Happy Holidays

This is my "Christmas Card" to all of my wonderful friends here on Blogland!.. a little oil painting from a few of my ornaments on my tree.   I wasn't going to put up a Christmas tree this year because I felt guilty that my neighborhood is so dark and will be for a long time because of Hurricane Sandy.  Last year this time, everyone had beautiful lights outside for the Holidays...this year....so much darkness and sadness all around me...but I want to believe that by displaying some lights, it will brighten their day and give them hope.   I want to thank you all for all your support this year and look forward to seeing your work in 2013.  I have learned so much from all of you!!!  Merry Christmas and a Happy and Healthy New Year to you all !!!

Rudy

Rudy is about a year old now and the cutest little dog.  He's
a cockapoo...a cross between the cocker spaniel and the
poodle.   He's very bright, affectionate and loves people !!
He's so sweet and extremely "Patriotic".. LOL... he made
his debut at this years 4th of July party at my niece Debbie's
house.  I enjoyed painting this pastel portrait of Rudy...loved
his curly fur...!!!

Somewhere out East..!

I took the reference picture for this oil painting when I was out East..somewhere on Long Island!!  This is the first  time I have no clue where this was..it's sad because since its so close to the water we'll never know if its still standing after the Hurricane.  I thought it would make a nice painting with the light hitting the weeds against the house and the wood pilings in the water...I enjoyed painting this ..!

Esperanza

Esperanza in spanish means Hope.  She is my Aunt, my Mom's sister and such a special "lady" who I love and respect.
When baseball season comes around, she is glued to the television always wearing her Philly's hat...and yells at the T.V. if things don't go the way she wants.   On December 18th , she will
turn 103 years young !!  Amazing, right?  Imagine the stories she can tell you.   She loves and embraces life everyday!

Sandy

Thank you all for being such devoted and concerned followers...you are all so wonderful !!  I have been living with my daughter in Massapequa Park, NY.  After 12 days without power, I just found out that my power is back and I will be going back home to East Rockaway.  Living with candles was an adventure, the first night...but a nightmare after that!!  We only got about 7 - 8 inches of water in the basement but enough to ruin the boiler, washing machine and dryer and hot water heater...but compared to what my neighbors are going through, I consider myself so incredibly blessed.  My neighbors had 6ft. of water which destroyed the first floor of their house.  My daughter, who lives in Oceanside didn't have power since the Hurricane as well.  She was so cold, living without a generator..a nightmare!!    Her friend is living with her right now.  She lived in East Rockaway as well, and lost her entire house.  She didn't evacuate in time and had to swim out of her house to safety.  When she finally returned to see the damage, the staircase collapsed!!  Houses were destroyed in my neighborhood with sewage that filled bathrooms and basements.   I thank God we were spared.  I will be posting soon...and pray everyday for those still suffering with the aftermath of Sandy !!!   

Acadia National Park

Last year, I painted Jordan Pond in Bar Harbor, Maine.  I found another reference picture of another hiking trail by the Harbor, which I thought would make a nice pastel painting..I loved  looking at the water hitting the rocks creating this foam with a lot of different colors.  Unfortunately, I don't know exactly which hiking trail this one was... The view was breathtaking.. the rocks were beautiful,  and the water was so blue and so clear!  Acadia National Park has many trails but they're short in mileage....some no more than about 3 miles...however, some  trails connect from one to another making it a longer hike, if preferred.

  

Bronx Zoo

I took the reference picture of this tiger when I visited the zoo, this past Summer....he looked like he was going to leap at any moment.  The picture, unfortunately, wasn't clear so I did the best I could with the other pictures I took that day.  I did some research of tigers and found out that the pattern on their stripes are like fingerprints in a human..Interesting!  In the early 1900's there was about 100,000 tigers..Now, between 3,000 -4500 exist in the wild...so sad!!  I hope I was able to capture the beauty of this amazing animal in this pastel painting.

Lullaby and Goodnight

There's always that "one" toy or that special doll that belonged to your child that you just don't want to "let go".  This was my daughter's first little doll that I put in her cradle the moment she came home.  I remember when she started to look around, she stared at Raggedy Ann..Wow!  Now that I think about it.. I hope it wasn't too scary for her. LOL!  too late!!   It had a wind up in the back, that played "Lullaby and Goodnight" which always helped to put her to sleep.  Many years have passed by since that moment, but some things we never forget....and never put away !!

Sierra

I have painted Sierra several times in the past, but when you get a wonderful model, one tends to keep them....especially when they're your granddaughter.  She's only 14 but loves to model for me.  She's growing up so fast.  She has the perfect hair that I love to paint.  I painted this, of course, with pastels and loved the shadows in her face from the sun when she was looking out the window.   I value the opinions of all my Artist buddies...my question....Should I omit the shadows?

St.Mary Lake - Montana

I enjoyed our trip to Montana a few years back.  I took many reference pictures.  St. Mary Lake is in Glacier National Park located on the East side of the park and is 9.9 miles long -300 ft.deep.  During the Winter, the lake freezes completely over with ice up to 4ft. thick.. We took a 2 1/2 mile hike that day and I remember how beautiful the lake was...I saw so many colors that even a camera doesn't see.. Well, at least my camera!.. I have another beautiful reference picture of the lake that I might someday paint in pastels..I enjoyed getting my oils out for this little painting.

Julia

When I visited my friend, Josephine, she showed me a picture
of her beautiful granddaughter who recently made her First Communion.  I looked at Julia's face and thought it would make a
beautiful pastel painting.  I realized afterwards that one of you should have painted the flowers for me..LOL.  You all do such amazing jobs with florals...yet...I find it extremely difficult..I have practiced in the past and will continue to practice.  I'm on a mission!!

Chinatown, New York City

Chinatown, NYC contains the largest ethnic Chinese population outside of Asia.  I visited Chinatown last September after leaving the annual Feast in San Gennaro, Little Italy.  I believe the reference picture was taken on Canal Street where you see color everywhere!!  and the smell of food was SO wonderful...I really hope that I didn't write something wrong  in Chinese...if I did, I apologize!  I guess I should have checked first!!.   If you haven't been to Chinatown, I recommend going there...especially if you're hungry!  The food is excellent!!  I took my time with this oil painting  and mixed my colors as best as I could in order to get that "perfect" shade.