Finished!

This is the finished painting - just added a couple of layers of paint overall to give it a little more depth.
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A work in progress...

Make mine red please... I still have a ways to go on this one but it's time to stop and make dinner - and I'm getting a little thirsty:)

Co-Pilots

This is my entry for this month's Nibblefest contest - the theme is View from the Window. This one features Dusty and Rainey attempting to fit two passengers in one passenger seat:)

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Work in Progress

Here are some fall trees I'm working on tonight in between making chili for dinner and writing out some Christmas cards...

When you care enough to give the very best...

My dogs Dusty and Rainey took a much greater than usual interest in this painting - especially during the photo shoot process this morning:) And yes - they got to split the subject of the painting.

I drive past this house every time I go to get my hair done and I've had this reference photo for a long time - I've always liked it and finally today I took it out of the stack of photos and went to work.

Cattledog watercolor sketch...

I sketched this last night while watching Extreme Makeover - it's from a photo of my beloved dog Rocky but the face turned out looking more like my other dog Dusty... guess I'm just so used to painting Dusty and all the dogs I paint end up looking like Dusty:) I'm tempted to call it Do you Hear What I Hear because of the big ears...

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Faithful Friends

This one is a birthday present for my friend Jon. He loves the water and so does his faithful dog Mandy:)

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Generations of Freedom

"Generations of Freedom"

As I was finishing this up this morning it occured to me that while I was painting these 3 horses I was hanging out and painting with 3 generations of family - my mother in law, my sisters in law, and my niece...how cool is that! It was a great day of painting and catching up with each other. I highly recommend getting together with your family to do something creative and bond with each other - it's good for the soul!

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A work in progress...

Here's what I'm working on tonight...I will be listing it on ebay tomorrow with 50% of the proceeds to go to Sierra Wild Horse Sanctuary. The reference photo was taken at a wild horse sanctuary in Utah during a trip to visit my dad and his wife Jenny a couple of years ago.

November nibblefest

This will be my entry for Nibblefest for November...

*****Felinicity*****

I started this last night - just playing with my paints while watching a program on PBS.

two tickets to dreamland

Another painting of my cattledogs - Dusty and Rainey...

Comfort and Joy...

This is what "Comfort and Joy" looks like in our house:)

Joy Comes in the Morning

I was listening to Michael Curtis Chapman's new CD while I painted this last night and the line from one of his songs became the title of this painting.

The Bee Hive

Today I took a trip down memory lane and did a painting of one of my favorite childhood places - The Bee Hive restaurant has bravely stood in the middle of downtown Montesano forever it seems - at least for 45 years...and it was "retro" even then:) I love this place and had a good time revisiting it this afternoon --- it's made me ravenously hungry just thinking about those big greasy french fries and thick creamy milkshakes...

Her Heart Knows the Answer

I've been dabbling with this the last few nights... another portrait study. My year of focusing on painting better portraits is almost over. I've learned a lot about them and don't feel as much anxiety about painting people as I did before my year of painting portraits. In fact I really enjoy them now. I only have a couple of months to decide what my focus will be for 2010.

One last painting before I have to go back to the "real world"

I don't think I'm quite done with this Sunday Night Jazz painting yet - but here it is so far... It's been a very enjoyable day of painting:)

Esperanza Spalding

Today I did a watercolor painting of one of my new favorite musicians - Esperanza Spalding. If you like jazz and you haven't heard her music yet - you should! I really enjoyed listening to her while doing this painting.

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Leaving Leaves Long Shadows...

This is my entry for Karin Jurick's Different Strokes From Different Folks blog... Karin posts photos and invites all artists to post their interpretation.

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A postcard for Fall

This is a little 4"X6" postcard I finished this morning in tribute to our beautiful Skagit Valley Fall season...

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Hotel Lobby

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Once Upon a Full Moon

I just got home from vacation yesterday and couldn't wait to painting something! I didn't know what to paint so I just put on some music and this was what happened...

Nibblefest entry for October

This month the theme for Nibblefest is Halloween. I decided to challenge myself to paint something that wasn't an animal this time. I almost always paint a dog or cat. So this was something completely different :)

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"Bay Watcher"

I saw this woman a couple of weekends ago - sitting at the end of the road looking out at the bay. I couldn't resist painting that red hair!!

"Witchy Woman"

Here's one for the season...

Warm Light

Here's another painting where I did the acrylic underpainting with an oil painting on top.

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In Flight

Earlier this week I experimented with painting an acrylic underpainting with an oil painting over it. I really enjoyed the process and look forward to trying this again.

"At Rest"

8"X 12 1/2" watercolor painting. I painted this one

this afternoon at my sister in law's beautiful studio on the

water. As always - we had a great time painting together

with my mother in law and her sister also joining us...

what a great day!

Back to the basics...

I really enjoyed just getting back to the basics this afternoon - a pencil, a piece of paper and an earaser...

And for Dusty - getting back to the basics includes his bed and his red ball:)

Happy Dog

Happy Dog

My Australian Cattledogs are happiest when they have control of the "red ball"! Yes - we have more than one red ball...but they still always seem to want the same one and like to gloat when they have control of it:)

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Morning warm up

Here's a little Saturday early morning warm up . I'm going gallery hopping this morning and looking forward to being inspired!

Fork in the River

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August Nibblefest

This is my painting for the August Nibblefest contest the theme is Rivers and Trees.

"Distant Shores"

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untitled

I've been working on this the past few nights

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Heart's Prayer

Another prayer painting for this gorgeous Pacific Northwest Sunday afternoon.

Under His Wings

The title is from a hymn:

"Under His wings I am safely abiding, tho the night deepens and tempests are wild; Still I can trust Him - I know He will keep me, He has redeemed me and I am His child."

Cornet Bay

Here's the little bay I live on..more fun with my watercolor crayons.

"Just Beachy"

I tried out some watercolor crayons I've had for a long time in the background of this painting and used my watercolor pencils for the two beach walkers.

"Cash"

This is just a fun little ACEO pastel painting for this week's ACEO and ATC Enthusiasts weekly challenge. This week's theme is "cash" and Johnny was the first thing that came to mind for me! I could not for the life of me get a good photo of this little painting - this was the least blurry and color distorted of the bunch. The actual painting is much less pink and the background is a really vivid green that didn't show up in the photo at all. Oh well... I listed it anyway - on Ebay starting this afternoon.

Sunday sketch

I was listening to a show on the CBC this afternoon about Music that Changed the World and this week's segment was on rap ... while I was listening I did this little watercolor sketch.

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Up and away...

This was my Saturday night art offering...

an oil portrait 6"X6"

Local color

Last night I went out with a friend for our monthly dinner and gallery night in Anacortes. After I got home I just had to play with some art supplies even though I was dead tired - I did this 8"X10" pastel painting before I dropped into bed.

Summer Reading Program

One of my favorite summer activities - sitting in the grass losing myself in a good book!

I tried something different on this one - the tree and girl are painted in watercolor and the grass and background are in oil pastel. I like the depth and richness of color the oil pastel added.

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Ode to Joe

My best friend in Jr High School nursed back to health a crow/raven named Joe. He stayed around their house for years following them back and forth to and from the school bus...this is my Ode to Joe.

Mother Nature sings Hallelujah

Sunflowers always seem to me to be nature's Hallelujah Chorus!

This is watercolor on 300 lb cold press watercolor paper.

Morning in the Skagit Valley

I had such a great day yesterday painting with my friends Evelyn, Marie and Carl. This was one of the watercolors I worked on before we switched to making jewelry and collages.

Anywhere I Hang My Hat is Home

My Nibblefest entry for July.

5"X7" watercolor

I was working on another painting and heard the song "Anywhere I Hang My Hat is Home" on our local jazz station and came up with the idea for this painting.

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Dreamers

I painted this during several short work night sessions. My favorite part was just playing with the magic of watercolors in the lower portion of the painting - splattering with water and adding a little salt to create texture...fun!

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Paws for Massage

Here's the finished painting...

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