Painting can be Worship

I was asked if I would paint, at the front of our church, during worship.  Yikes!  I said okay, and they told me the theme of the service would be "Joy" and to paint what brings me joy.  That would be pansies of course. I just have to look at them and I smile.  Unfortunately, the person organizing the event, called the night before the service and said they had made a mistake and the theme would be "Hope" not "Joy".

I love change, but I'm not good at painting something I haven't given a lot thought to and I'm definitely not a painting-a-day artist. Hmmm... Pansies are one of the first garden flowers for sale in the spring.  To me they say that winter is over and the warm summer breezes will soon be here. I think that Pansies are a perfect symbol of hope.  I'm not sure if anyone else caught that but it didn't matter.  I had a wonderful time painting to the awesome worship music coming from the band on stage and I look forward to doing it every Sunday of advent. 

My ten minute Pansy.  I posted it at a distance so you see what the congregation saw and not the sloppy details up close.  16"x20"acrylic on stretched canvas.

Lake Country Art Gallery: Current Exhibition - Annual Under 100 Show and Sal...

Lake Country Art Gallery: Current Exhibition - Annual Under 100 Show and Sal...:

This is a really neat show. I have seven Pansy paintings available for $65.00 each. Meet me there and I'll buy you a coffee.

I'm so excited!

Things are starting to get busy.  It's that time of year.  I love the energy that starts to build before Christmas.  There are craft sales going on all over the place.  It's so much fun wandering around all the pretty booths with their hand crafted items. I always try to drag my family along so I can suggest what I'd like for Christmas.  With it being so long until the 25th of Dec. I often forget what I hinted for and have such wonderful surprises when the day comes.

I also want to announce that I sold another big painting.  I've been calling it "Life's Journey" but the collector asked if she could rename it "The Ribbon of Life".  Of course I agreed even though the other name is written on the back.

"Ribbon of Life"

Tryptic 60"x 20" on gallery wrapped canvas

My goal has always been to increase my yearly sales by 5 to 10%.  The sale of this painting brings this years sales to double that of last year.  I'm so excited I could burst!

It's not a painting.

Oatmeal Bread

I know, it's not a painting but I like to think of it as a work of art. Now that the pansies have been delivered and I don't have any shows booked for a while (besides the virtual kind), I thought I'd ignore my painting schedule and do some baking.  I'll still be painting but not as often until the new year when I'll get back on track and be more productive.  Fortunately, I'll still have my classes every Wednesday morning.  Even though I'm teaching, it's a fun time and I actually get some quality painting time in as well.  

I haven't baked any cupcakes for Myra yet but it's on my schedule.

Lots of Pansies

The "Under 100 Show" is fast approaching.  I hoped to have eight pansies available but seven will have to do.  I love seeing them all laid out together...they look so colourful.  In my photo you will notice a pair of Red Shoes.  They are in honour of Myra and her "Red Shoe Day" series of paintings.  Go look at her blog and enjoy her amazing imagination and her colourful chairs.

PS.  I know I said seven pansies.  One of the above is a gift to a Special Niece who has shown exceptional courage in the past year.