The Three Little Kittens ~ who lost their mittens and then began to cry... This was one of my daughter's favorite bedtime stories when she was a little girl and I read it to her countless times. She would always get so happy and relieved when the kittens finally found their mittens and Mama cat gave them some pie. :) I couldn't resist painting this when I saw the Ebay NFAC theme this month was favorite childhood stories. This is 6 x 6 inches, acrylics on a stretched canvas.

Thunderstorms! ~ We have had severe thunderstorm watches, warnings, tornado watches and warnings, and large hail warnings pretty much all day long. I took these pictures of the sky this evening. In one of these, the clouds separated and I could see what looked like a big star shape! We didn't get the tornadoes or hail, only threatening skies and a couple of heavy rains today.

Ooops, I should have mentioned, the barn above is a close-up

detail from the picture below. The pearl paint was reflective and shiny in the light

in this picture.

Spring in the Country ~ I built a country barn and planted a blooming tree in the landscape I posted in my last post. I also trimmed it down to 5 x 7 inches. Today I realized I needed a roof on the barn so I painted it in pearl irridescent acrylics.

The pollen here is so heavy that my green car had turned powdery yellow today! Yes, I'm still aaachooing with allergies too. I hope everyone has a fun and creative weekend!

Some new little paintings and an apple tree dressed in blooms~

I've been finding it hard to get inspired to paint until recently and I think it may be the miserable allergies I've had the last few weeks. It's funny how someone can go for most of their lives through the spring season with not a single allergy symptom...when...'wham' all of a sudden one year you find you are allergic to the pollen, flowers, etc. Thank goodness for the over counter medicines, they really do seem to help. Sneeze, cough, blow nose, take out eyeballs and scratch them, arrgh! :) That's what I feel like doing anyways!

The painting above left is one I'm working on but it's still a wip. I'm thinking about trying to paint a country barn and cows in there, but I'm still thinking about that one. Also, I've been painting some ACEOs (above right). All of these are acrylics on watercolor paper.

Our two old apple trees at the back of the yard have outdone theirselves in blooms this year, so hopefully we'll be having some apple pies later this year!

HAPPY EASTER ~ I took this picture of my daughter nineteen years ago at Grandma's house for the annual Easter egg hunt. Where do the years go? That year she discovered you were supposed to find the hidden colored eggs and place them in your basket, not step on them and crunch them, although that was fun too. :) Some of the eggs were special, made of plastic and had hidden candy treasures inside. I hope you all have a wonderful and Happy Easter!

Untitled so far ~ This painting is acrylics on an 8 x 10 inch stretched canvas. I don't know where in the world I'm going with this one yet but I can see a big window with lots of glass panes. Do you ever feel like you have to paint something and just grab a blank canvas late at night and start painting something... anything at all? That's how this one started and I'm not sure where to go with it yet, lots more studying and looking at it might do the trick though.

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

Hello Full Moon ~ I captured this shot in the front yard under the pine tree back when the moon was full and begging to have her picture taken. I love the time of day when the sky is clear and the setting sun is painting the sky with beautiful colors as a full moon is rising!

Two Abstract Paintings without titles ~ I've been working on both of these paintings this week, but it's been really, really, really slow-going. Ha, where are you muse? These are both acrylics on 8 x 10 inch stretched canvases. I'm thinking that the one on the bottom reminds me of a totem in a sandstorm. I may be able to at least finish these and give them a title soon...then again, maybe they are already finished and I just don't know it yet.

'Under the See' ~ I just finished this painting and it's acrylics on a 8 x 10 inch stretched canvas.

'Birth of a Sunrise' ~ Another painting in acrylics on a smaller 6 x 6 inch stretched canvas. I posted this in the WetCanvas challenge for February that JiMi had a wonderful theme for this month. Congratulations to both Jerald and his wife on the birth of their new baby boy!

Full Moon at Sunset ~ The moon has been so bright and full this week and the yard at night is just lit up by the glow...I grabbed my camera to try and capture this beauty right as the sun was setting.

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A very talented artist friend, Terri West from the Visual Fields blog, just presented me with an 'I Love Your Art Blog' Award...Thank you so much Terri and I love the look of your new website and blogs! I'm supposed to name 7 things I love and I'm going to think about them and name them in my next post. :p ...then pick 7 more people to pass this cool award on to!

Thank You Babs!! and some Lake Chesdin Sunset Photos ~ I want to thank my very sweet and thoughtful friend Babs for the wonderful card that she surprised me with for my 55th birthday this year (Yikes, am I really that old now)! Her card has a lovely print of one of her fantastic abstracts and she also sent me her red 'barking dog' ACEO abstract which matches the 'shaggy dog' abstract (yep Babs, I do see another dog in this one too)...now my 'shaggy dog' red abstract has some company and I treasure both of them! A very sweet thing to do, she also found a penny from the year of my birth to send. My husband was kidding with me and said it must have taken a lot of looking to find a penny that old! :) :) Thanks Babs, you are a dear friend!! I also put a wip I've been painting on the right side of my easel. I'll probably work some more on it before giving it a title and calling it finished. My husband took me up to Lake Chesdin this evening at sunset so I could get some photos:

Close-up of a tree and my favorite pic so far

My husband called this a 'gooney bird' but we think it's actually a crane

The boat dock

sunset peeping through lacy winter tree limbs

Sunset sky at Lake Chesdin, Virginia

Area 63 ~ What a crazy title for these paintings and it just sort of popped in my head. This is a triptych and they are both 5 x 7 acrylics on watercolor paper. I'm blaming the weird title on the fact that my husband downloaded the google earth program the other day. I've been virtually traveling all over the globe the last few days...what a mind-boggling program! I even walked in the neighborhood in Louisville, KY that I grew up in and saw the old house that I lived in as a child. I hate to tell my age here, (OK I'm turning 55 in less than a week LOL) but the last time I saw this house in person was about 40 years ago and I was so surprised that it's still there! My dad had turned the house into apartments when we lived there in the '60's. The story I heard as a child was that an artist had lived there at the turn of the century and she had a studio way up in the attic. I always thought that was fascinating and it may have been one of the influences which turned me towards making art! Talk about a blast from the past!