Whelks and Leaves, Oil on 11x14 Canvas

Here is a little painting which was one of three selected for a local juried "small works" painting show this past summer. This is only 11x14. I have been doing more of these little ones inspired by the Daily Painters Blog. I have the two others from this series to share. I find it good practice to set up still lives. I was intrigued and challenged by the shape of these shells. These were shells gathered from the Longport, NJ beach after a Nor'easter. I grew up going to this beach and it was fun to pair the shells with my Pennsylvania leaves. I don't know if I caught the shape of the shells exactly, but I had fun trying.

Visit Bob! (Robert) Andriulli,

The school year is starting on Wednesday so you may not see an original post from me for a bit. I have a ridiculous schedule. I am teaching eleven classes during the first semester. I also have a student teacher. The poor soul. She will probably never want to teach high school after witnessing my load I'll self-medicate with Prevacid and Maalox. Nothing too exciting.

So, I will treat you all to a link to my mentor and painting instructor, Robert Andriulli. The man is amazing and an inspiration to me. I have been a student of his (off and on) since 2000. Lately, I've been too "overscheduled to drop in on his classes. Enjoy Bob's site . I believe you can just click on my post title to get to there. (My technological impairment is showing). If that doesn't work, click on his Artist link. Thanks for listening. I feel better now.

Painting "Pear Trees and Cabin" (WIP)

This is one of my love/hate relationship paintings. I don't know if I love it or hate it or both. I love certain things about it, but I think I may have killed it by overworking it to death. I was experimenting with thick applications of paint, layer over layers and scumbling light over dark. As you probably can tell, I started this in the spring, hence the amazing pear blossoms. I was captivated by the energy of the moment. There were bumblebees and honeybees buzzing around the pear blossoms. This is viewed from the back of Sam's old 18th century log house, which is literally falling down and has been patched with barn siding. The siding is also falling off. I am looking for feedback. Should I paint over it and start afresh?

If you want to LOL....visit "Cake Wrecks"

Attention all bloggers who are bored enough to visit this site: Please visit the above-mentioned link. Just click on my title and you will get there! This is the most hilarious site I've visited in blogville (except for Dive! of course). I lol-ed and Lol-ed. I give credit to daughters A & D for introducing me to this site! If you LOL as much as I did, please leave me a comment!

Otakon Fun 2008

As promised here are some pictures from Otakon 2008, Baltimore, MD. My daughter is one of the Cosplayers. Hint...She is dressed as a male character. A bunch of fan girls found her at the convention and would not leave her alone! They are still hounding her on line.

Hubby and I had fun too. I have a lot more pictures. The ones selected are pretty tame.

I only wish Otakon was around when I was a teenager...many moons ago.

For Dive and his Brit Friends

This post was made for Dive! and all of Dive!'s friends in bloggerland.

I told my daughter that you were poking fun at us (lard ass yanks). She wanted me to pass on a bit from her frequently viewed anime collection. There is a longer version that you should really watch, but being the kind soul that I am, I will save you the certain humiliation of the ending, and besides, it would take me forever to upload.

I will get back to pictures soon, I promise. I could not resist making this post today!

Fun Video from Otakon - Enjoy

I've been serious for too long. You've seen the Olympic synchronized swimming and diving. This is better! Time for Fun and Frivolity. Do watch until the end! Apparently they were playing this throughout Otakon in Baltimore on large screens. My next post will be some cos-players, but daughter "A" wanted me to post this first in honor of her birthday today! And yes...the tune it rather "catchy".

Reforestation II Painting

Sorry...This one looks out of focus, but since..I had nothing meaningful to say I decided to upload a painting. This is a 16x20 follow-up painting of Reforestation I. Reforestation I is very similar but much larger at approximately 44x47. This is a painting of the acreage between our house and my neighbor Sam's. Yes I am a bit of an old hippy and nature nut and If you haven't guessed, I like trees. We have preserved a little bit of forest here along with our dear friends and neighbors who own 24 acres of woods and meadow. The irony is that I visited an allergist for the first time last week and found that I am highly allergic to the trees around here...oak, hickory and birch. (I think I need to move back to South Jersey and paint pine trees). Note the little Charlie Brown pine in this landscape.

I enjoy painting the landscape around the property in fall, winter and spring but in the summer it is too green. I have difficulty differentiating between the greens when I paint and everything tends to appear too similar. I think the trouble is that I get bored with green. I had to get a different shade of green for my paintings of Ireland! I felt that there was quite a "variety" of greens there where our midsummer green tends to be a warm sap green which I mix with various colors to get a range. I see a lot more color in the fall and even in the winter. This is a winter scape. Sam's pond was also a winter scape.

On Friday I set up my easel outside and attempted to paint the sunflowers in the garden. I got a bit frustrated with the greenery in the background. The sunflowers are beginning to wilt and fade but the seed clusters are ripening and I find them quite expressive. Hopefully I will resolve my green issues and upload a work in progress soon.

Oh, one complication...Daughter A took the camera and two memory cards to Otakon. We had to order two more. She promised I could have some pictures to share with my blogging friends.

Rose Marie Harrison Murphy

It has been two years now since Mom has passed. I thought that I would have time to spend with her and tell her about things I never could when I lived through them. I imagined a time after my kids were old enough to leave for a few days... I pictured Mom, Shazza and me, drinking wine in some cheesy hotel room and laughing about adolescent angst. I wanted Mom to forgive me for all the hurt and pain that I caused her when I was an obnoxious adolescent. I always thought that I would have that time but I didn't. I thought we would have time to talk. We didn't. I'm sorry. I love you Mom.

Sunflowers with Aloe and Mango painting

As promised, here is the "other" sunflower painting. I personally like this one better. I reduced the flowers to more simplified shapes. These were the same flowers as the first painting. I worked on both simultaneously. I hope the picture is okay. I had to reduce the resolution because some of my photos were taking forever to upload. I will get to the works in progress soon, but this week I have been working on making a cosplay costume for my daughter. She is going to Otakon in Baltimore this weekend. She is dressing as a male video game character, but I am okay with that. Hopefully some fun pictures will follow!

Sunflowers in Vase

Hey friends. I am still uploading and happily revisiting the paintings I completed in the last year. I did two sunflower paintings. This is the first. I will upload the other soon. I love sunflowers and I have beautiful yellow, orange and blood red ones growing in my garden at the moment. I do not have the heart to cut them just to paint them. They honeybees have been been very busy "gathering" from these amazing flowers. I am currently working on about four paintings. I think I might have "overpainted" the one. I plan on uploading within the next few days and I would appreciate opinions. Some of the newest ones are causing me fits and refusing to upload! What will I do with these rebellious children? Also, most of my paintings are for sale. This is a 16x20, framed oil on canvas. Please email me @ anita.williams26@verizon.net if interested in any of the paintings I have posted.