Double frames

I was happy to find these double picture frames at Goodwill the other day, and for only $1.00.  And guess what I had in mind for them?  

Yes, Otis and Riley.  These are prints that I made of my original paintings.  

My two very special boys.  And even though Riley is no longer with us, I look at his sweet little face and am reminded of all the good times we shared.   It's hard to think about one without the other ~ that's why I was happy to find a double frame like this.   

 

Hello my friends

I hope everyone had a nice weekend.  I am slowly getting back into the swing of things today, laundry, cleaning, the usual, and it's too hot to work in the garden, oh yes, the weeds, always weeding to be done, so  

~ I opted to paint.     

A rooster painting I just finished, 

and another yellow and white polka dot plant hanger for the garden.  The one below just sold in our shop so I painted another one just like it.  The new one will have a glass crystal ornament hanging from the bottom.  It will catch the sunlight and sparkle!  These are nice to fill with herbs or flowers.  

'till next time, 

A hare and a butterfly

Two little blank canvases inspired me yesterday when I sat down at my art table.  One canvas, one wood.  What can I paint?  

After doodling around a bit I painted a brown hare on the wood.  The wood is an easel and stands by itself.  Galen makes these in his shop for me.  The hare will eventually be listed in my esty shop (just in time for Easter, maybe).

I am still working on the butterfly and will probably finish that today.  You will find that in my shop, also.  

Have a good day, everyone!  

An artist is someone who produces things that people don't need to have but that he - for some reason - thinks it would be a good idea to give them.  ~Andy Warhol 

Is anyone else tired of this crazy winter weather?

Looking out the window right now, the snow is coming down fast and furious.  We've had warnings to stay inside and off the roads because of icy conditions today.  This is North Carolina.  Crazy, crazy weather.  Yes, I know it's crazy everywhere, all over the US.  

So, what do we do while being confined to the house?  

How about sitting by a nice warm fire, reading to your hearts delight.  That's what I've been doing.  Catching up on some old Belva Plain books.  

And drawing in my sketch book.  
These birds will eventually end up on note cards in my etsy shop.  Next comes the paint.    

I hope you're enjoying whatever it is you're doing today!  

And I am wishing and wishing for warmer weather to hurry up and come soon!

Picking up where I left off....

I took this photo of my garden potting table a few years ago.  The lighting, I thought, was beautiful and I wanted to paint it.  I started the painting shortly after I took the photo, a few years ago, but never finished it.  

Today I got the painting out.  I hope to jump start my right brain again and maybe I'll be able to complete the painting this time.  I do love it.  I'll let you know when it's finished! 

Drapes in the study/art room/computer room

....or maybe I should call it the multipurpose room, but we really do call it the study, and now it has some new drapes.  

I got these fabulous drapes from my sister.  A deep burgandy velvet with a beautiful fringe trim.  

They make the room feel cozy and warm (and you're thinking cozy and warm when it's 100 degrees outside, I must be crazy), but it's a nice room to retreat to in the cool air conditioning to paint, or read a book, or work on the computer.  

It's fun to change out window dressings, and the nice thing about these, they didn't cost me anything!

Painting

"Glossy Colonial Red" is now the color of my old gray blue wicker table that stands beside my art table.  It needed an uplift and what better color than cheery red (quick and easy with spray paint).  I think this is actually a sewing table but I use it for my art supplies.  Works great.  

And on my art table is a 36 x 24 canvas that I am painting for my sister and brother-in-law.  They want something for their new home in Arizona which will hang in their guest house.  A western scene.

 These past few weeks have been crazy.  We had two commissioned wooden toy marble rollers, one purple "Carnival", and the other a blue "Sea Shell" which had deadlines and are now packed and shipped.  The marble rollers are fun to paint because I can use bright happy colors for kids.

One more paint project is a hanging plant holder for herbs or flowers.  A "barn red" color with a little purple flower on each side.  We just had a request for a black one, so that will be next.  You can find these in our shop, or if we are sold out just let us know what color you would like and we will be happy to make one for you.

  Lots of painting, lots of colors and lots of different projects.  I am thankful I have these to work on during the long cold gray days we've been having lately.  It seems winter has returned.  Time goes faster when you're busy, right?  And I can hardly wait for spring!
 

Bleeding Heart Flower

 Playing around with watercolor.....

and came up with a pink bleeding heart! 

I printed it onto some notecards and added it to my shop. 

The finished pet painting

 Remember this beautiful Great Pyrenees I was commissioned to paint? 

Here's the finished portrait. 

Pink Cottage Rose

For a few weeks now I have been having painter's block, you know, where you just can't bring yourself to pick up a paint brush and put some paint on canvas. As I was having my coffee the other morning and reading through some magazines, all of a sudden I felt the need to paint....with pink paint. I just wanted to slather pink paint all over a canvas.

And so I did, and it felt good, I was creating again. I had no idea what I wanted to paint other than the usual....flowers or roosters, and since there aren't any pink roosters I decided on pink flowers.....pink roses. Pink cottage roses!

And......ta dah! This is the finished painting. I'm calling it Pink Cottage Rose.

It would be perfect hanging on one of the walls here at Mourning Dove Cottage, but I'm thinking I might sell it at Whimsy Two.

Hallway art

I was going through some photos the other day and changing out some frames that I have hanging in the hallway, something I don't do very often, and then did some rearranging.

Do you have hallway art or hallway photos?

I think it makes a long (dark, in my case) hallway more interesting and pretty. I've also added mirrors to reflect some light. You could use all the same color frames or do a mixture.

I started with the big mirror in the center and then worked out from there. You could fill the whole wall if you wanted ~ a gallery of your favorite photos and artwork.

Well, today I'll be spending more time outside because the weather is cooler, finally. After weeks of 100 degree days we got a break. This morning when I was sitting on the back porch having coffee I was actually chilly. Otis and Riley and I had a long walk to the park, and now it's out to the garden to dig in some dirt.

Enjoy your day!