Posted in daily painter, Serendipity, The Studio/Classes, tagged Best Local Artist, Best of Awards on September 24, 2017| Leave a Comment »
I am over the moon this morning as I’ve been named Best Local Artist again by the Northern Virginia Daily. Thank you all for your votes of confidence!!!! I love what I do and it is fun….but it is also work. When you honor me with something like this I get really reenergized. Thank you so very much for the boost. I know we’ll have another GREAT year!
Posted in daily painter, Plein Air, Serendipity, tagged Artist painting, Plein Air on September 20, 2017| Leave a Comment »
While painting at Sanders’ Ranch on Monday I was joined by Marlys Bernal. Marlys is one of the ladies that has horses at the ranch and she comes out to The Studio every few months to paint Pet Portraits. She is a very good painter and has done some beautiful work with me but her favorite medium is watercolor. I was happy that she came out to keep me company painting this week. I was so involved in what I was painting that I didn’t pay attention to what she was working on until the end of our session. Imagine my surprise when she showed me her work….ME! She painted me painting! And I LOVE it!!! I was thrilled that she gave the little watercolor sketch to me. I’ll be hanging it with my collection of other “painters at work”. (I have about a half dozen with this subject matter and I love them.) Thanks so much Marlys. I can’t wait to frame it up and get it on the wall. Let’s get together soon and do this again.
Posted in Animals, daily painter, Farm Animals, Serendipity, tagged barn, Battlefield Equestrian Center, cat, dog, donkey, Farm, Sander's Ranch, sheep on September 19, 2017| Leave a Comment »
Yesterday (Monday) was my day off. I try really hard to not schedule anything on Mondays since I work most weekends and it’s usually the only day off I get. But yesterday, instead of laying around catching up on my rest and house work I went to visit my friends at Sanders Ranch (Battlefield Equestrian Center).
It’s owned by Kim Sanders, one of the girls that comes to paint Pet Portraits once a quarter with the group from Centerville area. We always have such a great time. While I have been to her place once she invited me to come back to paint. So I did. What a fun day.
I got two paintings started which I will share with you as soon as I complete them but even better than that I got tons of reference photos of the animals and barns. It’s like a petting zoo there with all the fun and friendly animals…..donkey, horses, dogs, cats, sheep, chickens, turkey…. What fun! Thanks again Kim. I loved it.
Posted in Crochet, daily painter, Holidays, tagged crochet shawl, Shawl on September 12, 2017| Leave a Comment »
A few weeks ago my cousin and several friends share photos with me on Facebook for a really beautiful shawl in crochet. I searched for a pattern but couldn’t find one so I decided to try to make it up. Here is the start. I have lots of embellishments to add to it. The original has lots of flowers and roses. I hope to be able to show you the finished one next week.
Posted in daily painter, Sewing, The Studio/Classes, tagged No-Sew Basket on September 10, 2017| Leave a Comment »
Coming soon…a class for this cute little No-Sew Fabric Basket. This one can be large or small…and the class will be good for adults as well as older kids. And get this….I am using mine as a Yarn Bowl. 
Can you believe it?! This was fun to make and I can’t wait to see what colors and designs we come up with. Fun! Click here to register.
Posted in daily painter, Landscape, Plein Air, tagged Burnside Farm, Plein Air, sunflowers on September 5, 2017| Leave a Comment »
Yesterday I got to paint at Burnside Sunflower Farm in Haymarket. What a treat to get to paint in plein air.
The place was really busy since it was a holiday but it was still lots of fun. Here are some scenes from the farm along with the paintings I started. They are about 85% done and I’ll finish them in the studio this week.
Posted in Crochet, daily painter, tagged Crochet, crochet like knit on September 4, 2017| Leave a Comment »
A week or so ago I posted about a new crochet stitch I had been doing that looks a lot like knit. (See that post here.) It makes a beautiful fabric. I’ve tried it in a couple of different size yarns and I like it in all of them. Several folks said they’d love to learn this one so we will have a class at The Studio on October 10th. Be sure to click here to register and join in. Minimal crochet experience required.
Posted in daily painter, Landscape, tagged Belle Grove, Landscape, mountain on September 3, 2017| Leave a Comment »
Yesterday I shared the beginning of a LARGE Landscape painting that we will be doing at a Paint Party at the end of the month. Here is the finished product. So if you have been wanting to paint a BIG canvas then this one is for you. Register by clicking here.
Posted in daily painter, Landscape, tagged Belle Grove, Landscape on September 2, 2017| Leave a Comment »
I started working on a large landscape yesterday based on a photo I took at Belle Grove recently. I got a good start but have some fine tuning to do to make it work for a paint party. I’ve been asked to have a Paint Party with a LARGE landscape painting. I’ll share the finished version hopefully in the next day or two.
Posted in daily painter, Paint Party on August 18, 2017| 2 Comments »
At least a couple of times a week I have people say “how much fun your job must be” and I always agree. It is fun being a painter! I love it. It seems carefree and easy. And some days it is. But I am often like that duck in the water seeming calm and floating along on the top of the water and peddling my legs off underneath! The peddling involves staying ahead of the Paint Parties and commissions. Just coming up with ideas or developing an idea that clients have and painting them in a way that will be simple so we can use them for a 2 – 3 hour paint party takes time. I enjoy it but some days I have to paint a LOT to keep up. This past week I did just that. Here are some of the paintings that I’ve worked up for upcoming events. JUST PAINT!!!!
The Studio 