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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The Gift

 11"x14" oils

This was not an easy reference photo to take. I had to be stealthy. Really stealthy. There were several female cardinals outside the window, but I only got in one photo before they caught my un-stealthy movement and flew away. At least this one photo, I did get, turned out to be pretty cool.

I wish I could have invited her in for a bit. It was just a few days before Christmas and I would have loved sharing some hospitality.

Step 2: getting the layout down.

(Step 1 was starting with a canvas that had been coated in burnt sienna)

Step 3 - started to place the branches and the bird

Step 4 - working across with the leaves and some of the woodwork

Step 5 - Added the brass window latch and more detail in the wood.

The last step, at the top of the page, was more detail and especially more leaves.

I used a palette knife to dab in more texture.

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Thief! But, darn. A cute one.

5"x7" oils

Our grandson, who lives in Las Vegas, refers to our place as the house in the forest.

Nope. We are just a regular residential plot with some trees. Haha! But I love the fact that from his viewpoint, closer to the ground, it appears to be a forest.

We've planted a couple of peach trees which have been kind of hit and miss with their production. In 2022 we left in July for a vacation of 5 days. When we pulled out of the driveway, the peach trees were heavy with fruit. Tons of it! When we returned, the fruit was completely gone. Completely gone. Not even a peach pit. The culprit(s)? I have a guess. But man, what I wouldn't have payed to see those guys in action. They had to have worked their fluffy little tails off to have pulled off the peach harvest heist of the century.

Jump ahead to the summer of 2025. There weren't a whole lotta peaches - just enough for a pie or two. We took our share, and I made sure to leave a few fruits on the branches for the squirrels, because I'm a soft-hearted idiot.  In payment, I got a sweet little photograph to work from, and a few instances of being able to watch them scamper around in glee, chasing each other and collecting some booty. Not a bad trade off.

Here are a few of this piece's steps along the way.

 Step One: Just some base colors (in oils)

Step 2:Basic placement of things.

                                       

Step 3: Stepping up the color and a little bit of detail.

Step 4: Detail day! Getting more detail done.

Step 5: Ditto!

Lastly, pictured at the top of the page, all the detail. 

Sorry for not posting at all in February. I went out to visit my Las Vegas grandson, celebrate my 60th birthday, and see a bit of Route 66 (a bucket list item). I did, however, work quite a bit in my studio in February, and I hope to be able to finish up a few more pieces to post this month. 

Thanks for stopping by!

This artist, now in her glorious 60s, appreciates you from the bottom of her heart!

The Beauty of the Snow - a poem by me

The Beauty of the Snow

I wake in darkness. Rise.

The world tied with a sugared bow

as promised, I now gaze upon

the beauty of the snow.

It sparkles, gleams; it beckons.

“Test my drifts, and watch me blow.

I am the winter’s blanket;

a glory named the snow.”

I reach for sound, for anything;

for birds, for cars, but no.

A muffled world encompassed in 

the silence of the snow.

Not everyone is happy.

I must hide my thoughts, and so

I pour hot chocolate, make some toast,

and celebrate the snow.

Shops close and flights delay.

Our schedules lose accustomed flow.

Ashamed, (I’m such a child at heart!)

I wish for deeper snow.

Beauty, wonder, danger?

Do you see it friend or foe?

No mind. We are but witnesses

to power of the snow.

As always, thanks for stopping by!