Driving into a New Year!

"Daisy DeSoto"

A new year is here AGAIN! We are driving head on into another 12 months.  Seems as if they come faster and faster each year. My prayer for 2010 is that we will all be closer to God , our families, and friends. May you have daisies each day of this new year. They are happy and carefree.

Thanks for the friendship we have shared over the past year.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Coming Home

This painting reminded me of this morning here! Beautiful Snow!

Everybody is trying to get home for christmas.

Merry Christmas Eve!

Wisemen Still Seek Him

This painting was done using a Nativity scene from the hospital.  I take pictures of everything, everywhere!

You just never know when it will come in handy! As Christmas day gets closer, I hope we focus more on what the true meaning of Christmas is.  Not just snow people and presents! It is the Birthday of our Savior!

For those who paint, this is done on watercolor paper that I put gesso on.  It gives it a lot of texture.
Then painted with watercolor. 

On my cards i put "Wise Men Still Seek Him" in the right corner.

 It is framed with burgundy and gold mat board in a gold frame.

The Cowboy

The Cowboy was such fun to paint! All the things that it takes to make a cowboy.

May your Christmas be full of all that you love, starting with Family first!

Lots of laughter and fun!

Kid Nativity

When our kids were little, they were playing 'Christmas', and they had Keri's doll on a little wooden stool that they had painted in 4H. They were draped in towels. and had on their robes and they were so cute!

I can't remember if they were praying on their own, or if they posed! anyway, I took the picture and found it a few years ago, going through pictures, so I painted it. It has the story of Christmas written in the back. The original photo has the Christmas tree, but I wanted the barn look.

Special Delivery

Last year after Christmas I put some sketches up for this year, and forgot about them!

Today I was looking through them , and found the snow person with the bike, and I was inspired to just do it right then! and that is what I did. I have another bike ordered but I just had to do it while I was excited about it. This one is called Special Delivery. I was so into it, I forgot to put the special tag on the gift, so I just put the Merry Christmas sign in the front.

"Christmas Church"

We are iced over this morning. The grass and trees are so pretty and white! This painting was done by mixing my pure colors...red, blue, and yellow into liquid, in separate containers. You wet the paper and then pour the paint. Usually starting with your yellow where you want your light. Then you pour the blue in the sky with the red. They don't always turn out! It is just a guess sometime! That is why I like to pour, because you are always surprised. I was so disappointed when my yellow mixed with/ my purple sky and turned gray but it worked great by the time i got through. I did misket off the snow on the trees. The painting below, "Christmas Memories" was done the same way.

Gertrude Decorating

I guess i am feeling guilty because I haven't decorated anything yet! Just working on Christmas paintings! I love doing them, they are such fun. I love all the colors i can use.  This is 1 of a series of Gertrude. 

First Snow!

We have our first snow! It is only December 1st! It is so pretty, and cold!

It made me think of this painting I did about a month ago. We went to San Angelo, and took the wrong road  coming home, and ended up in Ballinger, and here was this beautiful old church. Of course I had my camera in my lap! I added the wreath and snow!  'It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!'

What Can I Give Him

I painted this snowman a couple years ago, and it was such fun. All the red, white and blue and flags!

During this holiday season we should be asking ourselves what we can give. I know I don't do that enough!

Time to Decorate

It is time to decorate again!  I can't believe how fast time goes by! From one year to the next.

This is a little Snow Girl with a helper that  I did a few years ago, with decorating in the back of my mind probably!  Everything is beginning to look festive already and it is still November!

Christmas is Coming!

Christmas is almost here! Once Thanksgiving Dinner is over, people start shopping, putting up decorations, etc. Anything that has to do with Christmas is such fun!  My prayer is that we will be sure and remember the REAL reason that we celebrate this very special holiday. I have done a lot of Christmas images, and don't ever want it to lose it's special meaning. I am so blessed that He gives me the ideas, and the images so that i can share them, as well as the true meaning that we have Christmas!

So here is #2  of my Christmas paintings, hopefully I will post a new one every other day or so.

Just for fun, to keep the season bright and merry!

 

All of these I can make into cards too, so if you are interested, let me know!

Manicure Anyone?

Manicure or Pedicure anyone?

This is the first new Christmas painting for 2009! I always get so excited doing these little snow people! They are such fun. I have a big collection of them now, and hope to continue to add to them.
This one was done for a beauty shop in Lubbock, for the girls that do the manicures and pedicures. I LOVE going and having this done! It feels so good, and I feel so pampered! Get ready for Christmas!!

I Pledge Allegiance

This Wednesday, November 11th  is Veteran's Day, and there is no way we could really express our gratitude to all the veterans over the years. We are so very blessed to be living in a country where men and women are willing to give their lives for us to live in a free America. I am married to one of those veterans, and have several in both our families who were too, and have a lot of friends who are veterans.
I am very proud of them all.
God has blessed America, and we should all ask ourselves what we could do to make it better.
I love to paint flags, and have painted several since 1990.  This is one that I painted this summer, and it now belongs to a man in Tyler, TX. He is in the army. It has the Pledge of Allegiance written on the red stripes.

Invitation to the Exhibit in Clovis NM

Yeah! The show at the Clovis Community College is up! It took longer than what I thought it would, but it was fun. I will post pictures after the reception, which is next Tuesday.  I feel very honored to have my work hanging there. There is one wall that is just Christmas, and the rest is other paintings. If you are close by at any time, stop by and see it!

Saddle Up!

I was asked to hang my artwork at the college in Clovis, NM in November and December, so I have been working hard to get some new work done. They said it was ‘Cowboy’ country so it gave me an excuse to do some western art…one of my favorites!

This painting is both transparent and gouache.

The  sky (and blue highlights) and the hair is gouache.  The rest is transparent.

Dont Fence Me In!

This old truck happened to be in O'Donnell, TX too. I love old things, especially the old vehicles.

 All of the old trucks there were behind the fence, so I had to put it in too!

Seems like I get caught up always putting what is there! I definitely like realistic!

I also relied on the gouache again for the sky, instead of transparent color

Laundry Day

 

A few weeks ago I went to O'Donnell, TX to visit a friend, and take pictures of the sunflower fields. We went to her parent’s home for lunch and when we drove up I saw this wonderful old building. They call it the washhouse because when her grandparents lived there that is what it really was. There weren’t any sheets on the clothesline but I thought it needed something! I LOVED this old building! It had so much character.
I painted it with transparent watercolor first, (bottom image) and still didn’t have it like I wanted it, so I re-did it using ‘some’ gouache, mainly in the sky.
This is one of the paintings that will be in the upcoming solo show that I have been invited to hang. It will be in Clovis, New Mexico in November.

Lunch on the Prairie

This is the third painting of this same subject. This one was one of the first ones

 and I was never happy with it.I stuck it back, probably 4 years ago.  I got it out and re-worked it with gouache...again.  I really like the backgrounds that are flat, and have so much contrast with the foreground. I also like the way it works with the transparent watercolor. I painted the sky, and the grass with gouache, and  left most of the pots just like they were.

Work Day

Both of these could be called 'Work Day'...The saddle is transparent watercolor, and the boots are done using graphite pencils.(Both have been sold)

  When I started painting, Western Art was what I wanted to do the most because I love it so much. After 'trying' to paint  horses, windmills, etc. I realized right quick that it was very difficult for me.   So I ventured off to painting other things...but I still love anything western.  My Granddad was on the last cattle drive that came through this area here.(West Texas, and Eastern New Mexico)  I grew up around his horses and his cowboy influence. He was such a special man! He remembered every horse that he ever owned, and their names,  and he would tell us stories about his horses, and his experiences every time we saw him.   I wish I had paid more attention to his stories now!  So I am back working on a few more western theme paintings here and there.  I love the smell of horses and leather, and I hope I can do the 'cowboy' things justice when I paint or draw them!

Artist Trading Cards

A couple years ago, I started making a few ATC's, known as Artist Trading Cards.  They are just litte pieces of work with your contact information on the back.  They are so much fun.  They are 2 1/2" x 3 1/2".  You can paint them outright, or use paintings you aren't happy with by cutting out parts of it. The top left one was a small painting.  On the others I just swished colors, inks, etc onto a piece of watercolor paper keeping some whites. I love to use gold metallic acrylic paint on them.   The coffee cup, and the last one have stamps, and i painted, in and around the stamped design. The Blue coffee cups are painted with blue gouache.

 You can buy the cards already cut to the right size, but the paper is flimsy.  I prefer to use my regular watercolor paper.   I recommend these for fun, then you can share them with your friends! 

Thanks to Karen Reimer for helping me get started on doing these!

'Diamond Reo'

This Painting, 'Diamond Reo' was chosen for Chris Unwin's new book, "The Artistic Touch 4" book to be out in December. I took this photo somewhere in New Mexico in a junk yard. Some of my favorite photo's come from junk yards!

We just got back from 7 days in Pennsylvania, so I am hoping to have something painted from there soon, if not, maybe a couple of pictures.

Ken's Hat

Recently we were in Cloudcroft, and Ken took his hat off and laid it on a post, so he could work on the pick up. The light was great, and most of the time, my camera is very close to me, so I took a picture of it. This is transparent watercolor, but gouache in the background. I really like the looks of the gouache used like this, and I love the white!! That is one of my favorite things about watercolor.

Tulips and Stripes

A couple of years ago, I sent in slides for this book, and never heard back from them. I accidentally found my name on the Internet along with this book, so I looked further and even emailed them, and found out that they had included this painting in it. I ordered it, and all my contact information in the book was wrong for some reason. I just figured they tried to notify me, and used the wrong email addresses.

Cloudcroft NM Sketches

We got to come to Cloudcroft for a couple days, It is so cool here, and the sky is always so pretty. I would never have dreamed I would be 'blogging' from a camper! Oh well..It is fun anyway. These are a couple of the sketches I have done, just for fun. I really love sketch books, and don't really sketch enough.

The wooden bear greets you, and the neighbor has all kinds of stuff growing, even squash growing in flower pots! The flowers are some he has setting in his 'yard.'

Just a note: the dragon fly, and the flower by the bear happens to be from a rubber stamp.

I thought it might add an interesting touch to the bear.

Birthday Flowers

This is a fairly new painting. It has been in one show, in Lubbock. We got our daughter these flowers for her birthday, and took them and put them in her house on her table for a surprise. She has a white tiled table with white chairs, and the back of that one was so pretty, I just had to try to paint it. The back ground is taken from a piece of fabric. I am always looking for pretty fabric since I quilt, but I also buy it for good back ground designs. I think the digital photo picked up on the background a little more than it really is. The flowers were not quite this big but I wanted to exaggerate them!

Little Windmills

"Little Windmills"

11"x15"

These were painted with a very pale underpainting of yellows and oranges. I love white flowers, and enjoy 'trying' to paint them. After I got it finished, it reminded me of a bunch of little windmills, so that is where the name came from.

2009 Yoakum County Art Show

This past week we had our Yoakum County Art Show, and this little miniature painting, won a first place. The idea came from being in a little shop in Lubbock, TX that is now closed. She had all kinds of chairs with flowers in them. Some had the seats taken out and flowers planted down in a formed pot, made from wire, moss and potting soil. They are really neat sitting on the patio or porch. The chair on my porch, is the one my daughter made for me last year. It needs some brighter colored flowers! I have a problem with wind, and some of the brighter ones didn't make it!

So be on the look out for old chairs! See what you can do with what you find!

The Sunflower that I posted earlier won a 1st place also.

Watercolor Wyoming Watercolor Show

Best Friends

by Suzy 'Pal' Powell

This is the other painting that was accepted into the Wyoming Show that will be held in Wyoming in September. I wasn't really expecting this to get in since i haven't done that many portraits. I hope to do some more in the future, and plan on taking some more workshops to learn as much as I can.

The 24th Watercolor Wyoming National Exhibition

"The Glass Factory"

This and another painting got accepted into the Watercolor Wyoming Show in September, at the SAGE Exhibit Gallery in Sheridan, WY.

This glass set up was a picture that I took in Third Degree Glass Factory in St.Louis Mo. We spent half a day or more there watching them blow glass, taking pictures, asking questions,etc. They had all this beautiful glass set up that the students had made.

I loved all the colors, and the shine, reflections, etc. And of course, I could see a painting in my mind! (They were so GLAD when we left! ha ha!)

www.suzypal.com

"A Farmers Nightmare"

This is truly a nightmare in a cotton crop. I love them though. They are tall and gangling but so pretty. They dance around as the wind blows them back and forth. They grow all along the turn rows, and the county roads. AND in our cotton!

This was from a photo that I took by our house. We have a barbed wire fence, and here was this lonely sunflower (not the correct name) and the sky was a gorgeous blue color that day. I got down and took it looking up at it to get all the fence. I have wanted to paint it for a while. I did NOT do it justice.

This is the first painting that I have done that is all gouache. Now I wish I had exaggerated the flowers ! Made them even bigger than they really are.

It is 12.5"x36"

Old Trucks

"Till Rust Do Us Part"

We were driving along when we saw this wrecking yard full of old vehicles, and of course I had a fit! Ken stopped and I took photos, and the minute I saw these two in the camera, I saw a painting and the name! It looked like an old couple who had been together for a VERY long time, so I named it "Till Rust do us part." It is painted on watercolor paper coated with gesso. I really like the texture that it has. Till Rust... was in the Wyoming Watercolor Show last fall in Sheridan Wyoming.It didn't win an award, but it sold before the show was over.

Cotton Bloom

We are feeling a little wind blown this morning! Last night we had probably 60+ mph winds! Our poor little cotton crop! We don't know yet how it made it through the ordeal. So I thought I would post a cotton bloom. This is what they look like when they first make a flower, they are pale yellow, and open up, and then they turn to a pink, then a darker pink before the cotton boll pushes it off as it gets larger. You can tell by the color how old the bloom is and how close you are to seeing the boll appear. Then it grows, until frost, or maturity, whichever comes first. Then it opens up and it is cotton. (for those who don't know how it grows)

As it grows, I will add more information on how it is doing!

This was painted with gouache too.

All Grown Up!

"All Grown Up" is another painting that I re-worked because I thought it was too pale. I really like for the color to show up, and with gouache you can brighten it up in spots, or darken if you need to. I love to paint old cars and pick ups, and have painted several of them. They seem to be popular. Most of them have been sold.

We LIKE Green!

I did this painting with transparent watercolor and wasn't happy with it, so I took some white gouache, and added it to the greens, and repainted it. I have been using more and more gouache, trying to get used to it. For some reason I am having problems getting my camera to get the true colors of the gouache.

That poor goat had that crooked horn and I think i should have straightened it out! But...I am bad about painting what I see, so this is what I saw. Two happy goats having breakfast...or lunch...or supper. They were fun to watch and to paint.

All Pumped Out

I thought I would put this painting on since gas prices are going up and up again!
I took this photo somewhere around Sweetwater, Texas, and just thought it to be a timely reminder of the days that go by so quickly! These are the sort of things i enjoy painting, things of yesterday and sentimental things.
"All Pumped Out" started out as transparent, and then I ended up using some acrylics with it. Much to my surprise, It won Best in Show in the Denver City (TX) art show this spring.

Daniel Smith Summer Sale Catalog

The new Daniel Smith Catalog is out...finally. It was hard waiting on it! I am very proud that they chose my painting, "Lobster Shack" for one of their summer sale catalogs. The painting was done from a photo that i took when my daughter and I were on vacation. I love that little shack! it was so colorful! The sort of thing that catches your eye, especially if you love color.

"Gone Wild"

Well, I am excited!I got into SWS for the 4th time!

One more and I can be a signature member!
YEAH!

I have been painting but not blogging. this is all new to me. There are so many things I want to paint...Is just hard to get to all of it!
The Painting "Gone Wild" is the painting that got into SWS. It is from a pasture full of thistle in Cloudcroft NM. I have never seen such a field of flowers ever.
They were at least 4 foot tall! Very 'eye' catching!
I did a lot of negative painting on this one, and enjoyed doing it!