Orange Sherbert

6" x 6" oil on panel
$75.00 + $10.00 s/h
contact me if interested

As I continue to paint these "orange/peach" roses, I am reminded of sherbert, it's beautiful colors and great summer flavors. Flowers are sort of like living, growing, summer sherbert flavors: a feast for the senses.

Peach Bloom

6" x 8" oil on panel
$75.00 + $10. s/h
SOLD

The roses on this bush are heavy and large. Within a day of blooming they fall over and droop. This blossom is at the very top of the bush and is just starting to bend.

Yellow Rose of Colorado

SOLD
6" x 6" oil on clay board
$75.00 + $10. s/h
contact me if interested

We have a list of all the names of the different roses in our garden, I should use it for the painting titles. Some years the roses aren't as healthy as others. This is usually due to our high, dry climate. But, this summer the flowers everywhere in the Colorado are beautiful.

Tea Rose

The roses in our yard are spectacular right now. This is one area of the rose garden. May and June showers have definately brought June flowers. I could be painting all day everyday for several more days!! I hope to be! I had my easel set-up right in front of these bushes.

5" x 7" oil on masonite

$75.00 + $10.00 s/h

contact me if interested

I love these little tea roses. We have several large, prolific bushes, all blossoming right now in the back yard. We don't have any roses in the front yard; there are too many deer in our neighborhood, and they'd all be eaten. The backyard's fenced.

A Moment of Sun

6" x 6" oil on canvas panel
$75.00 + $10. s/h
contact me if interested

While there was another moment of sun, I set-up in our backyard and painted one of our roses. We're supposed to have sun all this week, so there should be lots of great painting opportunities. Everyday when I walk I am continually amazed at how green my surroundings are. I can't remember when Colorado's had such "green" greens. I guess that's the bright side to all of this past rain!

Rain Break

6" x 6" oil on canvas panel
$75.00 + $10. s/h
contact me if interested


I always feel like each summer it takes me several poppy paintings to get the dark and light oranges looking like dark and light orange and not red orange and yellow orange. But with all the rain we've had this month, our poppies are taking a beating and it's been cloudy or rainy for weeks. Today I went outside and painted in the cloudy weather, which is frustrating. But soon there won't be any poppies left. I guess if rain is the worst of my problems, I shouldn't complain. We're just not used to this weather here in Colorado.

Three Sheds In A Row

6" x 8" oil on panel

$75.00 + $10.00 s/h

sold

I'm not sure what just happened, but while I was typing away, this all disappeared and said it was successfully posted (3 times.) So, sorry if you got something that wasn't supposed to get there.

These ranch sheds are all different shades and kinds of metal. Even with the sun on them, two of them still appear cool. I was tempted to push them to warm colors, but, maybe next time. It shows the personality of the rancher to have them lined up so neatly.

Barn Color Study

6" x 8" oil on panel
$75.00 + $10. s/h
SOLD

This is another color study of the barns and sheds on the ranch with the aqua roofs. The sun created a glow on the side of the buildings and really accentuated the roof colors. Each of the ranch building roofs is a slightly different aqua hue, obviously due to the sheds all being built in different decades. But how wonderful that these ranchers loved color enough to think about the roof shingles.
We had a wonderful graduation weekend. Saturday was probably the only weekend day in 8 weekends that was beautiful and sunny. It made the day even more special. Thanks to all of you who sent congratulations. Now, back to painting, gardening, and being out of doors.

Homestead

8" x 10" oil on panel
$125.00 + $10.00 s/h
contact me if interested

This painting is from my plein-aire group's trip last month to the Happy Apple Farm in Penrose, Colorado (about 45 minutes south of Colorado Springs.) There are 3 houses on the farm: this one, the original homestead of the current owner's grandparents, one on the far side of the farm which looks like it was built in the 40's (it belongs to the owner's parents), and a brand new one where the current owner/grandson lives. Each house is so typical of the decade in which is was built. They all add charm to the farm. I can imagine a whole family living for decades in the homestead while they, like so many who moved west, worked so hard to just establish and build their farm.

For those of you who have read my past blogs, I've mentioned that our daughter attends DU (University of Denver). She graduates this weekend. It is pretty exciting for her, and for us. It is truly hard to believe how quickly our kids grow. She has her whole future ahead of her, and we all know how many different paths life takes. She is one of the lucky graduates, and has a job. She'll be moving to San Francisco. I'm excited to have such a beautiful city to visit! (and paint!)

Color Study

6" x 8" oil on panel
$75.00 + $10. s/h
contact me if interested

Yesterday my husband and I went to the mountains fishing. Every time we drive up there we go past this ranch. It was overcast and partly cloudy, but the little sun that there was shone right on the barn roof and back of the house. You have to love a family that has an acqua roof.

Role Call

11" x 14" oil on panel
$145.00 + $10. s/h
contact me if interested

This school house is in a very rural location on the road between Saguache and Center, Colorado. It's from a photo I took on our drive home from our trip to Durango to see our son last month. There are many abandoned barns, sheds, schools, ranches and odd assortment of buildings throughout the state. I'm sure that's true of all rural locations. But, I couldn't help but wonder who attended this school. There wasn't a town close by, there wasn't even a ranch too near. How did these kids get there? How long did it take them to get there? Even today, in some rural counties, children sit 1 hour on the bus each way to school. If your ranch is the first stop in the morning, and the last stop in the late afternoon, you have a long ride to school. Some counties only have school 4 days per week because of this.

I've mentioned this before, and I've read others mention it, too, but I sometimes have trouble when photographing reds. The school appears pinkish/red. When in reality I painted it orangish/ red. Any thoughts on how to solve this?

Follow the Leader

6" x 8" oil on canvas panel
$75.00 + $10. s/h
contact me if interested


Last week my plein-aire group went to Monument Valley Park. When our kids were little we'd go to this pond and catch craw-dads. The water looked so dirty, I don't think any kids play in there now. But, it was so entertaining to watch all the goslings. They all stayed together, right by the geese, moving around almost like one being. They'd swim around the pond, then climb up onto the shore and run around and search in the dirt for bugs. Then, when a dog or jogger came near, they'd run back into the pond, and start all over again. There seemed to be 5 moms and 17 babies; but, it was hard to tell.

Sherbert Frost

SOLD
6" x 8" oil on canvas panel
$75.00 + $10.00 s/h
contact me if interested

This is yet another piece from my plein-aire trip to Iris 4 u in Denver this week. I didn't get the name of this flower, so I created my own; I hope Iris Bob approves. I don't really understand plant genetics. The idea of hybridizing a flower is so interesting. But, how do you create a flower whose standard is shadesof peach, and whose beard is deep purple, lavender and white? My creativeness bends in a different direction.

I don't know how many of you follow r garriott's blogs (4), but you should. Great paintings! Today the urban garden blog featured Iris 4 u!! I couldn't believe it! I guess Coloradoans think iris this month!

Night Hawk Dreams

6" x 8" oil on panel $75.00 + $10. s/h SOLD This is another piece from yesterday's trip to Iris 4 u in Denver. I think this is such a great name for a flower: Night Hawk Dreams. It's so amazing to me that iris can be hybridized to have such unique colors on the standard and the beard. (I read the catalogue to learn the parts of the iris!!) I used to think that iris were tints and shades of violets and yellows. Now I know better. Our daughter, who lives in Denver, met me after I finished painting. We went shopping for her graduation dress. She'll graduate from DU, University of Denver, in 2 weeks. We had several hours of shopping fun, and dinner. Yes, she found a great dress!

Leading Light

6" x 6" oil on canvas panel
$75.00 + $10. s/h
contact me if interested
SOLD

One day each month my plein-aire group drives to an out of town location to paint. Today we went to Denver (70 miles north) to the Iris 4 u Iris Gardens. Iris 4 U grows and hybridizes tall bearded iris. While only about 20% of the iris were blooming (due to Colorado's cool spring) there were hundreds to paint, and thousands more which will be blooming the rest of this week and next. I may have to drive back up there and paint again as the grounds were beautiful. I really didn't know there were (are) that many varitities and colors of iris. And, of course, each iris has a unique name.

More Lilacs

12" x 16" oil on stretched canvas
$195.00 + $10. s/h
contact me if interested

After being unable to finish the last lilacs, I had to try again. I'm happy with this piece.

A Work in Progress...Forever

oil on stretched canvas 16" x 20"
contact me if interested


I've been working on several larger pieces lately. For some, I've been using smaller daily paintings as references, and some, like this bouquet, I had hoped to finish in one or two days, at most. But, as sometimes happens, life gets in the way, and at this point I think it will stay as is, an almost finished study.


I was working on this piece Monday afternoon, hoping to finish it Tuesday. Tuesday morning I threw in a load of wash, went off to paint with my plein-aire group, and when I returned home, the utility sink in the laundry room was full of water. Luckily, the washing machine had turned itself off. I knew I had to get all of the water out of the sink, so I dunked numerous buckets into the sink, carried them into the kitchen, and poured them into the kitchen sink. Soon, the kitchen sink wasn't draining. I thought I'd help it drain faster by turning on the disposal. When I did that, water shot straight up, and more water poured out from under the sink. So, now I had to take everything out from under the sink, clean and dry that, dry the kitchen floor, and then get back to the utility sink. So now, I'm dunking the bucket into the sink and walking out onto the deck and throwing the water into the yard. (My husband has been out-of-town for a week).


When the utility sink got pretty low, I decided it would be easier to just let the water drain out from the pipe underneath, so I loosened that and stuck a bigger bucket under it, not realizing that about 2 inches up, there was a crack in that bucket. So, more water was dribbling nto the floor! I swtiched buckets, cleaned that water up, and finally got the mess taken care of. (Although the plumbing problem wasn't fixed.) By then, it was time for my late afternoon painting class, so off I went.


When my husband came back, (I wanted him to share in the plumbing pleasure w/ me) we called Roto-rooter (we happened to have a val-pack coupon, too) and soon, the man was on the roof cleaning out the drains w/ his 90 foot plumbing snake. I really recommend them, they were quick and affordable.


In the meantime, I didn't have time to finish my lilacs, and when I finally did, the blooms and blossoms had changed. So, what I have is a ghumorous memory, clean drains, and a work in process...forever! This one's for Roseanne, because , it's always something!!

Another Great Spot

6" x 8" oil on canvas panel
$75.00 + $10. s/h
contact me if interested
SOLD

This is another beautiful spot near Pagosa Springs. Normally, when painting a landscape, you create ways to make the viewer's eyes travel through the piece; by connecting values, colors, or shapes. In this moment, in this location, all of that happened naturally. There it was, right in front of me; a painting waiting to happen.

Near Pagosa Springs

SOLD
6" x 8" oil on panel

$75.00 + $10. s/h

contact me if interested

We recently went to Pagosa Springs, Co (about 5 hours south of here) to visit friends who I taught with in South America almost 30 years ago. They retired to Colorado. It was a fun visit. This is from a walk on their property, just below their house. As I keep saying, everywhere you go in this state is another great painting.

Fire Bush Sprig

8" x 10" oil on canvas panel
$75.00 = $10. s/h
contact me if interested

I don't know the name of this bush. We only have one; it's next to the patio and partly under the deck. Maybe that's why I haven't paid much attention to it over the years. But right now it's on fire. It's strange, the orange blossoms are at the base of the shrub, unlike most blossoms which are at the end of the branches. So, I named it the fire bush. Maybe someone out there knows the real name. I think it's appropriate to paint flowers the day before Mother's Day. Happy Mother's Day to all mothers out there.