I want to thank everyone for the kind and encouraging comments on Facebook and the cards I've received wishing me a speedy recovery.  I am feeling so much better now.  My calcium levels are normal and so are the parathyroid levels.  Thanks so much and I'm pretty much back to my old self. 

I thought I was finished but I'll be touching it up tomorrow.  I'm going to lower the tree top a little.  The pointy top just doesn't work for me.  Of course, that means redoing most of the sky.  I think I'm going to add a little more roughage in the foreground to suggest dead grass laying down.  

The above are the steps I took to create this 12" x 12"  Acrylic on Gallery Wrap Canvas.  I always put the sky first but a lot of artists don't, especially plein air painters.  But with acrylic, it drys so fast, it won't mix with other paints like oils would.
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The last two look very much alike.  When I looked at the next to the last one, the buttercups looked as if they were in a hole, a foggy hole.  So I wanted to bring them up by adding more detail.

This painting was done for a fundraiser for the Smith Trahern Mansion in Clarksville.  The 2 Rivers Society of Painters is having a show in celebration of the 19th Amendment / Women's Suffrage.  They told us to paint anything that celebrates women and / or the Women's Suffrage movement.  In Tennessee, the yellow rose or yellow flowers were symbols used during the movement.  So I picked buttercups.  It's a yellow flower but it's a spring flower which mean new birth, new life.  The right to vote did give us a new life,  a new beginning  for women, one hundred years ago.   

If anyone would like to purchase this painting now, a portion of the sale price will be donated to the Tranhern Mansion, just in case Covid 19 interferes with our plans. 

​I really enjoyed painting this one. 

I've been out of the studio for almost two weeks.  I'm still feeling a little shaky inside since the parathyroid surgery.  I tried to go in and paint a little today, very little. I didn't do anything major to either of these two painting.  I'm hoping to feel better tomorrow and get these guys finished.  The first two images are of a commission piece I'm doing.  It's a 16" x 20" gallery wrap Acrylic. The last one is for the Smith Trahern in August. It's going to be a field of buttercups.  It's a 12" x 12" gallery wrap canvas Acrylic also.
I'll have to admit, I didn't feel like going in today.  I went anyway and the first half was a waste but I did feel better after lunch and got some color down. I'm pretty happy about that. 

In the last 11 days, I had an out patient procedure done.  I ended up staying the night in the hospital and so glad I did.  I have had problems with high calcium and high parathyroid hormone for several years now.  So they went in to get the bad gland.  You have four parathyroid glands the size of a pea or piece of rice.  You only have to have one.  If you have your thyroid removed, which I have, you are more likely to have trouble with your parathyroid.  The day after I came home from the hospital I talked with my art buddy Hilda and she passed away that night. I've known she wasn't doing well but she sounded so good on the phone.  I just wasn't prepared for the news that she had passed away.  So 11 days and a lot has happened, so it time to get back to the studio.  RIP Hilda! 

Talented award winning artist, Hilda Waide, my wonderful friend has passed away.  We met when I first returned to Tennessee after retirement.  Hilda and I belonged to the Tennessee Watercolor Society and while standing in line to drop off work for a regional show in Clarksville, I mentioned she looked familiar.  We had both been Art Educators in Davidson County Public Schools. Hilda retirement the same year I left to go to Georgia to teach.   From then on, we were the best of pals.   We joined the Downtown Artists Co-op in Clarksville and we would ride together to and from talking and laughed.  I really can't tell you what we talked about but we laughed the whole way there and back to Erin always stopping for at least one meal.  She loved hamburgers, homemade pie from Fitz's and her coffee.  She had 20 years on me but ran circles around me, I couldn't keep up with her. She was a unique, kind and wonderful person.  I will miss her terribly.  RIP Friend.

First, I want to say " Thank YOU for all the comments and likes" on my watercolor painting of Jackie, my sister in law. I am so appreciative of each and every one.  Your comments and likes keeps me encouraged and grateful for the support you give me and my art journey. 

Yes, this is Jackie again!  She is such a good sport to let me photograph her.  I have several photos from the photo session with the hats.  So here is a digital drawing done on my IPad in Precreate.  

Sunday was Mother's Day and it was wonderful!  Then came Monday.  I didn't feel well so I worked on this website most of the day and Tuesday.  I  made changes Monday, I thought I was doing well at it. Tuesday I finished what I had started and when I looked at it Tuesday night, I didn't like it.  So Wednesday morning before 7am I was up and changing it again.  I'm liking it a lot better now. I didn't make it to the studio because while I was at it, I'd decided to work on the On-line store part of the website too.  Thursday I did get to the studio and finished the watercolor I was working on.  I'll share that one soon.  Unfortunately, I wake up feeling bad again this morning, so I've been working with images for my next commissioned piece.  It's late in the day but I'm headed to the studio to put out supplies to start work on the commission.  I hope to feel better next week and I'll be ready to go!  It's a landscape, I love those!

The pen & ink is 9" x 6" and ready to go to a loving home. It was one of the drawings that was to be in the show that got cancelled. 
​ If you're interested, go to the contact form.  or call me. 

I went into the studio before lunch today.  The sun was so bright I couldn't work.  So I had to stop and move my easel, tables and supplies over in the corner.  I was mad so, yes, I threw a little fit.  WHY , I moved to this studio because it had North light.  I was so excited, I was going to have gorgeous natural light flooding my studio.  I would have the perfect working conditions for any visual artist.  Well, I soon realized there was and still is a white building across the street and when the sun hits it, there is a gosh awful glare into the studio.  It messes with my eyes, especially the one with floaters in it.  I keep moving my workspace and so far, nothing has worked.  

So I did get some work done on my painting.  I finished and then I had to clean up my mess.  Maybe tomorrow will be better.

Houston County is blessed with trees, water and bluffs and it's one of the most beautiful places to see.  This drawing was done of this area, as are most of my drawings. We have a lot of Motorcyclists on week ends in Erin in the Spring, Summer and Fall. I know because I see them out my studio window on the main drag. 

This drawing is for sale, if interested contact me!