Summer Delights!

I hadn't planned on taking a vacation, but I guess I did!

For the first time in a few years I was able to take the time to visit with out-of-town family, travel to the coast and a few other places. While I was plein air painting for the Oregon Lavender Festival I discovered I really enjoyed painting outdoors. I took a couple of plein air classes and a couple of pastel classes too. In between all of that was a few sessions of painting the trim on the studio (has it really been 5 years since I finished building it?), building a fence and catching up on yard work. Whew!

Somehow, I managed to get a few paintings finished in the studio. The North Clackamas Arts Guild had their annual show last weekend and 2 of my painting won awards. The first pastel I have ever finished won First Place in the Pastel Still Life category.

Summer Delights, pastel 16x20, NFS

One of my Lavender Festival plein air paintings won a Third Place for Oil Landscapes. I felt honored to have this little painting receive an award as there were over 100 Landscapes entered in this category.

Talk About Quaint, oil 12x16, $245 unframed

I'll post the rest of my Lavender Festival Paintings over the next few days along with a few of the other paintings I've been working on.

My goal for the next couple of months is to get back to painting more 6x6 daily paintings and some larger works also.

Sunflower Duet

 watercolor, 8 1/2"x12 1/2" image—14"x18" mat/frame, $135

(click here to bid on painting)

The Lake Oswego Festival of Arts Show was last weekend. I entered five pieces, four oils and one watercolor. The watercolor is titled "Sunflower Duet" and has a double mat: dark green with a sliver of white. I'll have to take a photo of the artwork with the mat and post it tomorrow.

This One's for Mom, 6x6 oil on gessoboard, May 23rd blog, SOLD

I also entered two of my small blog paintings: "This One's for Mom," a daffodil; and "The Sky is Falling," three little chicks. I'm happy to announce that the little chicks found a good home. They had won two second place ribbons in two miniature shows this month.

The Sky is Falling, 6x6 oil on gessoboard, SOLD

I'll post the other paintings over the next few days.

Pretty in Pink

(click here to bid on painting)

$75
The only thing I don't like about the iris is that it's only around for such a short time. Usually a pink iris is not a very dark pink, but this one has a really deep color. You would think that if they can hybridize one this color that they could create many more with deep shades, but alas, that hasn't been true. So, I enjoy this one when it blooms.

Foxy Glove

(click here to bid on painting)

$75
Don't you wonder who came up with these names? And just what were they thinking? I love foxgloves and always let them go to seed. Then I take the stalks and sprinkle them over my flower beds — kind of like a fairy wand. Then I just sit back and wait for them to bloom next year. The last couple of years we've had such mild winters that some of my plants are 3 or 4 years old and have a half a dozen or more blooming stalks. Talk about heaven!