First Christmas for Cali

 Don't you just love those ears?  As you all know I adopted Cali 9 months ago and this will be her 1st Christmas with us.  We had a photo shoot of her sporting her new Santa dress.  She posed so  beautifully for my daughter staying perfectly still until she finished taking some photos.  I think she was a model before she was adopted!!.
I want to thank you all for the wonderful comments and support you have given me throughout the year...You all mean so much to me.!!   I've been so busy for the Holiday season so I will post again in January!!    I will be visiting my Aunt soon for her 104th birthday!!  Imagine!!Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy and Healthy New Year!!!!

Lovely Lady

 This was my beautiful Mother-in-law when she was about 20 years old.   I fell in love with the reference picture when I first saw it.  It was a black and white photo but I chose to add a little color since she had such beautiful blue eyes.  She was born 1900 and my granddaughter Skye was born 2000 - 100 years later sharing the same birthdate...   I hope you like this pastel portrait....I enjoyed painting her so much.

Siblings

 This is a small oil painting of my two grandchildren, Bianca and Nikolas a few years back when they visited me.  They were having so much fun in the water that day.   I tried to paint this a bit looser than my "norm" and not painting in too many details.  Right now I'm working on a pastel portrait but with the Holiday's coming up its taking me a bit longer.  I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving !!!

Lifetime Dream

I received a picture of my cousins son with his future wife in the mail...it was a "save the date" picture for their wedding next year.  I absolutely loved the reference photo and painted a pastel portrait of them... a beautiful pose that needed to be painted.  Two very happy and beautiful people about to share their lives together.

Ted DeGrazia -1909-1982

Ted DeGrazia became one of Arizona's most prominent
painters.  He lived most of his life near Tucson and worked in his studio that he called "Gallery in the Sun".  This is where I visited his work.  He's known around the World for capturing the spirit of the Southwest and its people.  I fell in love with his face and needed to paint him in pastels.. 

Indian Girl

I saw this Indian girl when I visited the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.  I took her picture and she looked so proud.
I believe she comes from the Hualapai Tribe.  They manage the Skywalk...Today the tribe count is about 2300 members.
Peach Springs is the tribal headquarters. where.they operate a Hotel, Restaurant and a gift shop.  The tourist industry offers them opportunity for employment..  I loved  her colorful dress wear.

BREE

I've been away for awhile because I bought a new computer and up to this moment,  I'm not sure how I got to this point so I'll continue before it goes away.. LOL.   My daughter showed me this picture of her friend's little girl and I fell in love with the photo and needed to paint her.   She had such a natural expression on her beautiful face  and of course I loved her hat.! !    Last night I returned from vacationing in Arizona and I took so many wonderful photos.  If you have never visited the "Skywalk" on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.. please add it to your bucket list.!!!

Courtney

I painted this portrait of Courtney a few years back but held on to it until my daughter said it was okay for me to post.  You see,
Courtney and a few other kids were on their way back to College during the icy winter when her car ran off the road and this beautiful young lady died at the scene.  Just recently my daughter gave Courtney's Mom this portrait and she was so appreciative..
and told me that it was beautiful and that she would forever treasure this painting..  I didn't know her, but I still feel so incredibly sad that she had to die so young..

Hyla

This precious little girl is my brother-in-laws great grandchild, Hyla.
I found the reference picture so perfect for this portrait...why is it perfect?...no teeth!  LOL.  I feel so comfortable painting this in pastels but I would like to paint this in oils someday.  I'm still experimenting with colors and blending, but would love to at least try.....A definite challenge !!

Dutch Country Road, PA

We were heading home from one of our vacations and decided to go through scenic Pennsylvania.  The reference picture was somewhere in Lancaster, PA.  Thank goodness there are still many farms and wide open land left in PA to enjoy. Unfortunately,
so many areas are being sold off to build more developments...it's
so sad!  Do we really need more homes?   I'd rather have the farms.  I guess I don't  like "change".   I really enjoyed painting this in oils.   A portrait next...

Cali

Cali is a 2  year old rescue dog that was found as a stray in the streets of California and shipped to New York because they claimed that they had too many small dogs.  We named her Cali for short!  She's a Chihuahua/Italian greyhound mix and she's a sweetheart.  She had some issues the first two weeks that she was with us but now she's a good little girl!!  Adopting from a shelter was the best thing I did because there are so many animals that need homes and lots of love!!!   She came to us already trained which was definitely a plus!  My heart melted when I first saw my little girl in the shelter ...I knew then that she found her "Forever" home.

West Virginia

The reference picture for this oil painting belongs to my Nephew
who recently vacationed in beautiful West Virginia.  I love traveling through here but I'm so happy that he was able to take this perfect shot.  Maybe someday I'll find this place and enjoy the beauty as well.  I enjoyed painting this scene. !!

Audrey

This  is a commission I did of a "young" Audrey Hepburn for a
Beauty Salon in Farmingville, N.Y.   Audrey Hepburn  was one of my all time favorite actresses who I loved so it was easy painting
her.   I remember as a teenager trying my best to look like her..LOL  ....It didn't work!!! 

Claire Beadon Carnell's MOM

Sometimes we are lucky enough to visit our fellow bloggers and see a picture that comes out and says "please paint me"!   Some time ago, I visited Claire's blog and she had posted a picture of her Mom....When a Mom passes away, part of us die with them..so needless to say, I needed to paint this portrait of her beautiful Mom for her....Claire, I hope you like this painting.
For those who have never visited Claire, you can find her lovely work on http://clairebcarnell.blogspot.com ....She does beautiful work ...many of her landscapes are from her hometown State of Pennsylvania.

Fire Island Lighthouse

A few months before Hurricane Sandy hit, I went to see the Lighthouse and took some nice reference photos for this painting.
The Fire Island Lighthouse has been closed because of some damage since last October and just re-opened on Memorial Day.
The damage was minimal but Sandy heavily damaged access routes to the site.  I enjoyed seeing the wildflowers while walking on the Boardwalk near the lighthouse.

Old woman in knitted hat

I didn't know what to paint for the "moment" ,  so I went to Morguefile.com and found this lady's face that "called" me so I had to paint her..I loved all of her "life" lines that seem to have many stories behind them.  I really like this website,  but they only supply the picture..and I always love to know the story behind the face.  I
loved the vibrant colors in this piece as well...

Bianca and me

This past weekend,  my granddaughter Bianca made her First Holy Communion.  How proud was I..?!
The day turned out to be such a perfect day.  She did a reading in Church and she read it so beautifully... of course, I needed to share this special moment with my friends.

Fairy Princess

I thought I would post a fun painting today.. A few years back I painted my Granddaughter sitting on a Moon.   My cousin always wanted her daughter painted as the Fairy Princess sitting on a Moon as well.  Of course, Samantha is not a child anymore...in fact, she's all grown up and a School teacher but her Mom still wanted this magical painting of her...I had so much
fun painting this pastel and hope you like it as well...

Baiting Hollow Farm

I took the reference picture of this sweet horse in Baiting Hollow Farm vineyard on Long Island.  It's not only a vineyard but a horse haven.  The horses here have been given a second chance in this beautiful sanctuary.   You can clearly see these rescued horses were given so much love...they were once marked for destruction and now they are safe and secure.  When you buy wine from the winery, a portion of the profits support the horse rescue....So, if you're on Long Island it's a wonderful place to visit!!  And the wine is outstanding!!!

Golden Beauty

I rarely paint horses but I enjoy seeing them on everyone's blog so I decided to paint a pastel portrait of this beauty after seeing this on Morgue.com.  I loved painting this cropped version so you can see all those wonderful details.  Last Saturday, I visited a horse farm on Long Island and took some reference shots for another horse portrait which I'm doing now in oils.    I hope you like my Golden Beauty...

The Head of an old man

Besides John Sargent,  one of my favorite Artists is Rembrandt and "Head of an old man" was one of my favorite of his paintings.
He painted this portrait about 1629.  As you know, he painted many self-portraits but I really like this one enough to copy the
"Master".   I think its a good practice...of course, the shadows and colors are already there for you to copy....so do we really learn ??  I'm hoping we do...!   Although the original was painted in oils, I chose to paint it in pastel.

Deep in Thought

I took the reference picture for this pastel painting from morguefile.com that I found from visiting Linda Popple's wonderful blog. http://lindapopple.blogspot.com .  She was generous to post Morgue file which displays hundreds of free pictures that you can use.  I usually use my own photos but when I found this man's picture...Well, his face was SO full of emotion that I really needed to paint him.  The photo was in black and white so I painted it in sepia and added a little color.  I only wish I knew something about this man that I was able to  share with you.

Since I am the original dinosaur,  I don't know how to highlight so I hope you'll be able to find this site!!

Zion's National Park, Utah

When my husband and I went hiking near the Narrows, in Zion's National Park, we got to a certain spot when I put my "foot" brakes immediately on after seeing a bear on top of this huge rock in front of us!!   I zoomed in with my camera to take his picture...
slowly,  I put my camera away...then decided not to move since we certainly couldn't out run this guy.  My husband, John, said he looked like he was coming down the rock toward the water, so I waited hoping he was right.   Slowly but surely he walked in front of us to the water.   I stayed perfectly still not looking at him, and at that moment,  I decided "never" to hike by ourselves.    I think hiking with a group of about 100 people would be perfect !!

Dance Recital

I took the reference picture of Lexi right before her recital a few months back.  (So many pictures of the grandkids!)   I told  her not to smile, once again!!  She's getting used to me already..and knows when I take a picture...you're not allowed to smile.  LOL
I used my Unison pastels for the bows and trim on the dress.  Unison pastels are very soft and the colors are so intense.  I went to Blick's this week and as you all know, going there is like going to a candy store..!!!  I hope you like this portrait....  I enjoyed painting her.

Grandma's Little Doll

A little over 15 years ago, my daughter presented me with a gift..probably the best gift I've ever received.  When I opened the box, it was her Wedding dress with a note..I was, of course, ecstatic to find out she was having a baby.  She asked me to make a girl's Christening outfit from her Wedding dress as well as a boy's outfit since she didn't want to find out the sex of the baby..
I think I was so excited that I took my sewing tools out the next day and started to cut up her gown.  Since she had a girl, she packed away the boy's  Christening outfit so that someday her girls would have it for their children.  It turned out to be such a very special day for me !  This painting was done in pastels.

Massapequa Preserves

My daughter, Jennifer lives in Massapequa Park and only blocks away from the Preserves which is a total of 423 acres.  You can hike for miles enjoying the sounds of nature and walk around the many ponds around the preserves or like many people,  their bikes to get around.  In December, 2006, this preserve was named "Best Nature Preserve on Long Island."  There's fresh water fishing in several of the lakes and streams in the preserve.  You can see many beautiful and unusual plants around..Beautiful orchids for one !!  For those who do plein air paintings..this would be the perfect place...  I hope you like this painting as much as I loved painting it !

Vicki

Vicki was a bridesmaid at Christina's Wedding in North Carolina.  She was not only beautiful but she took care of my granddaughter Lexi, who was the flower girl at the wedding.  She took her under her wing and made Lexi feel comfortable and not so afraid.  I have been practicing painting " teeth "and I'm finally happy with the way it came out.  Thank you Vicki for making this very special day even more perfect.!

A Perfect Moment

First of all...Happy New Year to all my friends here in Blogland.!!
When I went to Raleigh, North Carolina to attend a Wedding,  I was
so happy when my cousin Al caught this beautiful moment of  his son- in-law Adam in that perfect pose with his wife, Christina.  Sometimes, its those candid shots that are the best..Christina's Mom called it the "Loretta Young" pose!   I thought it would be nice to paint it with oils and a little "impressionistic" for a change!!  The wedding was at the Clarion Hotel.  The lovely Clarion Hotel is right in the heart of the City.  The Hotel's 20th floor is home to the "Top of the Tower" Restaurant and lounge offering panoramic views of the City...This is where she got married and the reception followed and a good time was had by all !!!