Birthday Sale

Because September is my favorite month and it's my birthday, I'm having a 30% Off SALE on all my prints, note cards and original art at T.F. Rice & Co. and Merison's.  This is for items in-stock only and does not include seasonal art (like for Halloween or Christmas).  Sale runs from September 17th through September 30th ... so hurry!

T.F. Rice & Co. is on the lake highway out in my neighborhood at Paris Landing, Tennessee.
11620 Hwy 79 North
Phone 731-336-1290
Visit them on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/TFRiceCo

 Merison's is located in Paris, Tennessee
202 Memorial Drive (right across from Lowe's)
731-641-2800
Visit them on Faceook at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Merisons/306191319408944

Happy Birthday To Me!

In The Works

This is what I'm working on now.

More Happy Trees!!!!!!

It's not finished yet.  It needs more contrast and maybe some yellow at the top.  And then of course, I'll need a title for it.  This is on a 10" x 30" gallery wrapped canvas, which means you don't have to frame it - woo hoo!

Coming Soon! Fall!

It's September!  One of my favorite months because I know before the month is over, it will start to look like Fall in my neighborhood.  

I took this photo a few years ago over at Sweetvalley.  I love all the Fall colors in it, the leaves scattered across the road ... and the curve in the road that makes me want to see what's around that corner.  

I love Fall at the Lake. 

First Time Painter

One of the things I really like about helping people paint (sometimes I hesitate to use the word "teach") is when they tell me  ...

• how much fun they had 
• and how much they learned 
• and that they want to paint some more.

That's the way it went today.  We only had one student for our Saturday morning class.  It's  Saturday of the Labor Day weekend and most folks around here are out playing in Kentucky Lake.  But Debra Zemanek came to paint a sunflower - so it was just the two of us.  She told me what colors she wanted in her painting and kind of how she wanted it to look and then .... she told me she had never painted anything, ever before.   Nothing.  Zero. Nil.

Debra Zemanek with her first ever painting.

I love this sunflower that I helped her paint.  No, it's not a Rembrandt, but I love the whimsical, loose style of it and her color choices.  And for her first ever painting, I think it's fabulous!  But what I really, personally like is that before she left she told me ...

• how much fun she had 
• and how much she learned 
• and that she wants to paint some more.

Teaching People How To Paint

I never dreamed that someday I would be teaching people how to paint.  I never dreamed I would teach people how to do anything.  Teaching just isn't in my DNA.  But apparently I can teach them a little about painting and a lot about having fun at it and experimenting.

And this makes me happy and apparently it makes them happy too - as you can tell from the above photo.

Partnering with Cindy Rice at T.F. Rice & Co. to have 2 hour painting on canvas sessions has turned out to be a challenging and fun creative outlet for me.  You may have seen these classes in larger cities.  If you haven't, just Google "canvas painting classes."  They are everywhere because they really are fun.  In these classes the students actually finish a painting on canvas by the end of the 2 hours.  We use wrap-around or gallery styled canvases where the painting goes around the sides, so no frame is necessary. It's ready to hang.  Cindy provides the space and all the tools and supplies for the classes.  I provide the ideas, instructions, how-to's, and get to inspire people to be creative.  I get to have all the fun!

Sometimes the finished art all looks pretty much the same from a distance, but if you get in close - 

You can see the difference in each painting.

We all had a lot of fun making fluffy white clouds in "Bridgeview."

And on other times - no two paintings look alike.  This class was "Still Life on a Black Canvas."  

It was all about painting on a black canvas.

Lot's of fun and very individual.

You can find out more about our creative and fun painting classes by clicking on the button

at the top of the page that says "Painting Classes" or following me on Facebook.

Come Paint With Us!

Lake Photo

No rain for a change is nice.

Photo Work

I love the looks of the Rice Barn down behind T.F. Rice and Co.  Cindy Rice took this photo the other day.  It really is picturesque but .... that tree has always bugged me.  So I just took it out.

Click here to to see a slide show on how I did this.