hey, its been awhile~~~~

oh my gosh.. its been 8 months since i've been here.. i've missed you guys!!! must learn how to link this, with fb.. because there is only so much time in a day!!! LOL i can explain off 6 weeks. of that time.. hee hee :) went on a wonderful train trip, by myself.. from cali to ohio,(to visit hubby first, who was visiting with his family..)then back on the train to...dc, va, nc..( hilton head and charleston.. beautiful area!!) and then fla, stopping to see cousins, and HS friends along the way. SO MUCH FUN!!! went to splash 2, in fla. with painting friends.com , for a week.. yippee!! then mollie jones and i drove to new orleans and spent another 4 days.. what a town.. great time.. we walked our feet off!! then hopped back on the train, for the rest of the way home... since its a combo vacation/respite for, me as a caregiver.. i sure looked forward to that time, the giggles, friends, family and wonderful site seeing... i have been painting too. as much as i can... infact i got brave and entered an art show.. daniel smith 11th annual art competition. we challenged each other, at paintingfriends.com, to each enter a show. so this is my first show.. her name is cutie pie.. isn't she a doll.. saw her at a birthday party and just had to paint her!! last month she was in the weekly gallery and i just got word, she moved up, to the monthly gallery, with lots of other wonderful paintings..yippee!! the way you move up is to ask your friends, to vote. feels a tad awkward.. so let me offer you the link and say: if you'd like to vote for cutie pie.. just place her name in the search box. other wise look around and vote for your fav!! you can vote thru facebook or wiz, some-thing-er-rather. that will pop up when you click vote. it will say voted, if you did :) i didn't do it right,the whole first week..grrrr!!.. LOL you can cast one vote, per day, in each category.. oils, wc, monthly gallery etc... here is the link.. DANIEL SMITH Weekly Voting Gallery www.danielsmithblog.com Vote for Contest Winners thank you all for your support!!! i'll try and be back sooner than 8 months next time!! happy painting!!

Where does the time go??

is it just me or is everyone feel like they are running in circles?? just doesn't seem like there is any time to paint any more... how can i get better if i don't paint?? LOL this was a little painting i've been wanting to try for years.. darling little gal, having fun at the beach. loved the ruffles on her bathing suit... hmmmmmmm?? maybe that is what i need to do is hop on over to the beach and that way i wont see all the things around her that needs to be done. :)

hope everyone is doing well.. happy painting to you all!!!

Happy new year!!

Happy new year fellow artists.. a little late, but close!!! hope you all had a fabulous christmas and the happiest of new years...
i saw this drawing online and wrote the lady and asked if i could use her drawing and throw a bit of paint on it to and welcome in the new year, on paintingfreinds.com.. she was sweet enough to say, YES!!. please check out her great web site, especially if you have kids.. she has some wonderful books available!!
big thanks to
Elizabeth O. Dulemba,
Children's Book Author/Illustrator
for allowing me to paint her drawing..
http://coloringpagetuesdays.com/


thinking about goals and things i want to improve, with my art, in the new year...

the main one is to take a few more risks and allow myself to make more mistake and just relax and try new techniques...

the other is to either paint or draw something every day.. so far so good..
what are your art goals??

see you soon and happy happy to all~~

here comes.... jasper...

this is jasper, my MIL 's pup.. she just loves this little guy.. he keeps her such good company.. she is in her late 80's and is a really a spunky, super sweet lady.. she asked, when we were back there this summer, if i'd do a painting of jasper.. and since her birthday in on new years eve, thought i'd give it a try in pastels.... they are so much more forgiving than watercolors..can make mistakes and fix and fix..LOL which i do very well.. the mistake part... :)

this is a 8x10 on black suede matboard!!

hope everyone is having fun with all their christmas decorating, cooking and shopping!!!

HO HO HO!!

gobble gobble!!!

happy thanksgiving.. may your holidays be lots prettier than this bird, that is so ugly, he's kinda cute...well that may be pushing it a tad!! LOL

hope you all have a fun day with family and friends.. that your day is filled with love and lots of laughter. and as as my buddy ann say's: wishing you all "enough"...

heres looking at ya!!! :)

that dang mollie has me trying crystal.. its really fun but your eyes get crossed after awhile....i saw this great photo from dianna ponting and thought it looked interesting.. i had lots of fun doing it, but the crazy rim at the top really is an optical illusion.. i redid it a gazillion times and it still pops back and forth .. hopefully that is part of the fun, because i cant fix it again.. have a good weekend all!!

happy halloween!!

trick or treat!!! :).. on painting friends, we each do a fall card and Christmas card for each other.. i was lucky enough to get sharon... and it ended up this year, we got each other..yippee!!! i loved her card.. it was a beautiful card with rose hips and a yummy loose background.....

i'm getting quite a collection, over the years and its always so much fun to bring them out on holidays.. they always bring a smile to my face..

wanted to wish you all happy halloween and a wonderful fall~~ with beautiful colors and delicious fall scents..

enjoy!!!

For my new found cousin.....

before i was born, my parents move west to calif and left all their family behind, in va... i never had the opportunity to meet any relatives.. a few years ago with one remembered name in hand, i started searching for my two cousins... after lots of searching i found one... we have been in contact now for over 6 months, by phone and internet.. i had hoped when i went to out to a painting friend workshop in fa., i would stop and see her.. but the hurricane had other ideas and i had to take a different route home... we were both very sad to have missed that time.. well last week i received a wonderful cousin ring from her, that she had made .. one for her and one for me.. so we would always remember that we had a cousin, across the country, that loved us.. it was soooo sweet!!! i thought i would send her a little gift, with my thank you note, that let her know she was loved too.. hope she likes it!!

back again...LOL

yeah.. i'm on a roll!! back again, in less that a year LOL

first of all want to thank babasteve for his wonderful photo... i love his work!!

most of you might be aware i've been on a portrait journey.. trying to figure out how to and what is my style?? well i'm still on it..

every time i see someone else's wonderful portrait style, i think wow!!! i love that i've got to try a little of this or that!! but when i get painting..the brushes take over and that idea goes out the window.. does that happen to any of you?? maybe i have found my style???? or maybe it's changing, but only by little bits and pieces?? i dont know, but i'm sure having fun on this journey!!

i belong to a small portrait group and this is the challenge for sept.. it was fun.. i learned a lot :) any thoughts or suggestions are always welcome and appreciated... thanks for stopping by and have wonderful day!!

YOP for sept!!

every month we have a new challenge in our YOP... ( year of painting) this month our challenge, on painting friends, ann picked a wonderful female cardinal photo, for us to paint... i love how everyone made it their own and had fun with it..some used saran wrap and crinkled it all up in the background.. pretty clever.. sure made it seem brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.. i had fun splattering the snow.. and it covered a few errors LOL if you want to get in on the fun.. just sign in at paintingfriends.com.. and we'd love to show you around!! whew, got back in here, within a few days..i may get on a roll here and not take so long to come back again... fingers crossed.. hope everyone is doing good and maybe starting to notice a little fall in the air.. see ya soon!!