Painting Gallery

Thanks to everyone that left such wonderful comments about those first paintings I posted last month.  It always is encouraging to hear praises and is appreciated, but I'd also appreciate hearing what you might not have liked about one, or suggestions on a change.  I'll be posting them periodically here in my corner studio as it is a motivator to have a "gallery" to show one's work.

What have I been painting lately, you ask? Well, seems like whatever inspires me and at the moment I have a goal to enter some miniature paintings into a few exhibitions around the country. My favorite of them this year is the Alaskan scene below that I sketched from a friend's photo, and it's done in oil on a tiny canvas.  It's been accepted for the MSPGS juried show, 77th Annual International Exhibition of Fine Art in Miniature at the Strathmore Mansion in Bethesda, MD.

Denali Park, Alaska - Oil on canvas - 3 x 3

I was so happy with the way it turned out (though my photo could be better) and decided to try enlarging it to an 11 x 14.  I'm being brave enough to show you this work-in-progress below (ugh!)

This didn't go so well, and in fact, I set it aside for a while, and then tackled it again after scrubbing out a good portion of it. Oils are not my favorite medium as they take so much time, and I'm a very slow painter. I keep setting it aside and work at it between others that are works-in-progress.  However, I want to share this unfinished piece with you anyway to get your comments, and it will spur me on to finish it sometime soon, I hope.

 

Here's another miniature that turned out pretty well and I thought was worth an entry in the Miniature Art exhibit at the Art Gallery of Fells Point, Baltimore, MD. 

Surreybrook Gardens 

Pastel  2-1/2 x 3-1/2  

These gardens are designed as part of a local retail nursery here in Frederick and a beautiful place to visit.  I painted this miniature after I had done an 11 x 14 oil of the same scene.  I had entered the larger oil painting into the exhibit at Art in the Mill in Berryville, VA  last week, and it was sold.
By the way, have to mention that the paintings shown in this blog are originals and copyright protected, so am only displaying them here in my Corner Studio for you  ..... a gallery of sorts since they are for sale (if not so marked).  Just let me know if you have any comments or questions about any of them.

I'll be showing more of my recent work in the coming weeks, and I hope you'll check back to see them.    Plus, am now busily working on some handmade holiday cards to send to Operation Write Home (OWH) for the deployed troops.  Here's a few that I just mailed off to OWH.

   

I think that's enough for now, as I must get back to making more holiday cards that are urgently needed to ship soon.  There's also a big need for the handwritten letters to Any Hero that are included with every box of cards shipped to the troops.  Just go to the OWH website for info if you would also like to help.

Thanks for visiting here....and come back soon as I promise to have more to share with you.

~~Dolores~~



A Winner!

Just had to share the news, as am not used to winning anything.  However, my entry below for the Stamps R Us Kids Birthday Card Challenge #4 made me a winner of the prize, courtesy of Laura.  

So, it is possible and will now spur me on to try entering more challenges.
See you there!?

~~Dolores~~

Monday's Catch-up Challenge

Hello again!

I didn't get a chance to case one of Kate's lovely cards shared as the Featured Cardmaker on September 3rd, so am glad I can enter it now for Monday's challenge:

Also, finally got around to making the Any Hero card to post for the Any Hero cardmaking party sponsored by Eat Cake Graphics, which I'll do today since it's not too late for that one.  The image is from a set of free digis provided to OWH by the Stamping Boutique.
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Really do have some catching up to do now, as there's still the pink birthday card to make for sketch #33.  The image is from Indadinkado's clear stamp set of Beautiful Fairies. 

And last but not least, finally got to make the birthday card for OWH using
a free digi of the birthday chef from Sherry that is so cute.

There's more catch-up to do on these challenges and  I hope to get to a few more of them before the end of the month.  They are certainly keeping all of us busy this month creating these cards for OWH to send to our heroes.  Time well spent for a great cause!  Will be back again soon, and hope to see you here next time.

~~Dolores

OWH Birthday Bash

Heard there's a party going on, right?  So, I'm back again to join in on the big Birthday Bash at Operation Write Home.  I haven't been around for a while as, for me, it seems difficult to do very often since I'm still learning about this blogging thingie and it takes me too long to decide what to tell you, then to take the photos that I want to share, and post them here, etc. 

Since it's been such a sweltering summer in these parts, I've been hibernating with my A/C going full blast.  Have lots to keep me from going stir-crazy, not only with my painting, but also devoting evenings to making cards for our heroes and sending them to an Operation Write Home (OWH) shipper to forward on to one of the military units.

This month of September already has been quite a busy one, especially with the big Birthday Bash going on at OWH during the entire month.  There are daily challenges for cards to create for our heroes, with many prizes being offered if the cards are published in a blog and linked to OWH or one of the many sponsors.  This is all so new to me, but I want to join the party with at least a few of the challenges.  So, I'll start by showing you the one I created for the Stamps R Us challenge for a child's birthday card using Elizabeth Dulimba's cute digital stamp of a birthday bear. 

You might like to try it yourself, as even if you are not a card maker, there's a great video here that will lead you through the process of making a simple card. Who knows, you might enjoy trying this, and join the rest of us crafters for this wonderful cause.

I did manage to meet another challenge for the Mid-Week Throwdown to create a happy Halloween card, and here's what I came up with.  This little owl is a Studio G clear stamp.

Well, I have to say I've been busy trying to catch up on a few of these challenges, cause here's another that I managed to do for sketch #34 that was to be a thank you card with yellow in it.

Last but not least, I also met the Family Challenge by Ciara, the OWH mascot.   My talented daughter, Sandy, did some great sketches of Ciara for digital stamps that were free for use in making cards for OWH, and I used this cute one of Ciara sitting beside her snow buddy. 

 

I think that's about all for now, but I'm on a roll here this weekend, and hope to meet a few more challenges that I'll post later.  Am so glad we have until the end of the month to keep creating lots of cards for our heroes.

Thanks for stopping by today, and hope you'll return again to see more in my little corner studio. 

~~Dolores

P.S.  Forgot to mention when I wrote the above, that my thoughts and prayers were with all that were affected by the 9/11 disaster.  We should never forget those that were lost to us and the heroes that resulted from it.  May the Lord bless them all.