Posted in Animals, Art Class, tagged acrylic, Art Class, art lessons, Blue Ridge Arts Council, daily painter, daily painting, monkey, sock monkey, Virginia Artist on June 29, 2013| Leave a Comment »
After having the Art Camp kids all week it was a nice break to only have one young artist in the regular class this week. (Some of my regulars were in art camp.) So she chose a sock monkey to paint. And a really great job she did on him!!!!
Way to go Logan. Keep up the great work!
Posted in Animals, Dogs, Pet Portaits, Small Town Life, tagged daily painter, Dogs, pet portrait, Shenandoah Valley, snow dog, snow sculpture, Virginia Artist on March 7, 2013| 1 Comment »
Snow Dog
Mamie with Snow Dog
Well, we got a total of 15 inches of snow at our house yesterday. They were calling for 12-24 inches so I consider us lucky! They were so certain it would be a great deal of snow that we had both The Weather Channel and The Today Show’s Al Roker broadcasting from our little town of Front Royal, VA. 
Lincoln kissing Snow Dog’s nose
Posted in Animals, Small Town Life, tagged Beaver, beaver lodge, daily painter, Shenandoah River on March 3, 2013| 2 Comments »
Over the past few months while walking the dogs down the path at Eastham Park to get to the dog park we have noticed several trees along the river that were down. A month or so ago while Allen was walking with me he said it looked like a beaver had been working. So yesterday I took a couple of photos of their handiwork. Beavers are the second largest rodent in the world but they sure look a lot cuter than rats! They build lodges and apparently that is what they are doing at the river. Beavers are herbivores preferring the wood of cottonwood, alder, birch, maple, and also pondweed and waterlilies. There used to be many more beavers but having been trapped for their fur numbers are down from a high of some 60 million to around 12 million. (More on beavers here.) 
So far we haven’t actually seen a beaver but we look every day and maybe we will see one soon. In the meantime we have to be happy to just see their handiwork. This is one of the things I love about walking down to the dog park. You never know what you may see down by the river.
Posted in Animals, daily painter, Travel, tagged acrylic, bird, birds, daily painter, Ibis, impressionism, Virginia Artist on March 1, 2013| 1 Comment »
Ibis in the Making 1
Ibis in the Making 2
Ibis in the Making 3
The Ibis is a long-legged wading bird with down curved bills often found in Florida. They are also known as the hurricane bird as they are generally the last to leave an area before a hurricane arrives and the first to return. I saw many of them on my recent visit to Florida but this reference photo comes from Cousin Linda who posted it recently on her Facebook page. Thanks Linda for the inspiration.
Ibis, acrylic on canvas, 36″x18″, $265.
The Studio 