Time for Plan B!

Saturday was my Harvest Moon class at Unique Glass Colors. I pulled in and there was a police car there with Harold, Margot's husband. Someone had cut the junction box power lines going into the building complex - evidently thieves had cut & stripped the wires for the copper content! This is such a horrible thing to deal with - the loss of time & energy to put everything to rights - plus the expense - is incalculable! My sympathy to them as everything is repaired!!

But what to do? I have students on the way!!! At first I was going to cancel the class & try to reschedule another day so I started calling my students. Nancy "volunteered" her cousin's house. And, since her cousin was already in the class, I took her up on it. Fortunately, the class consisted of Nancy's family so this solution worked quite nicely. Thanks Ann-Marie & Tim for such quick work making space for the class!

The class worked out fine & everyone had wonderful paintings at the end of the day! I love teaching this class - each painting is so different from the next.

Harvest Moon Class

This is my next watercolor batik class - The Harvest Moon. I love this painting and have taught it several times before. It lends itself to many color combinations and sizes which is something not all paintings can do. If you are in the Orlando area and want to give this a try just let me know! Class is Saturday, Sept 25.

Octopus

So here is the big picture of the octopus - did anyone guess what it was supposed to be? This is a Prismacolor pencil drawing of an octopus from one of my husband's underwater photos. He was in the right place at the right time and got some great photos before Mr. Octo scooted back to his camoflaged lair.

Birthday Present

My hubby's birthday is today - happy birthday dear! To celebrate I have created a new piece of art just for him. What can it be? Check back for the full reveal tomorrow - he hasn't seen it yet!!

Sandy the Seahorse Watercolor Batik Class

There were six wonderful students for my watercolor batik class yesterday! And they all did a wonderful job! Don't you think so?

Pat & Jeanette came from the other coast to paint with us - thanks ladies!! Nancy B. & Nancy M. were there, as well as Julie K. & Ivey. And there was chocolate covered bacon passed around & sampled. I think the milk chocolate won out over the dark.

Next up? Another class on Thursday!!

Morning Glory Cabin

I grew up in SE Tennessee right in the foothills of the Smokies so the opportunity to paint those mountains was special. This is a commission I have been working on for awhile. It is a rather large galvanized bucket. The scene wraps all the way around and I was given a list of items the painting had to include - a fly fisherman, a bicycle, a golfer, the cabin & a painted sign, the barn and old bridge near the property and deer. Fortunately, I had photos provided for the barn, bridge & cabin. Everything else I had to research. The morning glories were easy. I've painted those before and Ginger Edwards' books came to the rescue for reference.

Landscapes are not my usual painting subject so this was quite a challenge. And each element requested had to help tell the story & make sense. Eventually, everything seemed to work out and the whole piece ended up like a "Where's Waldo" puzzle - some of the elements are really small but they are all there!

So this challenge is ready to go to a new home today... what do you think?

Meet Dandy Sandy

Sandy is my newest creation and is all decked out in his best beach finery! He sports some fabulous fuzzy stitching and beachside bling. I will be teaching Sandy's class on August 28 - drop me a line if you want to join in the fun! Beginners welcome - this is fun & easy painting...

Favorite Part of the Day

Right now I am in the process of creating submissions for teaching at a couple of painting conventions for next year so there isn't much I can share right now. I am working on a commission piece that I will be able to share next week so check back then. These are some photos from my back yard from this morning.

There is a certain time on a sunny morning that is special. The sun slants through the trees at a certain angle and light catches the caladiums and surrounding greenery making everything glow. If there is no wind, the pool acts like a cool blue reflecting pool and doubles the effect. It is a quiet, peaceful time and usually the only sounds are the birds singing and an occasional squirrel chattering away. This short interlude doesn't last long... soon the sun will shift position and some of the magic is lost. Until tomorrow morning...

What part of the day is your favorite?

MOO has landed!

Last month, Jenny Doh put forth a call for MOO cards (moo.com). These little cards are like baby business cards - barely 1" x 2-3/4". I've toyed with the idea of making MOO cards from time to time but just never got to it. When Jenny's call came I decided the time was NOW! It was really easy to upload some photos of my recent artwork & enter the necessary info for the backs. Here are cards from my first batch of MOOs.

And I just discovered one of my cards on Jenny Doh's blog at http://jennydoh.typepad.com. See if you can find it - the photo above gives you a hint of what to look for - it will be found in her posts last week.

Have you MOOed yet?

Hollyhocks Class

My hollyhocks class was a great success! Everyone had a good time playing with paint, wax and learning a new embellishment technique or two. This was a more impressionistic painting and all the finished paintings turned out great - they all did an outstanding job!! Here are a few photos of them all hard at work...