2019 Happy New Year to you

 Happy  New Year to you  and Merry Christmas.  Here is my newest little  Screech owl watercolor.  My next class at Norfolk Botanical Garden  Jan. 19 will be "Owls" &we will have a live owl to paint, very excited.

 Here is our Christmas Tree this year.

And of course my Sadie.  Wishing each of you a blessed  Year and much love, thank you for supporting my work this year, sincerely,  Diana

Painting, owls,galleries, shows,classes

New Bluebird with Dried Hydrangea  watercolor 

Sadie and I tryingredients to grab the last of the warm weather.  New Owl watercolor 

Me and Donna Stufft, my dear friend,  we will be in the Artisan Guild Holiday Tour

Hi everyone,  I have been super busy painting, getting ready for Stoney Run Artisan Gallery new work.  The owner  came today and picked out 4 new watercolors.  She is very sweet.

A new show at Lemon Tree Gallery in Cape Charles,  where I got to visit with Donna, Phillip Spohn, and more.

Next is a class at Norfolk Botanical Garden on owls. You know how I love owls.  I asked if they could bring a real one , oh I hope so.  Remember I got to touch  the Barred owl , Beauregard there.

Then the Artisan Guild Holiday Tour Thanksgiving weekend.  I will be at Ker Place in Onancock  with Richard Taft, Gertraud Fendler, Brenda Llewellyn,  and David Fallow. All amazing artists.  Go to ESVAartisansguild.org   for more info.

So I am wiped out tonight,  I am going up to see my Aunt Pat at her Seaside Antiques and Art in Wachapreague, Va. Saturday,  and adorable shop. Hope to see Carrie Jacobson  there. Going to rest up first.  Love to each of you, Diana 

Yesterday, I

 volunteered  at The Stage  Door Gallery in Cape Charles. Well I could not get the door alarm  off so I was having a time. After that it was fine, but I sure did start off with a bang. While I was there I painted this little  Screech Owl.  I am adding more color to the background this morning. Sipping my coffee, a peaceful  day, have a lovely day.  This Saturday  I will be teaching  at Norfolk Botanical  Garden.  We will be painting Hydrangeas and Spice bush Swallow Tail Butterflies.   Talk to you soon, love, Diana

Painting an OWL in Watercolor

When I put in his chest feathers, it was such fun!

The beginning of Beauregard, the Barred Owl.

HI, This week I started Beauregard. Remember the owl I saw at Norfolk Botanical Garden, this is him. I actually got to pet his back, it was so very soft. Later I looked and he had put his head on his caretakers breast and fallen asleep. How adorable.. You know how much I love nature!!

Anyway, I sketched him first and have dry brushed and then dabbled water where I wanted the colors to bleed. This creates such a soft feather! I hope to work on him today. It's warm and sunny maybe I'll paint on the back porch again. I love being outside with the hummingbirds zooming thru the porch, now the baby Carolina Wren has left the nest in the eves over where I paint so no more visits from their family. We do have 2 new kittens which need homes.. both tuxedo cats. Sadie and Mama cat are having a feud, Sadie, our lab, wants to see and play, and Mama cat is protecting her babies..

Wishing you a happy weekend. Next weekend I have an art show. Barrier Island Center Art and Music on the Farm.  Love to each of  you. Diana

A Day I'll Never Forget.

My watercolor class yesterday at NBG.

more

and more!

HI, I had 14 students yesterday for my Roses Watercolor Class at Norfolk Botanical Garden. It was so much fun. We did silhouettes of roses, many exercises of petals, bananas (my ladies will understand).. and finally painted our red roses or from photos of the garden's roses.. which is huge! Everyone did a great job and I enjoyed them so much.

I was tickled NBG was also having an Wildlife Class/Seminar too at the same time. Betty Ann came and got us and we enjoyed seeing a Red Tailed Hawk released!!!(One of us had tears in our eyes, most were snapping photos and holding our hearts.. It was amazing!

 Then  Elizabeth called me out into the hall and there was a live Barred Owl. You know how much I love owls and nature.  Some of us gathered around and I touched it. Oh how soft. The eyes when he( Beauregard) closed them were covered in  velvet...or so it appeared !!!  We got to see a live Red Tailed Hawk.. and I touched his breast.. so soft. Talons of immense strength.. I was in heaven.  If you would like to look up the organization--one of them. The one sharing with us was --Sacred Friends, Inc.  www.sacredfriend.org , Katherine was the dear lady who shared Beauregard with us.

I will definitely be painting him. It is always inspiring to go to Norfolk Botanical Garden. 

Two Owls,Two Pigs,Two Herons, and Three Frogs!!

HI, I am working on 2 little owls in a watercolor now. Monday is delivery day at the Stage Door Gallery. "Companions" is the title of the show. Which I find hard to fill as I mostly paint nature,sooo.. I'm taking 2 pigs, 2 herons, 3 frogs, and 2 owls if I finish them in time. I hope this fits "Companions".  Ha ha.. we'll see. Here's an owl from a painting I did a few years ago. This has always been a favorite of mine. I especially like the wet and bleeding of the paint. 

Sadie and I had a treat today, our friend Beth came over for coffee. Sadie jumped into her lap.. all 72 pounds of joyful Labrador. Ha ha. It was ok as Beth loves Sadie.

I'm tired again. I've been on the heating pad and my back is getting better. Thank you for all your kind words. love to each of you,Diana 

Barn OWL Finished

Here's the Barn Owl Watercolor,8x10, just finished. Sadie's enjoying a stick in the backyard. I'd better run. Lots of sunshine today. I'm so glad. love,Diana

Owl Painting ---Little Foot

Little Foot,8x10,$99

Watercolor in progress

HI, Well I put another glaze on my little owl background when I got home from church. I'm sure you can see it's still drying. I hope that will be dark enough. He's a young owl, a burrowing owl,I believe. I put a rusty metal beam in this as well. Love how the colors bled into each other.. I love to paint owls. I need to get busy and do some new bigger pieces but am not sure what I want to do. :)

 Here are the iris that I started at the paint out. These were in a large bouquet of mixed flowers Susan had fixed for us. My eyes only saw the iris.. It's not finished-- I'm just going to look at it for a few days.. and see what it needs. Any suggestions.. What are you doing this weekend?  Any painting? love,Diana

Barn Owl Watercolor

Finished.. probably. Definitely maybe. well you know I have to see how it dries.. ha ha. Did I ever tell you a good way to dry your watercolors was tape it to the top of your dryer.? Now this doesn't work if you have a new model-- so keep your old dryers that get nice and warm on top. You don't have to tape it,just gently lay it there. No, I didn't put this on the dryer. It's on my art table.I've propped the mat up with 2 erasers so it doesn't hurt the drying process. I almost burnt supper.. sheesh.. and John of course caught me. He comes in and says why is there smoke in here and hamburger burning on the stove. Well. I 'm back here posting on the blog. oh well. If' he'd just waited a few moments to come home we could have had cereal.-- Just kidding. I would have made eggs. Talk soon, Love,Diana

BOLD Owl

8x10, Screech Owl, framed original, $99.

 

IS it too Bold?? I was looking at the yellow and deep orange leaves in the front yard. and Poof.. there it goes. It was on the paper. I also tried out a Mop Brush. Haven't used one before. I wet the background then put the color on. First wash was the first one you see,but as that dried it looked flat.. so I put another wash/glaze with the bold colors, then punched up the owl with a few dashes of black and the quinacrodone burnt orange. Now I could go all black,if it is too bold which would tone it down. I'm going to prop it up and look at it. I may grey the face a little more.Sip some coffee then I'll see. Talk to you soon. Diana

More on Owl

HI, I've worked on the little owl some today.It needs a dark background and more dabbing on the chest feathers.I'm thinking about putting a fall background with oranges and browns in the darker colors.It's a Screech Owl. We have them in the backyard regularly. Their call is so eery. If you didn't know what it was it would give you goose bumps. Have you heard one??

 Just got an email from John Shire sending me Sarah Groshong's Apple Cranberry dish for Thanksgiving. I had it years ago at an ESAL(Eastern Shore Art League- Christmas Dinner.We used to have the dinners at members homes but we got too big for that. It was fun to see our artist friends decorations and visit together at different friends each year.

I'll go check on supper. Talk to you later. Did you paint today? Diana

Another Owl Painting

Here's another owl. I sketched it last night and just painted the eyes. I've made some coffee and am sipping that as I paint. I have much more to paint on him but it's a beginning.I've washed 5 windows today and made a pot of white beans for supper. The sky outside just turned a dark blue with yellow streaks as the sun is going down,against the bright yellow and orange leaves it's gorgeous. I went for a bike ride and walk . The oak leaf next to the owl came from a scraggly tree but the color is amazing. Such a lovely day, I hope you had one too. love to you,Diana

Owls,Come Hither...

HI,well here is an owl  watercolor, I did awhile ago. It's my very favorite owl I've painted. I love owls and now they can return to my backyard. The little kittens and Clay are almost home. He called just a few moments ago and said they were asleep in the cat carrier on his backseat. Good. I did enjoy them and am so glad he'll enjoy them. I've cleaned up the dishes from lunch, sent off some art information on the computer. I'm zonked and have only doodled in my sketchbook. Tomorrow I promise I'll post something new. Enjoy the rest of your weekend. No, I'm not going to watch football now.love to you,Diana