“Bursting Out” , this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

I returned to my friends’ Barking Rocks Winery as I am trying to capture the grape vines just coming out of bud stage. Some are early out. Some are still tightly wound. It is exciting to watch the process. After this painting, I will be taking a short break as family flies in from all points to celebrate my Mom’s nintieth year. See you back before April Fools…

“Hillside Celebration” , this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $500.00 USD

Today wind was gusting to 40 mph. Not a time to be out painting. Yet, out on my walk I was able to find small protected areas where the gusts did not reach. Ducking into the leeside behind a copse of trees I stumbled upon this happy spring flowering…

“Wild Verbena” , this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $500.00 USD

I finally got the lawn tractor going and was mowing down the remnants of last year’s weed crop. At the edge of the lawn up against some cactus I found this wild verbena all in flower. It was too pretty not to pick and bring in the house and it eventually found its way to my still life table…

“Sunset March”, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $500.00 USD

Today was a day at home. At sunset my cat and I walked out behind my studio and caught the last light as the sun disappeared between the barn and the corn crib. There was enough of a haze for the last half hour of sunup that I could look directly at it and not get retina burn. Kitz gave up way before I did. I found her in the dark by the studio door when I lugged my gear back in…

“At The Vineyard”, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

I have been dying to do a few paintings at my friends’ Barking Rocks Winery. I have been studying the geography and flora and fauna there for a year or so and felt ready to capture the vines as they go from dormancy to full bloom. Today when I arrived the vines had all just been pruned and the tiny buds were growing large as I painted in the 80 degree sunshine. It didn’t hurt that I was offered a glass or two of the grape as I stroked paint to canvas!…

“Cactus Sunset”, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel.$500.00 USD

I had cactus on my mind today as I pumped up the tires on my lawn tractor and looked at some cactus thorns protruding from the sidewalls. Of course this was the first time I needed to get out and mow and the tractor didn’t quite start. So I left my tools and went for a walk and the result is here in my painting…

“Sunset Survey Tape”, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $500.00 USD

Today was slippery going getting to my painting site. The clay soil was still holding moisture from the 3 plus inches of rain from the end of last week. I drove down the pasture. Then I walked down to ford the stream which was higher than usual. Luck was there as a fallen log helped me keep my boots dry. But I almost lost it climbing up the far side slipping and sliding on the clay. The sun was low in that far pasture and it was highlighting the surveyors tape flagging some points of interest. Now they became my points of interest…

“Birds of a Feather”, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

Every time the rancher comes by to feed the cattle 5 or so rolls of hay, the red winged black birds and grackles and meadow larks swarm around. For a few days they gobble up the grains and then fly up to the telephone wires and hang out. Today they were all over the place and I took advantage of them for this painting…

“Wishful Thinking”, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. This painting has SOLD.

This rose is done in the same fashion as the rose I did a few weeks ago. I had a commission request to create a similar rose. So I have done a little experimenting and painted two paintings at the same time of this rose from the same point of view. One rose was done on my usual orange/paperbag color, pretinted canvas panel, the other just on white. It took forever to do them and the second still doesn’t have the sky done yet. I will post the second one on my website next to this one when I complete it in a day or so…

“Rains, Roads, Puddles”, this is a Small painting, 6″x 8″, oil on canvas panel. $500.00 USD

It was raining all day today. I thought I’d have to do a studio still life. I went in the studio and looked out at the barn and saw all these puddles reflecting sky where once was dry earth. The rains had made all the colors so much darker as they got wet. The contrasts of reflective puddles and dark grasses and black trees and brooding skies was rather intense. So I set up by the window and painted…