Houston, a good friend of mine, has been coming over to paint with me and also offers her expertise. She has been a big help and it's so much more fun to have a painting buddy. We have been setting up still life's like the one pictured here. The funny little wooden carved animals in the painting are called Party Animals that I bought at a World Neighbors Festival. The set contains 6 animals that are setting on chairs around a table in the shape of Africa. We only used three of the Party Animals in this still life setting and added a ball of silk yarn and merino roving.....we had to throw in fiber! I have four paintings started so I'll upload the others when they are finished. The one pictured is almost finished.

More on Taos

Now I'm not a weaver or a spinner and I'm not familiar with woolly animals but I think these cute little creatures are Lama's, right? I took this photo at the Taos Wool Festival along with another of two Alpaca's but it was too dark to upload. I wish I had taken photos of the cute angora bunny rabbits that were in cages at several different tents but I was too busy shopping.

Shirley and I stopped along the highway between Taos and Santa Fe at a little fruit stand and bought some items to bring home. I took a photo of the adobe house that was next to the fruit stand. We don't see things like this in Oklahoma, it was so charming but it was right next to a busy highway. Nice to look at but I wouldn't want to live there.