Winter Visitors in the Garden

One forgotten Broccoli Plant was left out in the garden. Wasted because the frost made it limp and hardly worth eating.

We really enjoy watching the birds at the feeders and I'm hoping to be inspired to draw or paint them at some point soon.

This squirrel makes it hard to keep the bird feeders full. He seems to have endless tricks to get into or onto them and eat his fill. he's got lots of company as we have both gray and white squirrels here.

We have a lot of chickadees most of the year around. They are very fond of the old birch tree in the front yard.

I haven't been outdoors with my wheelchair since the snow but will send someone out to get a few winter shots of the ward and the garden to wrap the year up with.

Between Projects

After I'd finished working on that new Lily painting I went back to arranging finished paintings on the wall and hoping for some sales.

As I was doing that it occurred to me that part of the trouble that I have in making a sale has to do with finding frames clients like or setting prices on vintage frames that I have.

This time around I decided to simplify things and take advantage of the fact that most canvases these day wrap around the fronts. I simply painted the sides to match the fronts and wrapping the image all the way around. that way I only have to sell the painting itself. The customer saves money here and can choose any frame they desire and can afford.

I am selling the small canvas panels at set prices by size and leaving them unframed as well so they can stack or go in small bins to sell. 

I was still quite excited about those pink lilies when I finished the painting and wrote a lot about it  along with photos of all the pink lilies I'd grown in my garden over the years or had received as gifts which led to pages and pages of all of the lily paintings and drawings that I've done. I just couldn't decide ho w much of it I should carry over into the blog here.

New Lily Painting

New Lily painting from flowers sent by my brother when I got out of the hospital.

This started as an abstract quite a while ago and I added one lily over the summer.  It was nice to be back to work on it.

As you can see I'm taking a looser approach to it this time around.

All I have available for paints this time are a few tubes of acrylic paint-Mostly Liquitex heavy body and Jo Sonya and a few bottles of craft type acrylics in various brands and thicknesses.

You would think that would present a problem but it hasn't so far.

I'm really enjoying painting for the first time in ages.
Part of it is the new studio and having both the time and the space to really relax and feel it all wash through me. 

As I continued to paint those lilies I was feeling better and freer than I have ever felt before. Feeling light, like I could float away in the happiness of it all.

A place of my own at last, doing what I've always wanted to do.

My physical limits don't really matter-I don't suppose they ever did.  Maybe that's what makes the experience so intense.

So much to consider as I reach yet again for my paints.

This painting continues to surprise and delight each time I go back to work on it,

Today the most change was in the flowers.

Here's a close up view to give you a better look at what I meant by that.

After studying my garden photos of lilies I began making changes to bring the leaves and flowers into a bit more realistic arrangements.

That kind of took the fun out of it for a while.

I'm walking away from it at this point until inspiration strikes again.