Gifts from my Sons

doggie kisses, giggles, snuggles and hugs,
grandchildren, puppies, people I love.

Thank you, thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Mom

Clean, Shop, Wrap, Bake, Clean, Shop, Wrap, Bake, Clean, Shop, Wrap Bake.....Ho! Ho! Ho!

Finally ready for Christmas.  Family is on the way, friends and family have been carded, gifts selected and wrapped, house is clean, goodies are baked.  IT'S ALMOST HERE!!  I'M READY. 

I know that I am so blessed.  I don't know exactly why I should be blessed, but I am and I am grateful.  There are the usual family ups and downs, births, sickness, deaths, deep love, deep discord, but we come together year after year, every year, and that is my blessing.

My mom died November, three years ago.  We just didn't know how we would have Thanksgiving and Christmas without her.  No one felt like it, but we decided to pretend our way through, and guess what?  It worked.  In pretending to be happy, we found that we could be, in spite of our heartbreak.

I have to stop writing now, and get back to the grocery store, I forgot the sour cream, of all things!  I hope you all have a wonderful, safe, crazy, happy holiday. 

Cindy

Canal Grasses Redux

 

"Canal Grasses", Acrylic on 12" x 16" on canvas board

 

Just messing around this morning, I painted over the above, previously posted painting, making the hung over tips of the grasses larger, and generally more prominent, neatening up (is that a word?) the blades, reglazing the water, a touch of the brush here and there, really just messing around.  Some mornings, I want to paint, but I don't want to start a fresh painting, so I dibble and dabble.

 

I am distracted now by the holidays, I could easily become overwhelmed with the blatant. . . . well, you know.  Yesterday, I was uptight and anxious;  today I choose, instead, just to relax and enjoy...the pretty decorations, the cold air, the friendliness of strangers waiting in line with me.  These are things that are easy. 

 

One year, we had a dollar store Christmas.  This was back when paper sacks were still used at grocery stores.  We picked up 11 sacks, and a box of markers.  Each person's name was written on a sack, and each of us went to the dollar store with $10.00, buying a gift to drop in each sack except our own.   Some of us had a great time, and some didn't. 

 

 Another year, we were all flush with success, and spent A LOT on gifts for each other.  That year, some of us had a great time, and some didn't. 

 

My mother loved Christmas beyond reasonableness.  She joyfully began her shopping for the next year on the day after Christmas.  She didn't have Christmas as a child. 

 

Another much loved family member also didn't have Christmas as a child, and resists any shopping until absolutely the last woebegone, guilty, panic stricken minute.  This person also loves Christmas, but not until Christmas day.

 

There really isn't any point I am trying to make here, just early morning ramblings.

 

Safe and satisfying holidays, ya'll!

 

Cindy

 

Williams River Wide Open

Another quickie!  This was painted early this morning, before life started waking up around me.

Williams River, Wide Open

5" x 7", acrylic on canvas board

 

On my bulletin board:

 

"Magic can take you a long way.", author unknown.

 

Have a great day,

 

Cindy

Wishing You a happy, and safe Thanksgiving

Keep safe everyone, and enjoy your day.  Make it a good one.

Cindy

Fall on the Williams River, day two

Worked on reshooting the painting published yesterday.  The first shot posted was washed out looking. 

Here's the reshoot.....

"Fall on the Williams River, West Virginia"

 

On my monitor, this is much closer to the painting. 

 

Have a beautiful day today,

Cindy





Fall on the Williams River, West Virginia

West Virginia doesn't get it's fair due for it's absolutely stupendous beauty.  True, as with anywhere, not all is gorgeous, but my gosh, there are sure some breath taking vistas to be found.  I am so grateful to have "locals" in the family who are intimately familiar with these gems.  Thank you guys, for all the hours spent showing me your favorite spots.

Fall on the Williams River, West Virginia

12" x 16" Acrylic on Canvas Board



 Have a great weekend!
Cindy

Stomped on Grasses, Finished

So this morning, as hoped for, the Acrylic Faries had paid me a visit.  I woke up with the answer to "Stomped on Grasses"!  I know I am not the only person this has happened to, am I?

Any way, I loaded up the original inspiration photo, and checked, yep, the perspective was much closer in, the reflective area of water much smaller, more leaves, less grass.  Next, I put a photo of my painting into editing software, and reworked the reflections using a clone brush for the dark green water....I was right, the picture looked much better.  Now, for the braver part, I loaded my palette, put on my brave girl face, and painted away.  I am much much happier with the results.

Stomped on Grasses

Acrylic on canvas board, 12" x 16"

 

Thanks to everyone for their input on this.  I always appreciate your emails.

 

Have a great day,

 

Cindy

Still Struggling with the Composition

"Stomped on Grasses"  has been painted over and painted over.  I cannot seem to unify the different aspects of the composition into a cohesive, pretty picture, even though my source photograph is beautiful.   I guess I better just let it sit awhile, and see if any acrylic faries show up to help me!!

 

 

Cindy

Stomped on Grasses

You just never know when life is going to come along and stomp on you..just like these grasses.  And, just like these grasses, you will get back up again. 

Stomped on Grasses

Acrylic 12" x 16" canvas board

 

 

I hope you make yourself a great weekend,

Cindy

Canal Grasses

Digital photography is so cost effective, I shoot with wild abandon.....I want to paint that way too, not carefully, but wildly, rashly mixing colors, quickly applying them, slash, splash, no holding back.  So,.........I did.

 

Canal Grasses

Acrylic on Canvas board, 12" x 16"

 

What wildness was this?  I had a great time painting in my backyard. 

 

Hope you have a wonderful day,

 

Cindy



Across The Way

Very quick little acrylic on canvas board this morning.  It took longer to capture this in a photograph than it did to paint...not really, but it sure felt that way.

I try to get the exact coloring of each painting in it's photo before posting online, knowing, silly girl, that everyone's monitor is different, and so the colors will be what their screen shows, not what mine shows.  It's a ridiculous exercise, isn't it?  Oh well, I try......

Here's the marsh, turning golden .... 

Across the Way, 5" x 7"

 

Hope you have a great Sunday.

 

Cindy

Morning on Fire

This is what I saw this morning, from the front porch, coffee in hand.....

Morning on fire....another photo to add to the "to be painted" file.

Thank you, sun.
Thank you, fate, for putting me right here, right now.

Hope you make yourself a great day!
Cindy

Something Missing....????

When I looked at the painting I posted yesterday, something seemed off...I could not figure out what was wrong.  The far bank of the river was just sort of hanging up there "at the top"....I didn't perceive distance...just a top and bottom.  I walked outside (yes, in my pjs, no one was around to see me), I squinted and there it was, a faint reflection that didn't show up in my photo......A few brushstrokes later, and NOW, there is no longer a top and bottom, but a back and front.  Voila!!

Drama Queen flattened!

 

Hope you have a great day...

 

Cindy

 

 

 

Drama Queen

This time of year, the rice field starts showing off, with all the grasses fighting for attention, turning various shades of green and gold.  Add a low horizon sun, and the drama is downright additive.  I haven't had time to rehang all our pictures from the great wall redo, but I did find time to capture this morning's drama in watercolor!

 

Drama Queen

 

Hope you are having a great day,

Cindy



The Great Fall Freshen-Up!

I am disappointed to still not have a new painting to post.  The only painting going on around my house this week is on the walls!

Our company left Sunday, and bright Monday morning, the painters showed up to paint every ceiling, wall, door, and bit of trim in our house.  It was exciting (I love this color), hard work (geez, look at that DUST), exhausting (geez, look at that DUST), scary (Do I really love that color?), all that.  We chose typical white for ceilings and trim, and very, very light neutrals for all the walls.  Every picture, knick-knack and light fixture came down, the painters moved all the furniture to the center of each room, and hubby and I had to stay out of the way....the painters did a great job painting and putting everything back, except the pictures.  It's going to be hard to put a nail in any of those now pristine walls....I have to think about it for a while.

Tuesday, we went to the M Gallery in downtown Charleston.  The American Impressionist Society is having it's annual juried exhibit, and it was fantastic.  Such beautiful art, beautifully displayed, we stayed for hours.  Then on to the Gibbs Museum of Art to enjoy some Charleston history, art, and a photographic exhibit on the Civil War.  Jestine's is a restaurant that has been in Charleston for decades, and if you had a southern grandmamma who cooked Sunday dinners for the family, then this is the place for you.  We tried lunch there, and although it was a nice throwback to those days, I don't think it's a good idea to eat fried chicken and mac and cheese too often.

Regressing further, we did have a wonderful weekend with family, but almost no shrimp, and no crabs.  I don't know what's going on with the shrimping this year, they just are not out there to be caught.  In years past, we would catch the legal limit, and after a few trips, have shrimp in the freezer for the winter.  It is sad to me. 

Enough, I still have china to put back in the hutch, one more closet to reorganize, and packing to do for a fun weekend in the beautiful Smokey Mountains of  North Carolina ......

Have a great day,

Cindy 

Waiting

A few brushes, a jar of watercolor tubes, miscellany, pencils and pens, all waiting patiently for me in my very small studio.  The cup with the red heart was made for me by my granddaughter, the spice rack is full of tiny treasures, pressed pennies from around the U.S., pretty little rocks, color mixes of polymer clay.  Oh, and the left most object is a glass tray full of oyster shells smoothed by the ocean.  They were found at Edisto Beach last year.  That beach is still the best for shell collecting.  We use to boat over to Caper's Island for conch shells, but there are hordes of people going there now, and not a shell to be found!

This weekend will be spent shrimping with family.  There should be plenty of opportunities for inspiration photos - not to mention lots of good eating!

Hope you have a wonderful day,

Cindy

Wild and wonderful, West Virginia

We took a weekend trip to WV to visit my husband's family.  The trees are just starting to turn, and we took full advantage, spending hours driving to various overlooks.  From stunning, far reaching vistas,

to up close, petite perfection,

 

beauty was everywhere.  (by the way, please feel free to use these photos as inspiration for your next painting, I'd love to see the results too).  I especially love the ferns, and will eventually try painting them myself, probably in acrylics. 

 

Between this trip, and lots of company coming to our house, I haven't had time to focus on painting. No complaints though, it's nice to be so busy with our far flung and blended family - and I do still find time to read all my favorite artists' blogs.  I am envious of all the beautiful paintings being posted online.  

 

Have a great day,

Cindy  

A Collage - And a Thank You

Even though I did not participate in the 30 day challenge hosted by artist Leslie Saeta, I did follow along, enjoying all the artists' work each day. I especially enjoyed the collages they each created on the last day of the challenge, and decided to try one with my work. I hope you enjoy the results, it was really fun.

 

Thank you to Ms. Saeta, and all the artists who participated.  You each gave all the rest of us so much inspiration.

 

Have a great day,

Cindy

Random Beach Finished

Done!  Like a lot of other artists, I can paint on one picture for infinity...it's so hard to know when it is actually DONE, sooooo,  to help me stop, I make a list.  After a day or two, I relook at the painting, as well as all the photos of it.  For example, in yesterday's version of this painting, I noticed two pink spots in the sky, drip spatters, a smudge by the palm tree, sand too light between the boardwalk and posts, unfinished ropes, sun light reflection on the water not quite matching up with the direction of the post shadows and more detail needed on the front-most post.  I take my list, take a deep breath that I can acutally match the new color mixes to the already used ones, and start at the top of my list.  When I finish the list, I'm done, and so is the painting.  I hope you like it.  How do you know when your painting is done?

Random Beach 9" x 12" Acrylic on canvas board

 

Source photo I took somewhere on the Atlantic Coast!

 

I hope you have a great day,

Cindy



 

 



Random Beach in Acrylics

Phase One - ok, maybe not quite finished, but I do like it so far. Sometimes, it helps to just stop and look at your work for a few days...I also always like to take photographs while my painting is in process, I photoshop it, flip it, reverse it, just to see...You, too?
 

 

9: x 12" , Acrylic on Canvas board.



 



I've found that I really like canvas boards, so much easier to store, frame, ship, why did I use anything else, really?  Some idea that a stretcher behind linen was superior?

 

I'm looking forward to this weekend - hubby is off playing golf with THE GUYS, and I plan on devoting the entire weekend to ME, ALL ME.  The most action the kitchen can plan on seeing is me chopping up some romaine for a caesar salad.

 

Have a great day,

Cindy

 

 

 

 

A Drink on a Foggy Morning

I snapped this photo from an overpass on CA1 this summer.  I couldn't wait to try painting it in acrylics.
Here's the result:

Love those cows! 

Now that I've broken out those old acrylic paints, I guess I'll just have to see what else I can do with them.  I always forget how relaxing it is to use them versus watercolors...much easier for me to make corrections.

Have a great day,
Cindy

Random Beach

 

Random Beach

 

Perfect lowcountry weekend with much loved family, shrimping, crabbing, and feasting. 

 

 





R E A L L Y O L D

Delicious day....cooler than recent weeks, "humdidity" lower, and I was motivated to clean out my stash of old paintings.  This one is from 1991, so it's really old work, too old to keep hanging around in a closet.  Time to frame it, I think.

Near Whitewater Falls



Have a great day, what remains of it anyway,
Cindy

Home Sweet Home

Home again, and happy to be back in my little studio.  I have lots of source photos selected for painting subjects.  Here's the first, a falling apart boat seen in San Luis Obispo....

Have a great day....

California Gold

Quick Study - Don't Mess with Texas

Painted this morning from a photo I took:

 

 

 

Still traveling.....

Have a great day,

Cindy

On The Road

Racheting around the country, visiting family and friends.  I hope to get some painting in, at the least, I will get to take a lot of source photos.  You can follow our travel blog at http://trailingrichncyn.blogspot.com, if you wish.

Have a great day,

Cindy

Backlit

This morning, the ricefield was completely still, beautifully backlit, and inspiring:



Have a wonderful day,

Cindy

Thank You

Sunrise on the Cooper River

Misty morning, high clouds, the plop of a fish, a cuppa joe, .......pausing a moment to remember on Memorial Day. 

Have a safe one,

Cindy  

The Dike

A remnant of the rice culture which flourished along this river is pictured in this watercolor.  It's what's left of a dike that was used to control the flow of water into and out of the rice fields.  It is about 1/3 down the left side of the painting.  The river proper is behind it.  If you search Google Maps for the Cooper River, South Carolina, you can plainly see how extensive these dikes were.

Morning View

This is a picture of what I am lucky enough to see when I get up in the mornings....

Click to make it larger.

 

Have a great day,

 

Cindy

 

Don't Give Up!

I painted this hibiscus a few years ago, and was never happy with it:

Last week, I played around with it, adding a darker background, and a black mat.  Huge improvement:

Just goes to show, keep those paintings, and later on you might have a "salvage inspiration".  I've also noticed that what looks kind of pitiful today, may magically overnight mature into something I am proud of.  I don't know if watercolor fairies come and fix things up, or.....ummmmm?

Baby Mag, Day 3

Gave in to panic on the background, and just "blued" it out.  I like it, the leaves of this magnolia show up much nicer. 

Cindy

Baby Magnolia, Day 1

This little magnolia was hiding in the woods , and I was immediately in love with it's hour glass shape.  I snapped a pic, and here is my - very early in the process -  beginning to paint it.  I have a long way to go, and all I can think as I paint is "hold on to those whites...hold on ....

Here's the photo I took, that background looks pretty intimidating don't you think?  Just don't know what I'll do there.  I did put in some washes so that I could focus better on the whites, and that helps. 

Have a great day,
Cindy 

Finished Grasses.....

Finally finished "Grasses".  Watercolor and gouache on Arches 140 lb. cold pressed.  This one was so much fun...discovering all the nuances of gouache.  I just loved every minute.  Hope you have a good day.
Cindy

Grasses, day three

Grasses, day three.  Slow going, some people tell me I am "sneaking up" on a painting when I paint, pause, paint, pause.  I just have to make myself go slow, so stopping every hour or so helps me do that. 

Grasses - Day Two

really like how this is going....

Working, working, working.  Yes, that's a magnifying lense.  Old Eyes!  Have a great day,
Cindy

Work in process...Grasses

I am working on a painting using watercolors and gouache, which I have never used before.  Love this medium (gouache, pronounced "wash").  It allows for a darker wash of watercolor in the background.  Gouache's opacity makes it easy for me to get the brilliant greens I see when I look at my source photograph:

 

The painting is about half done.  Hours fly by when I am working on a painting, or anything, that I love.  Have a great day.
Cindy

Leaf Study - Hanging Around

Painted these leaves and branches from this photo:

My goal is to get my paintings as close to realistic representation as I can.  Looks like I have some more work to do.

Have a nice day,

Cindy

Sanderson's Dock

Names have been changed to protect the innocent....I always wanted to say that!  Anyway, watercolor on Arches140 lb. hot pressed.   I am in love with these backlit mornings.

To make this as great a day as possible, ....

Start where you are.
Use what you have.
Do what you can.

Wise words to live by,  don't know who wrote them.

Cindy

At the Edge of the Rice Field

Each morning, this time of year, the sun rises directly across the river from our house.  It backlights grass, trees and scrub along the bank....

Watercolor on Arches 140 lb. hot pressed.  This paper is smoother than the cold pressed.  I might like it the best.

Have a great day,

Cindy

Quiet Time 2.

Quiet Time 2.  Watercolor on Arches 140 lb. cold pressed. 

Hold Out

This tree grows on a dyke which was used to flood the rice fields of long ago.  Most of the river we live on is bordered on each side by these shallow, and permanently water logged fields, and if you didn't know better, at high tide, you might mistake these as part of the river itself.  Such an error can leave you and your boat stranded in pluff mud until the tide comes back in -

Watercolor on Arches 140 lb., cold pressed.

Key West Lizard

 

Watercolor on Arches 140 Rough.
Not unusual for me to take liberty with colors.  This is the same cottage as posted earlier, cropped and painted in pink.  I am challenged, and therefore fascinated, by the perspectives in this shot.