It’s time once again for the Art on 45 Auction and exhibition. Hosted and organized by Christiane Drieling. I am thrilled to say, my piece was accepted. This will be the final Art on 45 event.
I was thinking of my Dad, when I came up with the idea for this. I remembered all the road trips we would take. Late nights driving through the desert. How brilliant the sky seemed, and how open the landscape was. The 45 is debossed, and I did not want to cover that up. If you zoom in, you can see the Chrysalis butterfly logo, Leo Sayer, and more. It is completely legible in person.
I have had so much fun, as a contributing artist for the last several years. Congratulations to Christiane, Markus, and everyone who has made this event possible!
Catching Up
I don’t need to tell you, I was silent here, on the blog. For 4 months. Yikes! I was busy painting. I just wasn’t busy blogging. Below is a brief recap.
In October was busy painting Christmas gifts, and this chicken. A birthday gift for a friend. She had found a picture that she liked, and asked me to paint one like it. I changed a few things. Made the weathered wood grey toned, to work with her interior. This is on a deep edged canvas, and the details continue around the edges.
I continued by finishing up some gifts I had started in 2021. These were for a friend’s grandbabies. I had started the bear, and completed the three florals (below), prior to having Covid.
I had to paint Coco melon ( the boy), and the lavender flowers. These are all on deep canvas.
Coco & the bear are 4 x 4, the florals are 6 x 6. The group of chickens is 6 x 6, watercolor. (A second birthday gift.)
The floral wreath is 4 x 4. A gift for my doctor’s new baby girl. For the wreath, I covered an ugly dollar store frame with plaster. I sanded it for a rustic look, sealed it, & it really turned out nice.
The Cactus you have seen. That was December’s project.
I designed a logo for a tech friend. IDE stands for Integrated Development Environment.
Building A Desert
I built a simple model train layout. A desert scene, of course. I intended to keep it fairly flat, so it could be stored away easily when needed. The tracks are not attached, merely resting on top.
I found a scenery sand, textured paint. But it was much too dark. Dark brown. I painted it, 8 or 9 times before I got the look I wanted. I added pebbles, rocks and boulders that had to be painted as well. The tiny pebbles along the outer edge forced me to use my magnifying glasses. But the task was surprisingly fast. I also found some miniature bushes. They are meant for an arctic scene, but they look just like sage brush to me.
This has been an ongoing project. A late birthday gift to myself (last year). I had fun working on it. Part of the reason for my studio make over (June 24, 2023). It is an N scale. Below you can see just how tiny that is. There are actually 4 sizes smaller than N. Only one is shown here. The most popular for models is O scale. The larger ones, G, you see in parks or zoos. Outdoor displays.
The engine lights up, and it is fun to run at night. Meditative. You might remember, I’ve had a slight fascination with trains for a while now.
If you are curious, this shows how they are made, (5 minutes). This is more in depth a factory tour, (16 minutes, more explanation). And this is a look at the real trains, and how they clear the snow off of Donner pass. You can skip forward to the 19:30 mark, and view to 23:00. The trees are so pretty.
I know, I’m a geek. (This is one of my tiny things, Dotty.)
That is the end. Whew! Thanks so much for stopping by!
Have an awesome weekend!
Busy, busy, busy! Love all the art of course! I might need some step-by-step instructions on making Dollar Tree frames look like they cost more than a $1.25. LOL!
Haha, anytime, Chandra…
Naomi’s Chicken is fabulous! The grey-tone weathered wood effect and the contrast of white and deep cranberry in the chicken make this painting very striking.
You were busy last fall—so many wonderful personalized creative gifts! Terrific tech logo; I really enjoyed seeing that element of your graphic design creativity.
And speaking of creativity—a desert scene model train layout! You geek, you! LOL at your parenthetical comment to me embedded in your post pointing out one place where your love of miniatures plays out! YES!
Haha! Yes, Dotty! Yes, to tiny things.
Thanks so much, my friend for saying hello. 🙂
Happy creating, collaging, exploring to you! xoxo
Sheila, congrats on having your awesome 45 selected for this year’s auction! I see that the auction takes place today. Love that your Art On 45 was inspired by late nights driving through the desert with your dad under brilliant skies and through vast wide open landscape. Your sky and cacti have an upbeat joyous energy.
I am so glad you enjoyed it, Dotty! Yes, today is the auction and party!
I wish I could have been there, but I know it was awesome!
Love the cactus under the starry sky and the title! Because I haven’t been blogging much either, I didn’t notice you weren’t posting, so it’s wonderful to get caught up. Naomi’s chicken is delightful and so are all the precious gifts. I had no idea about your fascinating train hobby. How fun! Thank you for filling us all in. I so enjoyed reading your update!!!
So glad you enjoyed it, Karin. 🙂 Thank you. I have really enjoyed your recent works. But of course!
I’ve been meaning to do a catch up since December. LOL. Time flies, seems faster and faster.
Happy painting to you!
Looks great Sheila I love all the acrylic paintings, last time I saw your art you were doing watercolor. Glad to see it I love it❤️
Hi Cindy!
I hope you are doing well. 🙂 I still do watercolors. These gifts were for kids, so they had to be durable. LOL.
Are you finding time to be creative? I sure do hope so.
Take good care, my friend!
Wow – no wonder you haven’t blogged lately – you forgot to add the 30 day creative gathering in your list- lol. A wonderful collection of art and I bet the gifts were really appreciated.
I also forgot to add that January was all about prep for the gathering! Haha. :o)
Everyone did love their gifts. I was very glad for that. The three textured flowers group, I was really praying that the girls were not too “old” for them.
Seeing as two years had passed. Haha.
And my friend Naomi almost loved her small chickens more the the larger painting. The chickens represent her grandbabies, and she loves it.
Her daughters live on an acre or two. They just recently got chickens, and a couple of cows. I have a feeling there will be more chickens in my future. LOL 🙂
Happy creating to you, Val!
Love to see how versatile and generous your creative journey has been the last few months. Love both the chicken paintings and the bear. So nice to see you do animals such as these. You should do more! I of course love your florals always. And the 45 dedicated to your beautiful memory with your father is exemplary, love the palette and how much you were able to say in such a small space.
Thanks so much Laurelle. My friend Naomi,(San Diego), keeps telling me the same thing.
Paint animals! Haha. Something to ponder.
I do have an animal painting in mind. Maybe this month. ;o)
Thank you Laurelle! Always so nice to hear from you.
Hugs and prayers, and happy painting to you. 🙂 xoxo
Art on 45!! What a fun idea!
Christian is very creative, as you know. I am not surprised that receiving a free box of old 45’s spurred this idea.
I was blessed, when she asked me to submit a piece. And blessed when it was accepted.