A New Year

I hope everyone's year is starting out well, and if you've made any new year resolutions, that you are still working on them.  It's hard to do for very long unless you are really committed.

I'm hoping to do better with blogging this year as I get more familiar with how it works...and to share current happenings here.   I've been trying to find out how to change the header and backgrounds, etc....but it's really frustrating
without someone to lead me through it and having to sit for hours figuring it out alone.  My old brain just isn't that swift anymore.... but I do try and eventually have some success....it just takes longer!

My first piece of good news to tell you this year, is that it's begun with a sale of one of the miniature paintings I submitted to the juried miniature show at the Strathmore Gallery in Washington, DC in December.  It's a 2.5" x 3.5" pastel called "Colorfest" and similar to another one that I showed previously.

The year also starts out with two granddaughters' birthdays.....both on January 7th, but five years apart!    Can't believe that Sarah is now 19
years old, and a freshman at Temple University in Philadelphia.  Her sister
Julie, is now 14 years-of-age and in the eighth grade at Thurmont Middle School, MD.   I've been working on their birthday cards and want to show them to you below.  The first one is the card I made for my grown-up young lady, Sarah:

And... here's the card created for my teenager, Julie:

It's kind of tough to have a birthday so soon after the Christmas holidays, and to make it special for two sisters on the same day!  Today they are celebrating with their friends.... Sarah meeting up with her old high school friends.... and Julie's friends coming for a sleepover party.
Our family celebration for them will be at dinner tomorrow, and I'm baking the "funfetti" cake they requested!

That's a pretty good start for this new year, and I hope it continues.  I am planning to really paint more now, and to ensure that I do, will join an 8wk. pastel class at our local art center to get the mojo working.  It's always good to be with a group and benefit from the comraderie as well as the feedback, which really applies to anything one does.  Will try to keep you posted on my progress.

Till next time....thanks for visiting and do come back again.

~~Dolores~~

Happy New Year

Happy New Year!  May it be filled with happiness, peace, love.......

and God's blessings on one and all! 

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~~

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~~