Marjorie's Washer
@2012, Claudia Ballard
8 x 10 acrylic on panel

Please ignore the bars of light across the top of this painting...I shot this on the road and not in my usual studio setting.  This is one of the paintings I finished during my “retreat”.  It was based on a photo reference I took at the Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings home in Cross Creek, Florida.  Growing up I remember my grandmother washing clothes in these big galvanized tubs.  When we were really little, we would turn them into wading pools on hot summer days.  I might be able to get both feet in one these days.  :->  It is a beautiful historic state park and there are tours of the house, which is just as she left it.  Have more photos of this site which I hope to develop into paintings someday.  Click here for more information on the park.

For now it is good to be back home in the Florida sand.  South Carolina was beautiful...still some spring rhodedendrons and azaleas hanging on.  My sis-in-law has beds of irises just opening into huge blooms.  They have a bird feeder just off the dining area in front of a bank of windows.  Lots of cardinals, gold finches, wrens, house finches, and a stray woodpecker or two stopped by while we ate breakfast.  I went to sleep one night to sounds of an owl in the woods across from their property.  Stay tuned for more animal paintings coming soon!

Homespun Artist's Retreat

I am traveling this week to visit my 87-year-old mother in SC while my brother and his wife are away.  I decided to steal, ummm borrow,  ;-> an idea from one of my fellow artists in the mentor program, Terri West, of Orlando.  Being short on funds to attend a formal workshop, she decided to create her own art retreat at home for a week.  So, I have packed up my essential gear and canvases and paint, and have made the most of my week away from the distractions at home.  After recuperating from the 9-hour drive, I have managed to finish three paintings that needed fine tuning and prepared the background on several canvases and worked out my sketches for those.  I hope to at least get a number of starts done to take home to finish up.

Bright Eyes
@2012 Claudia Ballard
5 x 7 acrylic on canvas panel

I am working on a portfolio of animal portraits to hone my skills for doing pet portraits.  Will put together some flyers to leave at the veternarian offices and other pet friendly outlets to see if I can generate some commission work.  If you know any animal lovers, please help me grow my business.  Just ask me for referral postcards; they are stamped and ready for you to address and send to your friends and have a photo of one of my paintings.  (I even left room at the bottom for you to scribble a note if you like.)

Spring is for the Birds

Jay
@2012 Claudia Ballard
5 x 7 acrylic on canvas panel

Long after the bulbs have died back and the azalea blooms have dropped, there is the happy sound of chirping in the trees around our home. First the robins pop in on their migration, which of course makes the resident mockingbird crazy trying to protect his territory. Then the cardinals and jays and wrens add to the chorus. And the pine siskin which is so tiny it is hard to see.  But the final sure sign of spring for us is the evening we hear the first whippoorwill call.  We are always longing to hear that sound…kind of haunting but so beautiful.  In the next few weeks, as they seek mates, there will be long evenings of calls back and forth until the chorus becomes so loud, we have to close a few windows to be able to hear.  Now we have to scurry to get the feeders out for the hummingbirds who will land next.