Spicebush Swallowtail Papilio troilus, Photo taken in Chilton County, AL. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It has only been a few days since my daughter helped me do the mechanics of starting this blog.  I never knew how fun it could be!  I just hope I can write enough interesting things to keep people coming back.

We are doing our annual Vacation Bible School this week, so I probably am not going to be working on much art this week.  But last week I started working on four 2×2″ paintings.  I used colored pencil to draw what I wanted onto the little canvases first since I’ve never done any paintings this small.  I am painting two flowers and two different types of butterflies.

Since I recently did a painting of pansies, I decided to paint pansies again.  Practice makes perfect, right, or in my case, near perfect!  I am going to attempt to do a yellow and purple pansy similar to the one I’ve already done, but the other pansy is a mixture of red and purple, almost a rust color with yellow.  I’ve never seen any this color, so I’ll be working from a photo.

The butterflies I am doing are a Spicebush Swallowtail, which is NOT supposed to be in my area of the U.S., but it is and has been for years!  My son found one a few months ago that passed away with its wings sticking up, and he brought it home to me from one of his walks.  That was very thoughtful of him!  I don’t usually draw things from real life, because I am just not very good at it, but I figured I would give it a try.  Especially since my son was thinking of me when he saw the butterfly.  The other butterfly I am doing is like one I saw recently up at Mt. Lassen in Northern California, very close to where we live.  It is a Melissa Blue which is a really amazing color blue.  It is like a “cornflower blue” color for those of you who are artists and are familiar with the names they give colors these days.  Hopefully, with the blues I have I will be able to make that color and won’t have to buy more paint right now.  I love going to the local art store as much as I’m sure most artists do, but it can add up fast.  I would have to figure out what to mix to get that color perhaps also, because I’m not sure it will ideally come in one tube.

So I plan to do these mini canvases in acrylics.  And hopefully soon I am going to get to post some photos of some of my work.  I still need to take photos of some of my most recent paintings, but unfortunately, the pansy painting I did for my friend is gone.  I forgot to make a copy of it!  Also, I share a computer with my husband and two teens.  Needless to say, my time on here is limited.

I also want to say I am enjoying getting to see so many other blogs and meeting new people.  I am interested in all kinds of topics besides art.  I am a new learner to guitar, I play piano and sing at church sometimes, and I read LOTS OF BOOKS!   The library is one of my favorite places to go.  I have been homeschooling for years, I love all kinds of music and I have teenagers, so I have lots of memories of when my kids were babies, etc.  There are lots of things I could talk about here!

I am 52 years old and haven’t had a “paying” job in 16 years, but I’d like to be able to get enough work done to start trying to sell some paintings  If anyone has any suggestions about how to go about selling artwork online, please let me know!  I would greatly appreciate it!

Thanks for your interest in my blog.  Take care, have a great day, and give someone you love a hug today!