Spring has sprung

Necessity being the mother of invention; this little painting covers the old front door bell. We had to change our door bell last year but people weren't seeing the new one so I covered the old one with this little painting. Worked like a charm!

A sure sign of Spring in Edmonton is when the jackrabbits coats turn brown. This is the first time I've seen our resident "bunny" with it's spring coat. A week ago it was pure white, 'course a week ago, we still had snow. A couple of days ago Faye Christian Phillips posted a little painting of the bunny in her yard and she inspired me as always.

It is just lovely and I can hardly wait to get outside to paint and garden.

Puerto Vallarta Marina

8x10 Oil on Gallery Canvas

This painting was done from a photo taken from our villa while on vacation in Nuevo Vallarta. It was a totally still, very hot day that reminded me of days when we were kids that seemed to go on forever. We heard that our -35 temps are finished for this year so maybe I'll get wistful about snow again. I would like to paint a picture of the little snow hill that my son works at before they close.

Today we did an exercise that was meant to be monochromatic. Not sure how I did with that part of it but will try it again another time.

Conch Shell Exercise

Curlew in Balboa

6 X 8 NFS-study

Oil on Board

SOLD

This wonderful bird was basking in the sun in Balboa and I just had to paint him today. The sun was shining on his beak and it was the brightest magenta. There seems to be a recurring theme of sunshine in Laguna happening in my paintings, likely because of the -25C temps we've had for awhile in Edmonton. Thankfully, with beautiful clear skies for walking and skiing.

I was delighted today to see that Karen Appleton had linked my blog to hers. She is one of my favorite painters and a wise soul. I won't give it away but check it out and see for yourself.

I hope that you all have a wonderful year in 2009 and the warmth of family and friends today to start it off!

Red Boat

9x12 framed $285.00

Oil on Archival Linen Board

This is the second of the Tahiti paintings. This red boat gave me such a peaceful feeling that I had to paint it before the photo fades into nevernever land. It's -25 here today so it makes me a little wistful.

Heisler Park Bluffs

8x10 Framed $250
Oil on Archival Linen Board

This is painted from one of many photos that I took while in Laguna and Newport doing a workshop with Greg LaRock recently. It was an excellent workshop! This day was really windy but it didn't take away from the pleasure of being there. At the end of this last day we went over to the Laguna Art Museum to see the new exhibit, In Nature's Temple: The Life & Art of William Wendt. As always, the paintings in real life were so much more exciting than the colour plates in a book will show. Although having said that, the book/catalogue of this exhibit is excellent!

Safe Harbour

9 x 12 Framed $285.00

Oil on Archival Linen Board

This was painted from a photo my husband took when he was in Tahiti in '78. It was faded badly so he was getting concerned the memory would be lost. One day we'll get there together but in the meantime, painting this was a warm pleasure.