Flowers from my Husband

Today my husband surprised me with this beautiful bouquet of flowers, they look and smell so wonderful. It was such a thoughtful thing for him to do, and it certainly brightened up my whole day. I wanted to share them with my family and friends. I am one very lucky woman. Thank you honey.

I prepared a couple of canvases for collage this morning, and then went out with some friends for coffee in the afternoon. I needed to revive my muse, awaken the senses and engage my inner child. There is nothing better than lively conversation, laughter, and shared moments to get the creative juices flowing again.

“Muses work all day long and then at night get together and dance”.
Edgar Degas

Wacom Cintiq

I just saw this on You Tube, and I am dreaming of the day I own one of these.

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Ode To January

This is the time of year, when I go through all of my supplies and get rid of stuff I no longer need or want. I found dried up tubes of acrylic paint, empty ink bottles, and a couple of very sad looking brushes. Afterwards, when I had finished, I treated myself to a nice cup of hot tea.

I find winter is a good time to contemplate, reflect and observe the busy world slow down a bit. It’s also a time when I bring a little bit of nature into our home, flowers, potted plants, and my favorite seed catalog, daydreaming of the first signs of spring. It won’t be too much longer now…

“There are two seasonal diversions that can ease the bite of any winter. One is the January thaw. The other is the seed catalogues.”
– Hal Borland

I took some photographs in the afternoon, and discovered this beautiful tree near our home. A perfect ode to January.

Ode to January (C) 2008

Swans

I’ve been working on my Gallery site, we have the first image up at my homepage, so go check it out. Hopefully we will be able to get the Gallery up and running as soon as possible.

I also Spent some time working on the small canvas today, I applied more texture with color, and added some symbols etc…

First draft

Second Draft

Beautiful Day

We had a beautiful day, the sun was shining and I decided it was time to tackle my painting room. We moved some furniture around, and set up one of my floor easels, because my makeshift table easel just wasn’t cutting it.

After I finished, I worked on a small 6″x6″ canvas. Now, I always thought large canvases were intimidating, but this tiny little thing almost got the best of me. I must of stared at that little blank canvas for a good hour.

I finally got into the swing of it and covered it with some gesso, tissue paper and set it aside to dry. I decided on a swan theme and I will continue with this project tomorrow.

Afterwards I sat down and did a quick sketch of the woman below. Lately I have been revisiting some of the Arthurian tales of the Lady of the lake, and have started coming up with ideas for a painting.

“You do not know how paralyzing that staring of a blank canvas is; it says to the painter, You can’t do anything … Many painters are afraid of the blank canvas, but the blank canvas is afraid of the really passionate painter who is daring, and who has once and for all broken that spell of ‘you cannot’.”
Vincent Van Gogh