Cheers

The last painting in the 31 day challenge - finally!  I have painted every day, although I didn't finish a painting every single day. Hopefully I learned some things along the way, and now I'm happy to go on to some other projects. But first,  I get a little reward ;-)

Grain Fed

The second to the last one! I bought a loaf of "take and bake" bread the other day, but I didn't read the direction that said to freeze the bread if you weren't going to bake it right away.  Four or five days later, I popped it in the oven and it smelled divine! It looked completely beautiful when it came out too. Nice and crusty - yum! But on the bottom, I noticed a big green area. So disappointing! Never one to waste, it ended up serving another purpose, and I learned a lesson. But I can't wait to go buy another one and bake it right away this time!

Pepper Pile-up

I got to use a lot of cadmium colors for this, and keep them pretty intense. Pretty fun! I love those happy little peppers.

Radish Bowl

Here's my story - I bought some radishes, not because I wanted a salad, but because I've never painted them. They had lovely green tops at the time. I stuck them in the veggie drawer and forgot about them, until the tops were dark and slimy, so I trimmed them up, and popped them in a bowl and then I painted what turned out to be a complicated maze. The colors in the produce section of your grocery store are so intense! A purple cabbage, for example, or those mini peppers.

Legs and Hair

I rarely buy carrots with the tops intact. I don't see an advantage other than aesthetic pleasure, the feeling that it's fresher perhaps? We know why I did it now though:-) They were fun models and I'll put them to good use tomorrow, maybe in a soup. With a ton of fresh snow, that seems like a good use.

Room for More

In real life these grapes are as tired as I am. they've been sitting out since Thursday night and the stems are getting a little brittle. The poor grapes may have lost their luster too, but they've served me well. Thank you grapes.

Red and White

I painted this for a friend, hoping it might be something she would enjoy. Turns out, I was right :-) Painting still lives is always an education in color and texture. This was fun, but a toughie!

It's Only Wine

I really wanted to include the little brass llama, but it got voted out. Oh well, he's been in another painting and I'm sure he'll get another turn. No hard feelings, little guy.

Tea Rose

My Aldi's bouquet is earning it keep. Every day I think that I will paint during the day, but I rarely do. Nothing wrong with being a night owl, except it allows me no wiggle room for later when I look at a painting with fresh eyes and see... something. I occasionally make changes even after I've posted something. That's a confession.

Saturday Roses

You never know what you'll find at Aldi's. We made a quick trip there today and I saw these luscious pink roses for under $4.00! The only place that can top that is Trader Joes, but that's almost two hours away. So, a quick painting today, and maybe another tomorrow. 

Are You Ticklish?

It's usually not a great idea to have an even number of objects in a composition. I was challenged this week to try it and I took the bait. Gotta use up these beets, after all. It feels OK to me and it's kind of quirky, which I like.

Beets

I absolutely hated beets as a child, but I think they're great now. Such a useful vegetable - I'll start with the tops and add them to a stir-fry. Then I'll roast the beets and have them maybe with carrots and potatoes.... Then, in a salad. I predict one more painting too ;-) I've painted beets before and I think I did better. Maybe not.

Special Treat

My mama's birthday would have been today, so for the last three years I've painted a treat for her that I think she would have enjoyed. My little memorial.

Fallen Rose

Hello neglected blog. I have been painting, but not posting. When I post, it's arranged that my image is picked up by DPW and I haven't felt like putting stuff out there lately. Well, suddenly I'm back in the game.

Wild Flowers

Today my husband stopped along side of the road and cut some flowers for me - WAY more than you're seeing here.  He told me he had to drive home with the windows down because there were so many bugs. It won't be long until all the bugs are frozen and the flowers are finished, so I intend to appreciate them until the end. I crammed a fraction of them into a jar and did my final painting. Every day I've at least leaned something about my materials. Today, fore instance, I had to start over after turning my first attempt into a mud pie. Thus my fantasy of wrapping this up early was smashed. Like a bug.

Friendly Flower

I'm not a gardener. Perhaps I will become one in the future because I'm always envious of the flower beds my friends have. I do have these growing though - I think they're called Cosmos. They look much better now that it's almost October than they did all summer long. Very optimistic and cheerful.  I have one more painting and I can tell you that if I have learned one thing this month, it's that if you are too tired to clean your brushes, you can put them in a newspaper bag and freeze them over night ;-)  I've actually leaned a few more things than that.

Stir Fry

I have been consistent at starting these late in the day.  I guess that means I'm a night owl by nature, but it doesn't leave much wiggle room. I have a time limit, then it's off to dreamland.

Pepper Pals

Three very robust peppers from Saturday's market.  Gotta celebrate this stuff while we have it. Five days left and then Octoberrr! (That also means only 5 more paintings :-)

Keep a Close Watch

It may require patience to be married to an artist. Today Joe was thawing some shrimp for his special salad.  I said, "I'm going to paint these real quick and I'll be done before you need them, I promise." Nope... I was pretty close, but by that time, the shrimps had been out of the fridge for so long that we were both a little nervous about eating them.  There were some more in the freezer, so it wasn't the end of the world, and I had fun painting these weird little guys.

Anniversary Flowers

I ran to the farmer's market this morning because I wanted some gladiolus. There weren't any - maybe they're done? I didn't leave empty handed though. I found this pink and orange combo, snap dragons and something else.  I predict that it won't last very long, but it's dramatic right now. This is our 39th anniversary, by the way. That seems incredible and another good reason for flowers.