Loitering

"Loitering" 18" x 18" oil on stretched canvas.

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At what turned out to be the height of our autumn color I traveled out to the country and met up with some accomodating bovines. This pretty gal was hanging out under a tree full of character.

Traveling four plus hours as a child to my grandparents home across the prairies and farmlands of middle America, I came to appreciate cows. We'd stop periodically to get some fresh air and stretch our legs. More often than not I'd have an opportunity to pet a curious cow standing along the fence. I'd forgotten how inquisitive they are, until a few weeks ago. As my husband and I stood in the road to take pictures a group of lounging cows began to become interested in what we were doing. One standing cow began her slow walk toward us, then those that were laying down, stood up to follow. It was a strange feeling to have all these cows heading our way.

I was inspired to capture some of these images in paintings, and so I have.

In this close up of the painting you can see the white in the cow's eye. I was excited to be able to capture her pretty eye (s).


Here you can see the detail of the corn field in the distance.

Break In The Clouds

We had a few days recently of heavy rains and one afternoon I took this photo through a wet window. I liked the hole in the clouds. It reminded me of someone looking down to see how much water was down here.

Be sure and check out the sky from the vantage point of others around the world by clicking on the emblem below! Happy SkyWatch Friday!!

Strength

SOLD

The subject of strength has been on my mind today. Our temperatures have been in the 20's many recent nights yet my Sweet Peas and Petunias are still going strong in pots. I see little birds and insects going about their business as tiny ice pellets and bits of snow drop down on their little heads. Nature teaches great lessons. For one we're all amazingly stronger than we might think.

Pillow Clouds

I thought these clouds were interesting. Looked like a perforated cloud blanket. They appeared on the 15th of this month.

Be sure and check out the sky from the vantage point of others around the world by clicking on the emblem below! Happy SkyWatch Friday!!

Michigan Moooood

18" x 18" Oil on Canvas: "Autumn Fields": SOLD

Just finished last night and still in the drying stages, this rural Michigan scene I call Autumn Fields.

Every country road around my home is beautiful. It's such a pleasure to go anywhere any time of year. The landscape is just breathtaking. A few weekends ago my husband and I traveled just a few miles away to take some photos of autumn leaves and we found lots of farms and cows. It was a lovely day and these cows were doing what you see in the paintings. Just laying in the grass enjoying the fall day. I'm sure they weren't used to being photographed and the center cow looked at us pretty intently all the time we were there. Little did she know she would be captured in an oil painting. Nor does she care!

This painting will be available this week on E-bay.

PG

Last night I sat down to watch "Nature" on PBS. They had a fantastic program on Parrots in Australia. Both history and present conditions, habits and just great film of all kinds of parrots. Not 10 minutes into the program I realize my birds would love this. So I went and got my cockatiels and put their perch where they could see the TV. They were loving it and pretty soon the segment on Parakeets came up and I went and got my parakeets. They were all chatting merrily watching larger than life images of their green cousins in the wild.

It didn't take long before the parakeet segment turned into birdie porn, but I decided this would save me the embarassment of explaining s e x to them later. They chatted louder and were engaging each other with their beaks during this roudy part of the program.

Then we got to see baby parakeets and their parents feeding them. My birds began mimicing the process.

Then we got to see the baby parakeets taking out on their own. Looking for their own food and exploring the wonders of the big world. Oh, but not for long for these babies have enemies. This great big long lizzard shows up. Oh lordy no. I don't want my birds watching their likenesses becoming dinner. I should have known any "nature" film would involve violence too. Like any good mother I ushered them out of the "theater", wondering at my own wisdom, taking them to the movies at such a tender age.

After they were settled back away from the violence I returned to watch the rest of the program and enjoyed it violence free. Then I wondered why I didn't just change the channel for a few minutes. :) Next time.

SkyWatch Friday "Patterns"

You need to double click on this one to get the full effect of the light.

This week was one great week for skywatching. The clouds had all kinds of patterns going on and hardly a day went by that I didn't see something exciting. I didn't always have a camera along to capture what I saw. You'd think I'd learn. All of the next three were from last Sat. The center one was in the afternoon and was a lot more impressive in person. The other two were from that evening right over our house.

Be sure and check out the sky from the vantage point of others around the world by clicking on the emblem below! Happy SkyWatch Friday!!

Spinach Tree

Just completed: 6" x 12" oil on canvas. "Spinach Tree". Sold

Incredulous Budgies face the truth. Having been told spinach doesn't grow on trees, the evidence is overwhelmingly contradicted.

Zinnia Bowl

Just finished and available for purchase. CLICK HERE. 8" x 8" oil painting on canvas: "Zinnia Bowl"

Last week we had a freeze warning so I went out and cut flowers from my garden. The Zinnia's had recently gotten thick and were filling out the garden quite nicely. I thought the mixture of all the pink with the touch of orange was nice so I arranged them in an antique cut glass rose bowl. Their portrait painted, they've been immortalized.

SkyWatch Friday Blue

I took these a few weeks ago and chose them for this weeks SkyWatch because I love the blue hues in the sky and water, the way the clouds all lined up for what seemed infinity and the play of light on the water on one and the sun in the other.

If you're fortunate enough to live or travel in the countryside you realize just how big the sky is and the funny thing I find being on a lake is that when you're on the water it's as if you're in a bowl. The sky is large but round!

Be sure and check out the sky from the vantage point of others around the world by clicking on the emblem below! Happy SkyWatch Friday!!

I'm very flattered that Crazybeatnick chose my coffee painting as one of several in her coffee shop blog listing. She has lots of neat "treasury" style blogs you'll just have to take a look at yourself!!

http://crazybeatnick.wordpress.com/

http://crazybeatnick.wordpress.com/2008/09/24/coffee-shop/

SkyWatch Friday In Purple

I chose this photo for this weeks SkyWatch because of it's unusual color. I took it a few nights ago. I have no idea what conditions created such a purple but it's pretty!

Check out the sky worldwide by clicking on the SkyWatch emblem, and meet lots of really nice people too!

Pet Portraits and Gift Certificates

I get asked from time to time if I would be willing to paint any kind of pet and the answer is yes! Lizards, snakes, mice, birds, cats, dogs.... Any pet is welcome. I'll paint it from the front, side, back. Close up, full body, head and shoulders... whatever you like.

I find that lots of people like to give portraits for gifts. Many people know someone who is crazy for their pet and a portrait is just the thing!

People also like to give a gift certificate to have a portrait done saving them the decision making. Those are available too!

I'm extending free shipping anywhere in the continental U.S. for a limited time, so don't wait, order today. (to place an order you can either contact me via the blog or go to my website listed on my sidebar.)