A Passion for Painting

Thank you to Edward Burton, who sent this "A Passion for Painting" award to me. I think he is a very talented painter, and I admire his paintings. It certainly fits, because I do have a passion for painting, and a passion for learning more about art and painting.
The rules of the award, are to put a link in your post of the blog of the person who sent the award. And to list 7 things you love... and then to list 7 others who you'd like to give the award to, and let them know.
My 7 things I love:
1. I love my family and friends
2. I love to spend a day at an art gallery!
3. I love to spend time browsing at the art supply store.
4. I love getting a package of new art supplies in the mail!!!
5. I love painting a good picture.
6. I love being at the beach
7. I love drawing!!
And, here are 7 other artists I'd like to pass this award along to:
(please don't feel you have to participate, especially if you've already received one of these awards)
1. Marilyn King
2. Taryn Day
3. Myra Anderson
4. Diane Hoeptner
5. Dar Presto
6. R. Garriott
7. Dana Cooper

"A Day at the Beach" 6"x6" oil on board

This painting was done for Karin Jurick's Different Strokes from Different Folks blog. The subject for this latest challenge is a beach scene with many different figures in it. I usually don't pick this type of subject to paint, but this scene seemed familiar to me because I spent many summers at the beach in VA while growing up. So, I wanted to give it a try, and I'm glad I did. I enjoyed painting the figures, and got lots of practice mixing different colors for the water and sky.

Strawberries with Spoon 5x7 Oil on Canvas Panel

I played around with this strawberry painting today, and now, I like it much better.

"Angelic Face" Oil on 6x6 panel

This painting was done from a photo I took at a garden show called "Gardenscape". It's a lovely indoor show, full of beautiful gardens and blooming spring flowers. This angel was in the form of a round flat stone plaque, with the relief carving of the angels face and wings. I thought the face was so beautiful and peaceful looking, I wanted to try and paint it. I chose to leave out most of the design of the wings and concentrated on the face. Sometime, I'd like to try and do a larger painting of the entire design.

Strawberries 4x6 Canvas Panel (in progress)

I couldn't resist some more strawberries.
I don't know why I chose to put one on a spoon... but, it seemed interesting. I had trouble again getting a good image of the painting. The glare was a problem, but also some dryer areas were looking a bit flat. I'll have to wait til it's completely dry and varnish it, maybe that will help. But, for now, this is a pretty good representation of it.

Purple Hydrangea

Oil on 5"x7" Gessobord
This hydrangea flower came from a picture I took sometime last year. I just happened to run across it in my pictures folder, and decided it would be nice to paint. This particular flower came off a bush in my grandmother's yard that has deep bluish purple flowers. The ones in my yard are always a boring pale pink.

Irish Whiskey 8"x10 (Better image)

After many unsuccessful photos, I have simply tried to block out the glare with photoshop in the original photo. It looks better, but, I will keep trying :)

Irish Whiskey... re painted

I was planning on painting over this whiskey jug painting with something totally different, when I thought I should give it another try. Why not? and besides, I wouldn' t have to start something from scratch, this was already painted and dry, I could start right in. After a few minutes of painting,I don't know what I did, but for some reason, it just started to look like I had wanted it to, the first time I had tried to paint it. I got so excited!!!! It's funny how I can get so excited, or so disappointed over what happens on that canvas. Excited enough to want to jump up and down and cheer!!!! or disappointed enough to sit and cry. This one made me cheer. It's not perfect, but I had a good day. This was a hard painting to take a good picture of. Lots of glare in every one I took. I'll try to get a better one another time.
To see my first try at this painting scroll down, or click here.

"Joey's Shoes" 5x7 drawing

I found this great little sketch book in Barnes and Noble book store today. I have been drawing in it all day. I love the paper, it's recycled paper and a natural light brown shade with bits of fibers in it. I am always looking for drawing paper that isn't white, because I like to draw with a dark pencil and then add white highlights with a white pastel pencil, or some other sort of white drawing pencil. I thought I'd post the drawing of these little worn out baby shoes. They belonged to my son, who is now 18, and who I also bought a pair of sneakers for today. How time flies.

Daffodils

Oil on 6x6 Gessobord
This weekend we "Spring Ahead"!! and I can't wait. More sunshine during the day! The weather has gotten a little milder here, and the sun has been out, so I feel like Spring is right around the corner. I bought these daffodils from the store, the real ones outside won't be blooming for a couple of months. I struggled a bit painting these, but once I tried the bright blue background color, that seemed to make it right.

Three Strawberries

Oil on 6"x6" Gessobord
It was a quiet day around here today, so I was able to finish my strawberry painting.

Strawberries (work in progress)

It's hard to believe, but my blog is a year old today! I actually started it on February 29,2008, but there's no 29th this year, so March 1st is practically the same thing. I've started this painting of strawberries today. I'll post the finished painting later, or tomorrow, once it's finished. Thanks to everyone who visit, and leave comments on my blog from time to time. It's been a fun year! and, I'm looking forward to many more.