Snow Day Memories

 Snow Day 7 x 10" pastel

I'm currently reading a book titled "The Midnight Train" by Matt Haig. With no spoilers, it is about an old man who dies and boards a train to eternity. During the trip he views the passing of his life outside the train windows. The train stops at pivotal moments during his life where he can examine them more closely. I'm enjoying it very much, but there was one sentence that I appreciated so much, I had to stop and write it down: "Doesn't the mundane starch of reality always turn to sugar with memory." Goodness that struck home! You don't aways comprehend the happiest moments or times of your life until they are reflected upon.

I was on vacation recently with family and was thinking how I couldn't wait to get home to journal about it and review the photos. It's as if, even though I try to "be present" (and I think I do a pretty good job of that), I can't fully process how wonderful it all is until a can take that time to reflect - let it become sugar. 

This piece is from a photo taken more than 20 years ago. It's a beautiful memory that has become more beautiful with time. My kids are grown. We don't get snowfalls like this very often anymore. Life speeds by - like a train. When it is my turn to board that train, I hope it stops here. I will soak up the joy of my babies and throw myself down into the snow and make a snow angel and bask in the blessings that my life has been so full of. How sweet is that?!

Speaking on the piece itself, I haven't done a pastel for a very long time - years actually. But I was just in the mood and pastels are a quick medium. Here are the steps:

I did a small pencil sketch first then switched to Nupastels and pastel pencils on colored pastel paper. 

The last thing I did was tone down the snow a bit. Didn't want it to be quite so brilliant of a blue.

I'm not sure how much time I invested, but each step was less than an hour.

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Waterfall at Lake Cumberland

 Waterfall at Lake Cumberland 16x22" oils

This one has been in progress for 26 years! haha! I started it 26 years ago after a big family vacation on a houseboat at Lake Cumberland. This one holds a lot of great memories. It was our first evening on the lake and we were looking for a place to pull over to tie up for the night. We kept checking little inlets and agreeing "this is fine, just pull over." The holdout was, I believe, my brother-in-law who wanted to keep on looking. We ended up at this beautiful waterfall. (The heron was inserted from another photo). 

I started it 26 years ago, and it has just been pinned up on my studio wall this whole time waiting for me to decide I had enough experience to finish it. Below is what it has looked like all this time. You may not see a big difference, but I do! Haha! I finished the heron, made the water splashier, gave a bit more depth to the background, and hit the rock with a palette knife to give it more texture.  Woo hoo! DONE!

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Swans

Swans - oils 12 x 22"

My most recent piece and some of the steps:

I started on a clayboard surface with a yellow ochre wash. I think it's more difficult to start on white and if you're not too heavy handed with paints (as I tend to be), some of the warmth can shine through.

The neck of the big swan was just a bit too long so I shortened it a bit.

For me, the water was the most challenging part. I think I did a decent job with it.

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Tara

 Tara 11 x 14 oil painting

Goodness, this one was a long time coming. This is my niece who got married last June in Jamaica.

I started this piece on June 17th of 2025 and finally finished it May 14th 2026. I had pieced together a few different photographs, and some of the background I had to just figure out without reference.

I would work on it for a few sessions, get excited about it, hit a snag, put it away for a couple months, and then try again.

I won't share all 16 steps but here are a few:

6-17-25

6-30-25

I wanted more ocean in the background.

7-28-25

This is where I was happy that the portrait part would work out. Like with the bridal portrait of my daughter that I posted in April, that's a pretty tiny face!

1-12-26

I wasn't liking the landscape area on the left so I painted most of it out. Also, started a bit of the greenery on the right.

2-23-26

Then, I went for a more dramatic sky. 

There had been quite a few afternoon storms while we were there, so the choice was valid. haha!

After a few more months and more detail, I finished!

I'm always going to second guess myself on whether or not I should have darkened the sky.

Alas, the problems of being an artist.

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Drinks on the House!

8"x12" oils on canvas paper.

I set up the photo for this back in January of 2023.

You may be thinking, Wow! I bet that was a fun day!

Sorry to disappoint, but it was all an illusion of colored water with a little oat-milk

for the creamy looking drinks, some real fruit added for good measure, and

I also used some photos of drinks I pulled from the internet.

Not one drop of alcohol was consumed (don't think I'm opposed to a good cocktail), but the next day I had to call sick into work with what felt like the worst hangover I've ever had. Hmmmm. Weird. 

Power of suggestion????

Anyway, after I recovered, the first stab at a painting looked like this:

I did it on canvas paper because it was just a fun study.

I wasn't happy with the balance of color - warm colors on the left, cool on the right. 

So, I just chopped the right side off and blacked out a couple of the cocktails. 

In February of the same year I had gotten this far, experimenting with color in the background for energy.

I decided I didn't like it. I was done.

Recently, I've been going through old projects. Either throwing them away, or working it out. 

I decided to save this one. Not one of my finest - but finished.

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My Babygirl the Bride

8 x 10 oil on clayboard

This is a small study I completed recently. It is a learning piece for a much larger painting, (at least double in size). I don't have much landscape experience, and I was merging three different photos, so I wanted to do a small practice one. It went well enough that I kept going with it to make it nice enough to give to my daughter. I am still going to do the larger one. That one will be for myself! Also, by making it larger I will be able to make it a better portrait. Goodness, her face is only a 1/2 inch tall. That was not easy!

Here are two of the photos:

She got married in October at a beautiful venue, but the trees had not turned color quite yet. You can see in my painting that I also tried popping out a little more autumn coloring.

Here's a couple steps in the process:

One more note: See that splash of water in the pond? When I was a little girl, my grandfather and I would go to his pond, sit on the bank, and throw stones in to watch the ripples. We called it kerplunking stones, and we would do it often. Many years ago, but in my adulthood, I made it back to that pond. I threw a stone in and got a photo of it splashing. I'm hoping to get a little more detail on the splash when I do the larger piece. A "ripples of time" kind of thing.

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