Snow is a rare event here in Oklahoma. At the beginning of the year we had a really good three inches of snow and cold enough temperatures that it stuck for a while. I love being the first one out of the house when it snows…making the first foot prints…listening to that crunching sound under my boots. Here is what it looked like from our front gate…my impression anyway…

Oklahoma Snow
12" x 12" oil on canvas
$250

In February I started a little bit of an art class with an artist that I really admire. I've always had a problem learning from other artists, and this time I came to the same conclusion, instead of being a joy for me, it was a real struggle, so I decided not to continue. Here are some of the paintings that came from that experience...

Sunlit Bouquet
6" x 6" oil on Ampersand panel
$60

Peonies in Blue
8" x 10" oil on canvas
$125

Blue Shutters in Provence
9" x 12" oil on Ampersand panel
$225

It probably didn't help that I was sick with the flu for about 10 days, but the bright spot of that was that my daughter Tera bought me some beautiful flowers that cheered up those long dreary nights and days, and I painted this little mini of that bouquet...

Cheery Mini Bouquet
4" x 4" oil on mini panel with easel
$35

Having been asked if I would donate a painting to the South Central Health Care Foundation’s Art of Healing Auction and Exhibition, I decided on this one...

Standing Stones
11" x 18" oil on canvas

The auction will be held March 25th in Laurel, Mississippi at The Gables.
 
I have one more painting to share and then I will be caught up... This one was inspired by a fading bouquet my daughter Sarah had in her bedroom and the desire to try a different technique and a different color palette.

Fading Beauty
9" x 12" oil on Ampersand Panel
$225

These new paintings are now available in my Shop

By the way... have you noticed the little award on the right column of this blog? I have no clue how I  received this, but it was nice to be included in the Top 30 Oil Painting Blogs by Feedspot. Thank you, Feedspot. :)




"I will lift my eyes to the hills - from whence come my help? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth." ~ Psalm 121:1-2

Lots of things have been happening in my little art world in the last few months...I just haven't been posting about them...so let's catch up.

Two of my daughters took an incredible adventure trip to Southern Australia and Tasmania last October. I told them to take plenty of pictures, because I wanted to paint some of the beautiful places they had seen.

This first painting is from the Bay of Fires in Tasmania. I loved painting the turquoise water and the orange hued lichen on the rocks. I painted two large paintings, one for each of my daughters as a remembrance of their journey.

Bay of Fires
18" x 24" oil on canvas

Incoming Storm ~ Bay of Fires
18" x 24" oil on canvas

I can't even tell you what a joy it was to paint these beautiful scenes of God's incredible creation. But there are more...

This next one, I'm not quite finished with... It's one of those paintings you set aside and look at it from afar, until you know exactly how to complete it...

Love Birds at Shelly Beach
12" x 24" oil on linen

And the last in my Tasmania Ocean series,  one of my favorite paintings...
I just love the way this one turned out...

Gull at Wineglass Bay
12" x 12" oil on canvas

Now here is a fun one. Have you ever heard of a Cushion Bush? These woody plants are endemic to Australia. "Leucophyta brownii is a small, rounded shrub with tangled tomentose branchlets that give it a silvery appearance." ~ Wikipedia

The girls were on a tour when the tour guide pointed them out and said that you could lie down in them. I'm glad Sarah snapped the pic of Anna and the tour guide relaxing in the cushion bushes. When I saw it, I knew I had to paint it. :)

Cushion Bushing
12" x 12" oil on gallery wrapped canvas

I'll save the rest of the catching up for another post. Hope you enjoyed this one. :)

"All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the LORD: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee." ~ Psalm 22:27

Congratulations to Mitchell for winning the Note Card giveaway. :)

Now for my last giveaway for November... Yes, I illustrated a book... My toddler grand-daughter loves this little book, and I found a little stuffed puppy that she holds while I'm reading it to her.

I have a special copy of this very limited edition of my book, "The Adventures of Fergus Macdoogal" to giveaway. So, if you have a toddler, a grand-child, a niece or nephew or a little friend or even if you just want a copy for yourself, just comment below and you will be entered to win.

I'm also giving  20% off in my Etsy Shop until December 1st. Use the code BEGIVING20 at the checkout for 20% off on my 2017 calendar, my note cards and postcards, and my original paintings.

Thank you all for all the encouragement you have given me this year. :)

"I have shewed you all things, how that so laboring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive."  Acts 20:35

Zoe on Instagram won the Sunflower postcard giveaway. Congratulations, Zoe!!!

The note cards above are just a few of the selection I have available in my Shop. My third giveaway for the month of November is your choice of three of my 19 different note cards. All you have to do to enter to win is comment here.

The drawing with be on Sunday November 20th.

Thank you all for participating in these giveaways... Hope you are enjoying them as much as I am.

"In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you."
1 Thessalonians 5:18

Here is my second giveaway for November. :) The drawing will be on Monday the 14th. All you have to do is comment here to win 3 of my new Sunflower Postcards...

They are for sale here in my shop...  3 postcards for $8.00 and that includes shipping. :)

Don't forget my 2017 calendar which sells here for $24.00 and that also includes shipping...

"And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose." Romans 8:28

Here is my 2017 Calendar with paintings from this last year...

I'm really pleased with the way it turned out. I think it is my best calendar yet. I'm having a Giveaway for a free calendar. The drawing will be on November 3rd. To enter all you have to do is comment here on my blog.

The calendar is for sale here in my new Shop. Take a look at my new shop, if you haven't seen it yet. :)

The calendar is $24, and that price includes shipping. Click on the calendar category, and then click again on the calendar that comes up to see the order information.

Here are the paintings that are included in the calendar month by month...

"While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease."  Genesis 8:22

These are the paintings I worked on the last week of the challenge.

This painting has been sitting in my unfinished stash for at least 9 months. What is it about these unfinished paintings that is so hard to complete? All month I’ve been seeing it out of the corner of my eye, occasionally picking it up and scrutinizing it… Finally I decided to finish it up and post it and I love it …

Prolific Pansies
8" x  16" oil on canvas
$225

Don't you love the view of the mountains as you are drawing close to them? To get to the mountains from where I live is a long grueling trip through the prairie. So that first glimpse is precious. This is actually on Highway 159 going north from New Mexico.

This is a work in progress,  as I still have to put more layers on the clouds…

Headed to the Mountains
12" x 12" oil on canvas
Unfinished

I’m having so much fun on Instagram. There are artists that encourage and inspire me, and so many wonderful people who share their own life experiences, plus I love to keep up with all the activities of my own children, who I don’t see all the time.

This painting was inspired by a friend I haven’t seen for a long time. Her mother was my midwife and delivered 6 of my 9 children. Because of Instagram I get to see a little of what is going on in their lives even though they live faraway.

Hayes in the Field
11" x 14" oil on linen

We have a very dear friend whose  grand-mother was a trick roper, and she passed on this legacy to her grand-children and even her great grand-children. I asked her for a photo of her grandmother so I could try and paint her.

I still need to work on her facial features in and the rope.

Texas Skip
8" x 10" oil on canvas
Unfinished

After working for two days on this painting of Nymph Lake in Colorado from a photo my son took on a climbing trip, I had to move on to the next painting. I'm hoping to get back to this one soon and complete it.

Nymph Lake
Unfinished

Always work on a little mini painting when I need to catch up... :)

Mini Autumn Rose Bouquet
4" x 4" oil on canvas
$35

And last of all, but probably my most favorite painting this time around, is one of the aspens turning their golden yellow color in the fall in Colorado.

Road to Gray's Peak
10" x 20"

Hope you enjoyed seeing the progress of these paintings over the last month. :)

Got a little behind this week, but I was able to catch up by doing 3 mini Bike Basket paintings. I think these bike baskets have been one of my most popular paintings, and the gallery loves carrying an affordable original work of art that makes a wonderful gift...

They each have their own little easel...

I’ve always wanted to try working loosely with a pallet knife, and this rainy scene in a town seemed a perfect trial for this. One thing about this painting challenge is to try out new things,  posting a painting every day, no matter how it turns out... Some paintings aren't finished after one day. This is one of them... I think the two figures under the purple umbrella need to be looser.

12" x 16" oil on canvas

I took a photo of Clear Creek in Colorado last January fulling intending to paint it when I was home from our little trip, and then it was lost in the shuffle. So glad I remembered I had it stored on my camera...

9" x 9" oil on gesso board
$160

Another photo that I saved because I thought it would be fun to try and paint was posted last summer on Instagram by my daughter-in-law. This is her water skiiing on Lake Chelan...

6" x 6" oil on gesso board

I wasn't intending to paint more sunflowers this time around, but my daughter left town for the weekend and gave me this bouquet of sunflowers in a green glass vase. It was actually the green glass that intrigued me...

8" x 10" oil on linen
$160

That is my report for the third week... One more week to go and I finally feel like I'm getting warmed up. The first week was fun, second week was stressful, the third week was catching up... I'm hoping this fourth week will be relaxed and enjoyable...

Hope you enjoyed seeing the paintings from the challenge. Please comment and tell me what you think. I love to hear from you. :)

I can tell you that this is truly a challenge, and I found myself getting very tired and stressed this week, but from past experience I know that if I press through there will be some great rewards. One of the paintings I have been working on every day along with the daily paintings is a commissioned piece of the countryside in Haiti...

12" x 16" oil on gallery wrapped canvas
SOLD

1804 Coffee out of Tulsa, Oklahoma commissioned this painting of the coffee fields that they are developing to encourage the Haitian farmers and get them back on their feet. I think it's wonderful what they are doing to help Haiti. You can support these farmer's by purchasing their fresh roasted organic coffee beans... 1804 Coffee

I always love painting from a photo that my daughters bring back from their travels. This one was from their 2 week back-packing trip to Europe. A quiet resting place along the Cinque de Terre...

Watching the Boats at Manarola
8" x 10" oil on canvas
Private Collection

,
Two paintings were from my sunrise walks by Guthrie Lake. There is an old broken down pier that is still standing in the lake, and I hope they leave it standing, because I see such beauty in it. There is an old heron who is sitting there waiting for the sun to rise every morning...

Next I tried out a new for me technique with the color wheel on a bouquet of flowers and ended up not being happy with it so , I scraped it and repainted it with a sunflower and zinnia bouquet.

This is the " before" that I wasn't happy with, and this is the "after" that I like better, but I think I need to add a little more red to the sunflower...  So the painting on the left is no more, and the painting on the right that replaced it is Finicky Flowers  5" x 5" oil on raised panel.

The next painting was inspired by a vase full of dried eucalyptus that my daughter has over at her house...

12" x 24"  oil on black canvas
Unfinished

And one more mini sunflower painting...

4" x 4" oil on mini canvas
$35

So, there you have it for week 2, now to press forward. Hope you enjoyed this update on my paintings for this week...

Red Sunflowers