What a mess

 As an adult I rarely left my parents' home without some kind of gift.  On occasion maybe I just couldn't use another dozen eggs, or no, I probably wouldn't cook a deer roast.  They liked to give you something though, and I liked that.  This is a pastel that I painted probably in 2004.  The gift that day was a "mess of turnips".  I remember as they were being dug thinking "wow, those are beautiful, I've got to paint them" (I sure wasn't going to eat them).   The painting has hung on my kitchen wall
since then.   I like it more with each passing year.

 

 

I'm not sure if it is the colder weather (the turnips would need to be pulled before it frosts) or if I am feeling sentimental with the holidays coming up, but I wanted to paint the turnips again...kind of like going home again.

 

 

 Watercolors this time instead of pastels.

 

 

Purple on  a vegetable, that is just amazing to me.  This mess was indeed a beautiful gift.

 

 

Betty

 

Thanks for sharing this little slice of my life.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's a dog's life

It's a dog's life.  What does that really mean?  I have to disagree with the free dictionary meaning that says "something that you say which means that life is hard and unpleasant".    Lucky dogs like Jessica's have a great life I am sure.  I figure as a rule they do pretty much what they want, are well loved and are very happy. 

Chief and Bella

As I continue to work with watercolors I like to try new subjects.   I had never painted a dog, so I thought I would do a little study of these two fine specimens. 

 

 

Chief

 

 

Bella

 

 

When I do something new it is great fun to see the results, I like these guys! 

Doing what I want to do, well loved, and very happy.

Hey! I'm living a dog's life!

 

Thanks for sharing this little slice of my life!

 

 

 

Lunch at the lake

I have lived on a lake for about two years here in Southern Illinois and have watched the blue herons with awe.  I think they are just magnificent.  I spotted one at the water's edge the other day and fortunately the binoculars were handy.  I was studying him when suddenly right before my eyes he made a swift move of his head into the water and came up with a good size fish!  I was impressed,  I couldn't believe how smoothly he caught it.  THEN... he moved the fish around in his beak til it was head first in his mouth and down it went!  One gulp!  It was a pretty big fish!   Before I got over the impressive act, he got another one, and again, one gulp and it was gone!  Ok, so I guess that is just the way blue herons eat, but it was pretty amazing to watch!  I knew right away I had to paint a heron having lunch at the lake.

Original has sold 

Prints available

https://www.etsy.com/listing/168705213

 

Betty

Thank you for sharing this little slice of my life!

E is for Eva's Elephant

 

Felt like playing, really playing with painting today.  Some past projects kept coming to mind.
 A while back I did a watercolor for a special new baby using jungle animals to make his initials,
 A. K. H. to fit into the jungle nursery theme.

I had done some really fun patterning on letters as well, using a fine micro pigment ink pen.  I can't find any pictures of those, one again, was for a new baby, Cooper.  Well, I thought about putting the two together.   Eva is a baby from down the road, so I thought I would do a test project for her.  Combining the patterned letter with a little animal watercolor turned out really sweet. 

This was soooooo much fun.  The fun thing about the patterning is it can go on FOREVER! 

 I was in a hurry, so I had to limit the fun swirls and dots and loops but if I had time I

could have mindlessly played for hours, and it pretty much just gets better and better. 

The little elephant was sweet I thought, soft and babyish. 

I had a great time in just my little world, projecting sweet dreams into a special piece

for a special little one 

 

Thinking I just might add a new line to my Etsy shop.

 

Any thoughts?

 

Thank you for sharing this little slice of my life!

Double lucky!

I grew up thinking buckeyes brought you luck.  My Dad always carried one in his pocket.  I thought they were magic.  Simple everyday things were special as a child, and I guess they still are now as an adult.  My little buckeye tree really suffered last year during the hot dry summer here in Southern Illinois.  It lost lots of leaves, and I was afraid it might die.  But it didn't, lucky.  This year the little tree has produced an abundant harvest of buckeyes. 

Now, buckeyes don't have any real value as far as I know.  But in the appreciation of the simple things in life, what a windfall!  I pick them up everyday, and have been delighted by the "doubles".  Lots and lots of pairs of buckeyes in the same shell.  I don't think I have every seen that before.

         And I do feel lucky...when I am painting with watercolors I am feeling VERY lucky.

 

This painting is available in my Etsy shop

https://www.etsy.com/listing/167096943/original-watercolor-nature-painting 

 

Thank you for joining me in this little slice of my life!

 

Watercolor Camp

I was lucky enough to get a full weekend of Watercolor Camp!  I met Spencer Meagher, an accomplished artist at the Rend Lake Art and Wine Festival in September where he was selling his art.  I was with Jack Russell Fish Company selling fish sandwiches.  I've got to admit, I was the painter instead of the fish fryer in my daydreams that weekend!  Anyway, I got acquainted with Spencer and he told me about the workshop coming up that he was teaching.  The workshop was a great experience for me, I learned some good watercolor techniques and made some good friends. 

Spencer's work can be seen at http://www.spencermeagher.com
He paints beautiful involved pieces with rich washes of watercolor.  I learned how to add depth to a painting through the washes and use of light against dark.  I worked on a small piece using the techniques when I got home.  I had started the pepper, but it was lacking.

After working again on the pepper, which was painted from a photo taken by my friend Di

who does amazing photography (and I have a stash of her photos waiting to be painted!)

I was much happier with "last pepper"

Thank you Spencer for sharing your expertise at Watercolor Camp!

 

Check out the next workshop from

Southern Illinois Art Workshop, Inc.

 

"Last pepper" and prints are available in my Etsy shop

https://www.etsy.com/listing/166224519/kitchen-art-original-watercolor-painting 

 

 

 

 

 

Eggs for breakfast

I fixed eggs for breakfast.  Maybe it was the morning light that made the shells so appealing, or maybe it was the carton which is a favorite color of mine, aqua.  Whatever it was, it caught my attention, I liked the empty shells better than the nice scrambled eggs actually!  I wanted to paint!

 
Very limited palette here, turquoise light and my favorite ultramarine blue and burnt sienna for the grays.  Several washes of the aqua color on nice heavy 300lb Arches paper and some touches of gray.  And I had eggs again!

 

I thank you for joining me for this little slice of my life!

Betty