This painting was started this last spring. It will probably be finished some time this week. I collect coffee cups. My favorites eventally get broken, but that is only an opportunity to add to my collection. At first it seemed like this painting would paint itself, but I got hung up with making all the elipes right. The darkened room in the background is being up before sunrise. The light source is directly above the cups.

My mother died on February 4, 2010. I usually do not paint under such stress. I have been painting but not finishing anything. I am pleased with my work. There is a whole in my heart, but I think painting with my mother watching over my shoulder will lead to productivity.

My father says he talks to her. I do too. I have a tendency to talk to myself a lot when I paint. I can only imagine the reaction to others I am painting with when my mother is added to the conversation.

I love you Mommy. I know where you are, this will be a good year

O.K., I am back. My mother has gotten a lot worse lately. I agreed to put her hospice the other day. I am working through the emotional side of this pretty well. After the holidays I feel that I have more mental and physical time.

I am getting much better at playing the piano. Piano playing is a great stress reliever for me. Painting is another thing.

Although, I am making myself pick up the brush I do not focus well and getting little real work done is not happening. I am cutting myself some slack here. Things will flow when it is time.

This painting is one that I wanted to start years ago. Every November when the Christmas lights are put in the Ozark Rive Park, The Miracle Children's Fund sponsors this night. Hot air balloons are erected in the Night and stay on the ground. It is awesome to see this huge creations all together in the arena. You only see them when the fire is put on to keep them inflated. At times you see one or two and once in awhile several are firing up at once.

The two spectators are my husband and Nate, my little brother.

I am pretty pleased with the progress of this on so far. I wish some of the colors where clearer, but it is a night scene.

New Year Goals

1. Develop a website.
2. Enter Watercolor USA
3. Enter shows in The Missouri Water Color Society.
4. Join Best of hands.
5. Start printing again.
6. Finish one painting a week.
7. Paint series: fish, tree portraits, window views, night views.

One Cold Night
20"x13
Watercolor
$400.00
This painting was done from a photo taken when I went with my son's scout troop to visit a TV station in Chicago. We took the train. Eight boys on the train are a nightmare. We visited the tree just before going home. I did think we were going to freeze to death. What impressed me about this tree was the amount of space in which it is displayed. The New York tree is in a much more crowded space.

Miskit created the lights. I had to work to get the dark values built up. There actually is a lot of light in the city at night. The warmth the tree created by the tree reflects in the buildings. The cold icy contrast is expressed with the blues surrounding the tree's reflection. This was a fun painting to paint. I enjoyed the looseness. I must work on a few more night paintings. Reflections are just fun.

Stars on Top 2
10"x8"
watercolor
$85.00

This is a small day painting. It was laying on my paper cutter from last year. Somehow it surfed to the top of the pile. Finely River was crying for paintings to fill out their winter show. I stole a frame a from another painting and slipped this into the show before the judging. Dang this little one won third place.

Three Frogs Hangin' 2
Watercolor
13"x9"
$150.00

My sister and I took Mom and Dad to a butterfly farm. In the gift shop Mom saw the statue of a frog that Mom liked. Karen, my sister, is a stained glass artist. She wanted me to download pictures of frogs from the Internet so she could make a stained glass piece for my Mom.

I got an idea for a painting for the 'Think Green' Show at Waverly house. I started downloading images of frogs. Heads pocking out of the water and bodies under the water, were my target.

There is a copyright issue about painting from photos that someone else has taken. I used an eye here an mouth there and developed the bodies from several photos. At no time did I copy an image. I just used the photos for information. Problem solved.

I painted the frogs first. I had to mask the heads to do the water on the top. I did the same for the bodies under the water, but also did several layers of washes that went over the top of the frogs. As with the other frog painting, I worked to make above the water cool. (sky reflection) Under the water was done in warmer tones.

This painting was the first of the two started. I did not like how it was going so I started another painting, which I finished in one night for the competition. This painting was toyed with, for several more weeks. I finished it for the Animal show at Finley River, but I did not enter it because I had two other paintings ready for that show.

Finally I put this painting in a show this fall at the College of the Ozarks. I will ship it to St. Louis as soon as it comes home. It has sold.