Merry Christmas

Even though it is the day after, I feel it's only the beginning of celebrating the twelve days of Christmas to honor the birth of Jesus.

To me, it's sad to see the lights and decorations disappear so quickly after all the effort in preparing for this celebration.  It should go on until the Feast of the Magi who arrived to pay Him homage, and my lights will remain bright until then.  It's so depressing when taking down the tinsel and lights that warm the cold winter days, and being left with the bleak darkness of the coming winter weeks of hibernation.  I will have to keep myself occupied with my painting and cardmaking until the robins appear once more. 

I know it's been a while since I've added to this blog as it's been such a busy time with all the holidays arriving at the end of the year.  And, for me, it's such a chore to take photos or have something of interest to show on this blog.  But, perhaps now as I hibernate at home during these cold winter weeks, I'll find some time to visit with you.   So today I'll once again share with you some of my paintings of sunny landscapes to warm our winter hearts.

"Taos Mountainside" is a plein aire pastel painting made during a workshop in Taos, NM with Lorenzo Chavez, the noted western pastelist.  It brings fond memories of a beautiful October day on that mountainside.

 "Nature's Paintbox" is another pastel painting done from a photo of this beautiful desert sight in Bakersfield, CA and done as a gift to my sister, Lorraine, who lives in Pittsburgh, PA...my hometown.

"Cannes Sunset" was a pastel painting from a photo taken of this beautiful sight while on a Mediteranian cruise along the coast of Italy, Sicily, Spain and France, a most unforgettable trip.

Just seeing these paintings again makes me feel a bit warmer on this cold winter night with snowshowers outside.

I'll leave you now with these warm sights, until next time...and soon....so do come back!

Best wishes for the approaching new year.

~~Dolores~~

Christmas Cards for Our Heroes

As cardmakers, I think we all know that now is the time to get ready for Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas, not only for our personal card use, but to send to the troops overseas, which requires extra time for the mail to get to them, and for them to write and send the cards home.   The mid-week throwdown challenge at OWH this week is Christmas in July and was a great idea, as well as a nice cooling thought during this hot summer.  Here's the first card to get me rolling:
 

If you didn't see last week's tutorial on paper punch characters, you have to check it out as it is a lot of fun to work with.   I got the hang of making Elmo, Grover, and Big Bird, and decided to try other cutout shapes.  Here's two that turned out pretty cute, I thought, and plan to send them  along to OWH for a hero to send to his kids.

While I'm on this roll today, want to continue getting some Halloween cards made as well to send to Dixie soon as the Sept. 20th due date is not far off,  and I know the shippers like to get them earlier if possible. 

Thanks for stopping by, and do come back in the next couple days as I'll have some more paintings to show you that I've been working on. 

Happy Holidays!

Christmas in July

Hello there.... I'm back, believe it or not, and wishing for Christmas in July!

We are in the midst of a record heatwave here, and Frederick registered 106 degrees F. yesterday, but only 103 today:((  I'm feeling summertime cabin fever and decided it would be a nice diversion to create some wintertime/Christmas cards for our heroes early to keep thinking "cool".  However, first I wanted to make a card using sketch challenge #23, and afterwards found that it also covered the midweek inspiration color challenge.  

This is also one of the images included in the 5-page set of stamped images promised as a surprise gift to one lucky person during the Independence Day blog tour last weekend.  I have made a random pick of all comments received, and the winner is:   Carol L.  I'll be getting in touch with Carol for mailing instructions this week.   I thank everyone for their kind comments and for participating in this blog tour with me.

Before I call it a night here, I'd like to mention that I'll be busy working on some paintings over the next few weeks to get them ready to enter into several shows, so I may not be blogging very often.   But, if anyone is interested in seeing some of them, you won't have to twist my arm to get me to post a few.... maybe even as "works in progress" so I can get your feedback.  I believe I wrote earlier that I do keep busy creating not only cards for our heroes, but paintings in pastel, oil and acrylic and want to share them with you here in my Corner Studio. 

In the meantime, thank you for visiting here, and do check back periodically to see how my work is progressing.   Keep cool....and have a good night.

~Dolores~