Sunflowers for Tierry

I just added this image because it is that time of year, I painted this quite a while ago- in 2002. It is oil on panel, 12 X 12.

 I was a volunteer for the 2002 Olympics.  It was an incredible experience.  I was assigned to be the personal assistant and driver for one of the members of the OIC.  His wife loves sunflowers, so I painted some sunflowers for her, I painted a few paintings for him to pick from (I wish I had files of them all)- this one was not quite finished, so I finished this one after the games were over. 

If you turn it upside down- you can see the pattern of the Olympic rings in the sunflowers

Zinnias

Almost every year, my parents fill their front flower beds full of zinnias, it is always such a beautiful sight, I enjoy sitting on their rocking chairs and admiring them.  I think Zinnias are fascinating to watch develop- each stage is so exciting, and then to top it off they last so long.

I actually painted this painting a couple of years ago, and I have a confession to make : I painted it over one of my former students' painting.  My student had given me the painting (the painting had been painted as an assignment)  My husband and I had just moved and I wanted to paint, but we hadn't unpacked my studio yet... I found the painting and painted over it.

I started this painting out in acrylic, and I actually painted quite a while in acrylic (until I finally unpacked my oils) then I finished it up in oil.  It is one of my favorite paintings.  I love the color combinations, for me, that is one of the things I love most about painting- putting colors next to each other - that excites me. 

Yamashiro Reds

This is a multi- media painting- I started out with acrylic, drew on it with charcoal and finished in oil, it is on panel and is about 9 X 18

I called it "Yamashiro Reds" in part because I love the California Guitar Trio's CD called "Yamanashi Blues", "CG3+2" is also a really great CD.

Go here to listen and download some free CG3 music.

Queen of the Night Tulips

5 X 7, mixed media on panel

Queen of the Night tulips are some of the last tulips to bloom, they get quite tall and quite dark in color. I think they are very elegant. I started this painting in acrylic, then I drew on it with vine charcoal, then fixed that on (with hair spray) then continued painting in various mediums, leaving some of the drawing visible.

Painting in The Secret Garden at The Tulip Festival

The Tulip Festival at Thanksgiving Point was amazing this year, here is one of the paintings I did during the festival. It is oil on panel, I like to start out with a sketch (using vine charcoal) on the gessoed panel, then I fix the drawing and begin the painting. I had to paint in shorter installments this year because I have a busy toddler and I am pregnant, but I was still able to get a few paintings done. This is one of my favorites this year.

If you want to have your own little tulip festival next year, Thanksgiving Point sells the bulbs from this years' festival $3 a dozen beginning on May 30th at the Garden Greenhouse. (If you get them, you can either plant them right back in the ground as soon as you get them, or you can hang them up in a pair of panty hose and leave them in a cool dark place until fall and plant them)

"Remembering Eden"

I have often wondered what it must have been like for Eve to experience the world outside of Eden after knowing only Eden. In Eden there was no death, so everything remained in one state without seasons. How strange and beautiful those first seasons must have been. What hope, what joy must have filled Eve’s heart when in that first spring, she saw the flowers begin to return and discovered that Eden was not gone, but that there were glimpses all around, reminding her—and all of us—that the Lord loves us and provides for us.

Seasons come and seasons go; it’s one eternal round.

And thus it is by change, true happiness is found.

The 8th International Art Competition of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints opens today!

To see the exhibit click here, for a better look at my painting, click on the exhibit, then enter it, then click on "S", and mine is the 2nd one.

I can't believe that the tulips are already starting to come up again- last year, they were a little late- and this year a little early so far.  This is a sketch from my sketch book last year during the festival, when my daughter was content to just sit and watch... this year things will be different.  The Thanksgiving Tulip Festival runs from April 17th until May 2.  People are always asking me when the best time to go is- and my best answer is to get a membership and go often.  For information on memberships, click here. For information about the Tulip Festival click here (and don't forget to click on the link at the top of the page for the live gardens webcam)

house on stilts

My nephew asked me if I had ever done any paintings of "houses on stilts" , and I remembered doing this sketch while I was in Thailand. This was quickly done from a moving vehicle (hence the moving vehicle lines) . People often ask what pens I like to use, and the answer is: the free ones at my bank. This is ink and watercolor on paper, 5 X 8.25. I love Moleskine sketchbooks for many reasons- one of them is that the paper is nice enough to paint on.

provo plein air festival

October 1-3 was the 2nd annual Provo Plein Air Festival, and since my daughter has just started to get much more mobile and independent- I was a little nervous to go out painting. I decided to paint the Provo Temple because there was a lot of space for her to play, while I was painting, a group of sister missionaries from the MTC happened by and took our picture. My husband made the frame for the painting, "Fall Session" oil on panel, 8 1/2 X 13

Pears

Oil on panel

12" X 13 1/2"

mixed tulips

oil on muslin (on panel)

collaboration

my niece came over for an art lesson, she asked me to teach her to draw flowers, so we went outside and looked at the zinnias, I think this drawing is beautiful, so I asked her if I could paint on it - I would love to collaborate with her again!

red poppy

a quick tulip sketch

Pink Tulips under Timp