I had the day off and I experimented with some new techniques in acrylics. I like using lots of layers of washes and paints. It is hard for me to stray away from darker colors, I guess reds, greens, and golds are my "comfort zone", but I am working on it! ha ha The top painting depicts what some of us think about when we are at work all day--hee hee. The bottom painting is loosely based on an old photo of my mom and her twin. The photo was from about 1940. Both of these paintings are available on Ebay now~ It is easy to find my stuff by typing "folk art cris" in the Ebay search bar.

I have been experimenting with still life and landscape paintings. I will list this still life of three pears tonight on Ebay.

New Friends

My son, Jordan, started the University of Missouri--Kansas City this past January. He made so many wonderful new friends from all over the world. He will be renting a house this coming school year with 3 of them; One is from Missouri, one is from Nigeria, and one is from Ghana. It is amazing to see them discover that they have more in common with each other than not!

Jordan was in Hobby Lobby with me this week and asked if I could make a piece of art for him to hang in his new home. This is what we came up with together! I hope his roommates will like it too~

Laura and Kitty

I finally had time to paint today! This is a 12" X 16" gallery stretched canvas in a modern impressionist style. It is loosely created of my daughter Laura in the garden with her kitty. Her kitty doesn't really ever go outside and if she were holding him out there, you can bet fur would be flying and he would be clawing to get away. He does cuddle up in her arms in the house though! I will be listing this on Ebay tonight.

Jazz Concert!

Music is a big part of my life. Although I, personally, am not musically talented--lots of my family members are. My dad played the trumpet in a band on the weekends as I was growing up. All those old big band songs bring me such memories. All three of my children were involved in band and choir all through high school. My son is an accomplished pianist and plays the guitar.
My brother-in-laws, niece and nephew all play guitars too. At our family gatherings you are more likely to witness a jam session than a game of touch football.

This 12"X12"X1.25" (deep sided) stretched canvas is a very "musical" painting! It will be listed on Ebay tonight!

Here is a clip of an impromptu performance by my kids--Tara, Laura, and Jordan at Christmas time.

PATRIOTIC GIVE AWAY!

ORIGINAL FOLK ART PAINTING
GIVE AWAY!

I just realized that I recently had my 100th post so I would like to give away a painting I just finished in time for the 4th of July!

I will give one entry for commenting on this post and another entry if you would like to mention it on your blog! Just let me know if you do. But please HURRY! I will draw a winner at noon (CST) on Tuesday, June 30th. I would like to be able to ship the painting on Tuesday with hopes of the winner receiving it before the 4th! Sorry for such a fast turn around!

A print of this painting will be available in my Etsy shop. All of my art prints have an introductory price of only $6.00 with Free Shipping! Check it out. Thanks to all my fellow artists and bloggers for your support and kind words over the past year---Good Luck!!!!

A Winter Memory

I have been working on this painting for a while and it evokes such nostalgic memories for me. When I was growing up there was a pond down the hill from where we lived and I remember ice skating on it in the winter. I can still feel my heart drop when cracking sounds could be heard as the ice shifted under your feet! It was kind of scary, but worth the feeling of soaring across the ice (in actuality, I was probably scuffling along, ha ha). We only had a couple of pair of skates between us, so we had to take turns. When the moon was fully upon us we would make the dreaded trudge up the hill toward home. Our fingers and toes were numb from the cold and we were anxious for the hot cocoa Mom surely had awaiting us!

This is a medium sized, primitive landscape, 12" X 12". It has lots of detail and shading for a melancholy feel. There is some subtle glittering where the moon hits the snow and ice. I really like how this one turned out, but I will be listing it on eBay soon. I think it would make a fun Christmas gift for someone.

CLEARANCE SALE!!

I have a few paintings sitting on my shelf, so I am listing a lot of them with a $.99 starting price just to move them. Here is one of them I am listing. In Queen Bee I used actual pages from an 1800's Grimm's Fairy Tale book. Go to my Ebay and check them all out.

I am still adjusting to the school schedule, but everything is going well. All my little ones were happy to be back at school. Not one tear! Not even from the "newbies"! My family is going to the Lake of the Ozarks this weekend for fun and relaxation at my sister Kerry's condo. We will be picking up my daughter Tara from college too, so I am excited to see her! It's been two long weeks--longest we have ever been apart! I am looking forward to the trip. Also my niece, Kelsey will be coming up from Dallas where she is in training as a competitive figure skater. I'm sure we will all have a great time!

Hi Everyone! Here is a progressive slide show of my latest painting. I have been wanting to try to do this, though I finally had to have my sisters help me. Two of them came over to swim today, you could only stand to be outside if you were in the water. It was 95 degrees but the humidity made it feel much warmer! I look forward to Autumn with bittersweet feelings. I love the season, but with it comes "back to school"--for me too--and all of hustle and bustle and hurrying here and there. Also, I will be packing my oldest up to move away for the first time. She went to community college here for two years and now she will continue her education in Psychology at Missouri State University (go Mizzou Tigers). I am excited for her but at the same time I will miss her a great deal. We are very close. My middle daughter will be starting at a community college as an art major. We are both excited to go shopping for all her new art supplies soon! Fun, fun, fun! My youngest, a son, will be a junior in high school. All he has done this summer is eat, sleep, eat, eat, eat, sleep, eat eat eat some more---and he is still so skinny! Those were the days, huh?