cardinal

Cardinal

5 x 7

2008

Sold

Signed giclee print: $29.95

Note card: $2.50

This painting was done from another fine photo from Alan and Elaine Wilson. See their gorgeous photos at Nature's Pics. I finished it a day or two ago and popped it into a mat and frame this morning to bring to an outdoor art festival in Avon. This was a very small gathering called "Paint the Town Green", held on the Avon town green. It was sponsored by some shops including the Venus Salon where nine of my paintings hang. The turnout was very light but it was a gorgeous sunny day and I sold two paintings! :)

Below is a photo of my painting display at the back of the Venus Salon. There are more paintings on the side of the display not shown in the photo. The displays I have been using for outdoor events need improvement or replacement. Jeff has done a fabulous job of creating a couple for me but they aren't just right yet. Need some innovation in the set up, take down and transport department. I am currently researching and just searching for a stable and user friendly display unit.

Sharon gets 2nd place award

Portland Headlight

11 x 14

$450

2007

Limited edition signed giclee prints and note cards available

(More about this painting is on my very first post.)

Portland Headlight won the 2ND place award at the New Hartford Art League's Third Annual Juried Show. The jury selection was done last Saturday and the opening reception and award ceremony were yesterday. I am very happy. I am finally an "award winning artist"! :)

Karen Meares, president of the New Hartford Art League, presents Sharon with the award. The envelope contains a gift certificate for Jerry's Artarama.

Rainbow Lorikeets

Rainbow Lorikeets

11 x 14
$450 with mat and frame
2008

I finished this painting today. Rainbow Lorikeets are mostly found in Australia. They are small colorful birds and there are still many of them. I used a reference photo from a photographer named Tom Friedel. He has very beautiful photographs. Check them out at Birdphotos.com. Click on the Parrot Family album to see the photo I used for this painting. When I went to Tom's site today they were labeled Coconut Lorikeets. Thank you so much Tom!

This painting took between 20 - 24 hours to paint. If I was going to do it again I would probably use a different background. The images below show how I painted it.

Step 1: I used masking fluid for the birds and their perch and painted the background

Step 2: Added a light green wash on the perching branch and leaves

Step 3: Added yellow



Step 4: Added red

Step 5: Added blue

Step 6: Added green

Step 7: Added some details

Step 8: More details

Step 9: More details, especially the feet and leaves

Step 10: Serious improvement and darkening to background.

Step 11: Lots more details to parrots and everything else

Cable Bridge

Cable Bridge

8 x 12

2008

This painting is a commission I did for a friend. Brian belongs to a mysterious club in Pennsylvania that owns land along a small river. The members are mostly fisherman. The river is well stocked and the land nicely cared for. I used Brian's photo as a reference.

Local Farm

Local Farm 2008
11 x 14
$450 with mat and frame

Local Farm is the real name of this Cornwall Connecticut Farm. My family visits every October for an apple pressing. I took many pictures in October 2007, including the two displayed below. (Jeff may have taken the one on the left.) In January, I took some cows from the photo on the right, and used the view of the barn from the photo on the left to help create this painting.

















Local farm is a wonderful place. As Debra Tyler puts it on the home page of their web site:

"Local Farm is a small raw milk dairy dedicated to providing fresh wholesome milk to our friends and neighbors in the Northwest Corner of Connecticut. Local Farm encourages developing a more intimate relationship with the food we eat, and backyard farming." Go to their web site at
http://www.rlocalfarm.com/ to find out more about their cows and the benefits of raw milk.


My family raises goats. It was my husband's idea. When there is a lot of work to be done they are "his" goats. I milk some of the time and so does Acacia. How I got wrangled in to milking "his" goats would be another rather long post. It is very nice having fresh somewhat organic raw goat milk to drink. We feed the milking goat organic grain, but she and the other goats eat hay that isn't organic, purchased from local farms. These "local farms" are not to be confused with Local Farm, but are just farms that happen to me near us. One of our goats is pregnant and due May 8. We also have chickens. The March 20 post shows a watercolor painting of Cha Cha, one of Jeff's original goats.

Our son, Leif, is six now. He has been drinking about a quart a day of goat milk for 4 - 5 years . He occasionally says "M-a-a-a--a-a", but is otherwise extremely strong and healthy. We sometimes make cheese and yogurt. I make LOTS of ice cream. I usually make a not very creamy, but super healthy and yummy vanilla ice cream using only: our raw goat milk, raw eggs from our chickens, maple syrup and vanilla. I just bought some maple syrup from our neighbor around the corner. If I could just grow some vanilla beans I'd be all set.


People often ask us if we live on a farm. Jeff has resolved the dilemma of answering that question by claiming the name Wanna BEE Farm for our homestead. (He will actually be getting honey bees next month.) Jeff was so proud of me when I started this blog last month. He must of thought, if Sharon can do it, it must be pretty easy. So now he has one too. http://wannabeefarm.blogspot.com/ He doesn't have any posts on it yet but there is a nice picture of him and the cat. He is too busy digging holes to plant more trees and preparing for his bees. He did find time to create a video and put it on Youtube, about milking a goat the Wanna BEE Farm way.

Hope you like the painting and now you know where to get your raw cow milk!

Western Tanager

Western Tanager 5 x 7

Sold

Giclee Print: $29.95

Reference photo by Elaine R. Wilson

April is bird month for me this year. I suspect that May and June and maybe the summer and fall may continue to be bird season! This is my first really obsessive series and I am enjoying it.

I finished this yesterday. Acacia (my 10 year old daughter and art critic), says that the orange should continue further down on his head. I am calling it done. Any birders want to put there two cents in? I may reconsider.

This is the third painting I have done using one of the Wilson's fabulous photos. Go to the More Hummingbirds post to see the link to their amazing web site. (Two posts ago.)

Coming soon: Rainbow Lorikeets

Barkhamsted Reservoir

Reflections

2007

11 x 14

Original Sold

Signed limited edition giclee prints:

11 x 14: $99 8 x 10: 65

Note cards: $2.50

The Gate House at the Barkhamsted Reservoir is on Lake McDonough. This may be the most often photographed and painted landmark in the area. I have seen many variations. I sold the above painting in 2008 at the New Hartford Festival of Arts and sold the below painting at the same festival in 2006. Both paintings were done using my own photographs.


Barkhamsted Reservoir
2005
12 x 16

Sold
Note card: $2.50