It is time I updated my blog with some new work. This piece is titled, "On Golden Pond" and is a 3/4 sheet watercolor. I had hoped to get it in the Birds in Art show this year but it didn't make it. I'll enter it in another show. I like the way the pelicans posed for me in this photo so I painted the image twice, (the other is in a miniature format). We are spoiled here with the Brookfield Zoo so close by. We get ample opportunities to photograph the wildlife.

I just received a wonderful letter in the mail from MASF (Miniature Art Society of Florida). They have awarded me with the "Excellence in All Entries" prize along with first place in botanicals/florals. I'm so tickled for there are truly so many fine and skilled artists that participate in this show! (I'd hate to be the judge.) I am still giddy with excitement and keep running into walls and speaking gibberish. What a great week!

Yesterday I decided it was a great day to ditch the house work, the shopping and the laundry and go to the zoo. I'm so glad I did for here at our Brookfield Zoo we have White Pelicans rescued from the Gulf goo. It was late afternoon so the ligthting was simply magical! I've got several paintings in mind with these...and miniatures too!

It has been a while since I've posted. This is the season to regenerate and sketch. It's so beautiful outside with all the fall colors I have a difficult time planting myself inside the studio. However...I did manage to complete one last miniature for the season. This guy was taken from a reference photo I had captured years ago. I love the way the figure is reclining and the way the face is seriously pondering. He is off to Florida now and hopefully will be a part of the upcoming MASF show. In the meanwhile...time to stretch out those eye muscles and paint something large again!

Well here we go again...yet another illustration done with Adobe Illustrator. This one I had sketched out on paper months ago and didn't get around to until recently, (had difficulty figuring out the numerous layers and lines...ugh! What a mess!) But I felt compelled to finish it for a dear watercolor artist, Paul Jackson has begun a fundraiser campaign to raise money for the gulf oil spill clean up. This image I will donate to the cause. It will be appear on Zazzle.com where customers can preview this along with many other wonderful designs and then purchase a t-shirt or whatever with the image on it. All the profit goes to the clean up effort. I'll get specific link soon and post it.
Now...think I should get back to watercolors for once?!

This Mockingbird, (an addition to my songbird card series) was completed for a dear Texan friend of mine. My friend lives here in Chicagoland now and she often speaks of how she misses the lovely concerts Mockingbirds graced her with down south. Though Mockingbirds are the state bird of Texas they are widespread throughout the west. I grew up with them in California and have wonderful memories of "teaching" the local birds new whistles. They often sang at dusk which is why I included the full moon in this portrait. And just to assure my friend that this is indeed a "Texan" Mockingbird I placed him in a Pecan tree...the state tree of course!

I apologize for not checking in for some time. I have not been slacking though-just terribly busy! I'm one of those who sticks her fingers in too many pots at once! I'm happy to report that my miniature drawing of the Cooper's Hawk won the drawing catatgory award in the Seaside Miniature show. It was sold immediately afterwards. My miniature painting of the waterfall also sold...which is great...however...there is that inevitable sense of loss as I am quite fond of that particular scene and the painting was such a joy to do! I'm happy someone else enjoys it too!

This leaf painting above is now hanging in the LaGrange Art League gallery. It is similar to another painting I had done of leaf duff. I love leaf patterns on the ground...and fall leaves light up the soil like a casket of jewels. Who could resist?! Yes...I'm jumping the gun on fall. But it's my favorite season! It's a fleeting season as well so I don't feel guilty extending its spanse of time!