Oh My! I can't believe that almost a year has gone by since I wrote on my Blog. My how time flies by and so much has happened.
Tomorrow is ARTS ALIVE and I have been juried in! Yeah! Getting ready, have to finish a couple of paintings.
Will try to be more diligent in posting.

Marina and Amir !

This is a painting of our good friend Marina riding her horse Amir. They live near Tahachipi and we spent a weekend with them. ( Husband Rick too) Wonderful! While there I was able to take several pictures of the area and Amir, while our hubbies were out trekking the countryside. When I got home I thought it would be so fun to try and paint Marina riding one of her horses. (I never painted a horse before, let alone someone riding) I tied a string from an artist desk light (R) to a Lava Lamp on the (L) side of my table. Then I'd found the cutest clothespins and with those attached several of the photos, so I could look up at them as I worked. (I'm sure there is a much more professional way of doing it, but it worked!) So as usual I just started and dove in. I especially had fun getting all of the colors in Amir just right. (He has spots) I'm pretty sure Marina said he is an Arabian, and they probably aren't called spots. The next thing that I enjoyed doing were the trees. I love adding layers of paint to bring out the branches and detail on the trunks. Marina was the hardest to paint, because the photo didn't really look like her to me, so I kept trying to change it. And she looked so serious, I tried to give her a slight smile. I finally got to where I felt it was finished. I actually painted this a couple of years ago. At that time I was so concerned about recording everything exactly as it was in the photo. Now I've learned that I don't have to put everything in. And if I want to remove something, or make a branch go a certain way, I can. : )

Digressing......

I LOVE BREAD!! One of my favorites is La Brea Bread, especially the raisin current rolls with butter, lots of butter, of course. Several years ago I found the La Brea Bread book. So I immediately bought it~ I was so excited because I like to bake bread as well as eat it. Well once I got into the book I found that it was quite involved and I just didn't have the time with working and family etc. So I shelved it. Then recently my daughter, Hollie, mentioned that she wanted to make bread and I gave her "The Book." She and her darling hubby followed the instructions and got the 'starter' going and gave me some starter. You can guess what came next..... Yes I made my own rye current rolls. Twice now! Yummy, but not as dark as the ones you can buy. (I had a heck of a time just finding rye flour without having to buy 25 pounds of it. It said it was dark, but I don't think it really was.) I've also made the 'rustic' bread, quite yummy too. I know that this is digressing from my art, but it is something that I love to do.
My hubby says I should be devoting all my extra time to painting. He is my Biggest fan and supporter. But I really like to do a few other things for fun, like baking bread and gardening. There are actually a few other things, but I have tried to focus on the painting, gardening and then occasional baking.

The rolls you see below are 'The Hamburger Buns' from the "Book." The recipe made 16 and so I shared some with the kids and put some in the freezer. They are very good. The bread is really the best when it comes right out of the oven, but you can't eat it all then, even though I've tried : ) but, it does freeze well. O.K. just had to get this out of my system for now.

Juried Show at the Mission Viejo Library

This was very exciting for me. I entered two paintings. 1.) Hollyhocks at the Mission (San Juan) and Market Day. (Mendocino) And guess what? They were both accepted into the show! So yesterday was the last day of the show ~ it started in April and I picked them both up today.
Keep in mind that these are photos of the work and don't really do the actual piece justice.
I put these on my computer.
'Market Day' looks a little different now, in that I toned down the Mom's jacket and her daughter's sweatshirt. They just seemed to stand out too much and take away from the whole picture. So now the finished painting takes you 'into' the market day. It was cool and overcast that day. I had a lot of fun with this and it is a rather 'tight' painting, where 'Hollyhocks' is much more loose. I painted 'Hollyhocks' at the San Juan Mission. This is inside the mission looking towards the entrance.

"MAGGIE"

You need to see Maggie. I had so much fun painting her. She was actually a "commission." That's right! (Trying to keep my head from getting too big.) Anyway, I only had one picture... and I really wanted to do a good job on this because it was for a very good friend's daughter's family that live in Scottsdale, Arizona. (This particular friend has always been sooo supportive and always boosts me up whenever I am with her.) They are Hispanic/Latina, I'm not sure if that is the correct socially acceptable word, but I know Chata wouldn't mind. The reason I mention it is because I wanted to have a certain 'flavor.' I really enjoyed painting Maggie and I understand that the family really liked it. They said, "She sure got the ears right." : )

My First Festival...... Sooo much fun!

Wow, what a fun time. I got to participate in the 'Arts Alive Festival' in Mission Viejo. My first one.
It was a wonderful experience. I got to meet a lot of great people. There was just a feeling about the whole experience~ being around a lot of other artists. You could just 'feel/experience' all of the wonderful artistic energy. I was so grateful to all of my friends that stopped by with support and encouragement. Thank you everyone!
The city set up a canopy for us and even had two tables with covers. I really appreciated that. I loaded up the old red wagon with my 'stuff' and was able to roll it in to the location. My darling husband and wonderful daughter helped me. Not only did Hollie help me with my 'booth', but helped me to keep my feet on the ground. ; ) It was a beautiful day too. You should have seen the Chalk Art that was going on. Amazing! And so many art things for children to participate in.
I'll let you know when then is coming next year... it is usually in the Spring. You just need to be part of this and bring your children, or grand children.
Please notice the wonderful banner that the city made for me. It is currently on display in my 'art studio.'

WHO KNOWS?

We hardly ever eat out. I usually cook. : ) Sometimes we order Chinese food and bring it home, not very often. I saved my fortunes from the last few times we ordered because I thought what they said was interesting. I don't necessarily believe in fortune tellers, but I do believe that we get messages from God or 'the universe' in many different ways. I have learned to listen to these messages and they have proved to be extremely helpful, especially when I have heard the same message or voice more than once.

RILEY

One of our friends asked me to paint Riley. Riley was a beautiful Basset Hound that belonged to our friend's sister. I was given a few photos of Riley. He was known to hang out in Mom's begonias. So I tried to take the pictures of him and place him in the begonia bed above the retaining wall in their backyard.

Beautiful- ever changing

This is the beautiful view that we see from our kitchen window.

Fudgie

Our good friends moved to Northern California. On a visit to see their new home I asked how Fudgie was enjoying his new digs. My friend's eyes welled up and I realized that he had passed. It really touched my heart because we love animals and have had some pass. It is heart wrenching. I was trying to think of something to do and it hit me. I could attempt to paint Fudgie. So I asked if they had any photos and they had a couple. I borrowed them. When we returned I started to work. The photos: one was taken from the front from above and was hard to see all of Fudge, but it was a good shot of his head. The other was one of him laying down inside the house and difficult to get a good view. So I was able to incorporate both pictures and come up with the pose in this painting. The next challenge was to figure out where to place Fudgie. I tried painting a colorful rug under him, but it just didn't work out right. So I removed the background. ( This seems to happen to me a lot. It's a good thing I know how to remove the paint.) Anyway, I remembered seeing a picture of their old backyard. You see they both have backgrounds in landscape design and had a beautiful yard at their old home. So I placed Fudgie in the backyard. I know that he had many wonderful hours basking in the sun there. Being a little hesitant to actually start with the painting process I took some time to decide where to start. I really wanted this to be special. I think that I achieved what I wanted because when I presented it to our friends both of them had tears in their eyes. Gave me a lump, but I was glad I completed it. Let me know what you think.

Patsy

Wow! Here we go.

Meet Patsy. She is a member of our family and she is posing for a painting that I did of her, My First watercolor of an animal! Where do I start??

I was doing a series of paintings using three colors: yellow, red and blue. I was able to mix the rich colors of Patsy's coat that aren't really done justice in this photo, including black. She has what they call 'red' legs. You will see in the painting. There was a call to the artists of San Clemente Art Association to donate paintings for a silent auction that was raising money for the local Animal Shelters in San Clemente and Dana Point. Of course that 'touched' my heart. So I donated the painting for the auction. My family was upset that I gave away the original, but fortunately I had a Giclee made. (You really can't tell the difference. : > )
Patsy likes to lay on the corner of our bed. When I go upstairs she always follows me and jumps up.