This is the 3rd painting in the Fall Session with Terry Armstrong for this year.  I have, for now, decided to call it finished ... but, I'm still looking at it! LOL!   My gosh, are we EVER satisfied with our own work.  I always think of that saying .. "It takes 2 people to create a painting.  One to paint it and one to tell the artist when to stop."  I have it "temporarily" matted, but there is a lot more painting at the top.  This is how I have it cropped for now, but that could change later and I could decide to show a lot more of that background above the bridge.   The final painting is a nuthatch, on a tree, in the winter.  It was not finished in class so for now, it's sitting on an easel and I give it a look every time I walk past it.  I want to get away from it for a bit and then go back to finishing it with a "fresh eye".   For now, I find that I am already wishing the year away, hoping for spring so that it's time for Terry's Spring session ... hey, I'm a little old lady, and I don't need to be wishing time away!!!  If Terry taught weekly classes, then I wouldn't have to do that.

Should have posted this one first today ... it was the first lesson in this years Fall Session of classes with Terry Armstrong.  I still haven't decided how I will trim this one .. to mat it.  Also, am still "looking at it" to see if there are any changes or additions that I want to make.  I really loved this class .. it was such a great blend of realism with the addition of a little impressionism.  I've titled it "The Last Geranium" ... and am always sad  when the last of the flowers are finally dying off in the fall of the year .. and like that little geranium in the window, I have one left ... still hanging on.

Well, with the arrival of Fall ... it's the start of my classes with Terry Armstrong!!! ... Cheryl and I paint together at Terry's Studio for 4 Tuesdays each fall .. and we paint in the "Bad Girl's Room" with Dori!  Sometimes I wonder if we learn ... as much as we laugh!  It's a joy to paint with the ladies ... as well as with everyone else who takes the class.  Terry is such a really REALLY great artist (you can find a link to his site on my Favorite Watercolor Artists page) .... here's a photo of Cheryl and I, with our Milkweek Pod paintings... we both had some additional work to finish up on them and you can see my finished product below this photo of Cheryl and I.

Still Summer .. but you know me .. Thoughts Of Winter

On Thursday, August 11 .. I started on this painting.  Had found the photo of the old barn and loved the barn,  The photograph was taken in the summer and was a close up of the barn and I just felt that I would place it in surroundings (and in the winter), go make it a bit more forlorn and deserted .... it's an old barn, and I wanted that feeling of "being left alone_ so I painted it as a winter scene and added an old road.  I worked the painting until I got to the foreground and then stopped so that I could spend a couple of days deciding exactly how I wanted to handle the background .... then, on the 14th I started on that foreground in the morning and finished it by late afternoon.  I love the hot summer sun, the hotter the better.  But, as much as I love the summer I sure do love snow and I especially love to paint snow.

I Do Love Pinecones..brings thoughts of the North Woods!

I have always loved pine trees and pine cones ... and birch trees.  In reading and doing research I've found that Poland is filled with birch trees and with pine trees so perhaps my love is "inherited"????   

In any case, over the holidays I had done a tutorial of a pine bough, pinecone and a red ribbon and had so much fun painting it .. so, I decided to just do a simple pinecone all by itself.  The painting is a watercolor done on hot pressed paper purchased from Twinrocker here in Indiana.

Twinrocker is "handmade" watercolor paper.  The company makes it in various weights and they also make it hot pressed, cold pressed and rough.  You can also purchase the feathered edges or natural edge, which this painting was done on or you can purchase the very heavily deckled paper which gives you an entirely different option for framing.

THE END OF THE SPRING SESSION

Our last class for the Spring Session with Terry Armstrong was last Tuesday.  The three of us in the photo may very well be smiling, but it was indeed, a sad day for us.  The subject for this last class was a lake scene, which I really am not even half way finished with.  It'll sit for a while and I'll "contemplate" on what I'm going to do with the painting.  

Sitting next to me is "ma bud" .. Cheryl.  Every single time we get together, it's smiles, laughs and joy.  Now, behind us is Dori .. a very, very special lady and a wonderful artist. Dori is .. well .. every once in a while, life sends one of those special people around .. those people that we call "kindred spirits".  The good lord, in his wisdom, put not only lots of years between Dori and I, but he put lots of miles.  If he hadn't ... well, I can't even guess at the things that we would have gotten into together.  Dori makes me smile and she makes my heart sing ... and on top of that, she can make a mean Bloody Mary when she wants to. So, this is the end of Spring Session and we find ourselves already looking forward to autumn!  

Tomorrow, I'm starting on a new learning adventure and am really excited.  When I begin to accomplish things ... I'll post them!  Thanks for peeking in.

Could Be Chicken Stew

This painting is another project from Terry Armstrong's Spring Session.  The classes are now over for this session and I am already looking forward to the Fall Session.  Gosh, summer isn't even here and I am already wishing it away ... and, as much as I love snow, I love the summer sun and hot HOT weather!  I have never painted a chicken or rooster, so this was quite a challenge but the classes was an excellent one and Terry's instructions were so helpful.  Per usual, there are things I would do differently next time around.  There are things that I would change and even omit but like I've said before, each class with Terry is a true learning experience.  Now, I'm rummaging around ... looking for something to "inspire me"!