Painting Michigan

20" x 24" Oil on Canvas: Available

My latest offering is "Michigan Road". Not exactly an original title but it seemed to fit. I'm so inspired by the vast beautiful landscape here I want to expand my work to include a lot of it.

Have You Seen My 27 Goslings?

.....said the mother goose.





Well YES I have!!! A few nights ago as my husband and I were leaving our neighborhood Ron spotted what looked like dozens of baby geese in a neighbors yard. There were only 2 adult geese on watch. If you are around geese enough you learn that the little ones are very closely watched and protected by both parents. Babies don't hang out with other families. You know exactly how many kiddies each pair has as they swim off. The children are usually between the parents in a fairly straight line.




Now for the most part we see anywhere from 2 to 6 offspring but this... well this was quite a deal. Today they showed up in our yard and try as we might we had a hard time counting all the way to 27. At first we thought it was 23, then 25 and finally in some photos I took tonight I figured out it's 27. I have many pictures to back that up.




The first 2 photos were taken by Ron this morning and I captured them swimming into the sun tonight. I WILL be using their cute little profiles in paintings really soon. I feel incredibly blessed on days like these, just to witness something so beautiful.



Sunset on Indian Lake Saturday night.

Highlighting New Artists

Garrett Christopher is an exciting new artist lovers of minimalist art should pay close attention to.

Though using simple shapes, his ideas and lines are bold. He draws the observer into his world, which at first glance seems simple, but in mere moments the depth and complexity overtake the senses.

His art is strikingly like his personality. G.C. comes across as shy at first, but if you are fortunate enough to spend some time with him you begin to understand how deep and sensitive he really is.

Garrett's recent work entitled "POP" is his tribute to pop culture.




In this animal piece he adds bold color and gives his subject personality.



This vibrant tribute to his dad is coupled with a black and white honoring his mother.




Personal profile: single, loves to travel and is a rugged outdoors man.

Nathan Ray is causing equal excitement in the art world with his bohemian style of art. His art is never photographed, but "cleaned up" within minutes of it's creation. Nathan works quickly with his creations. No one knows how long it takes him to create an idea. He talks of it to no one. He works quickly and silently thrilling his audience with murals in unusual spots. He also does "scatterings". This art is unique in that he uses different objects at different times but there is always a theme. Sometimes it's food and at other times it's something broken scattered about. It's quickly "cleaned up" and this leaves him free to create a new artistic impression whenever the mood strikes.

To view Nathan's art you must be personally invited to spend a day with him.

Personal profile: A bit of a loner, J.R. still enjoys quiet time with family and friends. He loves acting. Friends refer to him as a rolling stone. He's always on the move!

Sky Watching

I spent a quiet Saturday afternoon on a project in my loft studio. I wasn't paying any attention to the outdoors when I suddenly felt I should turn my head and look. The bright beautiful sunny day had turned into what you see above. I grabbed my camera of course and then looked to see what the weather forecast was. Severe storm headed our way. Hail, 60-70 mph winds and rain.

The clouds were just too interesting to ignore!

Within minutes the winds arrived and the waves picked up. Rain pelted the windows. Strangely though the birds kept coming to the feeder. I saw several red winged blackbirds land and fly off.



These two came for an early dinner when the winds calmed down a little but it was still raining pretty good.



When things got quiet I went off to start our dinner when I noticed this. It looked a bit frightening but I didn't see any cows or semis flying through the air and after a few photos decided it was not as it seemed.

The next interesting cloud formation was this cotton ball looking sky.

Nothing beats a good sunset!!

Double Teamed

12" x 12" Oil on Canvas: Chihuahua painting I call "Double Teamed": Available

These two look like trouble don't they?

Well today is another gentle rainy day. Love it!! The lilacs are getting ready to bloom and it smells like spring. I don't know how far along spring is everywhere else, but the colorful trees are just blooming now and we finally have tiny green leaves filling out on the trees. Just 10 days ago or so everything was still pretty brown.

Today is a day of painting and trying to get organized. My organization is a bit like washing your car while driving down the road at 55 mph. I know I should stop what I'm doing and get things cleaned up and organized but.... I have things to paint and I don't want to take a day out to do the other so I try and get it all done in bits. It all gets done somehow.

Birds At Play

This is a cloudy day with that kind of rain that smells so good. The sky spit out bits of rain off and on all day. Very light, very soothing.

For hours now birds of every kind have been swooping, circling, gliding through the drops, non stop!! From every window in the house I've watched what looks like an airport with the air traffic controllers napping, amazed no birds collide.

So I got out my camera thinking I'd capture at least 5 at a time on film.

Well there's one blurry image of a bird. So I took 150 more. 90% show no birds at all!! The other 10% show only a dot of a bird way in the distance. Every time I'd put down my camera the window would fill with 10-15 birds playing in the air. Of course!! They're fast, that's the thing. But in looking at the photos carefully I did find one guy just watching.

Do you see him there at the very top of the tree? He's in 50 frames!!!!!

He's a Red Winged Blackbird. They have a great call and we've enjoyed hearing them this spring.

A perfect perch to watch all the activity.




And off he goes.

Happy Mother's Day Mom!!! And to all mommies out there who take care of 2 legged humans, 4 legged kids that meow or bark or the two legged that tweet, you're someones mom and you're appreciated!!

BROWNIE Break!!

6" x 6" Oil on Canvas: Sold

Ok, so I don't REALLY have a delectable brownie dripping in yummy dark chocolate icing sitting on my table at the moment, but I'd like to have one!! Mid afternoon, after hours of painting I get the munchies, or chocolateies. I usually settle for juice and a cracker. We can dream... :)

What's your mid day snack? Or do you need one while you create?

Bzzzzy Beeez

8" x 24" Oil on Canvas: Sold

Sometimes the end result to an inspired conception can be anything but what you pictured. Such is the case with this painting. I'd pictured two paintings, each featuring 7 canaries. The first was the "Canary and Butterfly" (shown at the bottom of this post) It worked out just as I'd imagined it.

The second painting was to be 7 canaries with striped shadows running across them. They would be like the bees in a subtle way. When the painting was almost finished my husband came to look at it and didn't understand what it was. I realized I hadn't made it work. I'd struggled with it for weeks, stopping and starting. It was his viewing of it that made me realize what I already knew deep down. It worked in my mind but not in the outer. So I had to reinvent this idea into something else, which I'm pleased to say was a good thing.

In making changes to this painting I ended up using much more vibrant color and texture. I think it makes for a nice contrast to the first painting.

These little guys are actually quite a bit larger than life size. It's hard to express that in photos and ads.