I’ve been trying to post each one of these paintings separately, but I can’t seem to get the individual photos to line up and accurately portray the colors. I hope you can imagine what it truly looks like.

This is a commissioned piece made up of 3   12″ x 12″ gallery wrapped canvases, so the painting actually continues on the sides of each one.

3  12" x  12" oil on gallery wrapped canvases
SOLD

This Monterey Cypress tree stands on a cliff overlooking the ocean just north of Santa Cruz, California. These cypress trees grow to various heights and widths and are found  surviving the tough conditions along the California coast, as they are some of the only large plants able to withstand the salty spray of the ocean seabreezes. Some of these spectacular trees are over 200 years old. My daughter-in-law sent me a photo she had taken of this view of one of her favorite landmarks and asked me to paint it for their newly remodeled bathroom. I've heard that she loves it so much she decided to put it in the living room. :)

I love painting oceans...I will definitely have to do more of these...

"Behold, He spreads His lightning about Him, And He covers the depths of the sea. " ~ Job 36:30

3   20"x 20" oil on canvas
SOLD

I LOVE aspens...

So I decided to paint some large canvases full of aspen trunks with beautiful background colors.

The inspiration for this particular set of paintings came about last fall while walking through the  glorious golden yellow leaf hues in our own fall woods at home. It reminded me of the  autumn aspens up in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado... It was also inspired by a yellow, gray and white striped serape blanket that I found at our neighborhood second hand store "The Purple Ostrich". I asked my daughter Anna to model for me while I took photos of her standing in the driveway with the blanket I bought for her.

Excited about this series, I got right to work and set them up on the floor leaning up against a couch in my studio. They were too large to put on an easel... After getting the first layer on, I had to stop painting and start work on some commissions. I leaned up the unfinished canvases in our little guest house and kind of forgot about them. A few months later we had a weekend guest who fell in love with the paintings and bought them. I think she would have taken them unfinished, but I insisted on working in the final layers.

I love them...she loves them... and I love this little story...

The title from the hymn "Be Thou My Vision".

Just finished this 15" x 30" commissioned painting of the Walton Lighthouse in Santa Cruz.

This lighthouse standing on a man-made rock jetty is relatively new replacing a simple pipe structure that was used until 2002. The Santa Cruz community exchanged the unsightly harbor light with a lighthouse of classic design and named it the Walton Lighthouse.  Just a little bit of history for those who are interested. :)

"The whole earth is filled with awe at your wonders; where morning dawns, where evening fades, you call forth songs of joy." Psalms 65:8

I have a new friend right down the street from me who just recently opened up a shop that she named The Purple Ostrich. Nina will love to tell you how she came up with that name, and how she finds a way to give new life to all kinds of things. This lady oozes with talent when it comes to re-purposing almost anything, and she is very gifted with design. She offered to let me display a few of my paintings for sale...

These pictures were taken with my phone, just so I can share how beautifully she displays things...

Notice the green apples that compliment the background of the painting, the white dishes and even the purple flowers in the back bring out the splendor of the white iris and the purple accents in the painting. I love what she created with this display.

These paintings are on sale this month for 40% off. I hope those of you who live locally will visit The Purple Ostrich. There are many interesting and unique things to see, and Nina's prices are so surprisingly affordable. You will not be disappointed. :)

Email me for directions... :)

My 2016 calendar is now for sale featuring 12 paintings from the last year...

And one more painting on the cover... :)

Here is a sample of what it looks like on the inside...

My calendars are for sale in my Etsy shop. From now until December 1st, I'm offering a 20% discount on everything in my shop with a minimum order of $24. Just use the code THANKSGIVING2015. 

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving.


"Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever." Psalm 107:1

I have really enjoyed this challenge, but I have to say it got pretty tough the last few days. That's the way challenges should be, right?

For Day 22 I pulled out an old photo I had saved of my daughter Sarah when she went on her backpacking trip through Europe. This particular photo was taken at the train station in Brugge, Belgium...

Brugge Central
8" x 10" oil on gessoed hardboard

Aspens... I love them... they remind me of so many wonderful times we spent up in the Rocky Mountains... Day 23 ~ Autumn Aspens ...

Autumn Aspens
16" x 20" oil on canvas
$640

Continuing on with the Aspen theme on Day 24 I painted Flaming Forest Floor...

11" x 14" oil on canvas
SOLD

Time for another mini painting... this time a pot of  succulents that have survived all summer. Every day I pass by this little garden on my way to the studio…don’t know why it took me so long to try and paint it… Day 25

Mini Succulent Garden
4″ x 4″ oil painting on mini canvas with easel
$35

Day 27... I'm calling this one Sunflower Madness... This painting will have to wait to be finished until another time...

SOLD

And I skipped a couple of days, but here is my last painting...Tandem. My daughter Sage told me I needed to make some cards that would be suitable for weddings...

8" x 10" oil on gessoed board

Here's my final collage of 25 of the 27 paintings I painted in 30 days...

I always like to do a bike or two during the 30 day challenge and I came across a photo on Instagram of an old barn somewhere in Europe with a bike leaning up against it. I asked the owner if she would mind if I painted her photo and she gave me permission. By the way I am on Instagram if anyone would like to follow me there... knaylorpaintings

Old Barn Bike
6" x  6" oil on canvas
$60
SOLD

This next painting was inspired by a photo one of my sons took out on the California coast... Love the full moon and how the water glistens...

Standing Stones
11" x 14" oil on canvas
$285

I bought a beautiful Lacecap hydrangea for my mother because I loved it... It graces her garden. Someday I will buy one for myself... ;) In the meantime I painted it...

Lacecap Hydrangea
4" x 4" oil on mini black canvas with easel
SOLD

I did this next painting on an old canvas. One that I had painted on before, but didn’t like, so I just scraped off the old painting and painted the new one on top. Using an old used canvas let me experiment, so I can do the painting on a new canvas at another time. I tried being very loose. One mistake I made was getting the finger that is pointing too close to the edge…

This is the Way
8" x  10" oil on canvas

This one would make a great Father's Day card...I'll have to get some made... :)

This next painting turned out to be one of my favorites. I tried a new technique using a black canvas. One of my dear friends who lives in Washington sent me the photo of this gate and thought I might like to paint it... My rendition is next to it...

The Old Gate
8" x  10" oil on black canvas
$160

On Day 20 I painted from a photo of Arches National Park that one of my daughters took on a trip there this summer...

Arches
8" x  16" oil on canvas

I don't very often, if ever, blog about the negative things that go on in my life, but lately things have been very stressful.  I wanted to paint an eye with a tear drop, instead I painted this...

Have Mercy
8" x 10" oil on black canvas

She is not finished yet... I wanted to portray someone praying humbly before God in the midst of a dark and troubling situation, with the light of Christ shining on her face as she looks to Him.

"Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee." Isaiah 26:3

That completes the third week. One more week left...I am learning so much!

The second week is over and I can hardly believe I kept up, but I did. :)

On day 8 I painted another bouquet from my garden, this time of sage and roses and a hydrangea ...

Sage and Roses
8" x 8" oil on canvas
$125
SOLD

On Day 9 I was getting behind, but I had prepared ahead of time by doing a painting before the challenge, so I used it here. Two of my daughters took a backpack trip to Europe a few years back and returned with some fascinating photographs of a place I had never seen. I was so intrigued with the five villages along the Italian coast called Cinque Terre, definitely an artist’s paradise. This painting was inspired by a photo they brought home of a lemon stand…

Lemon Stand at Cinque Terre
8" x 10" oil on canvas
$160

On Day 10 I started a painting that I wasn't able to get finished and I can't wait to get back to it. This is the first painting in a new series I'm calling Guthrie Back Alleys...

I'll post it again when I'm finished. :)

On Days 11, 12, 13 and 14 I decided I better do some mini paintings so I would be sure to keep up. The ocean kept coming to mind, and my sons who have been working out in California had taken a few pics, so I did a mini ocean series... If you click on them you will see a larger version...

4" x 4" mini canvas with easel
$35

The first two mini paintings are of a beach near Santa Cruz, the third is the Punaluu Black Sand Beach that I lived near for a year on the Big Island of Hawaii and the fourth is a beach on the Persian Gulf in Saudi Arabia where I grew up in my teens.

I hope you enjoyed this second week of paintings. Thanks so much for all your comments.

"Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer."  Romans 12:12

I'm posting my paintings for the first week of the challenge 30 Paintings in 30 Days...

The first day I did  a floral using the Pantone color palette for fall 2015...

Floral Frivolity
8" x  8" oil on canvas
SOLD

My inspiration for the second day was  a photo I had taken of some friends who had been visiting us earlier in the summer... The girls had a lot of fun getting all muddy in our creek. :)

Jasmine and Jade
8" x 10" oil on canvas

On day 3 I tried to finish up a painting that I started before the challenge, but still was unsuccessful in completing it...

Evening Walk at Guthrie Lake
16" x  20" oil on canvas
Not Finished

For Day 4 I thought I better do something small. This 4" x 4" painting is of a floppy twisted rudbeckia that I picked in one of my summer bouquets from the flower garden...

4" x 4" oil on mini black canvas with easel
SOLD

My daughter and I have been going for walks almost every morning at the lake nearby… sometimes we beat the sun and this morning was one of those incredible mornings of witnessing the sunrise.  Three geese were standing together by the lake silhouetted by the early morning shadows… Totally inspired to paint the scene I snapped a picture with the phone… Day 5...

Sunrise Silhouettes
8" x 16" oil on canvas
$175

Day 6 ~ Blowing Dandelions
My son took a photo many years ago of our friend Montana blowing dandelions. I've always wanted to paint it...

8" x 10" oil on canvas

On Day 7 I painted a bowl of figs...My chef daughter Sarah bought some fresh figs the other day, and I thought I’d try to paint them in a ceramic bowl that my potter daughter Sage made.

6" x 6" oil on canvas
$60

The first week is over and I'm working on the second week. Thanks for stopping by...love getting your comments...

"But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint."  Isaiah 40:31

I took a little online art class recently and completed  this painting of Sunflowers...

8" x 8" oil on panel
$125

I thought it would be interesting to take a class to see what I could learn from another artist, but I found it very difficult to follow and after scraping the canvas about 10 times, I started on a new canvas, and just did my own thing. I do like the finished painting, and one thing I did learn from the artist was the use of some unusual colors to highlight and shadow.

I am looking forward to this September's 30 Paintings in 30 Days. I will be posting daily on my blog Simply Painting and weekly here on my website. So please stay tuned... :)

Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” ~ John 8:12