Delights of a New Camera on a Foggy July Morning in the Redwoods

Oh... How I love the new camera: Kodak Z981! It's a foggy morning, the mist is low to our mountain top. Here are some of (what I think are) the lovely flowers and views in my gardens.

First... here is my very messy Zen Garden, right outside my bedroom:

Wonderful camera! look at the water!
And here is Daisy having a drink!

The rest of these photos are flowers that I am so fortunate to have grace my gardens....

And, finally the misty morning trees....

Sweet Blessing: A Misty Morning in the Redwoods

I kinda don't want to get out of bed!  Spent the day in the studio yesterday and finished up several paintings now on Ebay.

I love the blue-green on my Buddha. It's such a mediation to relax into the painting, and let myself be guided by spirit.


Here is the little angel that appeared right after my Buddha.... I used a beautiful piece of paper from Napal for her dress. She symbolizes all of our angelic beings and guides that hold us gently in their hearts. I think she's a little too chunky, but my granddaughter says she likes chunky angels!


I love  to hear your comments!
Have a lovely day, Sweet Blessings to you!

SUMMER TIME!

I've been enjoying an amazing summer of art retreats. First to Yosemite then Bodega Bay area. Here are some of my Yosemite paintings.

First... here I am in the meadow painting El Capitan, while watching the crazy climbers scale the verticle walls!

Two young children came and sat painting with me for an hour!

Here is my instructor for the day:

And this is what I wanted to paint:

As seen from the Sentinel Bridge parking lot.

And this is what I'm in the process of creating. It's not near done yet, and my camera's battery was starting to go, sorry about the faded image.

And here are my two completed paintings....

First one is the popular whole valley view from the "Tunnel View".

The second one is Stoneman's Bridge, near Camp Curry. We camped in what used to be Camp 7 for many years as I was growing up. I used to swim right underneath this bridge. The colors are quite distorted, again because of the camera/battery problem.

inally, here is a picture from the popular "Tun

nel View"

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End of May Work

Here are the finished paintings. Unfortunately, when downsizing the images the deepness of the color is lost.

This first is Saint Sarah, a Black Madonna. Myth tells that she was the handmaiden who walked out on the water to greet the boat of the three Mary's. She has 13 pearls in her hair, representing the Zodiac. I loved painting her face... it has layer upon layer of color, from turquoise to umbers.


Another Black Madonna, adorned with cabbage roses. I took out the huge earrings.
This is an interesting little alter piece I created. I got frustrated the first day of class, so I switched paintings to this Buddha head painted on a piece of found wood, right outside the classroom door. All of the items attached are vintage found items.

Early May work

Don't let this scare you... it's just midway through many, many layers of undertones. Someone admired my work and asked if I could paint a Black Madonna, Saint Sarah, preferably. So here she is in her early stages. I'm starting with a purple backdrop, painted on one of the fabulous framed wood canvases that Bill made me. Her skin tone is a joy to work with... purple, blue, yellow, crimson, all added in transparent glazes. This will be fun to unfold. She's going to have a red mantle (hooded cape) and a brilliant blue dress. We'll see about the embellishment. Overall, I plan to darken the edges and corners, and to have many layers of glazes, maybe antique crackle the corners. I'm LOVING THIS!!


Here is how my Native American Black angel turned out. Her wings have tons of fiber medium to make them more feathery. I had fun with the beading. Could have gone on adding more and more... but wanted to be done so I could start on my Black Madonna. I do love her long, long braids. Leaving heavy brush strokes made the braiding look real.

Early Spring Morning in the Redwoods

So, who would want to get out of bed in the morning. Here's my view with the sun dancing in the Redwoods!

Painting Progress

My friend Vita encouraged me to show my paintings in progress. Actually, it really helps to see a painting on the computer screen rather than only in person. It gives another perspective. Here, I started by outlining her face in black, then started in with umber and off white, but had to get in my wonderful aqua blue. Everything is just undercoats. She looks like she'd be a wonderful Afro-Angel... we'll see what develops!

New Pics

OK, so here are some better pictures of my last set of paintings. Actually, I have a few more that I haven't photographed yet, but I'm not as pleased as I am with these.



Here is a more stylized lady: (still a little blurry)
Here's a closeup of her face. I got daring and used darker and darker colors. Lighter lights and darker darks make more of a sculpted and contoured face.
And this one is done on a wonderful "Studio Board" that my husband made. A lovely birch substrate to work on.

My Latest Ladies

I am trying this on my new computer without a photo handling program. Just wanted to get my latest paintings up. It helps If I can see them from a different perspective.

Ladies of the Week.....

Before you even look at these, I'll admit, I better take a photography class. I just can't seem to get the color right. but look anyway (grin)

I feel really, really good about my Quan Yin (Kwan Yin) painting. The Chinese symbols on the left are Peace and Love. This was my first attempt at doing a crackle/aging technique, and I'm really happy with the results.

Here, you can really see the crackles and antique look.


And this tart-looking lady showed up for my class yesterday. Inspired by my favorite Mucha paintings. Doesn't she have a "come hither" look? Sooo much fun to paint~ ...oh, and note how much better my hands are!