Grain elevator

On a recent trip to Kansas to visit my mom, I did this really quick sketch of an old grain elevator. I think this took about 5 minutes. It was really hot out!

Have a great Sunday!

Torch Lillies

I sat out on the front porch and drew these the other morning. I wanted to capture them before they were gone for another year. It was actually a little chilly - only 56. The temps are already dropping in the high country, wonder if we'll have an early fall? And I could have sworn I've heard El Nino mentioned - maybe a snowy winter. That would be good! Especially after almost no snow last winter... Yes, I'm into weather, I guess I come by it naturally, my dad was a farmer and rancher until I was 5 or so and then he went to work for the State Department and was always watching the weather... I find it fascinating!

This is a sketch I did recently. Whenever I run out of things to sketch I do my hands or my feet. I guess I should practice self portraits... Summer is flying by and I can hear the weeds growing!!! Every time I go out it seems like there is a whole new crop of them!!!

Hope you have a fabulous weedless week! :D

An Iris

This is one of the irises from my yard. I wanted to sketch one of each variety but didn't get that done while they were blooming. I'm finding that I like drawing from life much better than from photos, your eyes can see so much more than a camera can... And I also notice now that I forgot to color the stem - oh well, use your imagination. :D

Have a great day and take a few minutes to do a quick sketch.

Blogversary giveaway!!!!

Okay, I'm finally ready!!! For my Blogversary giveaway I will be drawing one name next Monday, July 20th to see who wins both of these ATCs! All you have to do is leave a comment on THIS POST with your email address (example - purplepaint45 at yahoo dot com) and I will pick one of you!!!! If I can't get a hold of you I will have to pick someone else... Good luck! And thank you so much for all your support and encouragement! It's so nice to be back sketching, posting on this blog has helped me keep it up.

Thank you all for your comments!!! I did this the old fashioned way, wrote everyone's name down and cut them out and put them in a box and drew one name from the box and the winner is Nancy!!! Congrats!

It's my blogversary today!!!

I have been blogging for several years on my other blog, but last year I decided to get back into drawing and sketching and I started a blog just for that. Thank you all for your kind words and encouragement! I'll be doing a giveaway... not sure what it will be yet... so stay tuned.

My blogversary is tomorrow!!!

My blogversary is tomorrow! And I won't be here! BUT, I do plan on doing a giveaway! Not for this particular piece of artwork but for one especially for this occasion. I'll post more next week.

Battle of the weeds...

Every year I have a battle of the weeds. Well, I start out with good intentions... I don't like to use chemicals in the back yard because of the dog and the veggie garden so I try battling them by hand. Of course after pulling several huge black trash bags full, I give up... There is just too much art to do to spend all my time outside pulling weeds! Think of all the drawing, sewing, beading, soldering etc. I could be doing instead!!!!

Fake flowers

I don;'t usually draw fake flowers but I was waiting for a Doctors appointment back in May and got there really early so I was drawing everything in the office. Although during the winter I may just find some fake flowers and draw them, that is if they look realistic...

I have a blogversary coming up! Stay tuned - I plan to have a giveaway...

My favorite plant store is going out of business

I recently popped into my favorite plant store and found out they were going out of business, what a bummer! This place was awesome! A perfect place to go in the winter when you're ready for spring - those of you that know me know this would be all winter long! You can read my journaling to learn more about the place - it was magical! If I had seen fairies there I don't think it would have surprised me! They would have been peeking around the plant pots and fluttering around the waterfall and pond.

And while I was there for one of my last visits I talked Stephen into selling me a clipping off this rare Dendrobium (probably misspelled) orchid. It's awesome! The leaves are like velvet and a very, dark green, almost black with red lines. It's gorgeous! He said it's very rare - I went online and looked through tons of photos of orchids but never ran across anything like this one.

Happy Fourth of July!!!!