Nothing like a day off...

My Uncle's Turn Road - Mississippi Delta

Clear Bottles

Rollin' into Christmas - ornaments

This was an afterthought. I had a scrap piece of Arches and some left-over paint on my palette so I quickly created the above fun piece. It has a heavy coat of varnish so very difficult to get a good photo (too many reflections on the shiny surface).

Happy Christmas Tree

Christmas tree

Christmas tree

Falling into winter

Mississippi Delta

A Friend's Old Cat

Flowers from scratch

Landscape Painting - Mississippi Delta

There is no ignoring the magnificent sunsets in the Mississippi Delta. I enjoy them daily and have always felt compelled to paint them. These paintings are an easy afternoon and relaxing. They also loosen up my other work. They allow me to work on new colors and color combinations without fear! Making the switch from oils to the acrylics has been a nice change for me.

Landscape Oil Painting - Mississippi Delta

Landscape Painting - Mississippi Delta

Prelude to a Ditch-water dive!

Ezra belongs to a friend of my son's. He is full of energy and this shot was taken just before he decided to dive for a ball that was at the bottom of a ditch with about half a foot of water pooled at the muddy bottom. The water did not stop the diving effort! I am happy to report that the quest to get the ball was a success!

German Shorthaired Pointer

This is a German Shorthaired Pointer that was waiting to get the next move from his trainer at Wildrose Kennels. These dogs seem to have such graceful lines.

More Dogs!

Meet Buddy! This is a birthday surprise going to Texas.

New work...Dogs, of course...

Making time for painting again... Went back through some of my animal photos and selected a few that I found interesting. I'm getting ready for a show so the next ones will be a series of dogs on a smaller format. The photos were ones that I had passed over in the past for watercolors but upon a second look I think they will work wonderfully with the open acrylics.

Untitled

This is another piece with a limited amount of needleweaving. I did carefully select the colors used and all the beads are glass. I have been surprised with the amount color selection involved. I select the beads I am going to use first. Then I place them on various colors and combinations of thread. It seems that the colors that I initially think will work in threads are not the ones that I end up selecting.

something new

With limited time, I found that my watercolors were not very forgiving. I would have to stop painting and then start again maybe a day or week later. This really interrupted the flow of the painting. I had serendipitously came across a book called Threads and Beads and found the pieces very interesting. It has been fun to go from a 2-dimensional surface to a 3-dimensional piece. I did underestimate the time these would take to complete. I am also going to have to figure out a way to get a better photograph! The colors are not well represented here.

Too Often Orphaned

Too Often Orphaned....Oxford-Lafayette Humane Society annual donation piece for fundraiser Paws for Art! Each dog (and cat) painted is of one that was a resident at OLHS or was dropped off around my small farm on the highway. For the ones dropped off, I might keep one or two or a kitten or puppy of a litter and then take the Mom and litter-mates to OLHS. From left to right: the first pup was an OLHS resident, the Pit-bull was a drop-off that I was keeping but died from heartworm treatment, the third was an OLHS resident and was adopted by a family in Oxford, the yellow lab mix with rope toy was a drop-off that I kept, the kitten (appropriately called "Dammit Kitty") was a drop-off with mom and litter-mates and I kept DK and took the rest to OLHS, the dog in the center was dropped off with 7 very young pups and all were taken to OLHS, the cutie sitting sideways on her leg was an OLHS resident adopted by yours truly (her name is Izzy), the next pup was an OLHS resident, and lastly Wylie who was mangy for so long that the vet advice was to put him down but he finally pulled out of it and adopted by me.

Mallards- Ducks on Ice

This is off one of those gravel roads in my county of no red lights. These ducks were walking on ice with others flying overhead. I took the photo of this frozen scene in December in Tallahatchie County, Mississippi.

Cat Photo

I get no respect from my self-appointed assistant.

What's not to love?

Color Study Abstract

The Grass is Greener

Spring is here!

My mom's tulips.

My Friend's Horse

Again, using Golden Opens on watercolor paper with lots of water.

Calico Cat Painting

Abstracts about Color

These small color studies are fun and relaxing!

Landscape Painting - Mississippi Delta

Just testing the limits of the acrylics and watercolor paper.

Horse Painting - New Work

Some things take a long time and a lot of patience. Finally, after much contemplation and deliberation, I have arrived at a method that I can relax with and create something that I really enjoy looking at. It is a good balance of cool and warm colors, positive and negative and basically push and pull. I have spent this new year not painting as much as thinking about where I wanted to be with my art. This came about because my time is more limited and I was becoming frustrated with my final pieces. I realized that I was not having much luck painting on canvas. The surface seemed to make my work flat. I did like the Golden Open Acrylics but again thought they went flat on the canvas. After much thought, I decided that it was the surface and also that I needed some transparency or white space to allow the painting to breathe. I was missing some of the wonderful characteristics of the watercolors but was determined to make the Opens work. I switched my surface to a very heavy watercolor paper that can take abuse and hold lots of water and stuck with the Opens as I really like the saturation of color. This is the result. Sometimes you just need to take a break and relax to get past the frustration and blocks.

Mud Island, Memphis, TN

I find landscapes really difficult. I have about 5 pounds of paint on this small painting and many, many hours spent moving the paint around. I also find trees extremely difficult. There were many times that I felt that I would be better off if I would toss this one and start on another (non-landscape). I opted to just have some fun with color and try to learn more about using acrylic paint. This painting went through so many (awful) stages that I am not sure if I actually like it. I do like the colors and I did learn a lot about painting trees. This is from a photo I took while living on Mud Island, Memphis, TN and shows some of the park and the Mississippi River Bridge.

Gonzeaux - Yorkie Terrier

Meet Gonzeaux (Gonzo) a/k/a spoiled rotten. This is my sister-in-law's little cutie and I think he's a 4 pounder. I used a snapshot to work from and am trying my hand at the Golden Open Acrylics.

Everyone was ready for the snow to go away! Izzy was sure that the best place to be was inside!