Everyone needs Christmas presents! Even cats! Last year we wrapped catnip and toys up for our crazy cats to open… of course we couldn’t set the special presents out until after the Humans opened their presents, otherwise EVERY present would have been opened by cats. (Yes, there have been years when the cats have “helped” by opening all of the
A couple of years back I got a set of claw gloves from one of my good friends, and I love them! These are an excellent gift for any gardener, but especially for gardeners (like myself) who have a hard time manipulating small garden tools (like hand trowels) while wearing gloves. These allow you to get in there and loosen
We’re getting hot on the trail of Christmas now and I just wanted to reminisce a little about holiday traditions in our family. While we are not a religious family, Christmas has a very special meaning to us, and perhaps this year when many of us are sacrificing our holiday gatherings to keep one another healthy, it becomes even more
This is a painting that I made of kelp swaying in the currents. The medium is acrylic on canvas. It is loosely based on a photo that another artist shared of a kelp display at the enchanting Monterey Bay Aquarium in California. (I have had the pleasure of visiting the aquarium twice in my life, and I highly recommend it
This is a painting that I made of some bright pink fuchsias in a shady part of my garden. The medium is matte acrylic on canvas. I really like this variety of fuchsia because of the striking red branches and veins on the leaves. The brilliant colors make them really pop, even in the shady areas of the garden, and
When one is a gardener, during the off season, there is always going to be a little pining away over the memories of the fairer months of the year. 🙂 Here is a flashback to, oh, probably a couple of summers back. It was a year or so after we’d grown both Mammoth sunflowers as well as Royal Burgundy sunflowers
This is a painting that I made of an African Violet (Saintpaulia) houseplant. The medium is acrylic on canvas. This painting was gifted to my mother who loves African Violets and has a room in her house that is dedicated almost entirely to growing them. African violets have always been one of my favorite houseplants. They gracefully endure hardship, such
This is a painting that I made of a white face cow and her calf a couple of years back. The medium is acrylic on canvas. This painting was a gifted to my mother and father, who got to know their neighbor’s cow and named her “Old’ White Face” — she was very friendly and was definitely the boss of
This is a painting I made of a dark purple pansy that was growing in one of my window boxes. It is matte acrylic paint on canvas. I’ve got several kinds of acrylic paint — some is matte, some semi-gloss, and some glossy. I find that the matte has a very distinctive look, almost more like chalk — I will
Each year I come across at least one praying mantis. It is somewhat rare, though, and every time I normally stop in my tracks and stoop down to get a closer look. The size of the critter (probably 3-4 inches from noggin to butt) is always quite intimidating and I’ve never been one to pick up bugs if I’m not
This is a painting that I did of an owl in a tree with the moon behind. It’s acrylic on canvas. I have to be honest, here, I got the original painting idea from another artist’s painting that I saw when searching the web for inspiration. I’m taking it a step farther though, as I am doing a series with
We have a kid that is too old for pin the tail on the donkey, but not too old for a good birthday party game (hope that’s everyone, honestly — don’t ever get too old for a good birthday party game!!) A couple of birthdays back (since this one in 2020 sucked eggs for any kind of in-person parties) we
About a year and a half ago from this posting, we visited Addi’s diner in Springfield, Oregon, and tried to defeat the biggest pancake that I have ever seen! We failed pretty miserably. Even though it was darn good pancake, it took two of us to eat half of it! I would liked to have seen what they cooked this
I was introduced to kohlrabi at a very early age. My grandmother used to grow these and I would just eat them up like mad! As I grew older and my grandmother didn’t grow them as often, I began to notice that you couldn’t get these at the store. In fact, most produce clerks or home gardeners that I asked
Oregon is filled with surprising magical places, like Iris Vineyards tasting room and their lovely patio perched on a hillside, tucked away between the hills in the remote Lorane Valley. I saved this image to attempt to paint some version of it some day. I like the homey-ness of the door with the two potted plants at the end of
