Dragonfly Dreams ~ I been painting on and off with this one the last few days and got it finished tonight. It's 5 x 7 inches, acrylics on watercolor paper. Check out Bab's Off the Wall blog, she has a dragonfly painting posted too and it's so gorgeous!

Capturing a Moon Moment ~ right when the full moon was laying on top of the garage last week. I hope we'll be done with all this work on the house (and garage) one of these days. arrgh...it seems never ending! It was 96 degrees today and I thought I was going to have a heat stroke after cutting weeds and mowing the grass under the apple tree! :o Hurry up fall, I'm ready for ya! :)

Tropical Storm Cristobal ~ She sure gave us some spectacular clouds Saturday evening right before sunset! We had the very edge of the system that produced the clouds in these photos. Too bad she didn't give us any rain though which we really needed...there must have been some rain way up in the clouds though as we could see what looked like a piece of rainbow inside the left edge of that big puffy white cloud.

New Trees and Orange Tiger Lilies ~ These are both acrylics painted on stretched canvas and 6 x 6 inches. I still have to think of some names for these. I had to get my 'tree fix' and these are sort of like the ACEOs that I used to paint every week. The big orange tiger lilies are in bloom and I got this picture today. I hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Hearts Abstracted ~ I've been inspired by the color red lately it seems. I just finished this one and it's 6 x 6 inches on a stretched canvas. I used a hodgepodge of things in this one, including tiny flakes of sparkly red metalflake auto paint collaged in with gel medium and gold interference and pearl iridescent acrylics for the ribbon. I have this one listed in my Etsy shop. Speaking of which, I helped my dear Mom-in-law set up her very own Etsy shop this week! She owned her own hairdressing business for many years, but since retiring she loves to make homemade items. I told her about Etsy, made her banner and helped her set up shop this week! She would love it if you could give her shop a heart! She is still learning the ropes and I'm helping her with the photos and the listings. Her shop is:

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6003895

I hope everyone had a fun July 4th holiday with lots of good food and fireworks!

New ACEO ~ Crimson Sky and Gold Heart (acrylics on wc paper)

Have you ever seen a dragonfly bluer than the sky? I spotted this little fellow next to the deck stairs today and wow he was a gorgeously intense color, almost neon blue! He was actually very small, and oh so delicate looking with almost invisible wings. I got up close with the camera to get this shot. Well I have the red and the blue in this post so all I need is the white to say:

Have a Safe and Happy Independence Day!

Misty Blue Mountains ~ I recently did this little painting and it's 5 x 7 inches, acrylics on 140 lb. watercolor paper.

This morning it sounded like Santa had come early because we are having a new roof put on the house. I never realized how thick that stuff is up there and I cleaned up some of it off the steps at the back of the house. I didn't realize that the shingles were full of what looks like little gravel and fiberglass. It's a good thing I was wearing gloves most of the time! :o

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Golden Land ~ I bought some new paints the other day and I got a tube of the interference gold and it's soo purty! I used the iridescent pearl and the new gold paint to make this ACEO. I tried to get several photos to show how the light ineracts with the paint. I hope everyone is having a great weekend and Happy Father's Day! I made my husband a homemade pound cake today for the occasion. That's his favorite cake so he was happy with my present. :p

Hungry Hungry Butterfly! ~ This evening we had a guest out on the back deck and it was the most beautiful and apparently hungry butterfly. I had just bought this container of petunias a couple of weeks ago because we needed something else colorful out there. Late this evening, this big fellow fluttered up to the flowers and almost half of him disappeared inside one of the blooms. I ran and got my camera and he was happy to oblige me with my picture taking while he fluttered from bloom to bloom. He just ignored me and my camera. He kept returning and gorged on lots of the blooms. I even ran inside and downloaded the photos I had and returned to get a few more. Finally, when the sun was going down, he fluttered over to me where I was sitting and was right over my head like he was saying 'goodbye' to me and flew over the house. I hope he returns again!

Turquoise Sun ~ Things have been going really slow lately but I did finally finish this one today. It's 9 x 12 inches, acrylics on 140 lb watercolor paper. The weather has gotten so hot the last couple of days here and it's going to be hitting the century mark the next couple of days. Hot enough to fry an egg on the sidewalk, as that old saying goes!

Time for a Sunset ~ I'm not sure about this title yet but I was trying to think of somthing that had to do with the color red and time. This is 8 x 10 inches, acrylics and a little bit of black ink on a stretched canvas. I seem to be in a sci-fi mode lately when it comes to my art but I've been having the urge to paint some more trees soon. I think that'll be my next art project.

I know summer is not too far away because I saw my first lightening bug of the year right before it turned dark this evening. I was out on the deck in the backyard when I saw him. I don't remember ever seeing one this early in the year and I hope that doesn't mean that we're in for a scorching summer. But, ah those memories of chasing them on a warm humid night...running barefoot through the grass, giggling, sweating, running and jumping to catch them to put them in a mason glass jar and make a magical yellow lantern. :) Then later on, unscrewing the lid and letting them fly away till their next capture!

Where Earth Meets Sky ~ Two more ACEOs done in acrylics on 140 lb. watercolor paper. I was thinking of adding some of the tiny cows like the last one but decided to just leave them this way. Maybe some oreo cows for the next one though.

Men from Outer Space ~ This is the wip I was working on and I finally got it finished today. It's 11 x 14 inches on a deep stretched canvas. I was trying for pure abstraction, but started seeing the shapes of red cloaked figures walking towards what looks like a hole in a spaceship. Sometimes my imagination just takes over when doing a painting!

Somewhere in Kentucky with beautiful sky and bluegrass

Scenic view in Virginia near the Blue Ridge Pkwy

Me (left), my cousin, and little sister

above, sunset views driving through Charleston, West Virginia and traveling through the WV mountains on the interstate

The special old rocking chair which my Grandfather made before I was born. Lots of love in that old chair and the woodgrain is showing through on the seat because so many of us have sat in it through the years. I feel close to my Mom, Dad, and Papaw just sitting in it! It brings back so many memories.

Twinkle toes taking a top 'o the dryer nap ~ Well her feet are the biggest on any cat I've ever owned and she loves to nap on top of the dryer sometimes. Puddin' (my cat's real name) is a big old fat girl who stays up late with me at night and sometimes helps me with my painting.

It was so good to get back home from our trip to Kentucky and I have some photos which I'll post later. It was great to see my sister Betsy and we visited the cemetary to place flowers on Mom and Dad's resting place. I brought back some things things that Mom had owned including the big old rocking chair that Mom's Father made before I was born. I can sit in that old chair and just feel the ones who sat in her so many times...my Dad with his stacks of Progressive Farmer magazines and chewing tobacco spitcan (ick), my Mom who sat in it for so many years holding us in her lap, even my Papaw who passed away long ago. he would take out his little tobacco pouch with a slice of apple in it, rolling his own cigarettes. Sometimes something handed down generation after generation takes on a little piece of the soul and spirit of the family who owned it. That's how I feel about that old chair.

NEW PAINTINGS ~ This is two in acrylics I've been working on this week. Kim, looking at the awesome black/white pen doodles which you recently shared in your blog got me to thinking about the pen doodle I did last year. I did something different with it the other day. I printed it out on 140 lb. watercolor paper and then painted the colors in with acrylics. It was lots of fun, almost like a coloring book. :) The bottom painting is on a stretched canvas and still a WIP. I haven't titled it yet but I think the title will come to me as I do some more work on it when we get back from our trip.

WE ARE HEADING FOR KENTUCKY tomorrow morning and we will be back sometimes Tuesday evening. It's been kind of hectic with packing, washing clothes and getting ready for the trip. I plan on taking lots of photos traveling through those beautiful mountains. I'll miss youall and see ya when we get back!

I could see broken glass and dresses all over the floor here.


They worked all night boarding up the broken windows.



There were cars stacked on top of each other here yesterday!



We didn't even see these workmen on the roof when we drove by!



Mr. Wayne Covil, our local newsman at work. Rob knows him from the racetrack and we waved as we drove by. The local news people did a great job reporting the latest news and sharing pictures of the tornado damage!

The tornado hit the Target Store shopping mall, then skipped over and hit this pool store and carpet business, doing even more damage. It ripped off most of the roof here!

Tornadoes!!! ~ Three of them hit Virginia yesterday evening and one was way too close for comfort! Colonial Heights is our nearby town and we have relatives living there. Rob and I drove in today and got these photos. Thank goodness, nobody was killed but about 200 people had cuts and scrapes. We just had heavy downpour here at the house with black skies and didn't even know the tornado was hitting in town!

This tornado was bad enough but nothing like the F-4 one that hit our area back in '93. I actually heard the sound it made that day since it was hitting the old town area 2 blocks from where I was working that day! Wow, I'll never forget that sound even though I heard it from a distance...like a combination wind tunnel and truck. I remember asking someone else if they could hear the weird sounding truck out there. A couple of minutes before, like dummies, we were all looking outside the 2nd floor window oohing and ahhing and looking at the street signs flipping back and forth, having no idea or warning that a tornado was 2 blocks away! I found an old Youtube video that someone had made of the destruction from that day in '93. You may want to turn your speakers down if you don't like loud rock music, but the photos are incredible.

http://video.aol.com/video-detail/tornado-1993-virginia/1967926416?icid=acvsv4

It tore through the Wal-mart killing 4 people that day! Sigh, Mother Nature can sure wallop us sometimes!!

Thoughts and prayers going out to the people down in Suffolk, VA. They got hit a whole lot worse than we did yesterday! :( I think I'm still feeling a little 'shellshocked' today, this brought back memories from '93!

'Tiny Pastoral'

and

'Warm Horizon'~

I've been fiddling with these two ACEO size ones this week and finally got them finished today. Somtimes I just can't get in the mood to paint and have to let things 'stew' in my mind for a few days. Anyways, these 2 little ones are acrylics on watercolor paper and I even put what is supposed to be teeny tiny cows in the first painting.

I want to thank my good friend Kim from Creating Space for awarding me the 'Excellent Blogger' Award. Kim, thank you so very much!! Now I'm to pass on the award and it's just too hard to pick from so many excellent bloggers, but to recieve the Excellent Blogger award, I picked:

1. Babs and her Off the Wall Art blog, she is a truly amazing artist and dear friend.

2. Mother of Invention and her Spilling Out blog. Check out her wonderful photos and Friday poetry.

3. Angela from Angela's Art Diary. She's a very dedicated and talented young artist.

4. T.L. West and her Epiphany Art blog. She is a very talented artist with lovely works showcased in her blog.

I believe you can pick 10 people to pass this award on to so I'll have to think of more to pick in the next few days.

Two New ACEOs ~ 'Stop the Snakes' (above) and 'Fairy Skirt' (bottom 2 photos showing the effect of the pearl iridescent paint) I painted both of these in acrylics on 2 1/2 x 3 1/2 140 lb. watercolor paper. These 2 are available in Ebay.

It has done nothing but rain here in Virginia the last couple days and we may have to build an ark if it keeps up much longer! I'm really thankful though that our house isn't that close to the lake although there are flash flood warnings in the area. I hope everyone had a great weekend! Soggy here!