A Few Past Favorites !

 I'm posting some of my personal  favorites. Pencil work and watercolor. You have to scroll down to view the watercolors too.  Start of the new year will bring new work, but it might be a while. 

You can visit my Art Hearts Journey blog here. 

watercolors

Re-Post !! I'm Happy !

Same painting as below,  and ever since I posted I knew something was missing.... I know I said I was almost happy... so I've added the darks in a few places ... you can definetly see where.. Now I feel better creatively and emotionally, and all your  posiive thoughts came through and helped me to do that...  Thanks a bunch. !!

Todays Painting! Peony

I always say I can't paint when I'm  upset!  Well, I'm upset and came up with this in the past half hour!  I'm almost , almost happy with it! !   just lightly drew it out . (I believe it was from Wet Canvas..)  palette, Permanent Rose, Ultra Blue for the shadows and New Gamboge a little mix here/there  and lots of  water. These colors, this flower is good for what ails you !!!  (and me too) !
  

Merry Christmas

Spending a  few days in North Florida and staying close to this fire as its colder here. Nice to be with some family and I wish you all a Merry Christmas and thank you for following my blog, your encouraging words and support..       

I'm wishing all of my blogging friends a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and fill in the blanks if your salutation is not there.   I'm off for a few days, and will see you  when I return. My wish for the New Year is that the planet gets its act together so we can all live peacefully through the next year.. I'll do my part if you do yours. 
 Barbra Joan
 

Poinsettia Frenzy!

I started painting Poinsettias and couldn't stop ~ (as you can see) I don't know why I'd never painted one before..   

a Hybrid!!

A cross between a poinsettia and my mind.

The Color Black

I've talked about this color before and how I don't own a tube of black. I post this not so good w/c painting because of the black hat..   A mixture of UB (untramarine blue)  SG (sap green) and AZ (alizaron crimson) in different amounts will give you a warm black , more red , a cold black... more blue  . 

  Really... any blue, Indigo instead of UB. Can't live without Indigo Blue... 
So it reads as black even though I never used it.   TA DA!!!!

In the Mood Yet?

 I'm trying! .. working on some cards. The paintbrush one is for my artist friends, some got them last  year. Sorry, it could be more of the  same .They're time consuming as each one is original. I don't do prints.            

The weather should be putting me in the mood .. its in the 50's here in Florida.   

My Watercolor Rendition

Nothing can match the beauty of the real leaf  as when I took the photo below, but we all know I had to try.. I  framed it and it can hang  for a while. . My apologies to the 'Last Leaf of Autumn' .  

About Time!

I've been a bit on the 'blue side' so painted this and all is well. It's a long way to spring I know and these are crocus the first flower to appear when winter is gone.. so I give them to you  early.  

It's Post Time! from the Past !

And just a few flowers I've created.. pencil, watercolor maybe a  pastel in there too. oh yes and the fish... it's just a melange of  some of my past work since I'm still painting walls...

My Artistic Contribution for the Day

While  at the art show everyone else was busy photographing art,  I spotted this leaf casting its shadow on the trunk of a tree and took it at an angle.

It's as though  the leaf is saying " I see my shadow .... therefore I am"  .. Out of about 150,000 people at the show, I think it's my exclusive.. ! and Sherry pointed out the heart shape of the shadow. ! !

Peter Anderson Festival

I'll be leaving for the Peter Anderson Festival  in Ocean Springs Ms.  very close to Biloxi and some friends. It's a huge juried show.    Every year they  ask me to come up to see it and every year other matters have kept me from going..  I'm  so looking  forward to it and will keep you all posted with photos and other art related 'stuff' ' . Stay tuned, it should be fun.   

A Quiet Place in my Mind

Just a small  painting to put me in a more quiet frame of mind.. photo is from   Ralph  an artist and  blogger, but I've taken artistic license and simplified it..  Yes, right now  I have a simple mind LOL !   I thank all of you who have contacted me for the address of a fellow artist in need.. you may still do so .. from the post below this one.

A learning process.

When I first started painting in oils I learned  ( tried)  by copying the Masters and other artists. It was the only way I could . This is just such a painting, and by now who knows where it is, could be  in someones' garage, the Goodwill store .. don't know.. But I'm sure that just by doing it I learned something ... just like life,, we have to experience it .. do it,  and we always come away knowing one more thing .. 

Getting Back

Leaving the city of Savannah intact except for one  quite significant brick....
Long story.  !!

Savannah .. Alert the Media.

Yes, lock the windows and  bolt the doors,  I'll be in Savannah for a few days with my good friend.. The Professor and the Artist.   Come on now...you know who is who..Savannah is a beautiful old Southern city.    I hope  to see it all and  get lots of pictures for painting reference and if they're nice to us we'll leave the city intact. See you  all when I get back.   

A Re-post !

Just posting  a few pieces that I did a while back .. I think , in fact I know it's somewhere in the blog,.. but since I'm not painting  for a few days .. thought you might like to see some past work.  Thanks for all your words and prayers . It  helps get through some  of the more difficult days of this past week.

Not About Art Today

You need not read this.. it's neither about  art or  joyful or a fun post today, but one that I want to write.  It's  about my son that I lost quite some years ago, on the 28th of Sept.,  but still sits like a hard rock inside of my heart.  He was a very young man and I had little time to say goodbye.  Time does not heal All wounds.  I wrote the following words just a few weeks after he died... Sometime later I joined a group called The Compassionate Friends, a national organization that counsels parents who have lost a child. They published  my poem  and I write it just as it was written there.  He was just 26 years old.
____________________________________________________________
     " The following is a poem written by a member Barbra Araneo, two weeks after her son was killed on his  motorcycle . She expresses  the love for her son, every Moms feelings. Barbra is now a resident of Tampa and is working hard on her recovery road. She is a lady with a tremendous abundance of courage."

     To my son  Louis,
You were my heart from the very start
and now  I'll not know why.... until I die we had to part.
Just like a bird that is born free, you lived your life,
and when you left thats how I had to let you be.

You were taken from this world much too soon,
and I ask myself...... Why?... was there no room?
There are no words that can be said
To help me stop the tears I shed.

This pain in my heart will only know joy
when once again I see my boy
Until that day comes.... I'll not be free
For you were my heart and always will be.
                                        Mom
I think I need to add this... He was a part of this world, our world,  a big part of my life, he loved  nature, all animals, watersports, a fantastic mechanic, and artistic in his work customizing vans  and  loved life. He made me cry, he made me laugh, and most of all he  made me love.  I wanted you all to know him just because I did.

Sophistication / Pencil....again

Most of you know this is my own personal favorite pencil piece, and  my first serious large drawing..  Again, nothing more than pencils, paper and kneaded eraser and the desire to do it...I still like it as much now as the day I finished it... just my two cents worth.!

I have days where I have to put something on paper, this was one of those days.

Not one of mine though I do have three and have painted them already.....

Undersea study

Looking Out For You

I finished this pencil piece this week, and have posted my WIP and the finished  drawing.. this was taken from the copyright- free site ... Wet Canvas.  Beauty is not always in smooth skin, beautiful eyes, it's more of an inner feeling you get,  rather than a visual sight. I've drawn beautiful women, gorgeous eyes, and  also saw something beautiful in this old womans wrinkled skin.... BJ

Barbra Joan

Thought it was time to post a recent photo so you all can see just who it is your writing to.  Sure a few years have passed, more than a few life experiences, but I'm still trying to travel that road gracefully..  lets just say as long as I don't fall and can't get up!!! 

My Mind is Scattered!! Really?

No, your not missing anything, there is no post of a painting, drawing, even a doodle. My mind the past few days is scattered, lack of concentration , motivation, inspiration..We all go through it, I know , and think it will never pass. I've had these times where it lasted for weeks,months and one time for 3 years. ... I think maybe tomorrow I'll paint a poppy, that always puts me in a good frame of mind and maybe the beginning of something .. We'll see..     

The Quilter -Pencil

I was bitten by the quilting bug during the '90's... and I did this pencil drawing a few years ago . I might have posted it somewhere ...maybe Flickr? .

A gift for my 100th Follower

My Logo

How nice!! I've just reached 100 followers and have written that person for an address as I would like to send a small original watercolor. So I hope Anu will get my message. I see she is from India.  I thank all of you for following and commenting on my blog. We know how that can be so uplifting and inspires us to go forward , do better. Posting on this blog has  kept me going, sometimes when I really felt like putting something on the back burner. Thanks to all of you.