Flower Garden (Day 7--out of order!)

Day 7 in the 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge. Watercolor, 6"x6". I was behind in the challenge in the first week, and somehow totally missed #7! So I'm adding it now. I love the summer garden--hollyhocks, sunflowers, roses, clematis, and lots of annuals. But I'm getting less and less interested in planting it all, and the upkeep! So each year my garden gets a little less colorful. Now my husband is eyeing all the garden space for veggies. I did that for a while--I'm glad he's taking a turn at it. ;)
This painting is SOLD!

Wisteria Again

Day 30 in the 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge! Watercolor, 4"x4". Another try at wisteria. I have a long way to go to get the look I want. I have enjoyed experimenting with watercolors, and look forward to doing more and improving.

Price

$20.00 Option 2 Option 3

Color Riot

Day 29 in the 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge. Watercolor, 4"x4". Colorful bouquet of flowers--trying to do more color blending and stay loose. Tiny steps.

Price

$20.00 Option 2 Option 3

Celebrate! 6x6 oil painting

Day 30 in the 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge!
Woo hoo! Hurray! Yippee! Celebrate! I made it through the Challenge! Relieved to have made it through, but sorry to not have the push to do it again. I'll be on vacation for a while, but plan to come back ready to paint more, and more often!
Thanks to all of you who have followed this challenge with interest--I've so enjoyed and appreciate all your likes and comments! And thank you to those of you who have bought my paintings--it's a real thrill. This challenge has finally gotten me over the need I used to have to keep all my paintings. I'm over it! I love to paint, so to keep painting, I need to move them out of my house! I plan to periodically post more paintings for sale as I have the time to do them.
And NOW, time to celebrate, with a purple martini, a party hat, balloons, and GIANT confetti! :)

Price

Option 1 $50.00 USD

Stained Glass Garden 6x6 oil/palette knife painting

Day 28 in the 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge
OK, this one is a little silly, but I'm feeling the crunch here at the end of the challenge--I need to get ahead by two days before our vacation comes up. This is a technique that I've been wanting to try, which I would have done in acrylic, but felt it would work in oil, too. I used the palette knife shape to make the red and pink flowers, and bottles and bottle caps to make the other shapes, including the blue flowers. Then palette knife to put in stems and leaves. It was fun and quick!

Price

Option 1 $50.00 USD

Frog Fountain 6x6 oil painting

Day 27 of the 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge
I've had a water garden for over 20 years, and have had a lot of different fountains. I started with the plastic kind that stays just on top of the water and sprays water into the air in different patterns. They were pretty but not very stable, kept falling over or getting blown over by the wind. Then I had a concrete fish, standing on his tail, spouting water high into the air. Very impressive, but over the years, he started to disintegrate from the water falling on him, and he looked pretty ugly, like he had a disease! I guess this happened because he didn't have a painted protective coat. Then I had a spitting heron, who was beautiful--made of some sort of resin, I think. Then he sprung a leak! :( This frog has been around and lasted through the fish and the heron, and still looks great. He's cement, but painted.
My husband said the frog looks like he's throwing up. ;) Guess I have some learning to do on painting falling water.

Price

Option 1 $50.00 USD

Rooster 6x6 oil painting

Day 26 in the 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge
Just for fun, a wild and colorful rooster! Need to get away from the tight realism for a while, more relaxing.
Gifted to a friend.

Oreo Cow 6x6 oil painting

Day 25 in the 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge
Have you seen Oreo Cows? Also called Panda Cows. The real name is Belted Galloway, originally from Scotland, bred from Dutch belted cattle. Belties come in black, red and dun (brown). I took this photo in Tennessee, and the cow is actually reddish brown. Thought I would paint her as a true "Oreo". I was able to get the photo because the herd was fairly close to the fence, and I could get a decent shot with the zoom. I think of her name as "Cookie". ;)

Price

Option 1 $50.00 USD

Red Hibiscus 6x6 oil/palette knife painting

Day 23 in 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge
Red tropical hibiscus--my favorite color of all of them, although the yellow and pink and salmon are gorgeous, too. So many flowers, so little time!
This painting is SOLD!

Garlic 6x6 oil painting

Day 22 in the 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge
Garlic looks so white and bland, but if you look closely, you see so much more color. It's fun to exaggerate those colors, and makes the painting more interesting. I enjoyed painting this one!
I'll hang this in my kitchen with two other paintings--one of onions and one of leeks and scallions.

Cattails 6x6 oil painting

Day 20 in the 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge.
Cattails and waterlilies, my sister's favorites, along with dragonflies and ducks and seagulls. We grew up on a large river in our front yard in Michigan, and behind us was a marsh system that was huge. Lots of opportunities to see all of these, and the red-winged blackbird, too. I was intrigued by the frogs and polliwogs in the small ponds in the field behind our house, and baby crayfish, and in the river, whole schools of teeny fish we called pinheads--literally, the size of a pin. It was a wonderful place to grow up, swimming everyday in the summer, and skating on the ice in the winter. Carefree days.

Price

Option 1 $50.00 USD

Pink Rose 6x6 oil painting

Day 18 in the 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge
A rose is a rose is a rose is a . . . difficult flower to paint! Especially quickly. When I painted a pink peony a few years ago I took a lot of time, painting very slowly. I'm not sure I have the patience for that now. :( Will try one another time when I'm not in such a hurry. On to the next painting!

Price

Option 1 $50.00 USD

Trick or Treat! 6x6 oil painting

Day 17 in the 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge.
OK, time for a little humor. These two butternut squash are wild and crazy guys who love to party! Their motto is "eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow you're soup!" Which is exactly what they'll be tomorrow.
Gave to my grandsons for Halloween.

Cheers! 6x6 oil/palette knife painting

Day 15 in 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge
Cheers! Woo hoo! Halfway through the challenge! Had to celebrate with a purple martini. Well, a couple--I had to try different recipes! The usual combination is Blue Curacao and cranberry juice with vodka, but what did I find right next to the Blue Curacao? A purple liqueur! Marie Brizard "Parfait Amour". Made from oranges, like the Blue Curacao. So why isn't it orange? ;) Finished it off with purple sugar sprinkles on the rim.
Tried to make the background "confetti-like" in the spirit of celebration--too busy, I think. Fun painting, and fun celebration!

Price

Option 1 $50.00 USD

Bird Nest 6x6 oil painting

Day 13 in the 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge. This bird nest is imagined, abstract and more colorful than reality. Fun to paint!
This painting was gifted to a family member.

Summer Marsh 6x6 oil/palette knife painting

Day 12 in the 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge. This marsh is near Kiawah Island in South Carolina. I'll try it again another time with brushes instead of a palette knife, in a larger size.

Price

Option 1 $50.00 USD

Poppies and Seed Pods 6x6 oil/palette knife painting

Day 11 in the 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge Painted this one a little more loosely and abstract. Went a bit wild with the sky color.
This painting is SOLD!

Bird of Paradise 6x6 oil painting

Day 7 in the 30 Paintings in 30 Days. Took the photo for this painting in San Diego--wonderful place for reference photos--all kinds of flowers and beautiful scenery. Simplified the background and used an unusual color for a little excitement. ;)

Price

Option 1 $50.00 USD