Summer!

Nothing like sunflowers in July! Did I mention the farm we bought a share in also has flowers to pick yourself..... how wonderful is that?! I picked this gorgeous flower there along with a few others. I love that place!

These sumi-e frogs were done on Arches- cold press. I wanted to try a more textured rough paper and I like the results.
more sumi-e to come.....

Enjoy the rest of YOUR summer!

Musky sleeping on the blueberries.

Guess I need to find another place to keep my finished paintings.....at least it was dry!

Blueberries on the farm

Schmincke watercolor on paper
We picked blueberries for our share of the take last week.
The bushes were bursting with berries---

LOOK at all these yummy blues!
My garden tip of the week...
When transplanting a plant during the hot July weather.... grab a cup full of ice cubes and place them around the transplant. The ice melts slowly and provide necessary moisture to the plant. It worked for me. This is a photo of a cucumber plant I moved on hot day -- it barely wilted with the ice around it!

A bird with no tail.

Baby Jenny Wren
Originally uploaded by Judybec

I'm assuming this is a young Jenny Wren. He actually flies VERY well for having no tail.

Cactus Monday!

Hey Teri, Here's my first Cactus Monday!!!!

Okay, it's not a painting........it is paper-mache. I made these two cactus for our church's vacation bible school. That's "Indiana Tim" posing with the cactus in the desert. He was the lead character for the week. These were so much fun to make but it did take just a bit longer than I thought it would. ( The needles are made from a piece of foam.)

Ah, the rub...

I spent some time in my church's memorial garden, I wanted to try doing rubbings of the old tombstones, some date from the earily 1700's.
Above is a sketch from the garden looking out through the gate.
Below is a photo from a slightly different view.
The stones have been mounted on a brick wall because the original graveyard became a location for a parish house and the earthly remains were moved to the current garden. Here's a drawing of one of the stones mounted on the wall.
These stones are inscribed in German and they are so old it makes the lettering difficult to understand. Below is a rubbing I tried with crayon. Interesting, but impossible to read.
Here's a photo of the stone. I love the angel's expression!
Here's another rubbing attempt. Again, it's impossible to read. I guess because the stones are so pitted and worn with age.

I tried crayon , oil pastel, conte, charcoal and pencil. The charcoal and conte was EXTREMELY messy! Plain old Crayola crayon was the easiest.

Most of these stones have such wonderful carvings! I would love to capture them through rubbing and would welcome any suggestions. In the end I gave up and started doing sketches of the unique carvings.
This is a photo of the stone...
I'm going back to do more sketching. Please let me know if you have any tips on doing a good rubbing!

Oh yes, I have been painting....

Our trumpet vine is blooming wonderfully this year. I painted this today while sitting on the deck.

Below is a quick sketch of a bunny seen hopping around our bird feeder. Kind of a sad story.... he had a bit of a limp, his left hind leg stuck out to the side and he didn't really use it at all. I found him dead out back under a tree the day after I painted this. I buried him there and set a pot of flowers on top. The next morning the pot was flipped and the body was gone...... only a tiny tuft of fur was left. Guess we have a fox? --not sure what else would have dug him up?
A basket of red gerber and white daisys.
Practice page of sumi-e frogs. My friend Roberta gave me a wonderful sumi-e paint kit and I'm having great fun with the brushes and inks. (although this one was done with watercolor)
Another trumpet vine painting from earlier in the week. (a bit over worked but it has some wonderful spots if you look hard enough!)
Two golf course paintings done on location while waiting for my son having his golf lesson.

"Watching the band" at Stoudts Village in Adamstown, Pa. My husband's band "Mighty Fine Bluegrass" played there last weekend. It's a new town built to look like an old German village with shops below and homes for the shop-keepers above.

Now, back to my other project.... I'm putting crown molding up in our living room.... Yes, I'm crazy, oh and did I mention I'm painting the walls too. I'll post photos sometime soon.

TumbleWood and garden things

My "TumbleWood" stick sculpture at the Lancaster Museum of Art.

I entered it in the Summer Art Show , partly because I had a hard time finding room for it in my small space garden :0 AND.....surprise, surprise, I was given an "Honorable Mention" by the juror!!!!

Here's a mini garden I'm working on..... with Irish moss and a village. I love this light green color....It's so fresh.
More greens you just gotta love....a photo of my wire plant with a painted pot in the background.

George Washington Clematis revisited. (I darkened the background....I think I'll make it even darker. )
I've been so busy gardening but will post more paintings soon....if I can pull myself away from the garden.