I am Loving it and Don't pull the plug...

I have always used photographs as the basis for my expressive paintings for many reasons.  The main one is the lack of privacy.  People mean well but I can't concentrate when people talk to me when I work.  If I set up an easel outside I am sure to get an audience.  I think I have mentioned this before but I am not positive so here I go again.  I had a friend that insisted on painting plein air and when people talked to her she would ignore them.  I can't do that and I know I have mentioned before that I am not a slave to nature.  Nature is my starting point and I take it from there so it is not necessary for me to paint from life.

Now I have included photography as one of my mediums and I am having a lot of fun presenting them as the end result!  It isn't anywhere near as satisfying to me as painting but I do enjoy it.  I have great respect for the medium, it just isn't what I do. Still, I think my photos are  very interesting additions to my mediums.  If you check out my portfolio you will find oil paintings, charcoal drawings, ink brush drawings,lithographs, etchings, aquatints, pen and ink, oil and soft pastel paintings, watercolors, colored pencil drawings and now, photographs.

Check it out!

My husband and I are completely dry in the humour department so I am going to repeat something I saw on Facebook that brought back memories.  A cat is lying next to a baby with a pacifier and the caption is, " Whatever you do, don't pull the plug".   I am third in a family of four children so I heard a lot of stories about my baby years.  It seems I was perfectly happy if I was fed and had my pacifier.  My two older siblings loved to pull it out.  I would scream and then they would put it back and I was quiet.  I know what that cat was talking about!

Be sure to check out my Limited Time Promotions on Fine Art America and look for my best-selling print, "Reaching Out", on The Mindy Project!

If you didn't catch me on The Hour of Joy you can see me on Episode 5 on her Website!  The show was March 10th.

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Up-loading Maniac and More Mirror Jokes...

I am trying to get a schedule going to improve  my portfolio.  I am one prolific artist and I have a hard time keeping up with adding my new work and getting to older work that needs to be photographed or scanned into the computer.  So I am trying to add three new items a day which is a lot more work for an already over-worked artist.  Hope I can keep the pace up so I can catch up on work I have been meaning to add for a long time.  Where is that fairy that will add more hours to the day?  I want to have a serious talk with her.

My husband is coming up with more mirror jokes.  I honestly think he still looks great.  He has never thought much of his looks but now he claims one of the mirrors committed suicide and fell off the wall when he got near it.  He also says he is afraid the bathroom mirror is going to hand him a lawsuit to get money to reflect him.  Not so!  I keep telling him the world is filled with short, fat, bald men and he is not one of them.

Be sure to check out my Limited Time Promotions on Fine Art America.  Great large canvas prints of my most popular paintings at 40% off!

Also, look for my drawing, "Reaching Out", on The Mindy Project on FoxTV Tuesdays at 9:30!  I have missed a few episodes but it was visible on the 2nd, 4th, 5th, 8th, and 18th episodes.

Check out my Photographs and Yes they do...

Painting is my passion but I also like to take photographs so I decided to add them to my portfolio.  I have noticed a number of artists have photographs along with their paintings or drawings or whatever.  I like to create spatial and colorful effects with the camera.  Most of my paintings start with a photograph I take but I change them considerably until I like my painting much more than I like the photograph.  As I have said before, photo realism is just not for me.  Got to have elaborate, complicated, expressive brushwork.  You can't reproduce a photograph with that in it.  Anyway, I am pleased with my new folder which is entitled I love the Beach Creative Photographs. I hope to sell prints of them.

On the way home from a vacation I was starting to get punchy behind the wheel so I decided it was time to goad my husband into saying something that would make me laugh.  I saw the sign that said traffic speed enforced by aircraft or something like that so I asked my husband if that meant an airplane would swoop down and give me a ticket.  He said no but they have a special airplane that swoops down and sucks up the offending car and then takes it right to the police station.  He says that is an old joke but I hadn't heard it before so it made me laugh.  Glad to be home!



Be sure to check out my Limited Time specials on Fine Art America and don't forget about my best-seller, "Reaching Out", on The Mindy Project.  I have had to miss a few episodes but there were

shots of it on the 2nd, 4th, 5th, 8th, and 18th episodes.  Funny show!

Patron is Happy and It is simple Arithmetic

I am so glad my patron for my latest portrait commission is happy.  I always check with them before it is completed to see if they are happy with the likeness.  She is thrilled with the painting and took a picture with her phone to show her husband.  Portraits are so tricky.  One of my favorite sayings is, Don't do portraits because there is always something wrong around the mouth.  I am proud to say I have always had 100% success rate with commissions and would be glad to do more.  This patron is making plans for the next commission of her daughter after this one is done.

As I have said before sometimes you just can't get to the mute button fast enough.  There is a commercial on now that is really irritating my husband.  The announcer claims it is simple physics, a body in motion tends to stay in motion.  My husband's response is, it is simple arithmetic.  You have a drug to sell me and I am not going to buy it.  The  answer is zero sales.

Be sure to check out my sales on Fine Art America in The Limited  Time section and look for my best seller, "Reaching Out", on The Mindy Project.  I have had to miss a few but I  did see it on the 2nd, 4th, 5th, 8th, and 18th episodes.  I hope it was visible last night.

Scammers, Scammers, Scammers and If Stupid were...

I sure am getting lots of scammers on my cell phone lately.  They all want to buy my item.  First, they want to know the condition of the item and then they want to get it in a hurry so they will send a shipper.  Of course they will pay me more than the price and then I will have to send the excess money to the private shipper that never shows up.  Their payment is fake and I am out the shipping money.  I am not the sharpest knife in the drawer but I would never fall for that one.

My husband and I were discussing the state of our country and we came to the conclusion that if stupid were money, the budget would be balanced and there would be so much money left over that we could all rocket to all the planets in the universe.  I would like to say we haven't contributed to the stupid account but I don't think that would be true.  We have done our part.



Be sure to watch for my best-selling print, "Reaching Out", on The Mindy Project.  It was visible last week.  Also, if you didn't see me on FoxTv27 on March 10th, you can check out the show on www.thehourofjoy.com episode 5 Stardom.

Check out my Limited Time Promotions on Fine Art America!

Sold another canvas print of Marsh View at Pawleys Island and On a mission...

So glad to sell another print of Marsh View at Pawleys Island.  This is one of my best sellers and I hope to sell many more. The original is still available but it is 41"x60".  I hope to find a patron that would like a large landscape for their home or office.  It is one of my favorites but I want to find a home for it.  I am one prolific artist and I like to see my "children" move on out into the world.  Looks like I may be getting another commission so I had better get the one I have now done soon.  I have never had to wait so long for each layer to dry due to the change in white oil paint.  I had better count on that in the future or find a manufacturer that has not turned white paint into something a littler thicker than melted butter.  This is going to take some getting used to.

My husband and I often wonder why some drivers go so far over the speed limit in town only to end up at the same red light the others end up at.  Why are some people in such a hurry?  Could it be their butts are on fire and they have to get some where fast to put it out?  Or, as my brother-in-law says, they must be on a mission for God so we have to get out of the way.  I like both reasons.  Love to laugh!



Be sure to look for "Reaching Out" on The Mindy Project". It is in Mindy's office and so far there have been shots of it on the 2nd, 4th, 5th, 8th, and 18th episodes.



Check me out on www.thehourofjoy.com with Joy Sutton who wants to be the next Oprah!  I am on Episode 5 Stardom.

Computers do not like me and That is why they do that...

I really have to restrain myself from taking a hammer to our computer at times.  I carefully composed an email newsletter that I sent out last night.  I followed the instructions to the letter as I always do and for some reason my rough draft was sent out instead of the final version.  So, instead of the location where I will be appearing with my artwork on May 7th, there is an incomplete sentence that is embarrassing.  From now on I will compose the letter on a word document and copy paste it.  This is the second time this has happened and there will not be a third!  I am going to try to cheer up now.  This is certainly not the end of the world.

I think I have figured out why there are commercials of the program included in the commercial breaks.   Now there are so many commercial breaks the producers show a bleep of the program because they are afraid you won't come back and then you will miss more commercials.  I'm not sure, but I think there are more commercial breaks then actual program.  I think I will time them.

I will be appearing with some of my work at the Pulaski Market Place on May 7th from 4-8pm!  Hope to see you there and don't forget about my Limited Time Promotions on Fine Art America!  Just sold another large canvas print of Marsh View at Pawleys Island to a great Virgina patron.

Also, check out my portfolio.  I have a number of new uploads!