Great White Heron ~ Avalon, NJ Art Show and Sale ~ SOLD

"Life beats down and crushes the soul
and art reminds you that you have one."
~ Stella Adler

Great White Heron

8.5" x 11" hand painted watercolor on synthetic paper, matted - $169.

acid free, white core mat & foam core backing in an acetate sleeve

fits a standard 11" x 14" frame / Framed - $219.

• SOLD

This is one of my new paintings that will be available for sale at the

Avalon Performing Arts Council  26th Annual Art Show.

Admission is free and it is inside the Avalon, NJ, Community Center,

this Friday, June 21st - Preview Show - from 7-9 pm 

and Saturday, June 22nd - Main Show - from 10 am - 4 pm.

If you are in the area, or just need an excuse to come down to the shore,

please come in and see me! I'm offering a special gift to

anyone who mentions seeing my show announcement online.

I will be featuring some of this year's new works

on Yupo paper so I've been busy organizing, framing and packing.

The paintings were laid out on the rack

on the studio floor to decide what to take.

Of course, Cutie Pye and Opie are always eager to help.

No job is complete without my extra special, highly qualified, inspection team. 

After they double checked each frame, every one was personalized with paw prints,

kitty hair and a nose smudge. What wonderful assistants they are!

Double the work, but definitely double the pleasure!

Hugs and Purrs, 

X ♥  O

 

Opie Darling and Princess Cutie Pye

How Sweet It Is ~ Be Here Now ~ SOLD

"All the things that truly matter - 

beauty, love, creativity, joy, inner peace - 

arise from beyond the mind."

"You cannot be both unhappy

and fully present in the Now."

~ Eckhart Tolle

How Sweet it is  • Sold

How Sweet it is

 • Sold 

Limited Supply of Solid Burl-wood Frames

I am now offering this painting framed in a burl-wood frame.

This is the painting I was debating on cropping, but decided to leave it as is.

(And of course, all my paintings come signed by me, with extras!)

The hummingbirds have started to flock in!

Their presence reminds me to "be here now". 

Perhaps that is one of the ways they spread so much joy!

The kittens, Opie and Cutie Pye,

are amazed with the little fellas.

Look how big they've gotten!

I can't believe they will be one year old on May 1st!

My husband Jerry - Ever-Ready Bunny

Since the scare with his high blood pressure and loss of the sight in his right eye, my husband's work schedule has been cut way down. I can't slow him down though. He seems to be working harder than ever getting the place in tip top shape for my parents' visit in about a week.

Alice's Tea Party by Jerry Farley

Jerry got inspired by my YARD ART board on Pinterest

and has been frantically clearing the woods

and adding to his Sculpture Garden.

A Good Day For Fishing by Jerry Farley

He's not done with this one, but I really like it so far.

Mr. McChicken by Jerry Farley

This rooster is another new creation.

Horseshoe Horse by Jerry Farley

This piece stands about 5 ft. high

and weighs over 100 lbs.

Of course, this is my favorite! 

"Surrender to what is. Say “yes” to life 

and see how life suddenly starts working for you 

rather than against you."

~ Eckhart Tolle

Thanks for stopping by.

Have a GREAT DAY!!

X ♥ O

Hawks, Eagles, Foxes and Ravens, Oh My! ~ SOLD!

Foxy One

5.5" x 7.5" original watercolor on Yupo paper, matted to 8" x 10" - $85.

mats- (acid-free - white core) with foam core backing in an acetate sleeve

ready to fit into a standard 8" x 10" frame.

• SOLD

My friend, extraordinary photographer, Sally Vennel, just sent me 20 of her fabulous fox photos to use as reference! Guess what my next series will be? (Don't worry, not 30!) It felt so good to paint an animal today! Although my last series was exhilarating, I am ready to paint something other than trees. This fox painting was done on Yupo paper today. I may attempt the same pose tomorrow on regular 140 lb. Arches cold press cotton rag paper.

Ms. Cooper visited our bird feeders on Saturday. She dined for about 40 minutes on a pork chop that Jerry had thrown out there. I'd much rather have her eating that than our song birds! This was the best shot I got while shooting from my kitchen window. Jerry said he saw her out there again tonight.

We have had a large bald eagle flying around our place lately! I spotted her in a one of our big bull pines Sunday morning. I called Jerry and we got the binoculars and saw her up real close when she flew directly over my studio window before circling over the house. She is spectacular and huge! What a sight! It gave me goosebumps! The problem was that we hadn't seen our beautiful, little, feral, Maine Coon, Eva, since Saturday. We were both pretty sad all day, thinking Ms. Eagle may have carried our little Eva away. Jerry searched everywhere for her. Then around 3:00 pm, Ms. Eva showed up! We were very happy to see her and she seemed happy to be home. We have a couple of stray males that just showed up here and they chase her. Perhaps they chased her into the woods and she got lost or she could have spent 24 hours up in a tree. Poor baby. I wish I could keep an eye on her, but she is a feral, very independent and not crazy about people. She is coming into the screened porch at night and sleeping in her cooler/ home now that it's cold. At least she's safe then. 

Opie was very interested in the Super Bowl yesterday. We actually couldn't tear him away from the game! He spent a good part of the game sitting in front of the TV, watching the action between the Ravens and the Forty Niners. A lot of the time, he was sitting up on his haunches like a mercat. What a guy!

Good news for me, I completed the shooting of the high resolution images of my 30 Paintings in 30 Days series today. Yay! Now I can sign them, spray them, mat, frame and ship the ones that are sold! Looking into several online vendors for producing books, I found this site, Blurb, the most attractive. I am asking if anyone has any thoughts about the "Tree Paintings Inspired by Quotes" book as far as hard cover/ soft cover, size, price, etc. If I go with the smallest book (6" x 9"), with shipping, they will cost me about $20. ea. I would like to see it in a little larger format (8" x 10"), so that the images won't be tiny, but they would probably cost me $25 - $30 ea. I will sell them at my cost, but would have to add on $5.00 for ea. pkg. (1 or more) shipping. I would like to know if anyone is still interested and what your thoughts are on the above. Thanks for your time and feedback! I really and truly am thankful!

X ♥  O

Thanksgiving is a word of Action

"He who thanks but with the lips
Thanks but in part;
The full, the true Thanksgiving
Comes from the heart."
~J.A. Shedd

"The unthankful heart... discovers no mercies;

but let the thankful heart sweep through the day

and just as the magnet finds the iron,

so it will find, in every hour, some divine blessings!"

~Henry Ward Beecher

"We can only be said to be truly alive

in those moments when

our hearts are conscious of our treasures." 

~ Thornton Wilder

I am truly thankful for so many things, including you.

Thank you so much for your friendship!

Wishing you a wonderful holiday and a very thankful heart.

X ♥ O

 

My Little Punkin

X♥O

 

(and Opie)

Happy Pumpkin Season!

We love pumpkin season!

"You did know this gourd-ish squash

has its own season, right? 

Winter, Spring, Summer, Pumpkin....

We anxiously anticipate it every year." 

~ Trader Joe's

I hope you are enjoying the changing seasons

as much as we are!

♥

 

(& Opie)

Wacky Wednesday / Midweek Mayhem

Here's the wacky part . . .

Princess Cutie Pye

would like to announce

another 

G I V E A W A Y !

It's been a weird and wacky kind of a day.

You know, one of those ones that has it's own special agenda.

I started going through my lithograph prints.

I've got a lot of work to do in the next few weeks.

Finding a whole bunch of signed bat prints made me smile.

Signing prints is not one of my favorite jobs.

This one was already matted in black.

I found this tabletop frame, cleaned the glass and popped it in.

Wow! I really like how it looks.

I decided it would raise my spirits to give it away!

This time I'm not having a drawing though.

I will give it to the one who convinces me

that they really want it.

This should be interesting.

I'll be picking a winner right before the other

Fall Giveaway.

If you want it, comment before the next full moon!

Here's the mayhem part. . . .

This is (my) studio, after I tidied up a bit.

Opie and Cutie Pye think differently.

Everything in here, including me, is theirs.

They love their toys

(everything in the studio is a toy -

erasers, paint, brushes, waste baskets and paper)

and they love spreading them all around.

They are growing up so fast and happy.

Let it go, live with the mess,

savor the moment and let it happen.

It won't last long, I often remind myself.

Be Here Now and Enjoy!

x♥o

Announcing A Fall Giveaway!

The kittens, Princess Cutie Pye and Opie Darling, 

have been helping me decorate and get into the fall spirit.

They are always eager to pose

and help out

with every studio job!

I told them if they were good,

I would let them help announce 

my fall giveaway!

And they were and so I did.

The first item - 8" x 10' matted,

signed and numbered lithograph art prints

(A great gift and ready to put into a standard frame.)

Information about each species is on the backing board.

Horary Bat

and 

Eastern Pipistrelle Bat 

To kick off the fall, I am having a print giveaway (or two)! (I'll be sweetening the pot with a surprise gift as well.) To be eligible to win this matted 8" x 10" set, leave a comment here on this post and tell me why you would like to win. If you subscribe to this blog, or are already a follower, with your comment you get an extra two entries into the drawing, making it a total of three! The drawing will be held at 9pm, EST on the next full moon, September 30th, 2012. This contest is open to all residents of the USA and Canada. The winner will be notified here on my blog and by email. I will mail the art prints as soon as I have the winner's shipping address. Thanks to everyone who reads my posts and adds their thoughts and comments! Please tell your friends about this drawing and 

good Luck to you all!!

X♥O

Summer Sunflowers

Spellbinding Sunflowers
5.5 x 7.5" - transparent watercolor on 140lb Arches paper, matted to 8 x 10"

Today's painting was done from an anniversary bouquet that I received last Thursday. Sunflowers don't ever seem to last very long for me, so this time I took some photos before they got too droopy. As you can see, artistic license was taken with the colors. Compensating for the wilt and just going with the flow, I strived to infuse them with a cheerful vitality.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Question of the day:

Are you ready for Fall?

If not, get in the mood!

See this week's FREE  

Halloween Coloring Pages and a 

witchy watercolor on Sketching Everyday.

Supervisor #1

On the home front -

The kittens are growing up fast and getting very

 comfortable with their studio cat positions.

Supervisor #2

They are both such a big help with production and quality control.

I don't know what I ever did without them!

"Enjoy the little things,

for one day you may look back and realize

they were the big things." ~ Robert Brault

♥