Swan at Sunset

Here it is 2015, I barely remember 2014!   Last year was a whirlwind for us!  We moved from Indiana to Michigan, such a big move!  We had lived in Indiana for over twenty years and collected "allot of stuff"!  We bought a house on Lake Oakland just outside of the Detroit Metro area and we are absolutely loving it.  My studio is in my home and is flooded with the perfect light for painting.  Much of our "stuff" has a found a new home because what looks good in an "Indiana cabin home" doesn't look good in a lake front home.  My husbands favorite couch had to stay though!

My studio is large enough now to have easels and furniture!  I have windows in all the perfect spots for all the perfect lighting to paint in.  I can do a painting and then set back in a nice comfy chair with a cup of tea to assess my painting.  The only thing I am missing is a faithful dog, which I plan on getting this summer.

Our lake has quite a few swans on it thus the swan painting!  We bought our home towards the end of August so we had about a month of nice boating weather left.  We took the boat out one evening at sunset and I took almost a hundred pictures of the swans as the sun was going down.  There will be more swan paintings in the future.

This painting is an oil painting on canvas, 14" x 11".  I just posted it on eBay.  The painting is being sold without the frame but I wanted you to see how pretty it is in the frame.  

I plan on purchasing a kayak this spring.  I am hoping to get some good pictures of  the wild life on the lake.  There are beautiful spots that the boat won't be able to go to.

I am looking forward to the new year, new paintings and as always I thank you for your interest in my work.

Florida Oranges

Florida Oranges an 8" x 6" original oil painting on masonite panel.  I just posted this on eBay last night, I had thoughts about keeping it for myself but I need to learn to part with my paintings.  These oranges are from my trips to Florida this  past winter.  Florida felt so warm after leaving the sub zero weather in Indiana.  But winter is over spring is here and I'll be painting strawberries, blueberries, may apples and many more local fruits.  I really enjoy selling my paintings.  I am having fun watching them spread around the U.S.  You can bid on this painting by clicking this link for eBay!

Daffodils in April

8 x 6 original oil painting on canvas!  This spring I did two paintings of daffodils, one I sold one on eBay and this one is a commission.  This painting will reside in Utah and will be a very special birthday present! Daffodils are one of my favorite flowers, my Grandfather had a small forest of daffodils in the spring.  He passed away on April 15th, 1968 so painting these daffodils was very special for me.  I checked my notes on this painting and I started it on April 15th!  On the day he passed away I wanted to pick daffodils from his land for his funeral service.   I took my youngest sister out to the field of daffodils and we picked a very large basket of daffodils.  My sister was only seven years old at the time and she talked non-stop about the daffodils, why we were picking them, what were we going to do with them , were they going die, and how much water would they need!    As we walked backed to the house she took the basket and sprinted into the kitchen.  She was so excited, she told everyone that she picked these flowers just for Grandpa.  When we went to the service there was the basket of daffodils right next to my Grandfather!  I have planted daffodils in every home I have lived in,  No matter where I lived I was always able to have my Grandfather with me every spring!

Spring is here!  But someone forgot to tell Indiana!   I keep going outside and checking on my daffodils in my garden.  They are starting to break ground and that is very exciting.  Daffodils are my favorite flower, I have planted daffodils in every state I have lived in since I was 13 years old.  I am kind of the "Johny Appleseed" of daffodils!

I haven't posted for a while due to my travels, some fun and some not so fun.  My daughter and I went to Florida to join her childhood friend from Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brasil.  We had so much fun.  We had three five year old children  speaking Portuguese and English and they had no problem understanding each other.  We also had Pedro, an eleven year old who could speak English and entertain the little ones!  Everyone needs someone like Pedro!  I was shocked at how quick my Portuguese returned to me.  It was a short visit to Florida and we just got home when my mother called to tell me that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer.  A week later I was back in Florida for two weeks.  Her surgery went well and now my sister is down there helping her out!

I will be looking for more spring flowers to paint.  Maybe pansies!  

Tulips

Tulips

With the weather here in Indiana I have had plenty of time to paint and I really got into a zone on this painting.  The picture is from the client who bought it.  They took the painting home, set it up in their home and were gracious enough to sent me the photo.  I love seeing my paintings and how they are being displayed in their new home.

I have slowed down a little on painting as I am currently traveling too much but having fun.  I have been to Michigan, California, Michigan, and Florida since January.  They were all fun fun trips but no motorcycles.  Tomorrow I head back to Florida to visit with my mom for a few weeks.  I will be leaving a morning high of 4 degrees to waking up in the 60's and hitting a high of 80.  I'm  taking my sketch pad and some photos of my grandsons with me.  I have always wanted to do some paintings of the little guys so I will practice on the sketches while I am in Florida.

By the time I get back to Indiana we will officially be in Spring and Spring is nature's way of saying "Let's Party".  Let's Party means its time for a motorcycle road trip!

Five Yellow Tulips

It seems as if winter just won't give up this year.  I was complaining on facebook that it was -4 this morning and my friends in Wisconsin let me know that it was -17.  My friends in Porto Alegre, Brazil are posting temperatures of 104.  We are either too hot or too cold, so the tulips were a fun winter painting.  

The paintings always look better in my studio than on the web.  I'm getting ready for another road trip but when I get back I am going to learn how to take better pictures of my paintings. 

Teapot and Sunflowers

This painting is 8" x 6" and Indiana is under another "winter storm warning" for 7" - 9"!  The teapot was extremely difficult to paint.  I did two paintings of the same teapot and found each one to be equally difficult.  I have decided to wait another month or two before I try another teapot.   This afternoon I went to our local Florist, Adrienne's and bought tulips and daffodils.  Painting spring flowers should be bring warmth into my studio as the winter storm warnings come and go.