One Leaf Left ©

Some say there are really only two seasons; Fall and waiting for Fall!
This painting joins two of my favorite things, Birch trees and Fall. Clearly it is late in the season since the leaves are gone … but there may be one leaf left. Can you find it?

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This is a very large canvas (30 x 40) with a simple silhouette of a grand piano. I started this during a painful two week headache. Yes, that sometimes happens. And again, painting this was a wonderful distraction from discomfort and fatigue. I was using 3 brushes at once for the background and had a ball playing with color!
And the bonus was that headache began fading later that day!!

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When I was a floral designer it was always a treat to work with a Bird of Paradise. Sometimes they would need to be “opened” and you slid your fingernail along the edge and pulled out the colorful insides to make a fan of them. I just loved doing that! This canvas is 20 x 24 and the background has iridescent gold foliage.

This is a painting of a common site; a birch tree that was wounded when it lost a branch. However, trees have an amazing ability to seal off or compartmentalize most wounds and the only thing remaining is the scar. The testimony of this tree is that it kept growing and thriving. Many of us have been wounded, scarred or maybe disabled in some way. There are people you see every day that have visible or invisible disabilities and I was thinking about THEM as I was painting this fascinating healing wound.

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This is a triptych – that is one painting covering three separate canvases. I painted this soon after I was diagnosed with Lymphoma. I wanted God’s help to be a fighter, an overcomer and beat this cancer but at the same time I knew I might soon be called to Heaven. I read God’s promise to His children that those who overcome hard things here on earth will get to eat of the Tree of Life in Heaven! So this is my impression of what one of those branches might look like!
This project took me a very long time (each canvas is 24″ x 36″) and that allowed me to process my diagnosis and at the same time be comforted by these delightful, hopeful  thoughts of Heaven!
Being constantly amazed at the Creator’s color palette I tried to include EVERY color in the background.

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I have a long-standing love of birch trees. Here are two that have had their roots intertwining over the years. This reminds me of my marriage to my sweetest sweetheart. After 45 years our “roots” are intertwined and we are inseparable.
This  gallery wrapped canvas (15″ x 30″) is heavily textured, like the birch bark itself.
You may know that sometimes an artist becomes unhappy with a painting and they paint another one right over it. Interesting fact: “Rooted Together” has two other paintings under it!

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I love painting the season I see outside my window. Here I am playing with the many colors of fall leaves. (canvas 16″ x 20″)
I have not slept well for 30 years because of chronic pain. To offset my abiding fatigue I try to insert happiness into each day. The Fall season and its colors make me very happy … so instead of falling asleep here is “Falling For Fall”!

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Sometimes flowers seem so perfect that you think they are artificial! This is a real yellow carnation with red trim. The canvas is 20″ x 24″. After I finished this I thought folks might think I was painting from my imagination – but I assure you they are out there. It’s real name is Komanchi Fiesta … how perfect!

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This painting reminds me of the sometimes rough and rocky journey we have here on this earth as we make our way to Heaven. You can stumble on the rocks or trip up the stairs or get tangled in the roots along the way but these hard things pale in comparison to God’s reward for His children found only in His Heaven!

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A couple of winters ago I was delighted to find a black 9 x 12 canvas. The challenge is that the dark color is already there and you only use white shades of paint to build your image. I had to go from dark to light which is the exact opposite of normal painting going from light to dark – it was a slow, fun process and I loved the result! Perhaps I will try another one soon?

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I found this shell on one of my rare trips to the ocean. I was fascinated when I saw that two oysters seemed to be joined together. I brought my trophy home and painted it on a 16″ x 20″ canvas and added iridescent paint to the inside of the shells. The finishing touch is a driftwood frame … it evokes a happy memory!

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This bright poppy was painted during a very hot summer! One of my illnesses has made me intolerant of extreme heat and cold. Happily, therefore, I can get a lot of painting done in the middle of summer and winter when I am housebound! This is an 18″ x 24″ gallery wrapped canvas. I was trying to match the bright color of the actual flower but I find I can never quite get the colors as good as the Creator Himself! I think this is just a cheerful painting and would brighten any room!