Cherries Contained

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This is the last of the series and my personal favorite. Many thanks to Sarah for lending me the green bottle, which has complemented the cherries so well. And to my parents for giving me the confidence to pursue art in the first place ... wait, sorry I lapsed into my acceptance speech daydream. Heh heh ...

Coy Cherries

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For my second in this series I decided to play around with stacking and a cozy, little grouping. It may look simple but I tried about 30 minutes worth of different combinations with the bottles in different positions and stacks, etc. Oh man. Often the simplest compositions are the most difficult to come up with.

Bird's Eye View

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I did a series of paintings with bottles and cherries. This is the first one and arguably the simplest. Stay tuned for   more.

Pink Reflections

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I am so happy to have finally found cherries at the grocery store! Small, red and shiny - endlessly useful to the likes of this still life artist.

Disco Cherry

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I found this cute little hippo at a thrift store near the coast. He's actually a toothpick holder - got a big hole in his back. But I thought he was perfect paired with this single cherry. They're on a date - doin' a little disco dancing while the hippo contemplates his next move.

Reflecting Love

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Thank you all so incredibly much for your kind comments!! As usual I am overwhelmed by the love, support and virtual hugs. You all have wrapped me in a giant, cozy blanket and it is just what I needed.

Now I am off to Florida to teach all next week. One thing I didn't think about when we moved to Oregon was how many time zones I was away from the East coast, and how many hours it would take to get there! Oh man. So while I lurch across the country tomorrow, please enjoy my second to last before the fire painting. I'll post more faces soon.

Scary Cherry

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I apologize for not posting this past week. We have been running around like chickens with our heads cut off in the never-ending (it seems) task of starting over from scratch in a new house. I hope to get back to regular posting soon. Meanwhile I am almost ready to start painting again. I keep thinking I can paint and then realize I am missing something important. The last order of supplies will come tomorrow while we are in Portland making an IKEA run.

See pics of our new house on our New Beginning blog.

Whiskey or Tea?

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The second part of this title, which I thought of when I painted it (weeks ago) is "No Contest." But that cherry's already had enough, don't you think? The rest is for me.   : )

We finally made it to Oregon. Check out our New Beginning blog to read about it and see photos.

Pushover

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This lovely wooden duck (gone now) was given to me by my buddy Don, in California. I enjoyed painting it. And speaking of gifts, I want to say THANK YOU SO MUCH to all of you who have sent art supplies, gift cards, books, music, emails, etc. We are so incredibly grateful for the support. I can't say it enough. And many thanks to all of you who've sent funny face pics already. We've been running around tying up loose ends, and will be until we leave, so I won't be able to paint again until the 6th of October. But I can't WAIT to get started on my new project. I have so many wonderful images to work from. Please keep sending them.

Yesterday we went to visit the old "house". I posted some photos on the building my studio blog - the last chapter of that one. I dug through the ashes and found a few still life objects - none useable except maybe one cup. I also found my little travel turp can, shown below. It was sad but we are glad to have seen it. It proved good closure for us. Now on with the adventure!

Curious About a Cherry

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Today we went to the Hohenzollern castle (click the name to see photos of this magnificent place!). And the castle was pretty cool but I have to admit getting there was pretty freakin' awesome! I have one word for you - AUTOBAHN!!! When you're on it you can drive however fast you want. I got up to 150! Ok, it was kilometers per hour, but that's still pretty fast. And yet, there were cars whizzing past. These Germans, they know how to get around. : ) Below is me with my cute boys standing beside an arch in the castle.

Cheery Cherries

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This is a theme with me - 3 cherries in a row. I don't know why I'm so drawn to it. Maybe because they're so shiny and reflective. It's a very happy theme for me. You'll probably see it again.

Tomorrow we're off to see a big castle! We've been to Germany several times now and this will be our first castle-sighting. We're very excited. : )

Starting Line

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Here is my painting for this week's Daily Paintworks Challenge: the Paint What You Paint With Challenge.

Tomorrow my family is flying to Germany where we will stay for a month. We will be back August 2nd, and after I get some sleep and recover a little from jetlag (a day or 2) I'll ship all the paintings that sold while I was gone (I apologize in advance for that inconvenience). If you missed the info the first few times, we go to Germany to visit my husband's birth-mother, whom he found a few years ago. She lives in a 400 year old farmhouse in the Black Forest with 4 horses, 2 cats, 2 bunnies and a dog. We are looking forward to seeing her again!

Colored Glass & Cherries

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We are all done with the workshop today. And despite the unruly Canadians I had a lovely time. The weather was pretty perfect, the scenery was beautiful, and ok, I might have exaggerated their behavior a little. Maybe they were actually pretty nice and wonderful. Maybe I said all that other stuff just for effect. Maybe they look awfully cute sitting around eating lunch outside:

For the group photo we had to set the camera on a car and use the timer, which produced not only a cool reflection in the foreground, but also tilted us a bit. I will miss my cute, fun, tilted Canadian kids!

Cutting Fruit

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BUILD-A-BLOG CLASS: If you'd like to start an art blog and sell online but feel intimidated by the idea, there is now an online class to get you started. My friend Jennifer is teaching one this weekend, so if you're interested, time's a wastin'! more info...

I went out to dinner last night with my Canadian kids and this time, in addition to forcing me to drink lots of wine and good food, they poured ice cream straight down my throat. Torture. And then, as I was walking home, the wind picked up, and a huge table umbrella flew away and hit me right in the head. So much for coming back to Canada. Here are a few pictures of the evil-doers. And here I thought they were sooo nice.

"Painting Cherries"

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I apologize for not having any pictures yet. As nice as these Canadians are, they are so demanding! It's all just ME ME ME with these gals. They plum wore me out.

"Cherry Cocktail"

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Since someone asked, I am in central Canada, Alberta province, near Red Deer. The weather is still absolutely glorious! And the kids are good so far. These Canadians are extra nice. I'll have pictures soon.

Cherry Bird

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This is a cherry bird. Like a bird dog, this bird hunts cherries. Thank you, bird, for posing for me in front of your prey. And thank you, Carolyn, for the bird. : )