What could be in that hole??and Little ES Landscape

New paintings to frame for show..

ES Mini Landscape, Bayford,Va.

OH MY IS she in trouble...

HI, Well. I started drawing the little landscape outside, sitting next to the pine tree with my board in my lap,sweetly drawing and noticed she(Sadie the Puppy) was gone.... into the woods.

 I found her by a large pine root ball which had fallen over and left a hole under it.. oh blasted what could be in that hole...

 I envisioned an animal poking it's head out and biting her nose.oh no.. she came up from the hole with a dead squirrel. A Long Pause from me.. oh NO..

We ran around the backyard, and John said I never exercise... ha... I tried cheese.. I yelled-- but it's Cabot Cheese.. the good cheese.( I guess this wouldn't work for a commercial would it??? )  not even a sniff.. However canned catfood did it and I grabbed the object,thrust it into a plastic bag and put it on the roof of the playhouse. John said he hopes a buzzard comes for it.. ha ha..

 Good grief. I need the peace and solace I get from painting..Hope you have a peaceful fall weekend. love to you,Diana

Harvest Festival, Veggie Painting, and Obedience Lessons

Hot and Sweet Peppers, 8x10,$99.

Sadie riding home.

HI, I completed my veggie painting. Harvest Festival, an all you can eat seafood feast and art show is next Wed. Oct.4th. I'll be showing my art there. I've been to all of them  except the year Daisy and a raccoon got fighting the morning of the show..I went to the vet with her instead and she was fine.....This year they are asking us to each bring our tents.. I'm not happy about the extra hauling..ah well..

So I'm trying to paint as much as I can and frame, too to get ready for the show. I'll have the veggie painting there.

I didn't tell you, Sadie has been taking obedient lessons.. from Kendra. She does so well there and does pretty good here. We've got to practice. Here we are riding home. I'm driving. But I'm pleased she actually now sits on her seat or in the back most of the time as we ride somewhere. She has learned to heel,walking next to me,pass another dog,sit, stay,come(well most/some of the time,in class yes). She's getting there.I enjoy her so much. What a blessing she is and so much company.

Next painting I'll do will be a little landscape,they seem to sell well. Hope so. love to you,Diana

Sadie Nabbed the Hot Peppers,Pepper Watercolor

Hot and Sweet.. watercolor in progress

Sadie napping. No I don't know how she gets in these poses!!

HI,  I've worked on my new little pepper painting some. Brightening the reds with some glazes, adding some shadow and started the black around the peppers.. It looks like fall I think. Sadie is napping now. I hope you are having a peaceful Sunday. love,Diana
ps. The peppers came from Monelle, she brought them by the other day, and we both started painting them. I was in the backyard when she got here but I heard a "NO SADIE NO!!!!" and ran into the front. She was standing there pointing at Sadie as she ran around Monelle with a bag of hot peppers dangling from her teeth.. I chased her around Monelle a couple of times thru the front yard a couple of times..and finally got them. Ok,it was because Monelle gave her a pig's ear but I was close.  What a dog... ha ha..

Sassafras Leaf and Persimmon Top Watercolor and Sadie's Ramblings

Sassafras Leaf and Persimmon Top

Snuggly Sadie

HI, probably not a masterpiece but I painted another leaf! ha ha.. Sadie is napping some this afternoon. Ok ,so we did end up in the woods quite a bit earlier.I'm tired and she is too. I'm thrilled. I've painted another found leaf, Sassafras-- I love the sound of the name and the actual leaves. It has 3 kinds of leaves, one like this, another shaped like a mitten, and then a more simple leaf shape. This tree is in our woods/yard. Gran's Daddy used to make  hot tea for her from the roots of this kind of wild tree.  Sadie and I found a wild Persimmon tree in the front yard. I knew we had one in the backyard. One little persimmon on the lawn,so I saved the top and here it is. ( She would have eaten it but I hid it from her,she already ate a locust this morning.. good grief..)

So what to paint now. I need some ideas..What can we paint? Have a wonderful weekend. love to  you,Diana

A Blissful Fall day!!

Oak Leaf and Acorn

Sadie eating Oak branch

Rudy, not so happy with Sadie's enthusiasm.

HI, I've tried to paint on the back porch with Sadie, the puppy and Rudy, the 20 year old cat, outside with me. We ended up on the front porch, with Sadie running here and there and Rudy hissing. Before it got to that level of fall bliss I did paint one oak leaf and an acorn. Ah to paint.. such a lovely day!! ha ha. How has yours been. love to you,Diana

Last Little Hummingbird Watercolor

Soon Leaving, 8x10,framed, $99.

Sadie enjoying a cool day.

HI! I just finished my little hummingbird. This pumpkin is the same one from the last painting..from Mama's garden. It's been sitting on my art table but I'm going to put it on the dining room table now. The hummingbirds are here but it seems there aren't as many. Here they leave at the end of September to travel back to Mexico. I'll miss the little ones. I added another pumpkin shoulder so I could put the stem and him off center and it would look right. I think it's fine.

So far today Sadie has eaten: 1.My black and pink sock. rescued barely
                                             2, a pinecone, didn't swallow, just shredded
                                             3, a stick, the same
                                             4 the twist tie off the bread at lunch. Thank goodness I pried it out of her mouth,
                                             5.her regular food
                                             6 the cat's regular food, she wasn't supposed to
                                             7 Montana mud from the well
                                             8 one pebble from the driveway. I hope she didn't swallow that. I couldn't get to her in time..
What a dog... Have a happy weekend. Today the weather is perfect here. Sunny and cool.. just right. love to you,Diana Tell me what you are doing.

Masa Paintings Finished, Sadie, and the Plumbers.

Fall Bounty, 16x20 framed,$330. Now at Red Queen Gallery.

Chili Peppers, 8x10,framed $99 Now at Red Queen Gallery.

Sadie here at home!

HI! I finally put the finishing touches on my Pumpkin watercolor. It's done in Masa technique. The Red Queen asked me to bring one in because I'm teaching Masa Sept. 27. Yes the date had to change. It's fine.  So I did this one and the Chili Peppers just for her to show and have there at the RQ. We also exchanged my work and the Gallery now has 7 originals. This Friday will be an opening there..

We have the plumber here. It was a leak under the kitchen sink, then one in the spigot in the bathroom. He found the cabinet was falling apart.. after 30 some years it didn't owe us anything.. so they've been here for 3 days.. and as sweet as they are I'm ready for quiet.. perhaps I will do an angry turkey painting!~!! ha ha.. take care. I'll go straighten up and paint something.. love to you,Diana

Snake Skin Imprint on Watercolor!! It's so exciting.

Snake skin imprint on wash for watercolor painting!

Beginning sketch onto masa watercolor painting.

Still Life I'm working from.

Sadie

HI! Sadie, our lab puppy, found a 6 foot long snake skin in our backyard. Yes it was 2 inches from the house.. probably a black snake ,which isn't dangerous. My first thought was look at the texture that would be fabulous on a watercolor.. ha ha.. only I could think that ,right. BUT look.. the top photo is a wash I did and pressed the snake skin into it. I used the back skin as you can seek at the bottom.. wonderful, and his belly skin didn't do as well. That is on the top section of the watercolor. It- has horizonal lines on it. I will try again for both. This is a small paper-- I want to do a few larger pieces.  Texture is everywhere in nature!! I'm so tickled with the results! yes I thought of it myself. ha ha..amazing texture!

I've started this morning on a still life of autumn things. A friend of mine made the little basket, Dilly, she was a sweetheart. I may add more things to the painting as I go along. I remember a wild grape vine with clusters of grapes in the woods on my walk but I'll have to walk to get it. We'll see.

 So I've told John I'm only painting today. Nothing else. I really need to for myself.

 Wishing you a Monday of painting. love to you,Diana

 Can you just paint today??

Great Class At NBG!

NBG Class on Canna and Goldfinches

Mary in the background, Vickie and Amber with their paintings.

Marion and Mary with their paintings.

Love these gorgeous trees on the way out of the garden!

Hi! Yesterday was my class at Norfolk Botanical Garden. Amy found us some lovely Canna. Most were finished blooming. The color on these were bright orange yellow with striped leaves. First we did exercises in blending and basic watercolor, then we poured, after the paintings dried and we had lunch outside in the garden, we drew and continued to painted them. Everyone did a great job!! As I was leaving I took some photos of the banana trees?( I think that's what they are.) John, my husband, bought us dinner from El Maguey, so I didn't have to cook. I'm zonked,as usual after class.

 Have a great Sunday! Love,Diana

I've prepared some Masa paper for painting a few minutes ago. I'm trying to dry it quickly on top of the clothes dryer, I've got some outside on the porch drying too.

Frog Watercolor

HI, This is a frog from the past. One of my very favorite. The painting was bought awhile ago and is in Illinois. I love the way the pour worked into the tree.  I had to go to Stage Door Gallery to change work there today. That's in Cape Charles, 30 minutes away. I did some washes this morning in yellows and oranges. What do I paint next?? Tomorrow my sister is coming to visit, so perhaps I'll see something in the garden at my mothers.. how is your painting going today. Love,Diana

Hummer Gaze Watercolor

Hummer Gaze, 8x10,framed, $99 ps, the tail is included in the painting.

Clay and Half of Sadie

HI! I'm sorry I haven't been posting or visiting lately, just seems like I've been busy delivering paintings and taking care of Rudy our 20 year old kitty and Sadie our 6 month old labrador. Where has the summer gone?! It zipped by didn't it.  I wanted to capture the hummingbirds before they left so I've finally finished this little painting. I added the glaze of iridescent this morning and touched up the flowers. Clay, our son, is home visiting this weekend. We've enjoyed him so much. Sadie loves to play ball with him... and it tires her out! YEAH!!! ha ha.. I've been sketching while the men watch the UFC,it's mixed martial arts. I can visit while I do, I got Sadie with her head under Clay's foot,Clay talking, John's slipper and leg.. you know all the important things in life! I hope you all are having a wonderful weekend. It's Labor Day Weekend here in the USA,which means we celebrate the working men and women and the end of summer. Love to you and I'll be visiting your blogs soon I promise, Diana