Merry Christmas, 2011!

‘And now we’re slowly heading towards winter, and many dread it, but Christmas is wonderful, it’s like the moss on the roofs and like the pine and the holly and the ivy in the snow.’ - Vincent van Gogh

Joy L

For the November challenge theme of "Joy" for our Girls Just Wanna Paint group, I opted to paint one of the terrific ladies I work with, Joy.

"Early Autumn at the James Library" 12 x 12

Since this blog is titled "ME and my Paintings," I thought I would add a little more background about me, the author and artist. This is the first painting I was able to paint since breaking and dislocating a couple of fingers in October while training for the NYC Marathon which I ran successfully on November 6. A minor accident but with more daily impact than I cared for, painting was not going to happen until I at least had my cast removed and even now, my hand is not fully recovered but I can hold a paintbrush. I finally completed this painting for my painting challenge group, "Girls Just Wanna Paint," just in time for the opening of our show this Friday night at, you guessed it, the James Library in Norwell. There will be lots of wonderful small sized paintings by this talented group of ladies who, well, just wanna paint!

The Opening for the GJWP Show!

We are girls, and we just wanna paint...and....we're having a show of our work! Hope to see you at the opening!

On Commercial

I'm about a year late in posting this, but this was my painting from our 2010 Jeep Trip with Kelley MacDonald, Mary Sheehan Winn, and Ros Farbush. The Jeep Trip has become an annual event since the first year we borrowed my husband's Jeep and travelled off the beaten path to find Edward Hopper's former home in Truro, MA on Cape Cod. We found it, and painted it...(it appears earlier in this blog, December 31, 2007) and ever since then, we have planned this all important trip, although we now venture to Provincetown and paint all day. Hopefully I'll post this year's painting soon.

Colorful 12"x12"

Dreaming of Fishies

This is Kenny, the really cool cat and model for the "Girls Just Wanna Paint" July Challenge. Kenny belongs to Page Railsback, painter extraordinaire who hosted our July meeting. It must have been a tough day for Kenny, dealing with all those mice, birds, and dreaming of fishies....'cause he sure slept pretty soundly while we all convened....

"Windmill to Windmill" 8'x 8"

This month's challenge for Girls Just Wanna Paint was "Foreign." Ros, Kelley, Sandy and I took a day trip to Kinderdijk and roamed about and in the historic windmills...totally cool.

It's Just Me

This month's challenge for Girls Just Wanna Paint was self portrait....dang...a tough subject in my view, and this was my third attempt.

Get on The Bus

To get to Senator Edward Kennedy's wake at the Kennedy Memorial Library in August 2009, bus transportation was provided from the JFK/UMASS subway station. When I boarded the bus, I saw this gentleman with a green tie covered with shamrocks and asked if I could take his picture. He politely responded, "sure." I didn't expect the photo to come out with the rest of the wonderful group of people. I hope they don't mind that I painted them.

This Saturday is First Saturday!

A Couple of Classics

My brother and his buddy are great hockey fans. They went to the Winter Classic which was held outdoors at Fenway Park in Boston on New Year's Day last year, and this image struck me, so I painted it. I think it sums it all up.

Fluffy Girl

I was a bit stumped when I learned our painting challenge for my Girls Just Wanna Paint group for April was "fluffy." What the heck? Then I remembered my fluffy scarves that I really love but don't wear so much anymore...and voila...instant subject.

The Hob Nob, Route 301

The Hob Nob is an outdoor drive-in diner on Route 301 in Sarasota, Florida. I had to go there the first time I saw it which was some time around 1986...I'm glad I took photos of it because they remodeled it to what it looks like in this painting...at least it's not that much different. I may get around to painting the "old" Hob Nob one of these days...

"Plastic Glasses" 6"x6"

The challenge was "Glass" for Girls Just Wanna Paint for January. Ok, so I painted plastic...I began this at a food court in Boston during last week's blizzard (long story) and wrapped it up at home with some changes...not many glass bottles available at the food court so I figured I would throw my glasses into the composition...then I realized they were plastic also...I did another painting of some glass sunglasses, however, it's not quite finished yet and I kind of liked this one...so, it will need to be with good intentions that I offer this subject...