Hey Hey! Yay Yay! I have a whole lot of new paintings for my show that is going up on Tuesday! I have been painting hard all summer...wew! There are a few more that I don't have pictures of here that will be in my show, plus some that were in my last show will be in this show. These are most of my new ones, plus a few that I have actually already posted once because I did them in the winter and early spring Two are actually from my show last year that I painted on quite a bit more which changed them.


Indian Sun 11x14 $150.00



Indian Sun detail



Sentinel's Chair 16x20 $300.00



Safe Place 16x20 $300.00



Clear Destination 11x14 $150.00



Inside the Heart 11x14 $15.00



Place of Rest 11x14 $150.00



Spirit Meadow 11x14 $150.00



Spirit Meadow detail



Light Breeze 11x14 $150.00



Light Breeze detail



Sun Blown 24x30 $375.00



Sun Blown detail



Sun Blown detail



Thicket 34x34 $475.00



White Interval 16x20 $275.00



Winter Lift 24x39 $375.00



Winter Lift detail

There is so much to do every day. Try and be a good Mom, paint, cook, clean, garden....etc.....and everything is so important! But this morning when I was weeding my strawberry patch with the birds chattering around me, and Trevor entertaining me with his amazing imaginative 8 year old ideas, everything seems to fall into a proper perspective. What is meaningful and important seems simple and clear.

So here are two finished paintings I started six months ago. I just have't signed them yet. For some reason I have to remind myself to do that. They are two in a batch of eight 11x14 inch paintings. The others will be soon to follow, hopefully. They are getting close to being finished.


This one is called 'Autumn Prism'



The title of this one is 'A Certain Slant of Autumn Light'

I know it has been three months since I have posted any of my work.....after I said I was going to post weekly....sigh. I am a mom, plus I'm homeschooling two of my kids and trying to do it right....involved in all kinds of things I feel compelled to be involved in......what else is there to say? When I have pockets of time to work on stuff I just want to paint. My soul needs it...for me my painting is therapy for anything that ails, whether it be stress, anxiety, this crazy world and all the sorrow I hear about on the news, my own grief and sorrow...all of it. It is a refuge for me... a safe peaceful place to go. So in my busy busy life (and I know everyone is busy....I think we need to be busy) I do procrastinate posting my work because I would rather just paint. But here I am again saying I am going to try and do it more often. I'm not going to say once a week this time...I'm just going to say more often.
I actually got a lot of painting done the past few months. I did the paintings for my brothers and sisters that my perants commissioned me to do. It was nice to do those for them at Christmas time because then it made me feel more a part of their celebration. I love my family...they are so awesome. I'm allways missing them, and the west. I'm afraid it will always be my home in my heart. I do like Pennsylvania...it is beautiful and quaint....but I just get homesick for the desert and the people there.
After the Christmas paintings I spent about a month on a very enjoyable commissioned painting. A friend of mine wanted a painting like one that I painted for my October 2010 show at the Ragged Edge in Gettysburg called Backyard Quiet. She said it reminded her of her grandma's backyard. I told her that painting was my grandma's backyard, actually. Because I didn't have any other commissioned paintings in my inbox I took the opportunity to paint more than one painting of Grandma Stott's backyard, so that she would have more than one to choose from. Painting a sunny backyard in the summertime where I have so many happy memories is just the kind of therapy I needed in January.
Since then I have been working on a big batch of eight of my forest series. They are almost done. Actually two are absonlutely finished and the rest need to be pushed a little further untill the Art Spirit tells me they are finished. I need to go put some music on and start making dinner but I will post the two forest paintings I have done soon....maybe tomorrow! For now here are the Christmas paintings and then the paintings about Grandma Stott's gackyard under the cherry tree.



Jenie and Scott sent me a photo of The Lone Cypress to paint for them. Scott grew up in California.


Laura and Jake had me paint a chair painting to be a companion piece to one I gave them for their wedding.


Sarah and Craig had me paint a copy of a Minerva Teichert...who happens to be one of my favorite artists.


Spencer and Jessica sent me two photos and wanted me to choose between the two. This is a painting of the beach in Hawaii.


David and Denise had me paint Christ in the Garden of Gethsemene my own way. This was an emotional one for me. The Atonement is the most important event in all of human history...how could I possibly do it justice? I did my best. Thank you Dave, for believing in me.




Ahhh...sitting under the cherry tree at Grandpa and Grandma Stott's....eating cherries....listening to grandpa's stories. Any minute now grandma is going to bring out a tray full of icecream sandwiches.

Well I did skip a week of posting, but I guess I'm excused because of Thanksgiving. Sooooo....here are three paintings I finished since the last time I posted. The barn one is to sell on ebay. Do you like the WHOOOSH of the sky? I thought someone who likes barn paintings and dramatic skies might want it. The other three are meant to be a tryptich...one of my abstracted seasonal pieces. I also finished a commissioned piece last week, a portait two girls.

My painting plans for the coming week are to work on the pieces my perants asked me to do for Christmas. Basically, they are paying me to paint a painting for each of my 5 siblings and thier spouses. They each chosen something quite different. David and Denise want me to paint my creative response to Christ in the Garden of Gethsemene with the apostles nearby. He likes abstracted images and especially liked my Bruce Smith painting hanging in my dining room. Bruce Smith is one of my favorite people and painters in the world. The painting of his hanging in my home is about the New Testament story with the woman taken in adultery, when Christ says "He who is without sin, let him cast the first stone." It is such a great painting...I'm sure I will be influenced by it as I'm painting David's. I will be looking at it for guidance, trying to remember all he taught me when he was my professor and advisor in college. Sarah and Craig are having me copy a Minerva Teichert painting of Christ. Minerva Teichert is also one of my heros. She was a Mormon pioneer who studied out East under Robert Henri, Who encouraged her to go paint the Mormon story. After going back to the Salt Lake valley and getting married Brigham Young called her and her husband to help settle in the Wyoming area. There while they lived in a one room cabin while starting a cattle ranch she still painted amazing paintings, huge ones some of them. They show light, intelligence, and a burning testimony. I love her paintings. I guess if Minerva could paint such awesome paintings in a one room cabin I shouldn't complain about still painting in my kitchen. (One day I will have a studio). My sister Jenie...she and Scott are having me paint the Lone Cypress, in California. They provided me with a great picture. Spencer and Jessica gave me two photos and asked me to choose one...and surprise them, so I better not talk about that here. Laura and Jake want me to paint another chair painting, one that will look good hanging next to the one I gave them for thier wedding present. That will be fun too.

Unfortunately I didn't finish any paintings last week, but in the spirit of keeping my resolve of posting each week, I am going to write a little entry here. Basically, I have 3 big painting days at home: Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. Last week I was gone most of the day Thursday, and Tuesday was cut in half. (Meetings, appointments....) Wednesdays and Fridays I work. But I have been up since 4:00 a.m. painting and I am in THE ZONE!! I should get a lot of painting done today and tomorrow. It is such a pleasant late fall morning...chilly outside but a nice fire in the stove, kids busy getting ready for school...Trevor is singing to himself.....I put the pumpkin pie in the oven to warm up and I can smell it now. Sigh. Well I better go paint!

I'm going to start posting on my blogspot on a weekly basis, making my blog my art journal. I'm going to try and make Saturday the day to do this, but I wasn't able to spend the time day before yesterday....I was busy with my kids. After the usual Saturday cleaning and laundry was done I took my son Hunter and a couple of his friends to a youth dance in Harrisburg, for which he was so happy and grateful. So its early Monday morning....
Last week I finished a commission for a man who found me through E-bay...It is a painting of a couple of his SAABS in front of the repair shop he takes them to. It was fun. It was a cheerful painting to do, with the trees behind the shop turning colors and the sunlight...
I also started a chair painting which I think will be a good one, as well as starting another commissioned painting for another nice person who found me through E-bay...a painting of his two daughters, happy with arms around eachother.
My husband found this neat little Arts and Crafts style frame months ago. I have been meaning to do a painting for it to sell on E-bay, and then I just remembered a painting of a young tree in a meadow that I did actually a few years ago, that is just the right fit for this frame. I was very glad I remembered it, because its perfect for the frame. I am launching it on a 7 day auction starting Tuesday night. I remember vividly that day in the Uinta Mountains near Spirit Lake when I took the picture that I painted from. The little tree just inside the meadow looked so brave and I wanted to paint it.
Sooooo this week. My painting plans are to work on the commissioned painting I started last week, finish a couple of paintings that are almost done, and start some abstract landscapes in fall colors. I am itching to spend some of my time this way because of what I see all around me right now every time I go anywhere or step outside....I feel so inspired...Hmmmmm Autumn.

October 2010 show at the Ragged Edge

I hope these paintings provide a place to rest or meditate in quiet solitude, whether it be in a quiet room naturally lit or in a forest where nature's canopy is like stained glass.



October Light 34x34 $495.00 framed in beautiful solid oak

Summer Sublime 24x30 $395.00 simple walnut frame...all of the rest of the pieces in the show were framed in walnut

Winter Lift 24x30

Forest Rise 47x12 $325.00 The next 4 photos are details of this one





Cathedral 30x14 $250.00




Late Autumn Quiet 24x30 $395.00

Blue Silk 24x30 $395.00

Winter Watch 11x14 $150.00 SOLD

Watching the Color Change 11x14 $150.00 SOLD

Sitting in Filtered Light 11x14 $150.00

Flow 11x14 $150.00 SOLD

Direction 11x14 $150.00 SOLD

Backyard Quiet 16x20 $250.00

Saturation 11x14 $150.00

Afternoon 16x20 $250.00