Dashing through the Snow

Another fun little painting based on vintage Christmas Cards. I love taking a break from "serious" painting to have some fun.

Today is my long teaching day. Spending with my students is so enjoyable. We talk and laugh while we paint and hopefully learn. It's such a pleasure to see them leave at the end of the day with a smile and the sense of accomplishment.

stormy weather

Well, we had a doozy of a storm. We lost electricity sometime Thursday night after going to bed. When we woke the house was pretty chilly and completely dark. I immediately lit some candles and went into Alaska mode; blocked off the doorways to the living room and lit a fire in the fireplace. After a couple of hours it was nice and toasty and the sun had come up. We spent the day reading and playing games, I was able to paint in the studio for an hour or so before it got too cold. The really fun part was experimenting with the fireplace as an oven. We roasted hot dogs for lunch, then I made a sort of stew out of Healthy Choice TV dinner and added vergies and potatoes for dinner. It was actually quite good. The sun sets around 4:30pm these days so at about 4pm I realized I'd better get things organzied before the dark. I lit candles everywhere and we settled in for the night with more reading and games. All in all we had a good experience but when the lights came on just before sunset the next day I felt relief.

Let it snow...

I did a fun little snow scene to get into the holiday mood. It's inspired by a vintage Christmas card from the turn of the last century. It's nothing spectacular, but sure fun to paint.

Scooter

This is a painting of our dog Scooter at the beach this summer. He's a funny little guy, keeps us all smiling.

I haven't been at the easel for a couple of days, it's beginning to get to me. Can't go for more than one or two days before withdrawl sets in.

Visited the site of an amazing artist recently, his name is Jon Foster. Google him, he has a spectacular talent.

study in blue, white, and burnt sienna

This painting is almost finished. I like the way the light is hitting the objects, but I'm not too excited about the compostion. It's rather dull. Composition in still life is of utmost importance, a weak composition will turn out a weak painting, which this is. A very good exerice in limited palette and values though.