This small bunch of daffodils is always the first sign of Spring here at the farm, year after year, no matter that they get crushed by a late winter snow; ever hopeful, so inspirational, and a thrilling sight every year.
February 18, 2012
February 14, 2012
February 13, 2012
Monday Morning Shopping
This is the result of a Monday morning errand/Starbucks trip. A SALE at the art supply store on Series 300 Strathmore paper: sketchbooks, paper palettes, and other papers in pads.......
40% OFF........SCORE!!!!! and a let's try it out bag of the new Blonde roast by Starbucks, plus my usual, a grande latte.
What a delicious Monday morning!
Not Leaving on a Jet Plane
I don't have any trips scheduled in the near future. I wish I did, and may soon. Honestly, though, every morning when I go across the lawn toward the barn with milk pail in hand, I look up in the sky and have to see all the people that are going places. Sounds like sour grapes, doesn't it? It's not, really. Think about it...we can buy a ticket, with or without a destination in mind, and FLY.
It never ceases to amaze me. I have a few minutes, I think I'll log on to Expedida, or maybe Orbitz. Just for fun.
February 11, 2012
Rose Bowl
I came across this wonderful collection of watering can roses in, where else, British Country Living, and immediately started to collect roses...in my head. The barn has an exceptional milk room attached to it that I've turned into my garden room, and hanging from the rafters is my collection of galvanized watering cans. I suppose robbing all the roses from the cans would "down-size" my collection a bit. But, what would I do with all the bodies? A dilemma, to be sure.
In the end, it would be cruel, and I couldn't do it to them. This picture will have to do for the time being. I know there is a flowerpot with several roses in it on a shelf in milkhouse though. They will be put into a larger pot, and another collection will begin.
The thought of it just gives me the shivers.
February 10, 2012
February 08, 2012
By the Sea...
This little painting came about by daydreaming one afternoon of a houseboat, and what it must be like to live on one. (Damp, for one thing, certainly.) The daydream was brought on by an article in the British Country Living magazine...my very favorite magazine of all in magazine land; every page is eye-candy to me.
I thought how free one would feel to be able cast-off, and set sail for...somewhere. But then, would the dishes stay on the table? Do things have to be tied down? What if there's a massive swell, or heaven forbid, a leak? Do mice come along for the ride? Where would the dog go for a walk? Would we sleep in swaying hammocks under a creaking and groaning rafter? Most worrisome of all, would the liquor have to be rationed? And what about walking the plank? What terrible crime has to be commited to bring that about?
In the end, the daydream turned out to be a kind of nightmare, the more my imagination ran wild. This little woman is happy sailing off with her eyeglass, freedom flag flying, and gulls hitching a ride. Being by the sea is enough for me; walking the beach, sitting in my favorite chair in the morning with my coffee, hearing waves crashing on the rocks, and seeing the Nubble Light in the distance.
I must go down to the sea again...
February 04, 2012
How To...
This, in my opinion, just says it all.
February 02, 2012
My Pet
This afternoon, sitting at my painting table, all of a sudden I had the feeling I was being watched. The Bull, after eating enough hay for the day from his big round bale, and wandering the perimeter of the field above the barn to see if there were any intruders, his afternoon routine, had decided he would relax awhile right in a spot where he could see me through the window. It's a favorite spot of his, on a little bump on the hill overlooking the kitchen.
It just never occured to me that he sits there, or stands, if the weather is bad, usually around four in the afternoon. Four-thirty he stands up, walks down the hill to his grain bucket, and starts to bellow util I come out the kitchen door.
He certainly has me trained.
January 30, 2012
New Painting
When we were kids, my father had a pond dug especially for skating in the winter, and swimming in the summer, and we did alot of both.
When he sold the farm, and built the new house just up the road, another pond was dug, and the skating continued, along with bonfires, hotdog roasts on sticks, marshmallows, and plenty of hot chocolate. Good times, and many, many wonderful memories!
- My Etsy Shop is open! Visit the shop to purchase prints and small originals...
