A Surprise While We Were Away

Hubby and I are back from our mini trip. When we finally arrived at our destination, we were ready to relax and have some fun. There was a small hiccup in our plans. On the way there, a man in a pickup truck pulled up beside us at the traffic stop to let us know that we had no brake lights. Fortunately we were in a large town so we figured they were bound to have a Canadian Tire store (Canadian chain store affectionately and often referred to as "Crappy Tire"). We found one and they were able to fix the problem and it only delayed our trip by 45 minutes. Would you believe it was a simple matter of replacing the bulbs and that both had burned out at the same time?

We stayed at a lovely bed and breakfast and spent much of the time just wandering around. One of the places we wandered into was an antiques shop. We were browsing in separate aisles, when suddenly I said in a very loud voice something like "on my, I can't believe it, I can't believe it". Hubby and the store proprietor came rushing over to see what the noise was all about. What I couldn't believe is pictured below.

























You might say it's a nice enough painting but why all the fuss? Well, this is personal to me because it was painted by Estonian artist Benita Vomm, who was a family friend of 50 years before she passed away several years ago. The whole family, Benita, her husband, son and daughter, were all artists. Only her daughter (who is also my sister's godmother) is still alive today. It would have meant a lot to me to be able to purchase this lovely painting, but the price was beyond my budget. The proprietor was kind enough to allow hubby to take a photo. Mr Proprietor was also quick to give us his card in case we should have a change of heart. I am having the photo developed to send to the daughter as I am sure she will be interested in this happy discovery of ours.

Even though I can't have this painting, the abstract floral below, also by Benita Vomm has been in my collection for over 30 years, so I am happy to at least have it.

My Portrait

I had my portrait painted by gifted artist Carol Nelson. She is currently working on a challenge to paint 100 portraits in 100 days and I turned out to be #31. My sister is #30.

Check out her blog to see all the marvellous and diverse faces she has painted.

Each time Carol finishes 10 portraits, she asks her readers to vote on their favourite of the group. So don't be shy about casting your vote. :)

Second Painting

This is my second painting. I am trying to find my own style but that will take time to develop. I'm just enjoying experimenting with the paints and mixing and blending colours. All the while, I'm listening to all sorts of wonderful classical music and opera while I'm painting. Somehow, I feel I "hear" the music better while I'm focusing on the brush strokes.

Soon I'm going to start a scrap quilt. I wonder if I can commit to making a block a day. I will try. ;)

Painting on Christmas Eve

What a fun day I had yesterday, painting with my sister. We were sitting side by side, totally absorbed in our work, listening to some great classical music in the background and in between brush strokes, we managed a few sips of wine. My astute brother-in-law affectionately referred to us as "The Group of Two".

I used to paint with oils some 30 years ago and I never forgot how much I loved it. For me, acrylic paints dry too quickly to properly blend colours, even with the use of a retarder. But with oils, I can relax and take my time.

Here you see my first effort after many, many years. I wanted something fast to try and get the feel of the paint and brush again. The are a lot of things that are not right about this painting but I have a feeling it might be well received by the outsider art groups where I sometimes post my art. Tomorrow we are going shopping for more art supplies. I need smaller brushes for detail work and a table top easel wouldn't hurt either.

My sister allowed me to post a picture of a recent painting of hers. She is new to painting as well. I really like this one.