Have you ever put something you don't want to lose in a special place so that you don't lose it, and then, can't remember where that 'special place' is? Well, I have. I should know better by now. It happens to me a lot, even when I tell myself  'don't just set this down anywhere, PUT it somewhere, so you'll know where it is'.  This little painting was done with my mom in mind.  She loves roses.  I wasn't sure if I could paint a rose. I've heard they're difficult, so I wanted to start small.  I really like the way it turned out. I liked it enough to take this picture of it on my phone, to show my husband.  I liked it enough to find a small box, add tissue paper, and prepare to send it for my mom's birthday.  I then thought 'better put this somewhere so it doesn't get thrown out, or lost...' . That was back in January.  I know exactly what the box looks like.  I can see the exact color of the tissue paper.  I could probably give you the exact dimensions of the box I was going to ship it in.  But I don't know where it is. I dream about finding it. I wander around the house, and wonder if someone threw it away, thinking it was just an empty box.... It will probably turn up one day when my kids have to go through all my stuff because they have to put me in a 'special place'.... so I don't get lost, of course.

Second Painting - 'Orange Poppy' 12"x16"

This is my second painting. I worked from a calendar photo...no tracing...I did graph it a bit, then drew it the best I could. I love the vibrant peachy orange, and the beautiful ruffled edges. Working with these colors really brightened my days. I worked on this in weekly studio sessions, (Schrodt Art Studio, Louisville, KY) 7, maybe 8 in all. I know that's a long time, but I was really fascinated with the process of trying to blend, or not blend, trying to mix the exact colors I saw, and, to be honest, I was really nervous about the middle of this thing! I really didn't know how I was going to do it, and was wishing I had picked something a little easier. However, after putting it off as long as I could, I decided this big orange poppy wasn't going to beat me, so I just globbed on a bunch of the purple/black, filled in the fuschia center, then left it like that for a while. After a few strokes of the purplish-gold, I knew I had won. I know oil paintings aren't necessarily supposed to look just like the photograph, but this one does, pretty much. It was all very absorbing. Sometimes I had to tell myself to breathe. Do I want to paint like this always? Maybe not so much. Maybe a little more 'painterly'. I'm going to work on that. Oh, and by the way, I finished, and framed this one to go in the studio's art show, along with 'Morning Glories'. I ran up so close to the deadline, I forgot to sign it, didn't have time to varnish it...and it's been hanging on my wall all this time without a signature. I took it out of its frame TODAY, and signed it. I'm glad I can finally show it here.

Morning Glories

Obviously, I don't paint every day. I didn't even know people COULD paint every day... except Norman Rockwell, who apparently painted 8 hours a day, 365 days a year... and his family brought him lunch, and had to beg him to join them for Christmas, birthday celebrations, etc. We all love his work, and that was his living. Painting was his LIFE. I've been on a lot of blogs, and websites lately, and I see that a lot of artists out there paint every day, AND have a life, full of family, travel, music, love, faith, and fun. You all have inspired me. This is my first painting. (I won't count the 'project' we had to complete in art class my senior year of high school - acrylic, anyway, a blank canvas, and instructions to 'paint something...whatever you want'. I painted dogwood blossoms on a spring green background, very blurred, and very ethereal...by accident, of course. My mom liked it.) At some point in everyone's life, you realize that you're running out of time, and it hits you that you will never be able to do all the things you want to do, or finish all the projects you've started, or dream of starting. You'll never be really good at everything you may have the talent or proclivity to do, and then you actually start losing the ability to do a lot of the things you once did really well! Like backwards walkovers. I used to be able to do a backwards walkover any time I wanted to. It was fun. I can't do that any more. So, when my husband understood my panic last year about 'not being good at anything' - other than laundry and being a mom (and the miriad of things that go along with that - most of which we do because we HAVE to...and because we love our family, of course) he insisted that I FINALLY do something with my art. I took a class, and this is what happened. Morning glories. I really like it. It was easy for me. And that's when it hit me. This is what I'm supposed to do... and maybe if I hurry, and learn quickly, and ask a lot of questions, I may catch up with where I would've been had I realized it sooner....(sigh)....then again, maybe I'm not behind at all. Maybe I'm right where I'm supposed to be. I'm learning. Not just to paint, but to be okay with the journey I'm on and the life I have, and one day, maybe, hopefully, I will paint - and perhaps even finish - a painting every day! I'll keep you posted.