Good News!!

While my news is not on an Olympic scale :-), I'm pretty thrilled to announce winning a Third Place Award in Watercolours for "My Ball" and a Fourth Place Award in Drawing for "Soulful" at the Art Show at the Dog Show.
Best In Show was awarded to Marla Ruch Parnell and her stunning collie pastel portrait, "Sunbath"

And I must pass kudos and congrats to both the Canadian and American Men's Hockey teams for a incrediable Gold Medal game this afternoon. Even though I am Canadian, I'm not a huge hockey nut, but throughly enjoyed the play and was glued to the TV... In fact, the entire games were great; being more of an armchair-type athelete myself, I found the Olympic athletes amazing to watch!

Miniature-Chickadee

Well the miniature chickadee is finally finished :-)

It didn't take me long to do it, I was just busy with other "stuff"..too much "stuff" and not enough ART!

This is a 3"x3" watercolor and I am still musing over a title. I was leaning toward "Dinnertime" or "What's for Dinner?" but am not sure. I snuck in a little caterpillar on the side of the stump in the foreground, so one could read that the chickadee is thinking whether to go vegetarian or not...!?!

I'll have to ask my hubby for his input. He's the Title Wizard around here.

Update: So the Title Wizard is in fear of being dethroned!
I'm going with Laura Hardie's suggestion of "Food for Thought" with this painting. We think it's a perfect fit, plus it's the name of the school snack program I volunteer with!
Thanks very much Laura! (P.S. Be sure to check out Laura's wonderful portraits on her blog)

118 Valentines!

Paintings, starting from top left:
• Jack, • Pumpkins are 'posed to be orange!, • Shadows,
• An Alabama Cow, • The Pina Colada Sarong , • Passin' Thru,
• Pupcakes, • Portrait Challenge, • The Road Ahead

One of the secret projects I was working on in January can now be revealed!

For the last year or so, I have tried to regularly participate in the Different Strokes from Different Folks painting challenges moderated by Karin Jurick (My submissions are grouped above).
Well, this week Karin got an early Valentine's Day gift from DSDF artists in the form of 118 paintings!

In January, artist Jill Polsby organized an amazing gesture of appreciation and thanks to Karin by contacting artists and asking them to paint a portrait of her. (Below: My small 'Karin' watercolor)


These portraits were then collected and put into a book and sent to Karin.

All artist were to keep 'mum' about the whole project until now, and it has turned out to be a wonderful group gesture and I was happy to be included. You can view the online version HERE.
Thanks to Jill for all her hard work and to Karin for her DSDF undertakings :-)

And to all, Happy Valentine's Day--go do something fun with your special someone!

Miniature - Chickadee (Work in progess)

Chickadee miniature WIP
3" x 3" - Watercolor on WC board

Here's one of the minis I am currently working on.
When we go for our walks to a nearby conservation area, the woods are filled with chickadees who have learned that hikers are suckers and almost always have food.
It is great to see young kids able to have one land on their hand or heads to grab a seed.
Needless to say, I have lots of photo reference :-)

Sketching...

The paintings are coming along slowly due to the sore throat that came on fast...and I was doing so well this winter season with only one small cold!
Oh well; to show you that I have been doing something, here is a small sketch. I'd really like to try this in miniature, so fingers crossed....

Quick Note

A quick note to ask all my visitors not to give up on me!

I have been busy, but nothing 'postable' as yet :-)

There are 2 'secret' projects that I have to wait to get an okay on and I am also working on paintings to submit to the Dundas Valley Art Auction (in March/April) and the Egyptian Event. Throw in a website revision (not live yet) and a sick child and the month just flew by.

Please check in later on this week for some work in process sneek peeks, and thanks for your patience:-)