Trees for Each Season ~ Whew, I finally got all eight of these tree paintings finished, and two for each season! I painted these (all 4 x 6 inches) in acrylics on 140 lb. watercolor paper and I bought the ivory mats to go with each one to fit in 5 x 7 inch frames. I think I'm going to try listing one set in Etsy and one in Ebay just to see what happens...or I may keep one of the sets to hang in the living room over the treadmill where I've been trying to get a little daily exercise. I noticed I feel better and have more energy when I can get motivated to walk on the thing...it's just hard to get motivated though!

Rainbows in my kitchen window ~ I was very lucky to be able to purchase and acquire a very beautiful stained glass 'rainbow stick' for my window. Katie Jane (check out her blog) makes these beautiful treasures in stained glass and I LOVE it, thanks so much Kate!! There's no way this picture can do justice and I was hoping for a sunny day to get a picture, but it's been cloudy and rainy just about all week. Your rainbow sticks are exquisite!!

Stopping Time ~ This is one of those paintings that seem to never get finished. I've 'finished' this one at least twice before, only to add some more to it after I decided it looked better upside-down. It's hanging on the wall in my painting room and I'll be looking and thinking, 'hmmm' maybe I can add a touch of this color to that area, etc, etc...a never ending painting, ha maybe I should retitle it. This time I'm calling her finished for sure though! :) It's acrylics on a 11 x 14 inch stretched canvas. I hope everyone is having a great weekend, it's rain, rain and more rain here in Virginia.

Treasure in my Mailbox ~ Terri West sent me this absolutely gorgeous print of her 'Vesper Sunflowers' painting and I LOVE it! Thank you Terri and I can't wait to frame this lovely print, it's a treasure of beautiful warm colors and flowers!

My Spring Trees all finished, now to start on summer.

I was trying out the macro feature on the camera and captured this cheerful little face of a 'johnny jump-up this evening. They'll be popping up all over the yard and I'll be out there digging them up and replanting them before the 'lawnmower' man mows them down! :)

Winter and Summer ~ I worked a little more on my winter trees last night and almost got spring done too, yea! I still have to add some wildflowers and of course the ribbon decorations. Next I'm going to start on the two summer trees. They are all 4 x 6 inches in acrylics. I think I'm going to order some ivory mats to go with these. It's beautiful and sunny out today and it's really welcome after all the cloudy and rainy days we've had here!

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY! ~ Here's a photo of me own great-great grandfather, John Yadon, taken somewhere in the mid 1800's. Check out those cool glasses and walking stick! His own g-g (I hope I counted the g's right) grandfather, Joseph Preston Yadon, came from Down County, Ireland (born in 1756) and was a drummer boy during the Revolutionary War, fighting for America's freedom. To make a long story short, he ended up staying in America, married and settled in Tennessee. Here's a photo of Joseph Yadon's gravesite and I'm so proud and glad he decided to call America home! I hope everyone is wearing some green today, if not *pinch* *pinch* :) :)

Undersee Symphony ~ I finally finished this one and it's acrylics on a 8 x 10 inch stretched canvas. I scrubbed off/redone/backtracked in so many places, it's a wonder there's any paint left on this one. I was happy with the way it turned out though. I've been on a fish and undersea theme lately and I plan on trying some more under the 'see' ones. I may be influenced by all the rain we're having here in Virginia...4 straight days of it. On the bright side, everything is greening up really nicely! I hope everyone is having a great weekend! I got the background for my two spring tree paintings done, now I just need to paint in the trees.

Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall ~ I decided to try and paint a series of small trees in acrylics in each of the seasons. These are both 4 x 6 inches on watercolor paper. I guess you can tell which season these are and yep, I was influenced by that 8 inches of lovely snow we got last Monday. Now I have pairs of the other three seasons to go. I recently bought a jar of Liquitex mat gel medium and I wasn't sure how I would like it until tonight. I brushed a coat of it over these two paintings and I love the soft, matted buttery finish it gives to the surface of the paint! I really like it much better than the glossy finish I was using before. Speaking of trees, check out these fantastical tree photos in Katie Jane's blog!

I captured this very large black crow up in the tree after we had the snow storm. They are really huge birds and at first I thought he was our ring-tailed hawk up there. Sometimes I throw old pieces of bread out at the back of the yard and they will clumsily hop around, spear a piece of bread and fly with it up into the tree. They are fun to watch!

Winter Wonderland ~ Haha, be careful what you wish for! I've been wishing for snow all winter and this is what we woke up to this morning. We had a blizzard blow through Virginia last night with strong winds, ice, rain, sleet and everything else imagineable blowing around and hitting the windows all night. We finally lost power around 3 a.m., but luckily we have a small generator and kerosene heater which kept us going till the electricity came back on this evening. I was going to make a snowman, but after shoveling the almost foot of snow off the sidewalks and steps, my aching back said to put it off till tomorrow. We did have fun making icicle and snow art out on the back deck though. Maybe a snowman tomorrow!

I would like to give a 'shout out' for an awesome new artist's chat forum on the web...if you're a regular at the WetCanvas! site, you'll see lots of familiar faces and great conversation! Check it out:

http://unvarnishededge.21.forumer.com/index.php