I have painted this small woods near where I live in the summer, but when it snowed here recently, I decided to try painting it en plein air each season or maybe each month. So this is winter's or February's painting.
This pretty little red rosebud was painted for Carol Marine's Daily Paint Works challenge. It is a mostly palette knife work.
I painted this, using for inspiration, photos (see below) that I took at different locals: the mountains above the tree line in Rocky Mt. NP in Colorado; a river that runs near where I live and a winter sunset in western Oregon. I left this painting on my easel after I painted it for a time, because I couldn't decide whether or not to place something in the snow at the bottom right corner. I finally decided not to complicate and detract from the point of interest - the sunset and reflection. So I called it finished and submitted it to Alice Thompson's Calypso Moon Artist Movement February challenge - Winter Landscape. 9"x6" acrylic on linen paper $35.
When it snows, most people can't drive until all the streets are plowed; cars that do go out may get stuck in the drifts. Snow can be bad for business, and going to work, etc. everything comes to a standstill. But then on the other hand, for a brief time the streets have a lovely freshness where people stop to chat, kids play where they couldn't venture before. In neighborhoods snowmen appear in front yards and sleds come out to play. Such is the yin and yang of winter.
This is a painting exercise done for Carol Marine's Daily Paint Works challenge. We had to paint something 8 times - 10 minutes per painting. I chose to paint this lime. It was a fun exercise and a great learning experience. 
Painted for Bill Guffey's Virtual Paintout February Challenge in Romania.
I painted this for Lee Brown's A Day Not Wasted February challenge. He posted a very nice photo of a Gondola on a Venice canal. The photo was great, but I just couldn't find the muse to paint another Canal and Gondola. But I did love the ripples in the water. So I cropped it and painted this abstract.
I bought this bright yellow primrose when shopping the other day because it reminded me of sunshine. I placed it in my window sill where I paint. The "weather outside may be frightful" but my little primrose brings a cheerful glow of the promise of spring. Thought I'd share the joy.
I painted this Mountain Chick-a-Dee for Gary Keimig's Wilderness Art Challenge for February.
I love to sit and watch the little Chick-a-Dee's and nuthatches that spend the winter here. We have a feeder for them filled with oily black sunflower seeds, which they feast on all day. They roost in the holly tree and butterfly bushes between forays to the feeder. At night they sleep in the towering firs and pines because of the falcons and eagles who often prey on them. We also have other birds who visit the feeder in winter, song sparrows, flickers, blue jays, actually any that have not gone south to warmer climes. But Chick-a-Dees are my favorite.
Around her vanity is the sweet smell of Gardenia, is it from the flower or is that the scent of her perfume?
This antique perfume bottle with its etched crystal stopper and gold filigree neck ring is from the 1920's or 30's and I would like to think was a Valentine's gift for someone special.
