Afternoon Rooster on a Hill of Poppies ...

It has been a couple of weeks since I had a chance to paint and yesterday I decided it was time. I set up shop underneath our curly willow tree in the backyard and spent the afternoon painting. I love painting outside. It is so peaceful. I decided I was going to paint one of my roosters, they are carefree and whimsical. Other than deciding what colors I want to use they are quite simple and strait forward, the perfect subject to create especially when I have a little rust on my brushes.

Instead of painting him in front of a rising sun like I normally do I decided that this rooster would be basking in the vibrant afternoon sky. I used every paint color in my box and mixed many more to create his rainbow appearance. He is covered in a variety of colors including different shades of blue, teal, green, yellow, orange, pink, purple, burgundy, and red. I decided to paint the flowers on the hill a vibrant orange to compliment the sun and the orange on the rooster’s belly, plus orange is my favorite color and I love to use it as much as possible.

Have a colorful Monday!

A Rooster, a Butterfly, a Barn Owl, and some Sunflowers

Original folk-art painting, A Rooster, a Butterfly, Three little paintings

Original folk-art paintings, A Barn Owl, some Sunflowers, Three little paintings

I decided to let the paintings do the talking.

May All Your Christmas Dreams Come True …

I’m not sure if my Christmas dreams include a glass mug with Christmas balls and a winter scene in it, but I did have fun creating this piece. At first when I came up with the sketch I had peppermint candies filling the mug instead of Christmas balls, but I soon changed my mind. I hate painting the same thing over and over again. The thought of using red and white over and over bored me to tears. I love to use a lot of colors, bright colors, every color in the rainbow.

So what are my Christmas dreams …..

I would have to say that my first one would be for my children to have a magical and wonderful holiday. I have a feeling that this will be the last year Noah doesn’t question Santa, or at least I am hoping he still believes. There is just something magical about having little children around the holidays, they make it seem so innocent like anything is possible. Abbey keeps asking about Santa and when Christmas is coming, this is the first year where I think she understands the whole thing. It’s cute to see how excited she is getting. She is already singing Christmas songs. I just want my children’s Christmas memories to be as special as mine are to me. My parents always made the holidays such a magical time.

My second dream would have to be that everyone I love and care about has a happy, healthy, safe, and beautiful holiday. My parents are separated and my relationship with them is a little strained. Although I probably will not be with them over the holidays it doesn’t mean that I don’t hold them close to my heart and don’t want all the happiness in the world for them. I wish things were like they once were, but unfortunately I am not a little kid anymore and even magic can’t fix this. As a child they made sure I was happy, healthy, and safe and that is all I want for them. That is all I want for everyone.

Spending time with my husband and children would be my third dream. Life is always so hectic and sometimes it feels like if it wasn’t for dinner we would not get to see each other. I want to get to stop the craziness and enjoy being together. I love watching Michael get to spend time with the kids. He is so good with them, but he is always so busy with work that his time is limited. He takes vacation over the Christmas break so he is all ours from Christmas Eve until January second. I love when he is home with us.

I think my last dream would be to have a white Christmas. I don’t need the two plus feet we had in February, but six inches would be nice, just enough to build a snowman and make the Christmas lights glow.


I hope all of you Christmas dreams come true!

Original Folk-Art Painting... Christmas Owl

Meet my little Christmas owl. He is sitting on a silver tree dressed in typical holiday colors. Hanging next to him on the branch is a red Christmas ball with an owl silhouette painted on it. White snowflakes are falling from the light blue sky.

I am hoping to turn this little painting into Christmas cards for the holiday season. Have a beautiful Wednesday!!!

Patchwork Stocking with Vintage Christmas Ornaments …

I finally found inspiration and started creating holiday themed paintings. I pulled out some vintage ornaments, fired up the old record player with records from my childhood and tried to think snow. This is the first painting I completed. I am hoping to create some more holiday inspired creations once the Halloween rush slows down. Between Halloween parties, costume making, and carving pumpkins there has not been much time to paint.

Thank you for stopping in.

My Three Little Terrarium Paintings …

I am so excited I completed three little paintings this week. I did the sketches for these paintings quite a while of go. Unfortunately I have been having quite a creative drought the last few months, ok probably six months and did not have the drive to paint them. It felt so good to create something.

The first painting is a ball jar terrarium. Inside the ball jar is a little pink house, two trees and six decorative buttons, oh and of course moss.



The second terrarium is setting on a potato masher. Inside this mini terrarium is a decorative mushroom, cute little buttons and hanging off the masher is a vintage owl ornament.

The last little terrarium is a vintage syrup pitcher. Inside the terrarium are two pretty little pink brush trees, a cute white house, moss and buttons. Hanging off the terrarium is a bright butterfly clip.

All three of these paintings will be added to my Etsy shop in the next several days. My Etsy shop has been sitting stagnant for the last couple of months, it will be nice to breathe some new life into it.