Seaside & Sun

Acrylic on Canvas Panel

Today, Jenna wanted to create a special painting for her mom.  It rained almost everyday on their vacation to Seaside, Florida & ruined most of the delightful activities her mom had planned.

Even though it rained, Jenna said she still had lots of fun being with her family.

We came up with little painting as a memento of her vacation.  I think her mom will be very proud of her.

In this painting I loaded the knife for her but she completed the most of the strokes on her own.  She's learning more & more each time we paint.  I'm also learning a few things too.

Before the summer is over, teach a child to paint.  I promise you will learn something.

~ Sarah

Gold Star Sunflowers

6"x6" Acrylic on canvas

This is another project that I helped 7 year old Jenna with.  She quickly caught on to the sunflower stroke & completed this sweet little sunflower painting in no time.

I most definitely think it deserves a gold star.

~Sarah

Memories of Tuscany

16x20 Oil

I have many wonderful memories of Tuscany & LaVitaleta Chapel is definitely one of them.  We had just visited Pienza & all their wonderful cheese shops & were driving back to the villa on that crisp, fall day when ~ bam ~ there it was on the right side of the roadway in a freshly plowed field.  It was more beautiful than any of the pictures I had seen on postcards & calendars.  I knew then that one day I would paint it but wasn't sure just how.

This painting is representational of my memories as well as my dreams of Tuscany ~ large open doors & windows, sunflowers, poppies, peace and beauty, and the spirit surrounding this special little chapel.

- Sarah

Sunny and Blue

12"X12" Oil on gallery-wrapped canvas

This is another sunflower painting from the same set-up as one I post a few days ago.  When I end up buying sunflowers from the florist I try to paint several paintings from them.  All but one flower had started wilting so I had to also look at the photos I took.  The one remaining sunflower was still bright and sunny but blue.

Thanks for taking a look.

- Sarah

Sunflower Fun

8"x8" Oil on Panel

Just had to paint another sunflower after attending Dreama's workshop.  Hopefully doing a few of these little paintings will reinforce what I have learned.  Anyway, I do love to paint flowers.  That's something I haven't quite mastered with the palette knife.  At least, not to my satisfaction. 

I have been using Walnut Oil on these little paintings.  No solvents! No turp!  So far, I am fairly pleased with the results.  I just have a tendency to use a bit too much.  Also, after I lay in my transparent underpainting, I scrape off my palette, getting rid of the oil,  & then try not to use any more oil or very little.  I avoided oils for years because of solvents.  I just didn't feel like my respiratory system could tolerate it.  When I did start oil painting, I used the water-soluble oils.  They are ok, but in my opinion not quite as good as regular oils.  I still use them on some small palette knife  pieces & sometimes when traveling. 

Thank you for viewing my art.

-Sarah