Artist Renee Lammers

  Beautiful Winter sunset on Sears Island.

  An Oak and Birch tree on Sears Island.

   Here is a stand of Birch trees. 

  Daisy took off and disappeared on Sears Island on Thanksgiving.  She had eaten an entire blueberry pie that morning.  We looked up and down the beach!  She was no where in sight.  Then suddenly she appeared emerging from the Sears Island forest.  She had taken herself on a hike on the homestead trail by herself!  Here she is wagging her tail climbing down the embankment to where we were all standing!

  Daisy and Duke received Frosty Paws doggy ice cream tonight.  They were jumping around so much the camera hardly registered them!  They went to Sears Island first for a swim.  Then they ate their ice cream!  What a wonderful day for these two golden retrievers!  They celebrate each painting sale this way! 

  Of course when Daisy and Duke are happy, then we are happy too! 

     The wood fire is blazing.  I made a nice beef stew!  Daisy and Duke are sleeping!  I hope we get a little bit of snow soon!

  "Hurricane Surf" 5x7 Oil on Copper Panel.  Framed and Shipped for free!   Sold today!

  "The Comber" 5x7 Oil on Copper Panel.  Also framed and shipped for free!  Sold today!

     How exciting!  This morning, I was suprised to find these two paintings sold off of this website!  Wow!  It is nice and rather special to sell paintings in the middle of the Winter!  What a surprise.  These two paintings will look really nice together. 

     Daisy and Duke will be celebrating with Frosty Paws ice cream.  This is a great ritual we have been doing this year.  I can see Daisy and Duke love of life increasing from this surprise.  They love it when I sell a painting or two!  Thank you!

     It is a beautiful sunny cool day here in Maine.  I have finished all of my commission paintings!  They were difficult!  I am pleased with the results.  I may go out today and do some sketching from the inside of the van!  Chilly outside!  There is no snow or I would be painting!

Have a great day!

  This is a close up of a painting "Thinking of George Sotter".  I did this painting a while ago.  Just thought you might like to see a close up of the building. 

     I have been working hard on a few commission paintings.  I can't show you them because they are gifts!  I enjoy doing commission paintings.  It can be very challenging.  I always try very hard while painting commission work. I like people to be pleased with their painting! 

    When I was twenty, I decided to paint my boyfriend's german shepard.  I had a key to his apartment.  While my boyfriend was working, I went to his apartment to photograph his dog.  I arrived to find Max, the german shepard, on guard duty. He was not the friendly "Max" I knew!  Sometimes when his master was home, this dog would cuddle up with me and take a nap!  This was not the case this day.  I had a camera with me.  I wanted to take a few great photos of Max.  The only photos I could get was Max ready to attack.  His teeth were showing.  His ears were back.  He was tense.  It was just impossible!

     I had to use an encyclopedia side view picture of a german shepard as a guide for this watercolor painting.  I put Max's spots and markings in the right spot.  I framed the painting.  I wrapped it up.  My friend was happy with his painting.  He thought it was great Max was protecting his apartment! 

     Winter time is a restful time!  It is getting dark here at 3:30 PM now.  It is getting colder.  Still during the day the temperatures are in the 30-40's.  Last night it was 15 degrees.  We have the wood fire blazing so hot some nights we have to open the back door of the sunroom!  It feels great to be really hot though.  Daisy and Duke have been going to the beach each day.  Today Robert told me Daisy swam out to a buoy!  She turned around before she reached the buoy.  Ocean temperatures are chilly! 

     Have a great Winter's night!

     " Nantucket Beach Houses" gifted to a wonderful couple who hosted my stay on Nantucket.

     I hope you had a great Thanksgiving! 

     My Doctor says I am in excellent health.  All of my test are normal.  He has no idea why the hospital said I had congestive heart failure or mitral valve prolaspe.  Maybe it was all of my blog readers prayers?  I do believe in this!   He was as amazed as I!  He did say all New England residents should be taking 1000 mg of vitamin D.  I am now doing this.  I think I am feeling more energetic!  I am also working out in a gym a half a mile away.  He said this could also help with energy.  Maybe all of my painting needs to be supplemented with exercise!  I don't think it could hurt.  This is great news!  Still it makes me wonder why I had so much chest pain!  Very strange.  Could have been bad food combining?  Who knows!  Have a great night!  I sure do miss painting outside.  There is nothing like it!

  One of the biggest challenges for an painter is how to survive on the profits from being an painter.  Luckily Robert is a physical therapist so that helps us.  Still I try to find food that is healthy and inexpensive!  Here are a few foods that I have discovered!

              1.  A frozen turkey, with a price of 6$ can feed a family for many days!

    
              2.  Refried beans in a can, with a price of 1$!  Delicious and very filing! 

              3.  Bean soup.

              4.  Sardines in a can!  Tastey. 1$ I always share my sardines with Daisy and Duke!

              5.  Eggs, 2$ will make giant omletes!

              6.  Have a huge garden!  I could do this if I weren't so busy painting!

              7.  Hunt for your meat!  I don't do this.  Robert can't do this either.  But you could! 

           
             8.  Yukon Jack Potatoes, dried peas, and kale make a great soup.  Facebook friends suggested.

        
             9.  Cheese ends in the deli area are good for making mac and cheese.

            10.  Curried meats.

       

            11.  Tuna fish casserole:  tuna, cooked macaroni, cheese, green peas, mushroom soup, and milk.

       
           12.  Split Pea soup with keilbasi or hot dogs or ham.

        
            13.  Beef stew with very little beef and mostly veggies.

         
           14.  Go fishing, clamming, or smelt fishing.

      
          15.  Go vegetarian.  You will save 50% off your grocrey bill! 

           16.  Costco's Rotisserre Chicken!  It is already cooked, tasty,and large!  Many dinners can be eaten!  A great idea from a loyal blog reader.  Thank you!

             
          17.    Two large turkey drumsticks placed in a slow cooker for tender turkey.   You can also put the drumsticks in the oven for a crispy texture!  

                     18.  This idea is from a lady who had to feed four kids on 50$ a week!  She would take a huge cheap piece of pork and put it in a crock pot or in the oven covered.  Bake it till the meat falls off the bone.  Add onion soup mix, water, salt and pepper.  She said she could make chili, tacos, pork pies, and stir fry.  

                     19.  Lentil soup.  Add lentils, garlic, onion, celery, one carrot, potatoe, cabbage, can tomatoes, bay leaf, dried cayenne pepper.  This is from another facebook friend! 

           
                   20.  Any root vegetable will make a great soup.  

                   21.  Spaghetti!

   
                  22.  Bean dip with homemade bread!


     I am doing fine for food.  I don't want to worry you.  I am looking for interesting topics to entertain you and help us!

  Robert and I were invited to Cob's Cottage Farm in Morrill, Maine today for curried wild turkey.  Kathi Peter's and her huband Les have lived on this farm for a few years with their jack russell terrier, Nell, and Ade, a corgi.  They have four black horses too.  We brought two christmas frogs toys for the dogs.  Here is Nell with both of the frog toys. 

  Nell and Ade just love to play outside on the path to the barn to feed the horses.  This is their daily ritual.  They chase each other around.  Ade bites Nell on the neck.  Then Nell runs around Ade a few times then bites her on her butt! 

  The curried wild turkey and rice was great!  We each had two helpings.  We also had a lemon mouse cake we brought them.  Delicious.  We had such a great time today!  We stayed for four hours. 

  Kathi Peters is a very successful equestrian artist.  Tonight we were discussing how an artist should figure out their target market.  She said my target market was Acadia.  Her target market was the drivers club.  I asked her what that was.  She said it was a group who drive horse carriages.  Very interesting. 

  Here is Robert with their horse and dogs.  I like to post photos of Robert for his family in Holland to see. 

  We sampled some homemade plum brandy and blackberry brandy.  Les was interesting describing his shooting of a bull moose a few years ago.  He said moose meat is the best.  Wild turkey was great.  It was a different texture possibly than domesticated turkey.  I really liked the curry taste.  He told Robert the best ways to shoot a turkey.  That was interesting too.  All the while Nell the jack russell entertained us by playing with her new frog.  Ade doesn't play with toys too much anymore.  I know they do still enjoy a toy gift! 

     I always enjoy looking at Kathi Peters's paintings.  The paintings are all over the walls of her cottage and studio.  There are interesting black paper cut pictures.  She takes black paper, draws on the white side of the paper in reverse, and then uses an exacto knife to cut out the image.  Very pretty results.  I would like to try this someday Winter day.  

     It is getting cold here in Maine now.  Soon we will have snow!  It was 34 degrees all day.  Bring on the snow! 

  "Perfect Pumpkin" 5x7 Oil on Copper.

      A few days ago this painting was delivered to it's new owner!  She loved this new painting.  She called the package full of happiness!  How nice.  Daisy and Duke celebrated the painting sale.

  Robert decided to do the honors.  You can see their tails were wagging!  

  Duke likes to eat his ice cream with his eyes closed!

  Daisy had a new tactic!  She took out the ice cream and chumped it like a cup cake.  Then she hounded Duke for his ice cream.  We had to drag her away from him!

  This is a funny thing Daisy does with Robert.  She looks back at him.  He always laughs.  I think she does this to get him to laugh!  Funny!

      We do have fun around here as you can tell!  I am working on two commission paintings this week.  They are top secret because they are gifts.  One is another chicken!  I like painting these chickens.  This one if a unique type of a chicken.  I had to spend a day or two researching the shape and colors of this chicken.  Facinating.  I think I could own chickens if it weren't for Daisy and Dukes overly animalistic ways! 

     I hope you are painting!  Thanks for commenting.  I have learned the more comments on a particular blog, the more importance that blog is given on goggle.  Who would have known?

  1.  Increase your visual memory.  With a photo infront of you it is impossible for you to increase your visual memory.  What is visual memory?  The ability of a painter to paint from memory.  

  2,  Draw compositions our eyes capture instead of what a machine captures. It is too easy to just replicate what a photograph captures when painting from a photo.

  3.  Paint the emotional impact of the scene infront of you.  Painting from a photo can create a feeling of replicating what is in the photograph. 

  4.  Understand intimately different qualities of light. 

  5.  Learn how to paint shadows correctly.  Digital photographs darken shadows and limit colors. 

  6.  Learn how to deplict different types of weather such as fog, rain, snow fall! 

  7.  Develop your artistic style!  Increase your skill level quickly! 

  8.  Plein aire artists often paint in groups and plein aire events.  I have learned a lot from my plein aire artist friends.   Painting by yourself in a studio all day everyday can be lonely!

  9.  Have great stories to tell your art collectors about each painting.  Sometimes the story can captivate a potential client!  It makes buying a painting more fun!  Nothing ever happens painting in a studio.  What are you going to tell your potential client...I hiccupped for an hour and had to take a break?  Or I kept sneezing while I painted this painting.  Gripping!!!

  10.  How can you paint nature by not knowing nature?  There are many lessons to learn from nature.  Orange fall leaves creates it's complementary color lavender tree shadows.  Sometimes these things are just not noticeable in a 4x6 photograph.  There are many subtle lessons to be learned outside.

I love painting outside!  I am going to get outside and paint soon!

1.  Maine is very beautiful!

2.  There are many people who buy art!  Tourists and residents support artists!

       They appreciate artists.  They go out of their way to see art and buy art! 

3.  Very diverse subject matter to paint!  There are seascapes, boats, trees, animals,

      mountains, forests, marshes, and more!

4.  Living expenses are less!  Car and house insurance cost less!  Food prices are lower.

5.  Fresh seafood.  I discovered low priced super fresh lobster!  You can buy these lobster at wharfs.

  They will pull the lobsters right out of the water!  For 20$ I can get a huge bag of fresh lobsters!

  There are usually 4 to 6 lobsters in this bag!  Fresh salmon and haddock can run 5-7$ a pound.

  It isn't frozen.  Fresh large scallops can run 13$ a pound.  Chicken seems fresher here as well.

  I have noticed the fruits seem fresher.  Apples can be purchased at apple orchards for 40 cents

a pound during Sept-Oct.

6.  Life seems more simple here.  I wear hiking attire most days.  I am not as concerned

about fashion.  Not many women wear make up.  I rarely see women wearing high heels. 

There are fewer stores.  We spend time outdoors hiking.  We also spend more time on the

beach.  There are fewer fancy cars or other extravagant things.

        11.  Fresh aire!  No more asthma inhalers for me! 

        12.  Fresh water!  Most water comes from our crystal clear lakes.  It tastes great!

        13.  Great hiking!  There are many trails with scenic views.

        14.  There are many islands to explore. 

        15.  Real estate can very very reasonable!   

         16.  There are many great professional artists who live here!  

         17.  Traffic is slower and easy to navigate!  Most traffic on US Route 1 is 35-50 mph.

      

        18.  Maine Winter's are not as severe as in some Northern states.  We get only get a  few feet of snow in the Winter.

        19.  Mainers are selective with their friendships.  When a Mainer does decide to be your friend, they are a good friend.  

        20.  There is a higher quality of life in general here in Maine.  Living in Maine is fun! 

     Here is Daisy and Duke in front of the 2008 25 foot Airstream International Oceanbreeze!  We put much hay around the perimeter of the Airstream for insulation.  Temperatures for the Maine 2007 winter were in the 0-30 degrees during the day.  Temperatures at night became as low as 15 below zero!  This particular winter was more severe than most of their Maine winters.  We had many north eastern storms.  Winds reached 50 mph easily.  I can remember being frightened inside the Airstream as wind literally rocked the trailer.  Duke and Daisy's eyes were wide and looked over to me for comfort! We watched tv to keep our minds off of the wind.  We did have cable tv for entertainment.  These new airstreams had Sony speakers giving a surround home theater feeling!  These trailers are amazingly high tech.  I did feel fairly safe.  We did evacuate a few times!

  

     We evacuated in land to Millinocket.  The coast line of Maine was supposed to be rocked with high winds and snow.  We decided to stay at a nice hotel near Baxter State Park.  We were allowed to enter the park until we saw snow flurries.  Then we were instructed to exit the park.  The park would then be closed for the season.  We saw our first mooses! That was exciting.  The one thing I did  miss while staying in the airstream was a bathtub!  It was nice staying at the hotel for a few days.  I remember enjoying being inside our room with bathtub amenities! When we returned home, there were many tall spruce trees fallen.  Luckily none landed on our airstream.  There was one huge spruce near our airstream.  This spruce tree leaned towards our campsite.  Luckily this tree stayed it's ground all winter! 

    

    The airstream was comfortable.  We all sat on the airstream's couch together.  Robert was usually by the door.  Duke and Daisy sat on the couch in the center. I sat on the end in the corner.  We watched a lot of tv.  When we had a storm we just turned up the tv!   Robert had cross country skiis.  At night after work he put on a headlight, skis, and cross country skied in the campground.  He loved it!

     We forgot to put enough antifreeze in the van. In Maine you need 50% anitfreeze in the radiator.  The van blew a head gastic early December.  The van just kind of blew up!  White steam shot out for under the hood.  We purchased a Toyota Prius.  Robert used this car for work.  I just stayed in the airstream all day and all night!  It was 50-60 degrees inside of the Airstream.  The furnace was very efficient. The propane gas was expensive.  We paid 200-300$ monthly for propane gas.  Our electric bill was also high, 200$ easily a month.  We did use an electric oil filled radiator heater most days.  Still it seemed cold to me.  I was use to 90 degree weather in Florida. I also didn't know how to dress for cold weather yet.  Fleece was the coldest material I was familar with.  None of the Mainers offered any advice.  Someone told us they were placing bets on how long we would last. 

       Daisy and Duke just loved the snow!  I will never forget the first time it snowed. I was asleep in the airstream.   Daisy had woke up, looked outside, and started to excitedly bark!  She jumped up and down on the couch just barking in a very talkative way.  It was a different sort of bark.  I looked out to see what she saw!  Snow!  It was snowing.  It had been snowing all night. I remember feeling nervous and frightened. I actually called Robert and asked him to come home.  He told me to go play in the snow with the dogs.  So I did.   I put all of my winter gear on, opened the door, and let Daisy and Duke play!  They rolled around.  They raced laps around the airstream.  They found a twig and played tug of war. I started to feel better.  I started to relax.  I built a snowman.  Daisy came up and inspected the snowman.  She grabbed the stone used for buttons. She ran away with it in her mouth!  Then she ran back and used her front legs to destroy the snowman!  She knocked the snowman' head right off. 

  

 Here is Daisy with a toy. 


 

 This is Duke.  Robert took this photo.  I just love it.

    

     I cooked a lot that winter.  The airstream had a gas stove.  I remember cooking a 16 pound turkey!  It was great!  I also cooked two swiss and bacon quiches.  I spent two hours following step by step directions from The Cooks magazine.  Food certainly tasted fantastic in cold weather! I gained at least 25 pounds.   

     We should have invested 60$ on a heater for the water hose.  Instead Robert would drag out the water hose, fill up the airstream, unhook it, and put the hose inside the campground office everyday.  Finally in January our airstream's toliet stopped working.  The whole system just froze.   What a nightmare!  We could do nothing about this.  So we used the Bass Harbor's Campground office's shower and restroom.  I am not sure what we could do if the campground owner's wouldn't have alllowed this!  Snow finally melted in late May!  In June there was still some snow on the ground.  I counted 25 snow storms that year.  We didn't have many days of sun.  There was a feeling of relief when spring arrived.  We were pleased with ourselves for wintering it out! 

     We stayed at Bass Harbor Campground for another two years.  The next winter we house sat a bed and breakfast in South Harbor called Penury Hall.  Gretchen Strong, the innkeeper often allows a house sitter to stay the winter.  We paid her money to cover her electric and water.  We learned how to operate a coal and wood stove.  She taught us many northern things.  We really enjoyed ourselves that winter!  It was magical in comparison to our first winter!  

     Tomorrow I will tell you 20 good reasons to move to Maine.  You might want to move after reading them! 

     We moved to Maine April 7, 2007 from Oviedo, Florida.  It was a desparate effort to escape from becoming homeless.  We left Florida driving in a very old van hooked up to a brand new airstream.  Luckily we were able to purchase a airstream!  We still had excellent credit.  We decided to purchase one of these airstreams after watching a movie filmed in Alaska.  There was a man living in an airstream in Alaska.  We asked the airstream dealership about the possiblity of living in an airstream through a Maine Winter.  He said, "No problem!"  That was all we wanted to hear.  Next we spent a half an hour deciding which airstream we would buy.  It was over a hundred degrees out that day.  I am sure we would have spent more time if it had been cooler.  These airstreams were all beautiful.  The question was:  Which size?  What color interior?  All of the airstreams were expensive.  They ranged from 25,000 for a 16 foot bambi model to over 130,000 for a 34 ft classic model.  We decided on the ocean breese 75th year aniversary model, 25 ft international  for 78,000!  A bargain at that!  It was beautiful.  

      Robert already had applied for a physical therapy license in Maine.  Next we both flew to Fort Kent, Maine for Robert to interview for a job.  They happily paid for our airfair, hotel, and food.  We liked Fort Kent.  One of the people Robert would work with said we already have an artist here in Fort Kent.  I knew this would be a problem  Who wants to be a new artist in town when everyone's loyalty is the artist already established!  They had also decide on a house we should buy because there was an in ground pool in the basement.  They could use this pool for therapy for their patients.  I liked the idea of picking out our own home.

   

         Robert went to interview in Ellsworth, Maine.  He liked this job.  I knew we would like living on Mount Desert Island near Acadia National Park.  So we bought an airsteam back in Florida.  A week before we had to leave Florida in our airstream, I finally sold the house.  Our house had decreased in value over 150,000$.  Our mortgage was for a lot more than what we sold our house for.  We used every last dollar to get out of this house.  Before this recession, we were both doing excellently financially!  We had three houses together.  I had an excellent paying business selling roses.  Robert was a successful hard working physical therapist.  We had two houses rented.  When the economy crashed in Florida, it was all of a sudden.  Luckily we sold our house when we did.  If we had waited another year, we would have paid another 100,000$ more to get out of that house. 

      

     The other two rented houses we had finally did become unrentable the same month of July 2008.  What a shock and another hardship!  I drove in a panic to Florida right away when I heard both houses had no tenants.  I discovered there were so many houses foreclosed, the rental market had increased for less money.  Huge mansions were for rent for 1000$ a month.  Our two homes were unrentable.  We put them both up for sale the next day.  We sold one literally for 30,000$ profit after owning it for 15 years.  The other house we resorted to a short sale.  The houses on the same street were being sold for 75,000$ less than the mortgage on our house.  We were lucky to have sold this house by short sale.  Many Floridian's homes moved into forclosures after not being able to short sale their home.  Luckily this house was in my name.  Robert's credit was still perfect.  It didn't seem to bother my credit too much after a few years.  

     So we hooked up our new airstream to the van in front of the house.  Many neighbors were curious.  Some came out to check out the airstream.  Some took photos!  They were suprised we were moving to Maine.  This was very early in the housing and economic crash in 2007.  My parents were very shocked. We had a huge garage sale at my parents house.  In three days I sold most of all our possessions.  I remember my Mom finding a few things and putting them in her home.  She couldn't bear to sell some things.  She thought later I would want them.   My parents understood, if we didn't move somewhere, Robert would have no physical therapist job.  I had no more flower business in Florida.  There was no market for  flowers.  People had no jobs.  They had no houses to live in after people foreclosed on their homes!  Many people moved into their parent's home.  We wanted to avoid this!  We drove to Maine.  At the last minute literally, my Mom and Dad decided to follow us in their Roadtrek.  They wanted to see Maine too.  I wished we had taken more photos of our cross country trip.  I think I was still in the state of shock.  I remember my Mom trying to get me to eat a sandwhich many times.  I wasn't hungry. 

     Daisy and Duke were very hot inside of the van on our cross country trip.   The van had no ac.  When we did stop, which was frequent, we found a firehose.  We let Daisy and Duke play in the high powered water released from this firehose.  People usually watched.  Daisy and Duke really enjoyed this. 

    Our van stopped running in Virginia.  We were on a busy interstate with no pull offs of any kind.  We just stopped right in the middle of the interstate.  I tried to get us all out of our vehicles, climb this steep mountain, and call for help!  It isn't safe to sit in your stopped car while 90 mph cars are on the interstate.  Even the dogs climbed the mountain.  The traffic was very loud and smelly.  It was so hot.  It was scarey.  My parents were in their 70's.  I was glad when the mechanic showed up.  We used water from the dog's bowl to pour into the car radiator.  The car had overheated.  Steam had been pouring out from under the hood.  The mechanic told us to follow him.  We did.  He was able to repair a water pump and a few hoses.  He didn't think the engine's head gasket was blown.  We continued driving.  It took us five days of driving.  We finally made it to White Birches Campground in Southwest Harbor, on Mount Desert Island. 

    We spent a few day driving around seeing the sites.  My parents had brought their two yorshire terriers who were both 15 years old.  Dad had taken them both to the vet prior to the trip.  He wanted to make sure they were in good of health to travel.  The vet had said they were in great health.  Melony and Scarlet had done fine throughout the trip.  One morning I woke up to find my parent's Roadtrek camper gone.  I didn't think much of it.  I went for a swim in the pool.  I got a call from my Dad, Melony had passed away.  Melony had a seizure early that morning.  They took her to a vet in Ellsworth.  They had done all they could.  The vet was closing.  So my Dad and Mom drove to Bangor to an all night animal hospital.  Melony died in the Roadtrek on my Mom's lap.  Very sad.  My Mom had been very close to Melony.  She had watched her being born.  Melony's Mom had died after the pups were born.  My Mom had to bottle feed the four puppies.  She kept Melony from that litter.  My parents went to Lubec and camped for a few days to grieve.  I grieved too.  We had all been so happy traveling together.  What a journey.  Now this.  

     My parents came back to our campground.  They spent a few days and sadly left to return to Florida.  We wished them safe driving.  .I remember being very sad for a few weeks after they left.  I was homesick.  I missed them.  I had never been away from home.  I was very close with my parents.

     

     Each day I went out and painted on Mount Desert Island.  Robert went around hiking, jogging, biking.  Daisy and Duke had a great time too.  They liked hiking.  They liked walking around the campground.  They really loved swimming at Seal Cove.  One day they escaped from their long leashes at the campground.  I went to the grocrey store.  I had left them on their long leashes tied to the front of the airstream.  They were in the shade napping.  I came back to find them gone.   I looked everywhere.  I called the forest rangers.  Vets were notified.  We found Daisy and Duke 30 feet behind the airstream in the woods.  They were still leashed together!  They had gotten wrapped around a tree.  They were rescued!  A few hours later the local vet called to see if they were found.  We appreciated all of the people looking!  Daisy and Duke were the same anywhere we went!  So mischievious!  

 

       We stayed at White Birches campground till October 2007.  We found another campground, Bass Harbor Campground, to allow us to stay during the Winter in our airstream.  I will tell you all about winter camping in an airstream tomorrow night!  Very exciting the adventure continues.

  "Hunky Dory" 8x10 Oil on Copper Panel. 

     I worked all day on this painting.  I think it might be finished.  I will look at it again tomorrow.  I may want to lighten the reflection just a tad.  It was really dark all day today.  It was a little difficult to see the colors and values inside.  I like this painting!  It is dramatic, sparkling, and pleasing to look at.  This is a cod fishing dory.  They were designed to be stacked aboard a mother ship.  A fisherman was sent out on in this dory to fish for cod with nets.  He would put his cod in a fish basket.  He would row back to his mother ship.  The dory was stacked.  His catch was collected.  Cod numbers are too low to do this type of fishing.  These dories are very rare now.  To see one of these dories is a real treat!  I think I did a great job making this dory look special.  I was thinking about painting another view of this dory.  I think one is good enough.  I am moving on to something else! 

      I am having a Christmas Painting Sale this week!  Blog readers will be the only ones who will know about this sale!  Each painting has been marked a new special price for one week.  Some paintings have remained the same price if they are in a show right now.  Those painting prices I don't have control over.  So if you see something you like let me know.  I will ship it to you for free.  They are all exquisitely framed.  A painting makes a great gift for yourself or a friend! 

  "Hunky Dory" 8x10 Oil on Copper panel. 

     I worked all day today on this painting.  I am tired!  My back hurts!  My fingers are stiff!  Painting is really hard!  I am not finished with this painting yet.  The sun goes down early here, today 5:00 pm.  I don't like to work on paintings after dark.  It is difficult to really see what color dark paint is on your brush.  I could be suprised the next day.  I know this from experience.  So I am waiting till tomorrow to finish this painting.  

     A few days ago I posted a photo of Hunky dory in the water.  It is a different view of the dory.  I liked this view better.  I like the dory turned sideways and not head on.  I didn't want the dory to be in the center.  Even though it is a boat portrait, still I decided to not place it in the center.  Once at an art show, I had a young boy ask me why I put my lobsterboat in the center of the painting?  He said you are not suppose to do that!  Some kids are too smart for their own good.  I told him he was right!  His Mom was proud!  He was pretty pleased with himself too.  I like to hear kid's reaction to my paintings.  

     A blog reader asked permission to paint the Hunky dory photo I posted the other day here on the blog.  At first I thought, oh no!  I knew I was going to paint this dory.  But then I decided it would be fine.  I am very happy it inspired her to paint.  I hope you paint any of my photographs.  Don't paint my paintings of course!  Each artist's style is different, and so each painting will be different.  Just try to change the photograph a little.  

      How Do I Paint Water?  How Do I Paint Reflections? 

 I have been asked this a few times.  Here are the steps I use to paint water.

1.  I draw the boat.  I take a break after my drawing of the boat.  I give myself an hour or so.  I relook at the boat's drawing.  I can usually see errors in my drawing of the boat by doing this.  I check the angles with a pencil.  I don't draw with the pencil.  I just use it as a guide to see which lines of the boat are straight.  Most lines of a boat are straight.  Most people don't draw their boat right.  So their painting won't sell.  People who know nothing about art will know your boat isn't drawn right.  Draw boats a lot and then you will understand them.  Each boat is differently designed. 

2.  After I am sure the boat drawing is correct, I make a few lines for the boat's reflection.  If you are painting a boat that is side ways.   At the end of the boat, draw a line vertically.  At the front of the boat, draw a line vertically into the water area.  Usually the reflection will be within these vertical lines.  Sometimes there will be a reflection line extending from these vertical lines or past the boat's existing presence in the water.  Don't try to draw in the complete reflection.  Just have a few lines to keep you on the right track.  

3.  Mix up the reflection's colors.  Usually on the left side of the reflection, the colors and values will be different than the right side of the reflection.   Make a mental note of the light side and dark side.  Where is it cooler?  Where is it warmer?  What colors are present?  This is your game plan!  The later in the day, the reflections will be darker and warmer.  Keep all the brush strokes horizontal for water without wind.  This will create calm water.  If there is wind, water will have ripples and more movement.  Then your water can have some curved horizontal lines.  Keep brush strokes horizontal in the distance though.  

4.  If the boat is white, the reflection won't be white...ever!  If the sun is almost down for the day, the reflection of the boat is a warmer color about two values darker.  If it is early in the morning, the reflection will be gray or a light blue or light blue green.  When I take photos I remember to make a mental note what color the reflection is.  Photos never tell this story accurate at all!  Dark colored boats in the ocean will usually have a dark warm blue green reflection.

5.  Every artist paints their water differently.  This is just how I paint water.  I love to paint a reflection with transparent oils.  This allows the water to look like water to me.   It will look glassy or wet!  Some artists use opaque oil paints and  layer colors to give depth.  This is a great way to paint water too.   

6.  I mix up a my reflection's colors.  I also mix up the water colors surrounding the reflection.  I do use some zinc.and titanium white  Not alot.  My paint mixture is mostly another color other than zinc.  I also paint on a solid plate of copper.  Zinc paint can have problems being brittle after time and turn yellow if used alone on canvas.  If you use it minimally on a board or copper plate, you should have no problems.  Another words, most of the paint will be a blue, green, or other color.  I do use titanium white alone with a yellow or cadmium red for the lightest areas in the water and reflection.   I have done research on zinc.  I have also asked experts. As long as there is only minimal use of zinc there is no archival problem.   I mix up a good batch of each color I will need.

7.  I paint most of my reflection and the actual water itself with a huge size 14 Old Holland kolinsky sable flat brush.  I have learned how to control my brush.  My brush doesn't control me anymore!  Smaller brushes will control you.  I know this from experience.  I hardly ever use a small brush anymore!  I do like to use a rigger size 0 for fine details.  I never spend more than a few minutes painting with my rigger.  I use the rigger brush the last ten minutes of the painting.  That is it!

8.  I paint my boat first.  When I am finished with the boat, I start on the reflection.  Painting water and reflections is like painting an abstract painting.  There is nothing very exact about it.  I don't ever copy a photo.  I would soon go crazy trying to do that!  I work on the mother color of the reflection.  What color dominates the reflection?  I paint it in!  Then I go for the darks. If it looks black, it is probably a dark blue green.  I have observed this from painting reflections on location.  Photos lie and show a black.  Then last I paint the lighter colors. 

9.  I decide whether the boat or it's reflection will be the center of attention for a viewer.  One must be more prevalent than the other.  In this painting, the boat is most important.  If I chose the reflection to be more important, I would have spent more time painting more colors with more values.  My boat then would be less complicated. 

10.  Lastly I paint the water surrounding the boat and the reflection.  I start with the darker water areas.  Again, if it looks like black on the photo, look again!  Lightening your photo might help you truly see these colors.  It is worth a try.  Or make a mental note water colors as you are taking photographs.  You can sketch the boat on location and write colors and values on the drawing for later use.  Next I start with the medium  valued colors.  I lastly add lighter water colors.  I do some blending.  

11.  I repaint the boat highlights.  They will sometimes disappear into the water paint.  I sometimes have to repaint any darker boat paint.  I repaint any boat reflections that were disrrupted by water paint.  Then I go back and check my water paint areas.  I soften edges.  Usually my hardest edges are on my boat.  There usually is no hard edges in the water or it's reflections.  The water moves.  Moving objects or curved surfaces are usually soft edges.  The camera creates hard edges in water because it is a machine.  Our eye is not a machine.  Our eye won't see hard edges when looking at water.  So make sure most of the water has soft edges.  People who constantly paint from photos won't know to do this.  They are a slave to a photo.  They won't  know how the photograph is different from how we really see things.  Their paintings will look unnatural or fake!  Sadly they will spend so much time painting every single line in the reflection.  I always simplify the reflection when painting from a photo.  I want my reflection to look real!  I have spent many long days painting outside.  I know how a photo will be inaccurate.  I just use a photograph as a tool now. 

12.  After I am finished doing all of these steps.  I put the photograph away.  I give myself a break.  I look at the painting.  I paint some more.  I want the painting to look great.  So it takes more work!  Lots of work!  Craftmanship is very important.  A sloppy painting will not work!  I use a clean brush to go over areas to smooth out paint or edges.  I add more highlights if needed.  Most of the time highlights in photograph look white.  In reality they are not all white.  There are many lighter colors such as golds, light reds.  A variety of these lighter colors mixed in with some white looks great!  When the sun hits the side of the boat, usually there will be a bit of sun bouncing off the boat.  There is a bit of a glare that needs to be painted. 

      Those are the basic facts I know so far.  I am sure next year, if I continue to paint mostly plein aire, I will know more.  I do believe nature is my best teacher.  I have learned a lot from nature.  It has been worth all of the bug bites, sunburns, sunstrokes, back aches from carrying equipment, stress from on lookers, hurt feelings from comments of on lookers, dropped wet paintings, and lost paint brushes!  So get out and paint!

  "Perfect Pumpkin" sold last night!  Daisy and Duke are going to be treated with Frosty Paws ice cream for dogs!  It has been a month or so since I last sold a painting.  Thank you!

     My painting, "Nantucket Beach Houses" is doing well in a contest by the company who created this website, Fineartstudioonline.  If you like this painting, then please vote for it by clicking on the like button.  Only vote one time because the second time you click on the like, will make you unlike the painting.  Then your vote won't count.  So vote once! 

Thank you!  Http://canvoo.com/boldbrush/painting/14442   

   A lady voluntered to take our family portrait!  





 

     Robert, Daisy, Duke, and I went for a ride in the car today!  I showed Robert Aldemere Farm where the belted galloways are.  He had not seen this farm before.  Daisy and Duke were left in the car admiring 100 or so snowgeese in a field!  They loved this.

     We drove on Route 17 and Route 233.  There are a few old barns, stone walls, and cows.  Most of the leaves have fallen.  It was another amazing sunny day with temperatures in the high 50's.  Just beautiful!  I do hope to paint soon!  It was nice driving today with my family.

    

 I went to Rockland today to photograph the belted galloways at Aldemere Farms.  The sun was shining!  The temperatures here were in the high 50's!  Amazingly rare here in Maine for November.  The belted galloways were in a back field.  Turkeys were near one cow.  It looked like the cow was trying to chase off these turkeys.  I waited till he succeeded to take a photo of him.  Didn't think a belted galloway chasing turkeys would make a good painting.

  I went back to Owl Head to see the Hunky dory again.  This time the dory was in the water.  The scene took my breath away.  Even though I was answering questions on my cell phone for Waldo County Hospital regarding my lack of finances, I kept taking photos!  When I finished answering all of the financial questions the sun was going down.  There was no time to paint.  Looks like my small payments might be enough for them.  I hope.   I am going to paint this photo.  Very pretty.  I love painting skiffs and dorys in the water.  I am not sure why.  I just love to!

 

 Here is a beautiful turkey in the Aldemere Farm's field.  There were many of them!

 

 There were also snow geese too.  I am not sure if they were wild.  They were pretty.

     Someone asked me today how do I photograph my paintings?  Photographing smaller works under 11x14 is much easier than a larger painting.  I put my small painting on a small table top easel.  I wait till it is an overcast day for best results.  I make sure the painting is straight up and down, not slanted on the easel.  I put my digital camera on flower mode.  Each digital camera has this mode.  This is how you can get a sharp clear image upclose. Any other mode will create a blurry painting.    I use a Kodak Easy Share Z1015 IS camera.  UPDATE:  Now I use a Canon EOS 7D.   

      I usually put my camera on a tripod so it doesn't shake.  I make sure the camera is in the right position so the painting is retangular. Sometimes in order to make sure I have the camera straight up and down and not slanted, I put the bottom of the painting in my aperature on the bottom so I know it is straight.  This is the only tricky part.  If I don't have my camera parallel to the painting, then the painting will be lopsided in the photo.  On a sunny day to avoid the glare I put the painting on the easel.  Then I put the painting backlit against the sun. 

UPDATE:  I think it is best to photograph work on a grey day.

     I use a photography editing program called Acdsee.  I found this program on the internet for     30$.  It may be more expensive now.  It seems to work well.  I always lighten the image.  Digital photography always darkens everything.  Sometimes I lighten the photo 70-90%!  Most of the time I lighten the photograph 15%.  I also can decrease the size so I can download onto this Fineartstudioonline website or blog.  I decrease the size to 30 percent.  I hope this helps!  Let me know if more information is needed. 

     It is suppose to be beautiful again tomorrow!  I hope to paint!  You too! 

  I was lucky today!  I took photos of deer!.  They didn't seem bothered by my presence.  I was wearing tan and grey.  Maybe this helps. 

  Two deer were laying down on the grass.  They were chewing on something.

  They were quite comfortable.  They didn't even get up.





  I was taking photos of birch trees when I noticed something moving.  I looked up to see two deer in the woods.  The buck had a nice rack!  They were beautiful

  He stood and waited for me to delete images.  I ran out of room on my SD card.  I was lucky he was patient!

  Here is both the Buck and his doe.  I had a lot of fun today!  I hope you enjoyed these photos!  I am painting!

  "George Sotter's Dream" 5x7 Oil on Copper 5x7 250$ Framed and Shipped!

     I worked on this painting last night and today!  I took one of George Sotter's houses in a painting and created a whole new snow scene with it.  It was a lot of fun. 

  "Thinking of George Sotter" Oil on Copper 5x7 250$ Framed and Shipped!

    I reworked this painting from yesterday.  I lightened up the snow.  I painted over the road.  I lightened the creek adding grey water.  I worked more on the buildings.  I like it now. 

  "Thinking of Hibbard" Oil on Copper 5x7 250$ Framed and Shipped!

    After I posted the photo of this painting, I noticed the water was still too dark.  So I repainted the water in the foreground.  I think this is a really happy snow scene now! 

     I went to a gallery in Belfast called The Belfast Framer today.  I brought a few paintings for her to chose one for a Christmas show there December 3.  She chose a Winter scene I painted inside of my car last year at Eagle Lake.  The scene shows many fish shacks on the frozen Eagle Lake.  She also wanted to consign "Sweet Daughney" a painting of a corgie. 

     Tomorrow I am going to Jackson Lab in Bar Habor, Mount Desert Island.  I am bringing my painting, "The Great Meadow" with me for them scan.  I think I will bring a few other choices just to be sure that is their choice.  Might as well. 

     I hope to get out and paint tomorrow!  I hope it doesn't rain again.  It has been raining for days! 

  "Thinking of George Sotter" 5x7 Oil on Copper panel.  250$ Framed and Shipped for free.

     I discovered George Sotter paintings published in an antique magazine a few years ago.  I remember thinking how enchanting, quiet, and magical his Winter night snow scenes of villages were.  I always cut each of his paintings out of the magazines and kept them.  I have a collection of paintings clippings from long ago in private collections never seen in museums or books.  Antique magazines are a great way to view these paintings.  Dealers advertise these paintings for collectors to see.   I like to redesign some deceased artist's paintings for fun.  This painting was inspired by a painting by George Sotter.  George Sotter's paintng has at least five houses.  I decided to cut the number of buildings to only one.  I really simplified the entire painting editing all the trees except for one.  I moved mountains around. I trimmed trees and removed them!   I even changed the sleigh path route. 

     I used similar colors for the painting.  I think he used Virdian Green and Ultramarine Blue and Cobalt Blues for snow and sky. I saw one of George Sotter's snowy night scenes once in a gallery in Blue Hill.  It was for sale for 95,000$.  I just saw an auction result for a Sotter's snowy night scene for 15,000$.  I really spent some time in the Blue Hill gallery studying Sotter's painting.  The sky was a blue green.  He kept his sky lighter than a night snow sky would have been.  I think he also changed the temperature to warm blues instead of a cool blue.  I will have to check out the sky on a Winter's night to confirm this.  I don't remember a Winter's snowy night being blue green.   There were many layers of paint almost scrumbled in the sky.  Stars were a variety of colors, Cadmium Yellow Lights or Titanium white.  The stars were different sizes.  He didn't put too many stars in the sky.  I am glad he didn't paint too many stars.   Above the mountains farthest back in the sky, he painted a little lighter glow behind each mountain. 

     He changed the perspective of the snowy village scene.  The painting is shown as if the artist was on top of a twenty story building painting the scene looking down onto the village.  Aerial perspective.  He invented this perspective into the painting.  It created a feeling on looking into a snow globe of a snowy village scene.  Very interesting.  I think changing the perspective  created a magical scene.

    I was given a Thomas Kinkade coffee mug with a night snow scene.  Kinkade didn't use aerial perspective.  He painted his snow scene as if he was standing out front of the house.  

  "Thinking of Hibbard"  5x7 Oil on Copper panel.  300$ Framed and shipped.  I lightened the water on the left side today.  I thought the water was too solid of a dark to look real.    Have a great night!

    

  "Thinking of Aldro Hibbard" 5x7 Oil on Copper 250$ Framed in gold wood and shipped for free!

     I decided to end the painting marathon.  One week of 100$ paintings has ended.  I had the 100$ for two days after I posted each painting.  I will continue painting but they will be my regular prices.  I think the 500$ for the image fee from Jackson Lab will keep the Eastern Maine Medical Hospital happy for a while.  For the Waldo County hospital I will send them a little each month to keep them happy.  For the Bar Harbor Hospital luckily I only owe them 800$ for blood work.  But the entire total so far is 13,000$.  It has been a bit nerve racking to say the least!  Some days I have been painting when one of the hospital calls to ask for income information.  My painting ability suffers some!  I try to not think about it.  I respect and am thankful of these hospitals.  They are going to all get paid!  

     "Thinking of  Aldro Hibbard" was inspired by a Aldro Hibbard painting called "Winter Brook" 16x20 at Blue Heron Fine Art.  I love a magazine called "American Art Review".  In this months issue there were photos of old paintings and one was this Hibbard painting!   At snow camp, Stapleton Kearns, suggested we find a deceased artist who we admire.  He suggested we study that artist's paintings.  I like to do this by rearranging the old painting by the artist.  I learn the artist's technique and handling.  It is a lot of fun.  I always end of learning a few things.  

     In my painting, "Thinking of Aldro Hibbard", I changed the format.  I redesigned the painting.  I added birch trees to the painting and changed their locations.  I also changed the colors in the background. 

     I learned Hibbard kept his snow values very low using values 1,2,3.  I don't think he used a value of 4 in his snow paintings.  To be sure I would have to see one of Hibbard's paintings at a gallery or museum and compare a value scale to his snow.  I doubt any museum would allow me to get this close to a Hibbard painting.  Maybe a gallery would if I explained what I was doing. 
Hibbard's rocks were all one color of gray.  These rocks seem very close in value with crevice darks.  The highlights on these rocks didn't seem very light, maybe a value of 6.  It looked like Hibbard painted all his rocks with the same value and hue of gray.  Then he put in a few darks under only some rocks.  He put a few darker warm tones on a few.  He placed some highlights on just a few on these rocks.  Really the rocks were made to blend in and not be a focus of interest.  The snow was mostly a lighter blue.  There were a few very light warm highlights on the snow.  He spent much time of the brook.  There were beautiful colors of blues, blue greens, warm darks, burnt sienna, and lighter greys.  I think I have discovered the more variety and values in an area of the painting, the more your eye is attracted to this area.  The simpler the area, the least attention the artist creates for that area.  All of the trees in the background are the same dark.  There are a variety of 8,9,10 values are warm colors.  The sky is the same color and value as the snow. 

      I have moved a table infront of the fireplace in the sunroom.  I put another table easel on this table.  I like having two areas to paint at inside the house.  Last November I only painted 4 paintings.  I have already painted more than last November.  I hope to be more productive this November!  It is very dark out in Maine for the last two weeks.  We did have one day of sun.  I am certainly glad I went out and took photos that day!  The next day of sun I do hope to get out and paint!  You too!

    "The Great Meadow" on hold.  This is the painting Jackson Lab in Bar Harbor might use for their advertising this year.  They are going to make a 24X26 poster of this image.  They are also making a national journal ad.  They are sending the image out to 8,000 clients probably relating to their mice.  Also they are going to be using the image for postcards.  They are even paying me 500$ for the licensing of the image.  I tried to find a high resolution photo of the painting.  All I could find is a 2.1 MB.  They require 5.0 MB.  I took the painting out of the frame and luckily it was not harmed in doing so. I will have them scan it.  I hope this works out!  

  I took Daisy and Duke on a ride today to Holbrook Island Sanctuary.   This place is located in Brooksville, Maine.  It is 1230 acres bordering the Penobscot Bay.  There are many ecosystems such as beaches, mudflats, rocky coasts, and steep hill that were once old volcanoes.  It was very dark out today. Normally I might have slept in.  Daisy has been on a "let's wake up Renee at 8:30 a.m." each day campaign!  Last Monday I set my alarm for 8:30 am and each morning there after Daisy has decided I still need to be up at this hour.  She comes walking up the stair, opens my door, and wags her tail.  You have to love her consistency and good attitude at this hour. It is amazing to me how time accurate she is!  How does she do this?  Robert has mentioned he would have been late if it not for Daisy!  Daisy the wonderful alarm clock.  She likes to feel useful. 

  We stopped at a preserve in Castine.  Duke was not happy all the road were curved.  He didn't like the hills either.  He gets car sick.  Poor thing.

  Very beautiful and foggy.  It was suprisingly 56 degrees!  Very balmy for November!

  Duke got really nervous going down this steep road.  He always puts his foot on me if I swerve.  If I admire a scene too much he puts his foot on my arm.  It is as if he is trying to get me to drive better.  He is a back seat driver! 

  This is a rocky coast line of Holbrook Island Sanctuary.

It was great getting out for a drive today!  Now I need to get back to painting!

  "Someone's Pride and Joy" 5x7 Oil on Copper panel. 300$ Framed in gold wood and shipped!

     I love painting a white wooden lobsterboat.  I have only seen a few of them here in Maine.  Most of the time they are out of the water up on stands.  This wooden lobsterboat was in perfect condition still in use!  What a beautiful sight!  The sun just gleamed on the white wood.  I saw this scene in Port Clyde when I was leaving on the Monhegan Boat Line Ferry.  The light always seems different in Port Clyde and Monhegan Island.  This photo of the painting cropped some of the sky.  There is more sky and more of the Spruce trees on the left.  I will retake the photo tomorrow!

  "Pretty Girl" 5x7 Oil on Copper.  250$ Oil on Copper panel.  Framed in gold wood and shipped!   This is a better photo from yesterday's work!  

     I am very happy to hear from a Mount Desert Island Corporation!  They have chosen one of my paintings to be on a poster, postcard, and a National Journal Ad!  Very exciting.  The image will be emailed to some 8,000 of their clients!  The national journal ads will be seen by people all over the nation!   My name, title of the painting, medium, and website will be in each poster or national journal ad!  I am not sure which image they have selected!  It is one of the major employers of Mount Desert Island.  Huge!  I don't think it will hurt anyway.  I hope they let me have one of the posters so I can give one to my parents! Pretty cool.

   I took the dogs to Craig's Pond today in Orland.  It is one of our favorite local places to go. 



  Here is Daisy swimming!  She is a beautiful girl!  I know Robert will be reading this blog in Holland!  Hi Robert!  We miss you!  I don't want you to think this blog is turning into a Daisy and Duke's blog!  But they need to be included too. 



  Duke likes to look for frogs at Craig's pond.

  Here Duke is looking beautiful too!

  Here is Daisy and Duke sleeping on the futon in my studio!  I like to look over at them to see them sleeping while I am painting!

     I hope you are having a wonder Autumn day!  Please paint!

  "Pretty Girl" 5x7 Oil on Copper panel.  250$ Framed in Gold wood and shipped! 

     The photo is blurry!  Also I see some light blue around the chicken's head that is not there in reality.  Must have been the light reflecting from the skylight in my studio.  I saw this wonder chicken at a farm in Morrill, Maine.  I walked up close to the red chicken coop to see what the chicken was doing in there.  She jumped up on the wooden perch.  It made me smile.  So I thought I would paint it!  I do love to paint white chickens.  I brushed out some dark paint in the background to let some copper show through.  It has a nice affect!

  "Yummyumyum!"  5x7 Oil on Copper panel.  300$ Framed and shipped.

     I worked more on the baby beaver painting!  I repainted the head!  I thought it was a wash up for a half an hour.  I almost wiped if off.  Then I felt like things were going well again.   There is a lot of copper in the beaver's fur.  It was tricky leaving the same amount of copper throughout the animal.  I had to pull out some paint with a clean brush dipped in turpenoid.  Then I painted over the area some.   I guess I can say I painted a wet beaver now!  I can mark that off my list.  He was a pretty animal.  For a while he was floating on his back eating his rose hips leaves. 

  Here are a few more photos from yesterdays photo opportunity with a local artist.  I did really enjoy myself seeing new subjects to paint! 

  Here is the Hunky dory again.  Very hard to find dory.  They used them for fishing long ago.  Cod fish are so low in numbers now they do not fish for them with these dories. 

  This is Owl Head Light house.  It is suppose to have a ghost that cleans the brass door knobs and opens the door. 

     I returned home from taking photos yesterday to find Daisy and Duke in rare form!  They had destroyed a few  new dog toys.  They had found a bag of sugar free candy in the kitchen.  Each sugar free candy was individually wrapped.  One of the dogs, probably Daisy decided to chew up each piece.  There were not really eaten, just chewed up.

   Duke howled for icecream.  I gave him a rawhide bone instead.  I told him no painting sales Duke.  Sorry.  He put his raw hide bone down on my chair.  I put a bit of peanut butter from my sandwhich on his raw hide bone!  He loved this.  He took his bone right away.  Daisy tried hard to get his bone but did not suceed for once!  

    Duke rolled in something that died near the salt water in the backyard yesterday.    It was large, gray, and fishy smelling.  Daisy took her turn rolling in this foul smelling dead pile.  Both dogs smelled awful!  I washed them down with soapy papertowells. 

    They still smelled a little rank today.  I took them to Sear's Island for a salt water swim!  They loved this.  They walked the entire beach for twenty minutes.  They swam too.  Duke gave me a big lick on my hand.  Then he smiled at me as we were driving home.  We were friends again.  

     Have a great night!  Paint! 

  "Yummyumyum!"  5x7 Oil on Copper Panel. Sold!  Framed and Shipped!

     I said a prayer this Summer.  Asked God to allow me to take a few animal photos upclose.  I wanted to paint a few Maine animals but had been unable to get any photos of them.  So I promised to paint them if the photos came.  Soon after within a week I took great closeups of a moose.  The moose came across a large lake and stood almost 8 feet away from me.  My camera was a cheap digital that was able to zoom out.  I came home with great photos!  Next a family of beavers came up close cutting down rosehip bushes infront of me.  I was able to take this baby beaver picture as he ate one of the rosehip limbs.  So here he is!  I painted a beaver!  He was very pretty.  I loved his beautiful fur.  I watched them for an hour.  They didn't seem to mind me being there at all.  It was as if they did not see me! 

    My beaver painting is not finished yet.  I would like to add the highlight in his eye.  Maybe work more on the water.  I had to quit as the evening came.  It is getting dark very early now. 

     I locked myself out of my house today before going to my pulmonary test.  The door knob just decided to lock.  Luckily my car and house keys were under the seat of my car.  I was so lucky!  My pulmonary test were completed.  I had to walk on the treadmill.  They did a breathing test.  They had me use an inhaler to see if that helped my breathing.  She said it just helped a little.  I guess I have some kind of breathing problem.  I might have asthma.  I am going to really start being more energetic if I am treated for asthma!  After listening to Earl Nightingales, "Lead the Field" Cd tapes this Summer, I really want to be in the best health possible.  He said to make sure any health problems are taken care of.  His theory is if you are feeling fantastic, then your productivity is better.  If you have greater productivity, you will have greater success!  
 
     I hope you get out and paint!  I will too if the sun comes out!