Two new ACEOs this week~ Moon Magic 1 & 2. I've painted 3 pairs of them this week and it's been lots of fun! I paint them at the same time and it's almost like one is coming from my right brain and the other from my left. I could try painting the one on the left with my left hand but I know it would turn out a mess! :)

My friend CHERI (Ladywolf1 from Wetcanvas) has an entry in the Creativity 350 website contest and I know she would appreciate your vote for her Terra BOT 350 entry. Her entry seems to be made from all recycled objects and looks like a robot with lots of personality! This website seems to be all about conserving and the future and health of our planet...I am going to check it out! I voted for her entry here and you can too if you would like:

vote for: TERRABOT350 by Art2Art

Between July and December I & II ~ Two more little ACEOs I just finished today. Can you tell I'm getting in a fall/winter mood? I listed one of these in etsy and one in ebay as kind of an experiment.

Tree of Muses 1 & 2 ~ Two little paintings I did this week, ACEO size (2 1/2 x 3 1/2 inches) painted in acrylics on 140 lb. watercolor paper. These little trees are inhabited by muses...they dwell there to inspire ones creativity when one walks nearby. I'm hoping they'll inspire me to paint more trees! :) Both are for auction in Ebay this week: click here to bid.

The Buggersnapper ~ He flies, he swims, he jumps, he crawls...and eats up pesky bugs...a fat orange comical creature with big googly eyes! This is an ACEO size (2 1/2 x 3 1/2 inches) original ooak painting done in acrylics on 140 lb. watercolor paper. The buggersnappper's wings are painted in shimmery iridescent gold acrylics. Another weird one! :) I put him on ebay to see if he gets a nibble. I hope you all had a great weekend!

My painting without the real rock hanging in front of it...

Babs, my Jack in the Beanstalk plant is growing...slowly but surely!! It has the most pretty delicate colored leaves and stalks. I'm hoping I'll see some flowers and beanpods soon!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

I can't believe my 'baby' is 22 years old, boy time flies!

There's a rock hanging in the sky ~ Sooo, I was painting this WIP the other night...I usually place my paintings, if they're little, up on the shelf over the washing machine while I'm on the computer. My light chain over the washer had broken years ago, so I improvised with a round creek rock with a hole in the center. I twisted a long wire which goes up to the light bulb to turn it on and off. Well...every time I place a WIP up on that shelf, I turn on the light to study it while I'm using the computer. Most of the time, that rock is hanging in front of the painting and I have to look around it or put it behind the box of Tide. The other night, I had an inspiration to put the rock inside my painting so I ran in there and painted it in the sky. It's a 5 x 7 inch acrylics on watercolor paper and I'm tempted to just call it done. I don't know what else I could paint in there after the rock in the sky! :)

Ugh, I have been so sick since last Friday night. I think I got either the flu or a bad case of bronchitis. I'm starting to feel like I might survive though, felt much better today. Babs, thank you for that chicken soup, it did make me feel much better!!

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.