Peach

Peach - 6 x 6 Oil on Canvas Panel

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Just a quick study of a peach today.  Went to the beach on the other side of our lake today, and spent a little more time there than planned, so, less time for painting.  Maybe I'll take some paint and canvas with me next time :)

Plums and Silver Creamer

Plums and Silver Creamer - 6 x 6 Oil on Canvas Panel

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This week I decided to 'branch out' of my grocery shopping rut, and get some summer fruits.  Whenever I have plums and peaches, it reminds me of our summer trips down south to visit relatives when I was young.  Driving through the mountains, sometimes we'd stop at roadside stands and get really fresh fruit, just off the tree... mmmm, it really does taste better!  "Almost heaven", as JD used to say :)

Coming To See Me

Coming To See Me - 6 x 6 Oil on Canvas Panel

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What can I say, I just love horses... and birds, cats, dogs... all animals for that matter :)  This shot was taken at Haverhill Farms, a horse boarding, training, and riding facility near my home in Southeast Michigan.

Lily, Apples & Ivy

Lily, Apples & Ivy - 6 x 6 Oil on Canvas Panel

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Thought I'd make use of some of the foliage from our gardens: day lilies and ivy.  My husband has done a fantastic job with the garden beds, planting perennials over the last few years, so that now we can choose not to do any planting for the year and it still looks great.  My vegetable garden, on the other hand...

Snowshoe

Snowshoe - 6 x 8 Oil on Canvas Panel

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Zora finally made it into a painting :)  She hasn't been very enamored of getting her picture taken lately, so I had to be sneaky about it.  It's almost as if she is snubbing the paparazzi or something, she turns and walks away every time.  But I finally got a decent shot.  I also found out that half Siamese half American shorthair breeds are called Snowshoes, thus the title.

Afternoon Grazing

Afternoon Grazing - 6 x 6 Oil on Canvas Panel

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Well I didn't exactly get outside to do any plein air painting, but I found this photo I took while at Horses' Haven, and thus the third installment in the Horses' Haven series.  At one point I thought I might paint each and every animal there, but at that time there were over 50 horses, about 6 goats, 3 cats and a pig.  Not so sure I'll be doing that, but hopefully there will be a few more in this series at least.

Coffee and 27 Cents

Coffee and 27 Cents - 6 x 6 Oil on Gesso Board

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This past weekend I went to a Kyle Martin plein air workshop in Lima, Ohio with my new friends from a previous workshop I attended.  It was a great couple of days getting to know people better, learning some things about plein air painting, and enjoying the awesome weather we were blessed with.  And Kyle was a great teacher, and just a great, easy-going kinda guy.  I did a few paintings while there, which I think need a bit more work, so they're not ready to post just yet.  But I had this one (above) still on the easel from before I left, so I just went ahead and finished it up.    Hoping to get out this week with the beautiful weather we're having and practice some of the things I learned.

Dreamland

Dreamland - 6 x 6 Oil on Canvas Panel

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This was done for the DPW weekly challenge, "Stripes".  All kinds of things went through my head—so many possibilities!  These stripes are in the form of throws, which again, have been altered a bit in order to get more color into the composition.  This was our other Main Coon cat that we had who lived to be 20 years old—a good long life, and went to kitty heaven just a few years ago.  She was a sweetie.

Dinnertime

Dinnertime - 6 x 8 Oil on Canvas Board

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This is another scene from Horses' Haven, the horse rescue farm that I worked at in Howell, Michigan.  They did have a few other animals there besides horses, one being my favorite goat, Gabby.  She had the run of the farm during the day, thus the red collar so we could catch her and put her in her stall for the night.  But I think this was one of her favorite spots... the wheel barrow in the hay barn :)  You can read a bit more about her here: http://www.horseshaven.org/tourother.htm

The Remains of the Flowers

The Remains of the Flowers - 6 x 6 Oil on Gesso Board

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These are what's left of a bouquet of flowers from last week, and so I thought I'd better get at least one painting out of them before they are all done being pretty :)  Used another piece of gesso board for this one, but coated it with oil-tinted Galkyd medium and let it dry for a few days.  It's another whole animal even from plain gesso board.  It's almost like painting on glass--no paint gets absorbed.  I like trying new things, but I think I'll go back to the canvas panels for a while.

Which Way?

Which Way? - 6 x 6 Oil on Canvas Panel

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Sometimes when things get too complicated, you just have to simplify :)  I tried the gesso board again and it just didn't work out (partly because of the composition.)  So I did this quick little painting just to say I got something done today!  But I have a few more pieces of gesso board, and I'm not giving up on it just yet.