Shrimp!

The shrimp are running in our river right now.  I can go out my front door at high tide and get over 30 in a single cast of the net!  That will never cease to amaze me.  We've been enjoying many shrimp meals, esp. a hot Thai soup I make that uses the heads to make the broth.  The shrimp have to be super fresh and they are and its delicious… they are beautiful creatures too.  Michael and I were admiring them and I said "What a thing of beauty."  His reply:  "Why don't you paint it?"  Why not indeed… so I thought it might be fun to make it REALLY BIG too - so here is my 4 x 5 FOOT painting of a shrimp. I'm taking it in to Spouter's Restaurant next week for them to display.  Go take a look if you're in Beaufort.  Great fun.  I have to remember how much I enjoy painting BIG.  Quite liberating.

By the way, have you ever seen shrimp swim?   Watch here.

Another veggie warm up - Swiss Chard….

Having fun…I've always loved purples and greens together.

Pepper warm up...

I have a couple commissions to work on - got the canvas and supplies ordered for those and while I'm waiting for that to arrive decided to warm up with some veggie paintings.  The farm stands are a real inspiration right now!  Here are my latest peppers (24" x 30") - just for fun!  Think I'll call it "Pepper Dance."

Back home…and back to work!

Its good to be back home from our travels.  Had a great time, but I've been itching to get back in my studio.  Last week I took some of my new work to the Village Gallery in Oriental.  The photo doesn't do it justice, the work looks great in their gallery… but this will give you an idea.

Nice light...

Enjoying the morning light here in the NC mountains again… could be another painting inspiration?  Have had an enjoyable month of traveling, on my way back home now…

On my travels...

Michael said the deer were bigger out west.  He's right!  This is a South Dakota deer:

New work

One of my relatives is involved in showing horses.  She just got married and I painted this for her as a wedding present.  Hope she likes it!