Wren Finished

Hi, here is my Carolina Wren with the Red trumpet vine. I've used the vines to help your eyes go to the wren and seed pod. I also dropped some of the same Cadmium Red that I used to paint the flowers into the bird to highlight him.

This is from my flower patch in my backyard, forgive the weeds. They are just frothy background ( ha ha). Now I was surprised to see the stargazer lily blooming! I forgot I'd planted it. It's gorgeous!

well take care and have a wonderful weekend. Happy Fourth of July!
Talk to you soon,Diana

The art show continues until July 6Th at the Red Queen to see more photos of it -scroll down and hit "older posts". Thank you!

I just added a swirl of burnt sienna to the top right corner of the painting. This helps bring your eye back down to the focal point. I thought it needed it.!!

Trumpet Vine and Carolina Wren

Hi, the trumpet vine has finally started blooming in our backyard. I did get this piece yesterday on my walk just down the road a little. I didn't go far. I've strained something in my back and walked(ok-- hobbled) just a half a mile to stretch it. It helped a little.. but it will be better.-- The flower has so many colors in it, I used Cadmium Red, Permanent Rose, Cadmium Yellow Deep. I used Burnt Sienna, and Yellow Ochre to paint the caps.As you can see this is just the beginning of the painting!

This piece of vine has the seed pod on it and I thought it would be nice with a Carolina wren sitting on it. Those little rascals are so mischievous. They always make a nest in the back porch and once tried to make a nest in my husbands tennis shoe which was hanging on the clothesline.

We lost our air conditioning for a few days. They just repaired it! Feels good! The humidity is what makes it so hot here. Take care and stay cool, have some lovely iced tea with peppermint from your garden! talk to you soon,Diana

Next week is the end of my show at Red Queen Gallery in Onancock,Va. stop in this week or weekend!

Hawaii

HI, sorry I haven't posted lately. Yesterday I had an appointment across the bay. You see ,I live on the Eastern Shore of Va., which is a small peninsula of land surrounded by the Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean and it's lovely here with it's calming nature,farm land and fishing but it's not a big city so sometimes we end up going "across the bay' to specialty shop and do errands, so that was what I did yesterday. I bought some wonderful watercolor paper, and got some student grade for our family trip so the kids can enjoy painting with me. I also went to Sam's and stocked up on groceries and things.. it was a busy time. Today I didn't get to paint because of more errands here on the shore.. but tomorrow.. AH- I'm going to try out my new paper. These 2 photos are some painting I did a few years ago. This is my Hawaii series and the second is a couple of my tractors and a day lily painting. I have done some sketching but not really delved into a new painting!Tomorrow!

Talk to you soon! Diana

Blue Bottles and Luna Moth

Well I just finished my luna moth and blue bottle watercolor and the UPS man drove up.. He had my new book Artist Journal Workshop!!! So EVERYTHING STOPS and we have iced coffee and read! I've been looking forward to it for so long! Wonderful..

talk to you soon, Diana
Daisy's not quite as excited!

Luna Moth Added to Bottles

hi! I've added a luna moth to the bottle painting. I love blues and greens together. On my walks I find one or two of these gorgeous moths each summer. They are so amazing. Pale green, almost transparent wings with a fuzzy white body.. I've straightened my bottles I've got to check that one on the side..

I like to start my day painting. How about you? I get up, get my coffee and sit down to my art table... It's so relaxing to have a paint brush in hand early...

Here is a photo of a daylily from my yard yesterday! It was the color of cantalope! wow.. I took photos but was so tempted to just sit down and paint. But we have some family coming this weekend and I'd better straighten the house up a little! Today it's scrunched up -- the flowers only last a day.. but there's a bud coming!

Hope you have a great weekend,relaxing and peaceful. talk to you soon,Diana

If you get a chance stop by my show at the Red Queen Gallery!

Straighten the Bottles!

We're still resting here as you can see from Daisy's photo. I painted some last night and this morning too-- working on the blue bottles. I see some are crooked and need straightening!ha ha Also I need to put more blue in the clear bottle in front for the reflections-- I really love that lime green color though. well that's what I'll do next. talk to you soon,Diana

Opening and Resting!

Well , the opening at Red Queen Gallery was wonderful. So many people came, and we all had a lovely time. Both Gertraud and I have sold some of our work and the show continues until July6th so we hope to sell more. I know I'm exhausted. I truly put everything I had into the paintings. Also I didn't get my frames until 2 days before the show, but I got it all done and we got it up and it 's wonderful. Hope if you are nearby you can go by the Gallery and see it. Their hours are Wed,Thurs.,Fri,and Sat. 1oam-5pm and Sunday afternoons.. Onancock,Va. or you can go to www.redqueengallery.com for more info.

Needless to say I've been resting and reading and drinking coffee and just hanging out for the weekend. My son came home for the weekend and that was nice. I did quickly sketch this, I love bottles especially the old ones and the blue ones. Take care and talk to you soon,Diana

2nd Friday at the Red Queen Opening

We're ready, that's me and Gertraud.. Now we are Totally exhausted we've been hanging our work all afternoon at the Red Queen Gallery. We have over 60 pieces together showing!That is Susan,who is an artist too. She helped us and was in charge of the hanging. Opening tomorrow night from 5-8. Come! Going to rest now!Gertraud ,rest up too!

take care and wish us luck ! Diana

Hope it's done!

I've tried to pour my heart into it. talk to you later,Diana

A New Rooster and Daylily

hi! This morning I've been working on a new rooster. I've used irridescent powder on his tail feathers, rice paper with gold highlights and even scraped red paint on his cone.Monelle painted one ,too!

The day lily is from yesterday. Still got a lot to do on that.. Frames come in tomorrow..

Red Queen Gallery Opening Friday, Here we come! talk to you soon,Diana

Awesome Daylily

HI, these are to frame! I'd really thought I would begin this morning but somehow time escaped me.

However I have started another flower painting.(You know I'd rather paint than frame!) I've gotten the sketch done. It's a day lily- see how I used paper to crop it- to focus on the part I will paint. I hope to capture the beauty and the word Awesome comes to mind when I see this gorgeous flower.. My daughter uses the word Awesome.

I placed an order this morning for more frames. All of this is in preparation for Friday's Opening at the Red Queen Gallery. It's exciting! talk to you soon.

Now paintbrush and coffee... then paint.Diana

Show at Red Queen!

Click on photo to see it better! I'm working on a new painting now for it. Gertraud's website is www.gertraudfendler.com

Have a great weekend! talk to you soon! Diana

Butterflies Almost finished..

HI, I've been painting all afternoon. I had to decide on the placement of the trumpet vine. How many of the flowers to put and where to put them.. I had a general idea.. so what I did was cut an advertisement that was red into flower size pieces and then I placed them in different arrangements to determine which arrangement worked best with the butterflies. It was fun!

Here's what I came up with. I still have some more to do on the painting but want to stop now.I don't want to do too much more.

Oh yes,Daisy is very sad. I took her to the vet yesterday for her shots and he put her on a diet. Only dry dog food... this is not making her happy!

Talk to you soon, Diana

Also check out the photo of the upcoming show(in the right hand corner of the blog).. Gertraud Fendler and I will be the featured artists at Red Queen Gallery in June. Gertraud does photography and sea glass jewelry. Google her!