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Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Let's Paint A Gingerbread Man Stocking

Welcome. I am so happy that you stopped by. M garden gate is always open for you to come in and sit and relax with a cup of hot tea while I share with y0u the inspirations for my art. This time of year I receive lots of requests from beginning artists on how to paint a very simple little Christmas painting. We painted Snow men and Snow ladies the past two Christmas seasons and you can visit my December posts in 2010 and 2011 if y0u want to see how to paint one of them. This year we are going to paint a stocking with Gingerbread men.










My cookies have been baked and the cookie jar filled.







Let's join Bentley, My Studio Assistant, in the garden to

Finding inspiration . . . . .


Here . . .

There . . . .
Everywhere . . . .
I wanted to use burlap in some of my Christmas decorations this year and thought the Gingerbread men with brown lettering would be nice. You are welcome to copy my simple drawing. I paint on a cotton canvas board and varnish with 3 coats of matt acryic to protect my sign from the weather. You can paint on a wooden board, slate or whatever material you choose. Once you have your drawing done simply paint the colors of y0ur choice. I painted my stocking red. Do not be afraid to get started - painting is as simple as coloring in a coloring book - only you use a brush and acrylic paint.
I added some greenry and the Welcome sign is ready to hang on a picket fence, gate or front door. Have fun.





Thank you for stopping by. I love hearing from you and sincerely appreciate your visits, e-mails, comments and those of you who follow my blog. Please let me know if you have any questions or would like to see me paint something special.




Have a lovely day. Blessings, Erin


Friday, November 18, 2011

Thanksgiving Blessings

Welcome. I am so happy that you stopped by. My garden gate is always open for you to come in and sit and relax with a cup of tea during this busy week before Thanksgiving. I like to get a head start and bake pumpkin bread and freeze it. When unexpected guests stop by I just slice the frozen pumpkin bread and pop it in the toaster and serve with a cup of hot spiced tea. . . easy and yummy.




"There is harmony in Autumn, and a lustre in the sky, which through the summer is not heard or seen, as if it could not be, as if it had not been." Shelley





Let's join Bentley, My Studio Assistant in the garden to enjoy the Autumn harvest and relax for a few minutes before the Thanksgiving Holiday rush.

















"Thanks be to God for his incredible gift." Corinthians 9:15





Thank you for stopping by. I love hearing from you and sincerely appreciate your visits, e-mails, comments and those of you who follow my blog. I will be back after Thanksgiving and we will paint a Christmas "door greeter"stocking filled with Gingerbread Men suitable to hang on your front door.




Wishing you and your family a Happy and Joyful Thanksgiving.




I would like to take this opportunity to say Thank You to our Servicemen and Women who have given up so much to protect our freedoms both here and abroad and are away from their families during the holiday season.




Thanksgiving Blessings, Erin

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Completed Sunflower Painting

Welcome. I am so happy that you stopped by. My garden gate is always open for y0u to come in and sit and relax with a cup of hot tea while I share with you the inspirations for my art. Several weeks ago I shared with you a Sunflower painting that I was working on in my garden on a sunny Fall day. The sun went down before I finished and I promised to show you the completed painting.

Now it is raining and cold in Southern California and we need to bring the Sunflowers inside. Let's join Bentley, my Studio Assistant and go inside.







My kitchen has lots of light and is one of my favorite places to paint inside. I picked the last of the Blue Saliva, put the Sunflowers in a blue and white vase and added some red Roses and one of my vintage tablecloths to the new setup. The previous painting had a pot of ivy and two pears that I decided to paint out.



Finding inspiration . . . . .


Here . . . . .


There . . . .


Everywhere . . . .

I painted the scissors handles red to add a touch more of red to the painting and decided not to add the pattern of the vintage table cloth as it was just too much color. I added the blue and red stripe instead.


The completed painting.


Since so many of y0u ask to see where the paintings end up in my home I took a photo of the room where it ended up. The room has some vintage white wicker furniture and red toile, red check and red stripe with old Ralph Lauren florals.




"The light of the eyes rejoices the heart, and good news refreshes the body."


"Proverbs 15:0.

Thank you for stopping by. I love hearing from you and sincerely appreciate your visits, comments, e-mails and those of you who follow my blog. Now that we are moving into the Holiday season I will be busy painting Christmas paintings for a fundraiser for one of our local charities and will share them with you. Since we painted Snowmen and Snow ladies together the past several years - I am thinking that we can paint a simple Gingerbread Man of Lady together.




Thank you for all of your e-mails and comments about the fact that I can not leave any of you comments - I have tried everything that you suggested and so far nothing works for me - when I click on preview the comment I wrote disappears and shows "anonymous." I will keep on trying as I miss not being able to leaveyou a comment.




Have a lovely week. Blessings, Erin

Thursday, November 3, 2011

Fall Colors In The Garden




Welcome. I am so happy that you stopped by. My garden gate is always open for you to come in and sit and relax while I share with you the inspirations for my art. Let's join Bentley, my Studio Assistant, in the garden to enjoy the Fall colors.





I love the red/orange color of the last of he Zinnias.




A few Nostrums are still growing.




Orange and yellow Pansy plants are perfect Fall colors.


Grasses are wonderful as background filler during the Fall months.




"Winter is an etching, Spring a watercolor, Summer an oil painting and Autumn a mosaic of them all" Stanley Horowitz










"A cheerful heart is a good medicine." Proverbs 17:22



Thank you for stopping by. I love hearing from you and sincerely appreciate your e-mails, comments, visits and those of you who are following my blog. Please let me know if you have any questions or would like to see me paint something special.




I am still having problems leaving comments on some blogs in spite of the fact that I have turned off my log in on blogger and have heard from some of you that you are still having problems leaving me comments. My computer person feels it must be a problem with blogger.




Have a lovely week. Blessings, Erin