Window Pictures, Courtesy of Frost...

It's been so cold it's breathtaking...I've been keeping busy with things...artwork, editing the book, playing around with the photos I've been taking of our winter wonderland...keeping warm is a priority...

I love incorporating the icicles dangling above...

Playing around with tinting the black and white...silver and gold...


Nature continues to impress me with its beauty...thinking about future paintings...

Since it seems I'm on a black and white theme, here's some pencil drawings that I finished...


December Winds, 12/11/2009, pencil drawing on paper 14 x 11 inches

These tend to be my mental putterings...an aimless relaxation...they take a very long time to make, they're very satisfying to me while I'm working on them...at times they're very odd...although I do try to "plan", they tend to be their own thing in spite of what I think I want to do when I lay down the first marks...


Winter Sonata, 1/1/2010, pencil drawing on paper, 14 x 11 inches...the first of the New Year...

I know, I posted this over at Upstate Girl...but just in case you didn't get there, I snapped this photo yesterday afternoon from my back window looking out at the hilltop behind us...all of the trees were coated with a fine layer of ice earlier in the week, then snowed upon for a couple of days more...and voila, winter wonderland! It's very pretty out there, and I have my camera full of pictures...so much to see, so much to look at...

In which I study stones, they are the bones of the earth...

Split in Half, March 29, 2009 (I found a rather plain looking rock broken, and found a treat inside!)


While I was working out some unproductive stress last weekend (I couldn't concentrate on anything good), I went outside with my little camera and played with some field stones on one of our walls that my Fred built some time ago, it has taken on an "old wall look" since it was covered in weeds and vines, so I cleaned up around the stones, pulling the vines and weeds off (with bare hands, I got pretty dinged up, but didn't care), some stones tumbled about, so I rebuilt what I could move (I didn't lift anything too heavy)...I just went to town on it...

I shouldn't have been doing this nonsense, but I didn't know at the time that I had a herniated disk in my lower back. (*Note: The MRI was done on March 6th, the follow up appointment was originally set for March 13th, but it was changed to April 1st...oh, yes, I was assured by the receptionist, if there was "something serious" I would be contacted sooner rather than later, yeah, right...they really got on that. This MRI was originally requested in November because I had three numb toes, but guess what, my insurance company denied the request. Bastards. I could've been treated for this sooner!)

So...anyway, the wall and the stones...

Who would've thought these dusty old things found lying about in the dirt would be so pretty? THEY'RE so GORGEOUS!


Studying Stones, Amalgam, March 29, 2009


Bones of the Earth, Moss and Mold, March 29, 2009


Studying Stones, Amalgam, March 29, 2009 (I saw this pale blue, speckled one earlier in the day, and it kept calling me to come see it again!)


Bones of the Earth, the red one and the scratched one, side by side, March 29, 2009



Bones of the Earth, Chipped, March 29, 2009

Bones of the Earth, Forces of Time, March 29, 2009

Cracks and crevices, moss and scratches, character lines and chips...beautifully simple.