Pansies Squared

The playfulness of pansies is captured in this background treatment of multiple squares against a photo of peeling paint.  As important as the painting is, the background treatment, and the display of the artwork is just as important.  All combine together to generate a mood or feeling.

Visit Rosecote.com and experience our original backgrounds for yourself.  If you are interested in learning how to make your own backgrounds/scrapbook paper, we have a couple of online classes that might be of interest to you.

Celebrate another Pink Saturday with me at How Sweet the Sound.

Celebrating Spring

Warm weather has arrived in Colorado!  It is supposed to get up to 90 today.  I thought today would be a good day for a little Pansy Sorbet.  This is painted in oils on a digitally created background which was printed on artist canvas.

Discover how much fun it is to paint on unique backgrounds from Rosecote.com!

I am also celebrating another Pink Saturday with How Sweet the Sound.

Have a wonderful day, and stay cool!

My New Art Tool

I am loving my new art tool!  There are some wonderful art apps, including Procreate, Art Studio, Adobe Sketch, and Photoshop Mix.  Teaching myself how to use the apps to create art is a challenge, but I can paint in any medium, draw with pencil or pen, or manipulate images with these apps on my iPad.  The Apple Pencil makes it much more precise than using fingers.

It appears that I can install some of my favorite digital brushes in some of these programs!  As I become more knowledgeable with the software, it will be 2nd nature to use technology as an art tool!  What a wonderful age we live in as artists.  By the way, the iPad is rose gold and the whole thing keeps me in the Pink Zone no matter what I am doing on it!
Thank you to Beverly for her dedication to Pink Saturday.  How Sweet the Sound.

Vintage Romance - Rose

Inspiration for artistic endeavors can come from almost anything.  This background was inspired by dirt!  Working in the rose garden, digging in the dirt, set my mind to thinking about making a digital background framed in dirt!  So I set about creating some digital brushes that I could use for dirt.  A new painting surface is born!  Introducing you to Vintage Romance - Rose.  Quick and fun.  The background is available as a digital download at Rosecote.com.

Thank you to Beverly for her dedication to Pink Saturday.  How Sweet the Sound.

Roses on Wallpaper

The neat thing about being a creative is that you can find all kinds of things to paint upon.  Wallpaper lends itself to some exciting backgrounds.  It doesn't have to be perfect either.  Ripped, torn, dirty.  All the better.

This is a background I made from some wallpaper, added the writing and grunge.  Once painted, I tore the edges and antiqued them.

The painting is mounted to a mat and framed as shown below.  This background, without the three painted roses, is available as a digital download to be printed using your own printer.  Visit www.rosecote.com.

 Thank you to Beverly for her dedication to Pink Saturday.  How Sweet the Sound.

Raspberry Stain

This is a painting of some roses from my garden.  I designed the background on the computer using Photoshop, printed the graphic on archival card stock and painted the roses in oils.  I love integrating digital art with traditional art.  It gives me so much more to work with.  The digital background design is creative in and of itself.  Then painting the oil design on it is exciting, uniting the two art forms.

It has been awhile since I have participated in Pink Saturday.  I hope you enjoy my contribution.  Thank you to Beverly for her dedication.  How Sweet the Sound 

Oil Painting Expressions

Oil Painting Expressions, an online oil painting course, has kicked off Session Four. I am teaching the first lesson, Ageless Beauty. There are 8 lessons from 8 talented artists plus the new Oil Basics Brush Ups series. New to oils? We make it easy to learn! Watch and paint along with the short tutorials in the Oil Basics Brush Ups Series covering topics like surface preparation, blending, leaves, twigs, fruit, flower petals, shapes, gold leafing, varnishing, and more. Already an accomplished oil painter? Then you can pick up some valuable oil techniques to add to your skillset! Visit www.oilpaintingexpressions.com to find out more. Join us for 11 months of painting inspriration and learning all in the comfort of your own surroundings!gold leafing, varnishing, and more. Already an accomplished oil painter? Then you can pick up some valuable oil techniques to add to your skillset! Visit www.oilpaintingexpressions.com to find out more. Join us for 11 months of painting inspriration and learning all in the comfort of your own surroundings!gold leafing, varnishing, and more.  Already an accomplished oil painter?  Then pick up some valuable oil techniques to add to your skillset.  New to oils?  We make it easy to learn.

Visit www.oilpaintingexpressions.com to find out more.  Join us for 11 months of painting inspiration and learning all in the comfort of your own surroundings.

Summer Hydrangeas at 10,000 ft

 My Aunt has a beautiful old house in Victor, Colorado.  I think she has owned it for more than 50 years, and the house is well over 100 years old.

Victor is a famous gold mining town in the mountains West of Colorado Springs.  It is just a few miles from Cripple Creek, known for its gold boom days, which is booming again today!

My husband and I had the privilege of spending a few weekends at the Victor house this summer.  It was a much welcomed escape from the heat, and I spent the days painting!

The house is filled with antiques from my Great Aunt Pearl, my Great Grandmother McComb, and my Grandmother.  These furniture pieces, and china and glassware are all familiar, and I feel surrounded in the present and the past all at once.  Imagine sleeping in my Great Grandfather's brass and iron bed!  Grandpa McComb died long before I was born, and there I am sleeping in his bed!  Who knew?

On our trips to the Victor house, I discovered this old chair, It was begging me to paint it.  With my Aunt's permission, I painted these hydrangeas and plums on it while my Aunt watched and read the Bible.  She was thrilled with the result, and I was thrilled with the time we shared together!

There is another chair under the house that is calling to me!  This next summer I will be painting on it for sure.  In the meantime, I found an old 'pocket stove' that is demanding embellishment.  It will be at the Victor house next summer disguised as a table!

Decorative painting is a lifestyle for the young and old.

2011 Woodpile Projects

In January of 2011 I challenged myself to paint one project a month from my extensive woodpile.  I can proudly say that I rescued twelve pieces from a dusty old shelf life and brought them into the world of decorative living!

Some of these projects were unfinished pieces from as long as 25 years ago!  Others were designs that I had admired by other designers, and after all these years, I still wanted to paint them.  Still others were pieces that were painted to finish out a set of place settings or were seminar projects that I had designed myself.

Decorative Art is an art form that has existed from early man and has evolved as our tools and skills have improved.  Leaving a cache of unfinished projects and all the painting surfaces that I have collected over the years would be a real shame!  I want to add my "2-cents worth" to the history of Decorative Art so I am setting my goal again for the new year.  Paint one project a month from my woodpile!  I have found a real sense of accomplishment and inspiration to design and create more!  It is exciting to anticipate the pieces that I will be painting this year!

My Christmas Card Box

Something decorative with pink roses, of course, is called for to keep Christmas cards during the holidays or to treasure at any time of year.  This is a lid to a wooden box, with a cut-out so that the cards lying in the box can be viewed through the lid.  I purchased the box over 15 years ago, and finally painted it just this last week.  The design is from the book, Country Gardens from Cedar Crest.  I love Mary Jo Leisure's designs.  I admire how the line of her designs flow...with such ease and grace.

Roses are a favorite painting subject of mine, but I also like to paint blackberries, raspberries, and mulberries.  I remember fondly the mulberry trees at my Aunt Eileen's house in Kansas.  My cousins and I used to pick them and eat as many as we threw at one another.  We all would have mulberry stains on our clothes, but I don't remember every getting in trouble for that!  Everytime I see a mulberry, I think of Aunt Eileen and the fun we cousins had forming clubs, building club houses and mulberry fights.  This Christmas, Aunt Eileen will remembered with every Christmas card I store in my new card box.

Thank you to Beverly for hosting Pink Saturday!

A White Hot July Day

A white hot July day presents the perfect opportunity to paint something cool.  My thoughts immediately drift to delicate cool, soft pink and lavendar English roses.  Of course!  The background selection is easy.......white.  Now it is time to find the right design to paint.....something loose and flowing.  There it is.  Just the right surface, a "peek-a-boo", stand-alone frame.  Roses and ribbon.

On my palette, I squeeze out Burnt Carmine, Radiant Violet, Raw Sienna, Naples Yellow Light, and Titanium White.

With a crystal glass of ice cold violet and rose tea, I am ready to paint the roses.  Warm and cool whites create the delicate pinks and lavendars as I pull the rounded petals through the undercolor placed in the flower form.  Layering on petal by petal with more white or naples yellow light.  A touch of burnt carmine.  A speck of raw sienna.  An accent of radiant violet.  Add some depth.  Accentuate a light.  Value creates form.  Warm up a petal, cool one down.  Play with  the temperature of the color.  Temperature creates depth.  It's hot outside.  My brush is "smoking", but I am lost in a my pink zone creating cool, soft, delicate beauty.

Now the leaves.  They should be cool greens with a warm tone here and there.  I'll use chromium oxide green, a little cadmium yellow pale, black and some white.  Add an accent of burnt carmine to relate them to the roses.  Maybe a touch of radiat violet.  Oh, and some raw sienna, but not too much.  I don't want the leaves to look too much like autumn.  Vary the values of the leaves.  Create interest among the leaves with warm and cool tempertures within the leaf colors.  There, just right.

The ribbon is next.  Maybe I will make it a littler warmer than the roses.  I will use the same color as I used in the roses, just more radiant violet and naples yellow light.  Maybe more burnt carmine to blend with the radiant violet.  That makes a pretty, cool pink.  Twists and folds, flips and turns.  Play darks against lights to get the ribbon to flow through the design.  Again, work with the temperature of the colors.  That looks good.

Finally, assess the design again, as a whole unit.  Add some intense color here and there.  Burnt carmine.  Some white, maybe.  Now it "pops"!  Oh, tone down a rose petal with a light green used in the leaves.  Ok, that is better.  Maybe one of the pinks on my pallete would look good on a leaf.  Yes, that works.  I am loving it!

The final touch.  Add stems and tendrils.  Fleck with a soft, cool green.  Sign my name.  Done!

I can truly say that this painting was inspired by the heat.  A white hot July day.

Happy Valetine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day!  I found this vintage card several years ago and added my own touch (the painted roses) to entice you to be my Valentine. .
Thank you to Beverly for hosting this very special Pink Saturday.

          Happy Pink Saturday

2010 Shelf Projects

Last year I challenged myself to paint one thing a month from my 'wood pile'. I can proudly say that nine pieces were saved from a shelf life and brought into the world of color! These are the items that were brought to life to be enjoyed and used.  I am now working on my first piece for 2011.  January is not over yet!

Roses on Nook Cover

Happy New Year everyone!  This new year I am starting off with a good book on my new Nook.  For years I have been reading books on my Palm.  Yes, I still have a Palm T3.  I take it with me on all my travels.  Well now I will be reading books on the Nook.  As soon as I opened it this Christmas, I knew that I would be personalizing the pink cover with roses.  This is a photo of roses I painted.  It actually goes with my luggage that I painted three years ago!  A girl has got to be pink co-ordinated at all times.  Thanks go to Beverly at How Sweet the Sound for hosting Pink Saturday.  Keep it pink for 2011!

It's Pink Saturday!

My posting for my 2nd Pink Saturday is a Gift Tag.  I love the romantic, Victorian look, and delicate pinks suit my sensibilities.  I made this tag using a combination of my artwork, digital elements and computer skills.  They are so much fun to create.  I make one and an idea for another is born.  I can foresee that there will be many gift tags!

Thank you Brenda at How Sweet the Sound for hosting Pink Saturday!  Thank you to all of you who took a moment to welcome me.  It is taking me a while, but I am making it to all of your blogs.  All of you are so creative and inspiring.  It is fun to be associated with so many connoisseurs of Pink!

August Already

I can't believe that the last time I posted on the blog, it was cold and we were still experiencing snowy days in May!  I have been busy, but if I were to list the things that have been taking up time, it would not seem like much.

I have been painting though!  This is one of the things I painted up.  It is a small stand alone frame which can accommodate a mirror, photo, or just be pretty as a peek-a-boo piece.  I have so much wood to paint, so I am going through the stacks, painting them with some of my designs or others who have designed for the pieces.  It has been fun working up the designs and the feeling of accomplishment is good too.

Match Those Switchplates!

Decorative painting lends itself to a myriad of surfaces.  I painted some switchplates for one of my husband's customers to match her new kitchen tile, and now the word has spread!  I just finshed another set of nine for one of her friends.

This was painted using acrylics, and then sprayed with a matte finish.

These are a lot of fun to paint.  Guess I had better paint the ones in my own kitchen to match the marble backsplash!  Yes, the marble is pink!  Did you have to ask?

Easter Bonnet

It's Resurrection Sunday!  He is risen!
As children it meant new dresses and of course, Easter bonnets.  Every Easter morning there would be family photos taken of all of us in our yard after church.  As girls, we loved the new dresses, hats, gloves, and even new jackets or coats that matched the dresses.  As an adult, the tradition of new Easter clothes was carried on but with the knowledge that they represented the new life found in Christ's resurrection, and that every Sunday was a celebration of Easter!

Though I wore hats as a child, I don't wear them much anymore, but my sister, Nancy, wears hats all the time!  It must be a residual from the Easter bonnets.  I do paint them, however.  I love painting hats, and have painted several.  This hat is representitive of one of my Easter bonnets, and it was one of my favorites.

As I don my Easter clothes this morning, I will be celebrating the sacrifice that was made for me that I might live an abundant life, full of joy, and on that Great Day, to be reuinted with loved ones, praising my Saviour for eternity.  Hallelujah!  And I will be remembering all of those Resurrection Sundays of my sisters and I sitting demurely in the church pew dressed up in our new Easter bonnets.

Hydrangea Decor

Next to roses, hydrangeas are my favorite flower. I love hydrangeas! I am in love with the huge blossoms that stay on the flower until you cut them off. They look just as beautiful in a fresh bouquet as in a dried arrangement. I like the "looseness" of the petals, the huge leaves, and the colors of the blossoms, fresh or dried.  Throughout my house, one can find hydrangeas crafted in stained glass, dried hydrangeas surrounding a mirror, hydrangea print coverlets, hydrangeas fashioned in tapestry, and paintings of hydrangeas. I even used hydranges in my wedding bouquet and as decoration on the wedding cake. That is how much this flower!

Hydrangeas are often thought of as a truly Victorian flower. In the large manor houses of England, it was easy to fill huge vases with their beautiful blossoms since hydrangeas grow to be as big as a salad plate! That may be why in the language of flowers they are known as "A boaster".

Here at Rosecote hydrangeas are a little harder to grow. Though I may not have a hydrangea tree, I purchase a hydrangea bush every season, and when it starts blooming, there is much celebration, and should I say, even a boastful attitude!

You may also be in love with this flower. As a decorative artist you may have tried to paint your own interpretation of its masses of petals. Whether painted suggestively and loose, or with photo-realism, their old-fashioned loveliness make hydrangeas utterly desirable.

Books to Inspire

Though I am not a china painter, I love painting on matted china. Matted china is porcelain bisque with a "mat" fired on the surface giving it a fine tooth. This is an excellent surface for painting with oils because the surface does not chew up the bristles on my brushes. Looking at the all white surface can be daunting. The curves of a vase or teapot have to be taken into consideration when creating the painted design. Often, there are embossed elements on the surface that influence the design process. As I sit and stare at the china piece I want to paint, the question is always, "Where do I begin?".

I have found a book written by Debby DuBay, titled, Antique Limoges at Home, which is filled with beautiful color photographs of rare Limoges of all descritpions. The pieces are breath-taking and the photograpy is excellent. Besides being a must-have book for collectors, it offers inspriation for the artist. If you love painting china, you will want this book. Ms. DuBay has also written a book titled, Living with Limoges. Both of these books are in my library.

Leafing through these books at night before I retire fills my head with design ideas, color combinations, and by morning, I know just what I am going to do with that blank china piece.