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!!

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!!

Another try at pastels...

if you're thinking of buying stock in something.. consider pastels!!LOL ever since desiree gave us, on painting friends.com, a couple outstanding videos on "how to enjoy, pastels". we have been buying them, like they are going out of style.. some how its just like wc.. you buy one and then you need another..lol i may need to go back to work to pay for my newest addition.. i love that fixing a mistake, is just a pastel stroke away..and you're off and running, again..:) being new to this..(my second one) the mistake fixing is at the top of the list of.. yippees!!

thank you to desiree for fun introduction to pastels and ruth harris for the wonderful photo!!

enjoy your week everyone!!

a fruit snack??

my gosh its been almost a month since ive been here?? where has the time gone??
guess its been the rushing, shopping, wrapping and visiting gkids and kids Christmas performances..

yesterday i wanted to paint.. i was getting withdrawals?? always a little uncomfortable painting gifts!! what if they dont like it?? how do they nicely pitch it?? LOL so thanks to ponting on wc for the yummy photo... i painted a little painting for son and dil.. they got some new red drapes and hope this will work in their family room...sorry forgot to take picture before i matted.. duh!!!LOL

wrapping this weekend and then one more day of shopping on monday and i should be done.. fingers crossed!!

will be stopping by to say hi and wish you all merry christmas, next week!! hope you're all staying warm !!

by the sea side!!

i saw this photo on james parkers windows to the words blog ( http://windowstothewords.blogspot.com/) and i had to give it a whirl!!...the little kids were sooooooo cute..

was going to make my way around blogs, last week but got a thrown a curve ball late thursday night.. my brother in law wanted to accompany hubby home friday.. so rushed around and cleaned and made food and they arrived at 2 am.. we woke early and took them around san diego to see some sites and they left at 3 am the next morning... so little to no sleep, either night.. needless to say, by sunday i was a zoombie..lol even tho it was hectic.. i was glad he did it..he felt the trip caused major confusion getting there and he was scared to have him travel alone... so bless his heart.. they all arrived safe and sound!!

so i only got to a few places before getting the call, so i will be there soon to check out all your new paintings... lol hope you all had a happy monday!!

grapes??

well i'm back and i had a blast!!! didnt know i could still giggle so much!! hubby is still in ohio and will be coming back on monday.. had a rough first week, but settling in a bit now and enjoying his family!

think i'll spend the next few days catching up on here, visiting a few of your blogs, to enjoy your new paintings.. wow!! feel like i've been gone forever!! and of course paint!!! wooo hooo!!

this photo was a friday challenge on painting friends.. the photo was provided by desiree.. thanks kiddo!! she always makes me stretch.. and the glass was a stretch.. for sure..

got little tighter on this than i wanted to but like the colors and how they play off each other... funny we all thought it was an apple in the bowl, but found out after painting, it was a peach!!! oopsie... its an apple now!!

hope everyone is having a good week.. will be by soon, to say hi!!

ps this looks a bit wonky on here.. its my great camera expertise!!

a touch of copper!!

this was a challenge on painting friends... thank you ann, for the wonderful photo!!

i was abit hesitant on doing this, as i had never tried copper before... so i asked around for ideas..tried a few different colors, and finally thought this one might work.. especially with the green of the apples.. ended up using a wet on wet wash of aurelin yellow and light perm a c.. then after dry, i added a overall light wash of quin burnt orange!! it was a fun painting to try !! after looking at it again this morning.. i might go back in and darken the left side of the background a bit more, behind the apples, to give it abit more variance

have a great sunday!!

lots of cupcakes!!!

I always look forward to the challenges offered by karin on different strokes for different folks, blog..... she really forces me out of my comfort zone!! thanks karin!! i think!!!

this week she has us trying these yummy cupcakes.. how come, when i'm on a diet??? LOL im surprised one cupcake doesn't have a bite or three, missing from it...

these were fun to do!!! had never tried cupcakes before!! in wishy washy.. nora and i did desserts and she did cupcakes, i did the strawberry short cake..

have a good week!!

I'll share.. bring a fork~~

nora and i challenged each other on painting friends... in our wishy washy team, to paint a dessert.. being i'm on a diet this was not the easiest thing to manage.. was hungry the whole darn time..

she did a wonderful cupcake, but then ate it.. argggghhhhhhh!!! mine was from a photo so i luckily wasn't tempted that way.. had fun doing this... as i love strawberry shortcake !! yummmmmm

got this photo from wc and cant find it now to give credit to the photographer.. but will keep looking, so i can say thanks...

no crying now...lol

going to go camping for a few days, just to check out the rv... its been awhile.. so not sure if we remember how to work everything..??? so taking it on a short trial run...

been busy packing and grabbing just the important necessities.. paint, water jug, brushes, paper sketch paper and pencils and camera.... then if room left, food and clothes and fishing supplies..lol see i do have my priorities right lol

this was a fun painting to do.., glazing techniques, for a 2 hour challenge on "painting friends" .. was happy how it came out, so no tears shed!!

wanted to stop in and say a quick hi... and bye!!! enjoy the rest of your week!! ;)

How about some wine and cheese..??

First of all thank you strawberry wine, from WC, for the great photo..

Did this painting with my "wishy washy" partner, nora.. we advertised in the lonely brush club, on Painting Friends and teamed up to paint one painting a week.. we choose the photo together, discuss some ideas, colors, and styles...then off we go and paint separate...At the end of the week, we share how we each interpreted it...

She is a perfect partner.. easy to get along with, gets me giggling and pushes me to try thing i might not.. Plus she is an excellant artist, so i can't sluff off.. or she puts me to shame.. Its fun getting to know each other better and great having a friend across the country!!

we both had painted apples, millions of time and never had tried bread.. but it was funny we were both happy with our bread and hated our overworked apples!!!?? who would've thunk??? LOL

havea good day all!!

Here is my veggie painting.. This painting was done from a photograph, provided on the blog Different Strokes From Different Folks, where artists are encouraged to paint or draw their own interpretations. I decided to crop it a bit and had really fun painting it.. Enjoy seeing what everyone does with their paintings!!! Thanks Karin for doing this and spending your time to make it work!!

whew!!! finally got the peppers done!! just in the nick of time!!! LOL

our wishy washy team chose a photo by madmum (ruth) in wc..thanks ruth for sharing your photo!!

wanted to try doing under painting and glazing.... and have the whole effect seem loose... some how loose left the table !!! LOL

it was fun to do and enjoyed trying some thing a little different...

hope everyone is having a happy sunday!!

Been looking at lots of blogs where everyone is wonderful with their sketches.. decided with our alphabet challenge, wanted to just experiment and try lots of different things....so in C for couch.. did some quick pen and ink, then splashed in some color.. it was a kick!! its a tad out of balance, and adding the tree, may not have been the best idea.. but i didn't want to stop, was having fun!!! LOL took about 10 minutes or less!!

need to do a bit more on my wishy washy challenge it's due.. have a great saturday!!

today on painting friends we challenged ourselves to try and paint a quick sketch a day.. we are using the alphabet as our guide.. so today we started with A.. lol

we have a few avocado trees so thought, ok that will be different... since they are hass avo's, they have bumpy skin.. first i tried just pressing the scott towel lightly, over fresh paint, to give it some texture, but it just wasn't enough.. so i re-wet, adding light wash of color and used my stylus, while still wet.. i think that gives it a great suggestion of bumps.. with out painting every single bump!!! LOL these look yummy, wish they were ripe, would have an avo sandwich...