Happy Holidays!!

Here are two gourd birdhouses that were ordered for Christmas presents. I finished them just in time! I am not in a very good holiday mood this year,due to the threat of hydrofracking to our part of PA. I feel like I am living in a nightmare since the beautiful abundant lakes , rivers, creeks, and groundwater here could be polluted with gas and a concoction of mostly unknown chemicals, of which the known ones cause cancer and endocrine disruptions. Since the oil and gas companies and their big money run everything in this country, this insane method of gas extraction goes on, unchecked!! Even though the EPA finally decided that hydrofracking polluted wells in wyoming. I have never been an activist in any other fight , but I feel I need to TRY to stop this before my place of birth and my home for most of my life is trashed and polluted by these methods. But how do you fight such big money??  We went to lovely Christmas cookie decorating party last night at a friends house  and some of us there will be trying to organize a public showing of gasland soon among other things. Everyone that lives here and drinks water should be worried about this coming danger.

Cavalier King Charles Spaniels

Here is my latest portrait of 4 dogs I have been working on, in colored pencil with a watercolor background. First picture was a work in progress pic and the second is a finished portrait. I must say it was a challenge to get all 4 dogs arranged nicely in an 8x10 portrait. I think it turned out very well.

Here is the finished product matted and framed. I delivered it today to the owner and was happy that he liked it. It was so important to me that it was recieved well because of the touching circumstances surrounding the family of the puppies, due to a recent loss in the family. I got to meet the pups in person and was impressed with their loving personalities! Too cute!! I am now a fan of the breed! I hope this portrait will help in some small way to brighten the holidays for this family!

USMC gourd

This is the most recent custom gourd I made for someone for a Christmas gift. I doubt if the person receiving

it will see this, so I think I am safe to put it on here now. I also made an oil lamp gourd that will be for sale on artfire.

I finished the painting of Chesley and here it is framed and matted.

Now I will be working on a 4 dog portrait in colored pencil that I am excited to get started on. I also have to finish cleaning windows which I started yesterday since it was a rare nice day and although not my favorite thing to do , it is nice to look out the sparkling clean windows!! Now I can see the birds at my feeders so much better!

Chesley and fall scenes

Here is my latest doggie portrait just about complete! It is done in watercolors and after setting it aside for a few days and then looking at it again, with fresh eyes, I will add the final touches. The weather  forcasters keep saying we will have a sunny weekend, but I am not seeing the evidence of that yet! I think we are overdue for some sun!! I wanted to get some more fall pictures before the colorful leaves are all gone! here are a couple pics I took before this last wave of rain hit us!

Swimming with Mom

Here is my new watercolor of some baby geese swimming with Mom. I took the reference photos in the spring at lake Wilhelm. This past week I took some photos there again. My daughter was here visiting and we had a glorious stretch of beautiful fall weather!! We took one of my dogs and hiked there. So here is a picture of my daughter and Shelby!

Ostrich Play

This is the newest mixed media piece I have done. It is watercolor, colored pencil, and ink. I thought the crazy  attitude of the ostrich I took the reference photo of, deserved a bit of a crazy painting! At one point he or she, not sure, tried to eat my camera! I wanted to thank those who visited me at the craft show in Meadville over the weekend. Hope the pieces going to new homes bring joy to those who bought them! It was a nasty few days, weather wise, so it was nice to be in a warm dry building! i must say I was impressed by the 89 year old lady next to me selling her prints of paintings she had done in past years. She can no longer paint due to macular degeneration but still was out there marketing the ones she had done before! You go girl! Amazing!

Late summer beauty

I took this photo in the field beside my house. I really liked the orange of the little butterfly next to the yellow of the chamomile flower. This photo is available for purchase on my shop in Fine art America. Also wanted  to thank Annette for showcasing my artwork on her site  www.squidoo.com/crazy-home-decor  . well, I am off to do the more mundane things necessary in life like grocery shopping etc.. I would much rather be drawing or painting or taking pictures!