TGIF!!!! ~ Every Friday in the Quickie Digi Abstract thread in WetCanvas.com we take turns making up a virtual digibar for artistic friendship and fun. Has anyone noticed that WC has been down today? Arrrgh! :( I keep getting a message that there is a problem with the database. Well, I have some plans to do some painting this weekend. I stopped by Michaels after work this evening and bought some canvas and paints and assorted art goodies. Sheesh, the price on some of the paintbrushes are scary though!

Blue Ribbon Night ~ A digital abstract for tonight and a tribute to my hubby. He races those wild fast drag cars and won 2nd place tonight in the Ford event at Virginia Motorsports Park. It was a national race with people traveling from out of state and a pretty big event. http://www.virginiamotorsportspk.com/FUNFORD.html Woohoo pretty nice prize $ too!

FLOWERS, lovely flowers ~ It's the first week of summer and some of the flowers are just starting to bloom out in the yard. We had a little rainstorm late this evening and one of the gladolias outside just started to open so I got a photo of it. I found someone inside one of the flowers taking shelter from the rain too. Glad my little digi camera is weather proof.

whole painting and detail above
Magic Redbird ~ I've been really getting into painting on synthetic yupo paper. Some really unusual effects can be achieved using this smooth, very white paper that is also waterproof. Usually I splotch on paint then smear or drip then see what develops. When I see something in the paint I develop it further using small brushes and my acrylics. I just finished this today and it's 8 1/2 X 11 inches on medium weight yupo.

It's been raining all day but I guess it's the edge of the tropical stormfront moving through. Tonight about a half hour ago I looked outside and the moon was showing through a break in the clouds and it was very orange! I had to check out W.J.'s blog at http://art166.blogspot.com/ to see what phase the moon was in. It is a waning gibbous moon and 85 percent full. I still can't figure out why it looked so orange though! I was even wondering if it was in an eclipse. I got one crummy photo of it and did a digi manip of it. Oh one of these days I hope to get a zoom lens camera so I can get better moon photos! I just saw it again and it's playing 'peekaboo' behind some dark cloud slivers but still orangey looking.

Another photo of the spectacular Dutch Gap Conservation Area ~ Oh I want to get a telephoto zoom lens so bad. We saw some black birds with the most intense color of red on their wings but I couldn't get a photo of them. I am wondering if they are red-winged blackbirds. My hubby spotted them first then we saw several of them perching in the marsh. Here is another of the photos I got with the Dominion power company in the far distance. I wish I had an audio recording of the frogs singing. When we first got out of the car I thought music was playing somewhere till I realized it was thousands of frogs singing in the marsh! Awesome place!

Dutch Gap Conservation Area and wetlands~
This evening we went to an amazing area of natural beauty called the Dutch Gap Conservation Area. It seems to consist of low wetlands and marsh and many, many birds. It's in central Virginia and 80 miles west of the Chesapeake Bay. It looks like a prehistoric area of strange beauty and right next to this is the Dominion power company which presents a strange contrast. with so many frogs singing at first when we got out of the car, I thought someone was playing music somewhere. Nearby is the Citie of Henricus which is supposed to be 4 years older than Jamestown but that area was closed and I only got to see thatched roofs of huts over the fence. Will have to go back and see this when it's open! Got a cool photo of the power plant with the sun setting between the towers or whatever those things are. Lucky shot since I took it from the open window of our moving vehicle! The sun looks like a shooting star at the end of the jet trail.

Little Red Abstract ~ I did this one several weeks ago but I just wasn't sure if it was finished or not. It's a little 4 x 4 inches and acrylics on 140 lb. watercolor paper. Sometimes you just have to go on to the next painting!

CENTER OF THE SUN ~ This is another digital work and I am thinking about having these last two printed out to sell as a diptych set.

LADDER TO THE MOON ~ I'm in a 'digi mood' tonight. This is a digital painting I had done earlier and just finished it up tonight. I love looking at the http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html Astronomy Picture of the Day and I'm inspired by my friends in the Quickie Digi Abstract thread in ab/con forum of http://www.wetcanvas.com/forums/showthread.php?t=350081 wetcanvas.com. I usually get in a lunar moon when there's a full moon glowing up in the sky but tonight is overcast and cloudy so I just used my imagination for this one.

The Aviary" ~ This is acrylics on yupo paper and it's 8 1/2 x 11 inches. My husband gave me an idea it was about birds because it was pure abstraction to me. He said I should title it "Which came first the chicken, the egg or rush hour traffic?" :)