HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Another page for the traveling sketchbooks and more snow pics ~ This is my last page for the traveling sketchbooks and it's been so fun...thanks so much for starting this wonderful project Kate! I love my completed book, which had traveled wide and far, and arrived safely back home full of wonderful pages done by such creative artists! This page (above) is for Auntie Mim's book and the theme for her book is 'home'. I used a collaged acrylic painting on heavy yupo paper and added some metallic gold touches and black sharpee ink and a sparkly gemstone on the window. I hope you will like your page and I will get this in the mail this week so it can make one more stop then be on it's way home to you!
Our snow is almost all melted now but I have more photos to share with you below. It was really wonderful to have a white Christmas this year!

A Holy Night, Decorated for Christmas, and A Winter Wonderland

ACEO size paintings (2 1/2 x 3 1/2 inches) in acrylics, graphite pencil and crystal glitter on watercolor paper

I Wish Everyone Happy Holidays and a Very Merry Christmas! ~ I think we are all ready here...tree decorated, gifts all wrapped and ready to be opened, dozens of cookies baked...so we are just waiting for Santa now, ho ho ho, impatiently I might add! Hurry up Santa so we can open the presents! We are going to have a white Christmas this year since a big nor'easter storm hit us last weendend with lots of snow. Some of it's melted but the ground is still white, I love it and can't remember having snow for Christmas in many years.

Babs posted one of her favorite Christmas ornaments in her blog 'Off the Wall Art', check it out! What a great idea and I got some pictures of some of ours which I enjoy seeing every Christmas. From the gingerbread house ornament that my daughter painted when she was younger, to the special rocking horse ornament which we got when she was 2 years old. It's hard to believe that little pink horse has been decorating the tree for the last 21 years!

The 'shooting star' sled has been hanging on the tree many years too. My daughter's elementary school class made these little treasures out of popsicle sticks, string, and felt.

Christmas cookies to share!

Big nor'easter blizzard, this pic is from last Saturday night when the snow was coming down hard. We got about 8 inches of snow. The cardinal below was waiting his turn at the feeder.

Happy Holidays to everyone ~ Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

Small Abstract in Green, Orange, and Gold and a Strange Looking WIP ~ Not much going on lately...feeling uninspired to do anything creative, I'm starting to think I have the holiday blahs. Ha, then I have to remind myself that we're barely into December and it's time to shake off those blahs and paint something! The other night I grabbed my medium charcoal pencil and started to doodle on an aceo size piece of watercolor paper. After adding some of the acrylics in green, orange, red and metallic gold and silver and a sprinkle of crystal glitter, I was sort of pleased with the way it finally turned out!

I don't have a clue what this one is about (photo above - 8 x 10 inches, acrylics on a stretched canvas) and it's been sitting in my painting room for months and months. I just add a little to it here and there and today I was thinking that it was starting to remind me of a large bug or some sort of sea creature! I guess I'll finish it one of these days!

New ACEOs and Gobble Gobble! ~ Oh boy, I've been so guilty of neglecting my blog lately, but at least I have gotten these three aceo size cards painted this week so I can share them. They are available on ebay and two will be running in the nfac contest in ebay this week. I couldn't resist painting a couple for the fun theme of 'holidays'. I was trying to get inspired this week to paint something, anything. I was starting to think my muse had run away with the turkeys and gone in hiding! These three are done with acrylics (including the shiny gold and silver), charcoal pencil and some sprinkly sparkly crystal glitter. I'll be up to my elbows in sweet potatoes this week. I always make a huge bowl of the sweet potato casserole with pecans and brown sugar and we head over to my MIL's on Thanksgiving Day, loaded up with yummy dishes.

Happy Turkey Day!!

'Christmas Mystery'

'Christmas on Mars'

'Midnight Mystery'

Tropical Storm Ida ~ "Ooh look at these pretty, wispy feathery clouds!" That's what I was saying on Tuesday as I took the three photos above. Little did I know that we were about to be clobbered with around seven inches of rain, flooding and high winds for the next three days, thanks to tropical storm Ida! We were one of the lucky ones though since we didn't lose power... although it almost went off several times. I had the hurricane lamps and candles ready. For the photos below, fast forward to Saturday evening a little after 5 p.m. ...what is that reddish color on the tops of the trees across the road?! Yeaaa, it's the sun, which we haven't seen since Tuesday...and I can see the stars up there tonight, so I know that Ida has finally traveled out of central Virginia! Yeaa, sunshine tomorrow and I'm looking forward to seeing it again, whew what a soggy week!!

New ACEOs, and one last morning glory ~ These are some of the latest aceos I've painted and the one on top is one that I've reworked several times but it really, really is finished and done now. I think all it needed was some snow on the ground and some holiday decorations added.

I found the last morning glory of the year (probably) almost hiding under the steps in the backyard and of course I had to get her picture with those pretty colors of purplish blue!

The D.C. area sniper was executed last night at a correctional facility, not too far from where I live here in Virginia. It brought back the awful memories of those three weeks back in '92...he was shooting people in the area not too far from where we live and I can still remember the eerie and creepy feeling I had as I walked from my car into the grocery store during the weeks before he was finally caught. Everyone was on edge and wondering who it was. Walking across the parking lot, I had a strong uge to duck my head and hurry inside. It was a scary three weeks before he was finally caught and it boggles my mind how any human being could do such a horrible and evil thing!

Jiminy Cricket, Fall Colors and another Girlfriend's Traveling Sketchbook page finished! ~ The trees have really been colorful the last few weeks and here's a few of the photos I've taken here and there... well, mostly in the backyard here. I also finished another of the sketchbook pages this week and I have it ready to mail. Karen M., from the blog Beelieve, wanted a bee theme for her book and I really had fun doing her page! I used a collaged print of a sketch I did several years ago, metallic gold and silver acrylics, black sharpee pen, sparkles and an old pendant I found that reminded me of a honeycomb! Karen, I have your book ready to mail and the bees are coming home to roost soon and I bet you will love your book! That means I only have one more page to do and that is for Auntie Mims book!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN! ~ I hope everyone has a fun, happy and safe Halloween! I've been enjoying eating the candy and watching the trees turn gorgeous fall colors this week!

Here are some ACEO paintings I finished this week in acrylics and... Wooohoo, I got a wonderful surprise in the mail yesterday! My completed Girlfriends Traveling Sketchbook arrived and it looks unbelievably awesome! My book has traveled all over the country and even to London, UK! Thanks so much girlfriends, I love it and I'll always treasure my book!! I also have another page to work on for Karen M's sketchbook and then only one more to go, which will be Aunt Mim's page! My book was so long, I had to stretch it across the carpet just to get a picture. Thank You Kate for starting the Girlfriend's Sketchbook project, you're much appreciated my friend!!

Fall Colors ~ Our crepe myrtle hardly bloomed at all this year, but she is putting on a fine show of scarlet color right now! Looking out at the back yard, guess who is going to be doing a lot of raking real soon...me! I enjoy it though. I don't have any new art to share, my muse has been on vacation lately. I think she's finally telling me to get in there and paint something tonight though, yea, about time she came back!

House on Fire! ~ Last week, we had soo many sirens go past the house at about 6 pm Thursday evening...Next the police were blocking off the main road and detouring traffic down the side road next door! Someone's house had caught on fire and omg, I'm so thankful nobody was hurt. The couple who lived there wasn't at home when the fire started but the house had extensive damage inside. So scary! I took this video (below) from our front door about 2 hours after all the sirens went by!

Pumpkin Headed Duo ~ I worked some more on my dancing scarecrows with pumpkin heads. I think I'm going to enter them for the ebay nibblefest contest on the 2oth, since the theme this month is 'Halloween'. I can't wait to see the entries this month, it should be fun!

I found this big yellow poplar tree leaf on the ground today and oooh, it looked so pretty next to the pansies I recently planted. I couldn't resist getting some photos to share. I hope everyone has had a great weekend! We've had cold rain and drizzle, clouds, and wind for almost a week now, ugh I think winter seems to be coming early this year.

Beautiful Blue Pansy, she's showing off her colors.

Velvety Red, she likes being next to the bright yellow leaf.

A close-up of the leaf, what incredible patterns you can find in nature. This could inspire an abstract painting!