Christmas Time

Christmas Time is such a wonderful time of the year!  For me its a time to be with family and friends and most of all to thank the Lord for all of the gifts in my life.

"Christmas Time"
17 x 22 - original oil painting on canvas








The Christmas tradition of cutting a tree and bringing it inside the home makes for an interesting read.  Here is a link to that history if any of you are interested...

http://www.history.com/topics/history-of-christmas-trees

GRANDMOTHER'S NEWS BLAST!!!

On December 22, a special gift arrived ... our fourth grandchild, Mattie Jayne, was born.  We were all very excited and waiting patiently, well maybe not patiently, but waiting none the less.  The day was finally here and she was well worth waiting for.



Mattie Jayne Wilson
7 lbs. 3 ozs.
20" long


Isn't she beautiful!












Being a mother and a grandmother makes me so happy!  I am so very thankful for the wonderful people in my life... my husband Clay; my children... Jason and Kristen; Matthew and Kayla; Sarah and Mark and the special gifts they have given to me... my grandchildren.

My three special grand baby boys in my life were photographed together at our recent family visit to the beach in August (see previous post).



Clayton, Jackson and Aiden




Such handsome little guys, aren't they precious!












I hope that each of you is able to spend some time with those special people in your life this Christmas.

Merry Christmas Everyone!  

Sunshine

This painting began this weekend when the weather was raining outside.  I don't know why but when the weather is bad I love to paint sunflowers.  Sunflowers seem to make the mood not feel so dreary and call in the sunshine.  The lemons and tangerines are from the trees in my back yard which I combined with the sunflowers to make this still life setup.  The sweet little vase was given to me for Mother's Day by my children and the bowl I made in pottery class about 2 years ago.

I toned the canvas with black and turp then came in with my lighter browns.  I wanted the background to be kind of dark to make the yellows and oranges stand out.

"Sunshine"
22 x 22 - oils on loose canvas















This is painted on loose canvas and can be mounted or stretched for framing.

White Poppy # 2

It's a quiet Sunday morning and the sun is trying to peek through the clouds.  I get a glimpse of it every now and then.  The weather is crazy here.  One day its cold (for South Louisiana - 35 degrees) and the next day its in the 70's.

This is the 2nd rendition of my poppy study.  In this painting I've added painting knife techniques with a concentration on pushing value and keeping the color intense.

White Poppy #2
16 x 18 - oils on canvas













This painting is on loose canvas and can be stretched and/or mounted on panel board.

Roses in the Window

This painting was done from a photograph.  It appeals to me because of the window.  As an artist I often work alone in my studio and I paint in front of the window looking out to the world.  It's a happy place because I am doing what I love, but it is often lonely too.  I am very thankful for my painting time but most of all for the times I spend with my family and friends.  They are the roses in my life and are all very special to me.

Roses in the Window
15 x 18 - oils on canvas mounted on masonite

Flower Fade

In Southern Louisiana, we do not have much of a winter.  This morning its 43 degrees and expected high is 69 degrees.  Just enough for the leaves to fall and the flowers to fade away.

This floral painting was painted on canvas using brush and painting knives.  Concentration in this painting was on palette knife techniques, keeping the mood loose and the color vibrant..

The Fade
15 x 18 - oil on canvas











This painting is on loose canvas and can be stretched and/or mounted on panel board.

Rip Van Winkle Gardens

I love Rip Van Winkle Gardens! Every time I visit I have such a wonderful and relaxing experience.  The grounds are so beautifully maintained and everyone is always so friendly. We had a great time that day painting and visiting.  We had lunch at the little cafe on the grounds looking out onto the lake...beautiful!

The 2 paintings below were done while plein air painting with a friend, (Denise Broussard), during our last excursion to  Rip Van Winkle Gardens in Jefferson Island, Louisiana .  

Garden View
8 x 8 - oils on canvas panel






















Bamboo View
8 x 8 - oil on canvas panel





















 I've painted here before and have blogged about them previously.  These are the links to those other posts: peacock;  friends;  plein-air-painting-in-rip-van-winkle

Palmetto Island State Park Adventure

I was looking around on Facebook last week and spotted this photo from Palmetto Island State Park that was posted showing the fall color there.  After sending it to my friend and plein air painting buddy, Denise Broussard, we decided to paint there this week.  

                       

Sunday afternoon, Denise and her husband brought their motor home to the park and spent the night at the park and I met them there.  We  had a great time painting, visiting and enjoying the beautiful area.  We setup and painted around the pond.  It's such a great place to relax and enjoy nature.

Palmetto Island Pond
9 x 12 - oils on canvas panel















During the week this park is not very busy and the serenity here is wonderful except leaving the park after dark to go home was pretty tricky. It is very dark and the roads are winding and like a maze back in the woods, but I made it home all safe and sound for the night.

Next morning I got a late start from home but headed out to meet Denise at Palmetto Island State Park.   We headed up to this quaint little weir on the grounds that I have painted several times but the water as murky and the vegetation was not as lush as it usually is during the springtime and summer months.  We chose a different spot in the park near the boat launch to the Vermilion River access.

By the Dock
8 x 10 - oils on canvas
$100

Plein Air Painting Downtown Lafayette Update

I previously blogged that while painting with a friend downtown we were photographed by the Advertiser and our picture was in the Friday edition of the Accent in the local paper.  I am finally getting around to posting the painting I did that day.  We were painting a little restaurant on Jefferson Street called Pamplona Tapas Bar & Grill.

Pamplona Tapas Bar & Grill
10 x 14 - oils on canvas panel

Sunflower Study

I've been practicing sunflowers again.  This is painted on un-stretched canvas and may be something I want to paint many of.  I am happy with the value in the leaves.  Sunflowers remind me of sunshine and vitamin c which is what I need right now.

I must have the lowest resistance to colds there is because I have this crud again.  Meanwhile I am cancelling all activities, staying home and drinking plenty of liquids.

Sunflower Study
16 x 16 - oils on canvas















This painting is on loose canvas and can be stretched and/or mounted on panel board.

White Poppy Study

Okay, its Thanksgiving week and I have my sweet family coming over on Thursday, so I am very excited about that and have been doing a little cooking and getting ready.  I have been a good girl and taking care of business, and have not painted much this week.  When I don't paint, I get really bad withdrawals.  So, I took a break from Thanksgiving duties today and painted.  My photography is not the best, but here it is anyway.

I have a 4 foot canvas sitting in my garage that I am thinking about painting poppies on and thought I would play around on a small piece of canvas until I get what I want then paint it large.  Here is my first study on a  16" x 18" piece of canvas...probably one of many until I am satisfied with my end result.

White Poppy #1
16 x 18 - oils on canvas













This painting is on loose canvas and can be stretched and/or mounted on panel board.

Plein Air Painting Downtown Lafayette

Every Wednesday I spend the day with a friend and fellow artist, Denise Broussard, plein air painting.  We designate a location for the month and paint that area.  Our designated spot for the month of November is Downtown Lafayette.

Our painting in the downtown area has been a wonderful experience and we've received such positive feedback and comments from passers by who stopped to check out what we were doing.  Our hope is that we will encourage other artists to come out and paint with us.

This photo was taken by someone from The Daily Advertister and is in today's edition of the local newspaper.  

 I will be posting my finished painting soon so stay tuned for updates....

Red Poppies

This red floral painting is one I did several weeks back but never posted.  I'm trying to work on getting better contrast and value in my paintings.  I like flowers growing in a group look and I'm happy with the way this turned out, I just wish I had painted it on a larger canvas.  

"Red Poppies"
8 x 10 - oils on canvas

English Garden

I found a sweet little  picture of an English Garden that I fell in love with and decided to paint.  Although painting from a photo is not the ideal way to paint something I did it anyway and I'm very pleased with how this turned out.  My intention here is to include lots of value and color.  It's painted on a 12 x 12 panel and filled with lots of detail work.

Backyard View Value Study

This painting was done a couple of days before I attended the Mississippi workshop.  The view is from my back patio looking out into the field behind my house.  

The first photo was taken after the first sitting.  

When I returned from my workshop, I worked on the painting again concentrating on adding more value to the painting and trying to apply some of the techniques I learned.  The photo below is the result I ended up with.  I am happier with these results.

Downtown painting update

A couple of weeks ago I posted a video taken by the Independent Magazine while a friend and I were painting downtown Lafayette.  The photograph below is the painting I was working on when the video was filmed.  

"Downtown Lafayette - 500 Block of Jefferson Street"
10 x 14 - oils on canvas panel

Techniques Workshop

I recently attended a one-day techniques workshop given by an amazing and talented teacher, Pat Bourque.  Her many years of teaching experience really show up in her workshops.   I would highly recommend her workshops to anyone! 

We did this study on a stormy sky.  The sky is painted with a brush but the foreground is all painting knife work.  I was very happy with the results of my painting.  

The afternoon was spent on value, florals using more palette knife techniques, medium additives, etc.  Awesome Workshop!

Workshop News

I want to appologize to my followers for having neglected my posting lately but here is what has been happening in my world.  I traveled to Mississippi in October for a 5 day plein air workshop, drove home right after the demo on the last day then attended a 1 day workshop the very next morning.  Needless to say I was pretty tired exhausted but I'm home and am attempting to get my act together.  The hardest part for me is taking a decent photograph that I can use to upload my work.  I took photographs of some of the pieces I have been working on and will be blogging and posting in the next few days.

The 5 day Stapleton Kearns plein air workshop bootcamp was a truly amazing experience.  The days were super long and exhausting but so enjoyable and filled with sooooo much information and knowledge.  Stape is a super talented professional landscape painter from New Hampshire.  If any of you have the opportunity to attend one of his workshops, don't miss it.  He is an awesome teacher!  Here he is doing his thing, teaching and painting in the town square...

Attending something like this, not only is a humbling experience but it also strengthens your artistic eye.  My days were filled with information and now I just need to practice what I've learned.

We went to a sweet little farm one of the days and after the mornings demo, we were given the task of painting something in black and white as a value study.  I setup and painted this little hay barn, but was unable to complete because the sun went away.  

Downtown Painters

It was such a beautiful cool day to paint in Southern Louisiana today.  I headed out early this morning with a friend, Denise Broussard, to do some plein air painting in downtown Lafayette.  While painting we were interviewed by Walter Pierce of the Independent Magazine.

"What a wonderful anachronism: a pair of artists capturing a cityscape in downtown Lafayette on a gorgeous afternoon.

Friends and fellow painters Maria Randolph and Denise Broussard, members of the venerable Lafayette Art Association, set up their easels and carefully applied oil to canvas Monday afternoon as they painted a stretch of the 500 block of Jefferson Street just down from the IND Monthly office."

Cups, cups...

This little cup I used for this still life study is another of my pottery class creations.

Here are the 4 paintings I did on a piece of canvas moving the cup around, changing colors, direction of the light source, and using my imagination.  

Ahhh...Tea Time

Ahhh...Tea Time again!  Tea invokes a calming emotion for me.  It's a time to sit and relax and enjoy the moment or maybe contemplate on the days events...

" Red Cup of Tea"
(6 x 6 - oils on canvas panel)

















While we are talking about tea, the next photograph is a still life painting I did of a special little teapot of mine.  This is a teapot I made when I took pottery classes last year.


"Green Teapot"
(4 x 6 - oils on canvas panel)

Note:  This is a diptych painted on two 4 x 6 panels.

Kitty Vase

This little vase is one I like a lot.  I love the greens and since I am partial to cats, need I say more...
I found flowers I had in my stash and made this small composition to paint.  I painted it a couple of times.  It's always interesting to me how the same thing can be so different...

"Cat Vase #1"
8 x 8 - oils on panel

"Cat Vase #2"
11 x 14 - oils on canvas panel

I added a few more leaves in this one.  The photograph quality in this one is not that great, looks kind of fuzzy at the bottom right.

Tea Time

I've been sick this week...quarantined.  I have this wonderful cold and don't want to share...boooo!

Even though I don't feel very well I've managed to get in an hour here and there of painting.  This is something I did yesterday.  It reminds me of want I want when I am sick, a good cup of hot lemon tea.  It seems to not only feel good on my sore throat going down but it makes me feel warm and fuzzy all over.

Hope you guys all had a great week, Happy Friday!

"Tea Time"

(8 x 8 - original oil painting on panel)

Pink Sky Sunflower

The sun is shining today and its fitting for a post of this painting.  Sunflowers always make me think of sunshine and happiness.  I painted this sunflower with a different stroke technique from the ones I've painted previously and the colors are not as intense which gives this painting, I think, more of a whispy feel.

"Pink Sky Sunflower"
(6 x 6 - oils on canvas panel)

Fantasy Blue

This floral painting is mixed media (oils, acrylic and collage).  I first painted the white canvas with gold acrylic paint.  Then I collaged a paper to the canvas (this is the aqua and white you are seeing in the background.  I painted in the flower on the side and added the purples and blues in the background to compliment the color of the flower.

"Fantasy Blue"
(8 x 10 - mixed media on canvas)
SOLD

A rose is a rose is a ...

Roses, roses, roses.... I'm continuing to paint roses in different colors, just playing around in my studio with color and shapes of these roses...waiting for the cooler temperatures.

"Yellow Rose"
(6 x 6 - oils on canvas panel)

"Blue Rose"
(6 x 6 - oils on canvas panel)

"Cream Rose"

(6 x 6 - oils on canvas panel)

Fresh Cut

This little painting was painted from a photo.  My concentration was on the glass vase in this painting.  I normally don't paint a lot of glass in my art, but I was happy how this turned out.

"Fresh Cut"
(4 x 6 - oils on canvas panel)
SOLD

More Roses

I'm still painting roses!

"Pink Rose #3"
(6 x 6 - oils on canvas panel)

"Orange Rose"
(6 x 6 - oils on canvas panel)






















Artist Note:  I'm still working on form and color combinations, trying not to blend it out.  As I paint these I am studying the way the petals turn and the color contrasts, playing cool against warm and light against dark.  I don't have real roses to paint from but I am using a book and what I learned from my floristry experiences to paint these.  Practice, practice, practice...

Patio Greens

The inspiration for this painting was from a photograph showing leafy greens planted on this patio.  The photograph had a white wall, and some boring pots below so I did some artistic editing.  I also moved the watering can out a bit so it wasn't so hidden.

"Patio Greens"
(10 x 10 - oils on panel)

Pink Roses

I love painting the same subject multiple times to study how different they turn out.  I find it very interesting how using different painting surfaces will result in such a different look.

"Pink Rose #1" 
6 x 6 - oils on canvas panel


This first rose was painted on canvas panel, notice the coarser textured background.

For the rose I used combinations of alizarin crimson, transparent oxide red medium, permanent rose, burnt umber and white.  The background was mixes of ultramarine blue, sap green and white.  For the greens I used sap green, dioxide purple, indian yellow, cad yellow light, burnt umber and white.

"Pink Rose #2"
6 x 6 - oils on panel


I think this is a softer look with the panel.  I used the same colors that I did for the first painting with  different color intensity mixes.

The only other difference in color here is that I scraped together what was left from the first painting of the rose and used it in the background of this painting mixed with my blues.









Artist Note:  I used titanium white for these paintings, but found it hard to get the feel I wanted from the whites.  I didn't have a white with a heavier body but I will paint this again with a thicker white to see if I get a better result.  I think the umber in the first rose mixed with the alizarin gives me a deeper color to the rose and I liked that a lot.

Please feel free to share any comments, suggestions, etc. I would love to hear from you...

Fall Plants

Season's change is soon upon us and it has me thinking about my garden series again.  This little Terracotta pot reminds me of  the Fall Season with its earthy colors and the ornamental cabbage plant growing there.



"Fall Planting"
6 x 8 - original oil painting on panel

Summertime Flowers

I woke up this morning to a gloomy rainy day.  I know my flower gardens need rain to produce those beautiful blooms I see when I look out into my yard.  On days like today I am grateful to be able to produce my own sunshine through my art in these floral paintings.

As fall approaches and the seasons change, I look forward to the cooler temperatures and being able to get outdoors to do some plein air painting, possibly take a trip somewhere to paint.

"Red Knockout Roses"
8 x 8 - oils on panel

"Sunflowers"
8 x 8 - oils on panel

Seedling Pot

This little pot has no bottom and has a removable lid.  It can be placed over planted seeds for germination and/or a tiny plant (with the lid removed) to protect it from the wind and harsh seasons.  I like the way it is nestled in the garden among the plants growing there.  It kind of reminds me of how we Mothers protect and watch over our babies...

"Seedling Pot"
10 x 10 - oils on panel

Beach week

I recently returned from a wonderful week in Florida at Seagrove beach.  I brought my paints and although I did manage to paint a little bit, most of my time was spent playing at the beach and in the surf with my family.  Our grand babies really enjoyed the beach and it was so much fun to watch them, I didn't want to miss a minute.

Here is a picture of my beautiful family.  We had such a wonderful time!

A couple of quick paintings from my balcony...

"Ready For The Day"
6 x 6 - oil on canvas panel



Note:  This was what I was very lucky to wake up to every morning.  The beach was absolutely wonderful.  I painted this as the guy was setting up umbrellas and chairs for the day.

"The Sky Is Closed"
6 x 6 - oils on canvas panel





Note:  Sunsets in Florida are so beautiful.  I painted this one evening and when my little grandbaby came in to see what Nana was painting he described this as "the sky is closed".