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!

Colors of Autumn ~ This is two new aceo size paintings I did this week in acrylics. I have them both listed in ebay. I've been really feeling the mood of fall...especially since the temps have dropped and we are turning on the heater at night now, brrr!

I'm so proud of my daughter, who is so very busy...working and going to college classes to someday become a pharmacist. She had a break today before classes and found time to visit her dad and me and have a cup of coffee and a visit.

All day long, we haven't seen a speck of sun. It was gray and drizzling all day. Then right as it got dark, we look out west and finally see the sun right as it was setting in fiery colors!

A Solid Black Pansy ~ Who knew there was such a thing, I sure didn't know! We went to Home Depot in search of mums and pansies yesterday. The year before last, I had them planted out front and they looked so pretty and grew really well. I knew I wanted to try them again this year. Soo, I bought all kinds of colors including red, purple, blue, white, yellow...and right when we were getting ready to check out, the guy at the register showed us 2 pots of solid black pansies he had on top of a shelf. I was surprised because I didn't even know they came in this color! I couldn't resist them because they looked so unusual and were such a deep velvety color. I thought these pictures would be perfect for fall so I'm sharing them with youall. I've been really slow making art this week. I did start on another pressed blue wildflower aceo/atc with a pastel purple background and I hope to finish it and make some more. I hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Scarecrow Pumpkinhead Boogies in the field and More Blue Wildflower ACEO/ATCs ~

Sometimes I think I have a weird imagination to paint something that looks like a scarecrow with a pumpkin for a head dancing around in a field! Maybe it's because Halloween is almost here, a fun time of year!

I've been picking those little blue petals out of the flowers in the fence again and I've made a total of 6 of these so far. I researched, and finally found the plant I've been picking on. They are called Asiatic dayflowers and each of the little blue blooms only last for one day. I'm hoping the petals will last a whole lot longer than that in my aceos, since I have at least 3 thick layers of gloss medium over each of the cards I made. Numbers 1,2, and 3 are gone but 4, 5, and 6 are available and listed in my ebay (link in the upper right of my blog). I am going to try and make some more to list in my etsy store this week! I'm thinking of trying out some different pastel colors for the backgrounds. These have been so fun to make and I may try to make some as Christmas gifts this year.

My Experiment for Today ~ I was sitting on the steps and picked one of the little petals off of one of the blue wildflowers (actually weed) which grows in the fence. I rubbed it between my fingers and it turned my fingers so blue! I thought hmm, what would happen if I painted an aceo with light yellow acrylics and then press the flowers into the wet paint? That part was tricky and delicate. I got some of the tiny little orange parts and a couple of leaves in there too. I then painted a layer of clear gloss medium over it all and sprinkled in a little bit of the crystal glitter. Next I used a black sharpee for the stems and red acrylics for the ribbon, with a dab of irridescent pearl in the middle of the flowers. When it was almost dry, I pressed a piece of yupo paper which made some neat textures. My experiment is almost dried and now I just wait to see if the plant parts will turn brown (oh no) or if the lovely color will stay this way!

Harvest Moon Sparkle ~ With fall colors...I love fall so much but it seems to be the sneezy, coughing season for me now. I've had awful allergies the last week and haven't felt much like painting. I did get this aceo done last night though and it's done in acrylics and crystal glitter over the moon and water. "aachooo" maybe I'm allergic to the crystal glitter, lol! I hope youall had a great weekend!