FLOWERS FOR A SEPTEMBER DAY ...

Sometimes when we want flowers in our lives we just have to paint them ourselves.  I randomly painted this blue background and then needed to decide what I was going to paint on it.  Flowers seemed to be in order. 

'A BOUQUET FOR SUNDAY AFTERNOON'

6 x 6 x 1.5" Acrylic on canvas

For more information on this Piece Please Click HERE

Most of my flowers outside are bidding me adieu.  I do have one little Rosebush that does seem to be loving the weather ...

and even my Rhubarb hasn't abandoned me yet ...

but this once lovely 'Summerina', which I just bought a few days ago, and which I thought I would get at least a few weeks of enjoyment out of, obviously did not like the 29 degrees we had the other night :(

Fortunately it's a perennial so I'll still plant it and hope it comes back next year.


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CLOUDS OF THE DAY ...

A FISH BY ANY OTHER NAME IS STILL A FISH.



By all these lovely tokens September days are here,
With summer's best of weather and autumn's best of cheer. 
~  Helen Hunt Jackson

Charleen

I HEAR THE MUSIC ...

AND, THEY DO TOO!

'HEARING THE MUSIC'

Pretty Pink Coneflowers keeping time to the rhythm of the Breeze ...

For more information on this piece Please click HERE

'ONE GOOD THING ABOUT MUSIC, WHEN IT HITS YOU, YOU FEEL NO PAIN.'

~  Bob Marley

I have been diligently working away on a Commissioned Piece which I just finished yesterday.  That's why I haven't been around lately to visit with you.  :)  This is another Pointillism Piece which I will post on my next blog.  I do like doing them but they are VERY time consuming. 

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CLOUDS OF THE DAY ...

I can clearly see the face of a wizened old soul up in the lighter portion of the clouds.  I also see a Walrus and I can also see part of an angry Bears head.  :(  What am I missing?  :)

Charleen

SOMEONE TOOK GROUCHY PILLS ...

"WHO ATE HIS CRACKERS ...?"

12 X 12" Mixed Media Collage on Wood Panel

For more information on this Piece Please Click HERE

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CLOUDS OF THE DAY . . .

photo  ~ Indy Behrendt

I had to take my work up to Entrée Gallery in Nordman last Friday.  They will be opening for the Season on Mothers Day weekend.  It was an absolutely beautiful day for a drive (good thing, as the drive from my home to the Gallery is a 3 hour drive each way! :)  The sky was a beautiful blue and the clouds put on a spectacular show.  A friend came along for the ride and she and I had a great time stopping, photographing and laughing about 'what we saw' in the clouds.  Indy is a photographer (and Silversmith) in real life so she had a good eye for all the sky action.  She took the above photo.   Can you see it?!  The Terrier ... running.  :)  She saw it immediately.  I have to admit I didn't see it until she told me, but of course now I can't see anything else!

“A dog teaches a boy fidelity, perseverance, and to turn around three times before lying down.”  ~  Robert Benchley

Charleen

'TODAYS PICK' MAY BE TOMORROWS MEMORIES ...

I think most of the time when we do something different, or a little bit special, we are not really thinking that it will be tomorrows memory but that so often happens, doesn't it.  We pick a few flowers, put them in a jar, and bring them to a neighbor.  She's having a bad day and that small gesture changed the whole day for her.  It totally changed her memory of that day. I 'imagined' that these flowers had a story like that.  :)

'TODAYS PICK'

6 x 8"  Acrylic on Wood Panel

For more information on this Piece Please Click HERE

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CLOUDS OF THE DAY ...

Well, let's see.  I see a Doxie's head.  My Aunt and Uncle had several Dachshunds. When one would pass they'd get another.  They were all named 'Doc'.  And, they all got to eat Pepper steak (made for them) off a Fine China dish.  :)

I also see waves crashing against the shore (Actually reminds me of the Devils Punch Bowl on the coast in Oregon), stormy skies and the sun trying to fight its way through.

“When everything is at risk, good judgment, not haste,
makes the difference between life and death. Panic is the enemy.” 

                                                                                   ~ Greg Iles, The Devil's Punchbowl

Charleen

FLOWERS AND A MOVIE ...

I love the name Sophie.  I had an Aunt by the name of Sophie.  She was one of the sweetest people I've ever known.  She could remember dates, numbers and happenings from years before like she had just read about them.  In an instant. Lickety split.  Today, I would imagine she would be diagnosed with a form of Autism, Asperger's, or similar, but back then she was 'just different'.  She had a nervous breakdown when her younger brother (my father) passed away at the age of 26.  She was 31.  Because of that breakdown she spent 13 years in a State Mental hospital.   (I'm sure things would be handled very differently today. A subject for another day.)   The day she was released my Aunt (her sister) and I went to meet her at the Bus Stop.  I was 13 and it was the first time I was meeting her.  Her Smile and Sweetness just enveloped me.  She lived with two of her sisters until she passed at the age of 76. 

'SOPHIES CHOICE'

9 x 12 Acrylic on Wood Panel

For more information on this Piece Please Click HERE

“Let your love flow out on all living things.” 

                                                                                       ~  William Styron,  Sophie's Choice

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CLOUDS OF THE DAY ...

I see an old man, resting in the midst of the Clouds.  At Peace.

Charleen

I COULD USE A LITTLE NIGHTLIFE RIGHT NOW !

The title of this Piece made me realize it's been a while since I've been 'out on the town' (or to dinner ... or to a movie ... hmmm).  I'm starting to become one of those reclusive Artists that we hear about.  :/  Not!   I think its time my 'needs' to be brought up to my hubby. :)

ENJOYING THE NIGHTLIFE

5  x 7" Acrylic on Wood Panel

For more information Please click HERE

Clouds of the Day ...

This reminds me of the Crowds rushing in to Walmart on Black Friday morning!  Best to watch from a distance!

'Actually, my most favorite form of Nightlife is reviewing

the Best parts of my Day'

~  Charleen

21 GOING ON 30 ...

THE CHALLENGE IS OVER ...

I didn't quite make 30 paintings.  There are 21 here.  I actually did a few more but they just didn't make the cut.  For numerous reasons!  :0  But I also did work on 2 more larger pieces that still aren't finished so I have to say it was an accomplishing month overall.  Practice makes perfect they say ... and while I know I'll never see perfect, it's a good goal!

Seeing all these together does anyone see strengths, weaknesses?  I'd love to know your feelings.  All critiques help one way or another.

Now I have to get serious about work ready for Entrée Gallery.  They open Mothers Day weekend and my work has to be there mid April.  Time goes by so fast I know I'll blink and  the work will be due ...


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CLOUDS OF THE DAY ...

I think this is my friend the Smurf back, but from a different angle.  I actually see a Scorpion coming out of the top of the photo ... ready to attack.  Macabre :/  It reminds me though of a painting I did years ago for a Race Car driver.  He raced a Fiat and the cars name was 'Scorpion'.  He wanted me to paint his car on the racetrack.  He provided a photo but it wasn't a very good one of the track.  The day he came to pick up the painting I was definitely anxious to see his reaction.  I knew it was either going to be really good, or really bad.  No in between.  He opened up the covering and I watched the look of stunned silence take over.  there were a few tense moments (in a roomful of people!).  Then he looked at me and said "This is great!!"  He loved it.  It was a real 'Phew!' moment.  I had painted his car in the claws of a Scorpion ...

Don't know that I would do that today ...  :)

LIFE IS FULL OF SURPRISES ...

CHARLEEN

A ROSE TO BRIGHTEN YOUR DAY ...

It is anything but bright here. Rain, rain and more rain.  A change predicted for this afternoon though.  Snow.  :/

IT WAS ALWAYS A YELLOW ROSE II

Small 4 x 4" Acrylic on Wood with stand for Display

More information can be found HERE

This is another in the '30 in 30' Challenge.  Just 2 more days left in the Challenge.  While I won't make all 30 days I will come close.  I took the pressure off myself this time ~ if I didn't make all 30 days it was o.k.  Made it a lot more enjoyable! 

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I included this section below in my monthly Newsletter, but since there are a lot of you that just get my Blogs I thought I would re-post it here too.  Perseverance: Steady persistence in a course of action, a purpose, a state, etc. especially in spite of difficulties, obstacles, or discouragement. Here is a delightful example of perseverance. It's all about how one Womans determination, perseverance, and ... 1500 loaves of homemade banana bread, were able to bring smiles to homeless children in Uganda. To learn more about Jaajabarbs (Grandma Barbs) Home of Angels please click HERE. It's just proof positive that if you want something bad enough, with hard work and determination, just about anything is possible. For more information Please Click HERE  Christmas at the Home  ~  The Balloons are 'ornaments' on the tree  :) ***************************************************************************************** Cloud of the Day ... Now this is a stretch, but a lot of times when I look up into the clouds, it's more about a 'sense' of what I see, than what I actually see.  This time I looked at the photo and had the sense of a Great White Whale coming up out of the ocean.  :) IF SWIMMING IS SUCH A GOOD WAY TO STAY IN SHAPE ... EXPLAIN WHALES. ~ unknown Charleen

FROM THE GARDEN ... SORTA.

A COUPLE OF MORE MINIS. 
THESE ARE BOTH 4 x 4" AND EACH COME WITH A STAND FOR DISPLAY

'PINK POPPY LOVE'

'LADY G'

For more information on either of these Pieces Please Click HERE

'We may think we are nurturing our Garden but of course it is our garden that is really nurturing us.'

~  Jenny Uglow

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I see a Smurf !

Charleen

EAVESDROPPING. YES, OR NO ... OR, IT DEPENDS ... :)

Have you ever eavesdropped?  Yes ... of course I have.  :/

'THE EAVESDROPPERS'

5 x 7" Acrylic on Wood Panel

For more information on this Piece Please click HERE

There's nothing like eavesdropping to show you that the world outside your head is different from the world inside your head.

~ Thornton Wilder

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This looks like something from a scary movie ...

THE FOG  is coming to get you (or me) !  Actually, it reminds me of the first scary movie I ever went to see in a Movie theatre.  It was called 'The Blob' ... and if that doesn't date me nothing else will!

Charleen

THE MARSH. THROUGH THE WINDOW.

Here are two pieces that I recently did for my show in Coeur d'Alene ...

'THE MARSH. THROUGH THE WINDOW.'

12 x 12 Acrylic on Textured wood panel

'SOMETHING BORROWED. SOMETHING BLUE.'

6 x 8" Acrylic on Textured wood panel.

Both more Impressionistic then I normally do.  Hopefully heading in the right direction!  :)

'THE AIM OF ART IS TO REPRESENT NOT THE OUTWARD APPEARANCE OF THINGS, BUT THEIR INWARD SIGNIFICANCE.

                                                                                                  ~  Aristotle

Charleen

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