These are entirely too much fun and should not be considered as artwork, but thank GOD they are!!! 

The technique, the colors, the designs - I love it all!!!  The "Masters Palette" of "The Sun Always Rises" is so rich, I think.  I'm grateful for the bolder brighter colors we have today, but appreciate the "Father" artists and all they were able to create with just 3 muted colors!  The "Celebration" probably lacks in composition, but I was thinking of upcoming New Years and all that I have to celebrate.  Life is very, very good to me and I have so much to be grateful for.

I've been wanting to play with some abstracts after watching both Karlyn Holman and Mary Ann Beckwith's DVDs.  This is a combination of using both of their techniques.  The first attempt seemed a little too boring.  The second attempt?  Jury is not in yet.  The "spray webbing" is fun but there is zero control over the outcome, as you can see!  This whole process is going to teach me a whole lot more about composition.  And it's all good!!!  Fun, too - have I mentioned that before???  Pretty sure I have!  :-)

These are my first two in a series of 12 paintings I am doing in a Civil War Series.  We are fortunate to have Harpers Ferry National Park at our back door (well, almost0 and they have a large staff of volunteers who dress in Civil War costumes several times a year.  I took my new Canon Rebel T3i out for a test drive with tri-pod in tow and just had a ball.  Still learning the ins and outs of this very smart camera with this very simple point and shoot gal. 

I love the Civil War Santa - he had such a twinkle about him.  And turns out the pretty lady isn't associated with the Park at all - some folks just like to come dressed up!  Funny!  I'm not crazy about the way her hair came out.  The rest of my characters are men with easy hair!!

Nice event and wonderful artwork!  This show is open until the end of the month!  Shop locally and support the arts!  We are open 12-5 Wed-Sun.  We are located at 108 N George St - across the street from the Courthouse in downtown Charles Town!  Please add us to your Christmas shopping adventures!!!

This is my first portrait after Laurie Goldstein-Warren's class.  I waited until I got new camera (Canon Rebel T3i) and had a chance to watch several videos and try to learn how to operate it!  I set it up on tri-pod with self-timer to do several shots at a time of myself until I found one I liked.  I painted the first one and forwarded it to Laurie for feedback.  The second one is result after her suggestions of greying down the eyes, teeth and re-doing the hair without all the colorful strands!  Much better!  I'll keep doing these as they are really, really fun to do and the more I do them the better I will get!!!

I'm just having too much fun with this style, technique and colors!  This time I added some watercolor pencils by sanding them onto wet surface in some of the stones.  We may get an opportunity to display our artwork in Harpers Ferry, and if not, I'll gladly include these in my artwork for sale at the Washington Street Artists' Cooperative!