A few years ago a friend of mine asked me to do a series of drawings of Winters, California. They were sold at the Winters Chamber of Commerce. People enjoyed purchasing a card to remember having a glass of wine or maybe a meal they enjoyed.
Now living in Vacaville, I thought it would be fun to do a series of drawings of the local downtown. See if you can name them all. They are for sale at “The Artisan in Vacaville” or from me directly. They sell for $6.50 per card. If I am low of your particular card I can order more.
When I first moved to Vacaville, I created a series of drawings featuring some of the beautiful old homes on Buck Avenue. Cards can be made of the ones I drew, or if you would like one of your home, contact me.
I will do a blog with my drawings of Winters, California. I started doing these drawings during the Pandemic, when we no longer went out much. I enjoyed drawing and did not yet have a studio or my oil painting supplies here in California. I took photos of many of the houses I wanted to paint. In the evening, I would work on the drawings as I watched television and had a glass of wine. Since the idea of going out was not an option, this was a great way to pass time.
I hope you enjoy them, and maybe think about buying some!
A friend of mine is organizing a fundraiser for “Funky Chicken”, a 501(c)3 non-profit animal sanctuary in Northern CA. They rescue animals in need. Recently the owner was injured. She asked me to be a guest artist; as they sell paintings to people that follow their Facebook page. You can see the artwork on the “Shine A Light – on those that care”. All the artwork is 8″ x 10″ and available for sale at Shine A Light. Please check out both pages on Facebook.
Here are my contributions:
These and many other animals have been rescued by Funky Chicken near Vacaville.
I don’t often volunteer this much art, but love animals and hope this helps the shelter. Please look at the two different pages. You can buy some fun art or make a donation to this wonderful animal shelter. The animals will all be happy for your help!
Butterflies are declining seriously in most countries. Climate change, habitat loss and insecticides tend to work together to weaken butterfly populations. Without butterflies, plant biodiversity would decrease, leading to disruptions in food chains and potentially impacting human food systems. Butterflies are important pollinators and their decline can negatively affect crop yield and the overall health of ecosystems.
Butterflies are a food source for many animals, including birds, bats and other insects. A decline in their population could negatively impact these animals and disrupt the delicate balance of food. While butterflies are not as well-known as bees, they are important pollinators for certain crops, contributing significantly to agricultural productivity. From what I’ve read the greatest threats to butterflies are habitat change and loss due to residential, commercial and agricultural development.
The two paintings are for the Vacaville Art Gallery Benefit Art Auction taking place June 19th to June 28th this year. Each painting is 12″ x 12″ and will be available for sale at the Art Gallery. One of my friends is a fantastic insect photographer, and I used the photos from Kathy Keatley Garvey, entomologist.
To help save butterflies, you can create butterfly-friendly habitats in your yard by planting native milkweed and nectar-producing flowers. Avoid using pesticides and herbicides, which can harm butterflies and their caterpillars. Plants that help butterflies include Milkweed, butterfly bushes (Buddleia), Coneflowers (Echinacea) and Asters, as well as plants from the mint, rose and vervain families. A few more plants that butterflies enjoy are Verbena, Sage (Salvia), Zinnias, Phlox, Lantana, Sweet Joe-Pye-weed (Eutrochium), Butterfly Weed, Monarda, Goldenrod (Solidago), Egyptian Star Flower (Pentas), Marigold, Ageratum, Coreopsi, Zinnias, Black-Eyed Susan (Rudbeckia), Blazing Star (Liatris), Button Bush (Cephalanthus Occidentalis), Catmint (Nepeta), Fase Indigo (Baptisia), Floss Flower (Ageratum), Hollyhock (Alcea), Lavender, Shata Daisy, Snapdragon, Stonecrop (Sedum), Sunflower, Yarrow, and Bee Balm (Monarda).
To protect Larvae plant Milkweed (Asclepias), Dill and Fennel, Pipevine (Aristolochia) and Native California plants. Allow plants to grow to their full size to provide ample nectar and host plants. Choose plants with different boom times to extend the butterfly feeding season. Plant a mix of flowers to attract different butterfly species. Remember many butterflies prefer sunny locations.
One of more interesting pieces of information I discovered as that butterflies see more colors than humans. They seem to prefer red, orange, yellow, purple and dark pink. A large, colorful garden is easy for butterflies to find and encourages them to stay longer. Each butterfly has a favorite nectar and needs a specific host plant where is will lay eggs.
Here is a list of Host Plants and the Butterflies they attract:
Host Plant
Butterfly
Willow (Salix spp.)
Red Spotted Purple (Limenitis arthemis)
Black Cherry (Prunus serotina)
Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio glaucus)
Pawpaw (Asimina triloba)
Zebra Swallowtail (Eurytides marcellus)
Spicebush (Lindera benzoin)
Spicebush Swallowtail (Papilio troilus)
Hop Tree (Ptelea trifoliata)
Giant Swallowtail (Papilio cresphontes)
Senna (Cassia spp.)
Cloudless Sulphur (Phoebis sennae)
Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare)
Black Swallowtail (Papilio polyxenes)
Milkweed (Asclepias spp.)
Monarch (Danaus plexippus)
In case it is easier for you to read a list of butterfly attracting plants, here is one I found online which may include a few more than I listed above, and may out a few:
Common Name
Scientific Name
Goldenrod
Solidago sp.
Black-Eyed Susan
Rudbeckia hirta
Beebalm
Monarda fistulosa or Monarda bradburiana
Butterfly Weed
Asclepias tuberosa
Egyptian Star Flower
Pentas lanceolata
Ironweed
Veronia baldwinii
Joe-Pye Weed
Eupatorium purpureum
Lantana
Lantana camara
Indian Pink
Spigelia marilandica
New England Aster
Aster novae-angliae
Purple Coneflower
Echinacea purpurea
Swamp Milkweed
Asclepias incarnata
Blazing Star
Liatris spp.
Vervain
Verbena spp.
Zinnia
Zinnia elegans
Buttonbush
Cephalanthus occidentalis
New Jersey Tea
Ceanothus americanus
Beardtongues
Penstemon sp.
Obedient Plant
Physostegia virginiana
Blue Sage
Salvia azurea
Blanket Flower
Gaillardia sp.
Golden Alexander
Zizia sp.
Yarrow
Achillea millefolium
Mountain Mmints
Pycnanthemum sp.
Culver’s Root
Ceronicastrum virginicum
Anise Hyssop
Agastache foeniculum
Rose Mallow
Hibiscus lasiocarpos
Purple Prairie Clover
Dalea purpurea
Royal Catchfly
Silene regia
Phlox
Phlox sp.
Downy Skullcap
Scutellaria incana
Happy planting so you can enjoy your butterfly friends!
I often have ideas for projects, that sound so great when I start them, but become tedious as I start working on them. I thought it might be a fun idea to do sketches in a notebook on all the different flowers in our yard. I quickly realized that we have a lot of different flowers!
So far I have completed these two and have started three others. I think I might have to take the time to count all the different flowers in our yard? Yikes! Humm, then do I include my herb garden. I started it as kind of a joke, as my husband can never remember the names of any of the flowers. I’m not sure on the other hand if he would ever look at this book? Ha Ha
I’ll keep you updated as I add more drawings, and see if I can complete this notebook this summer while all the flowers are blooming. It sounded like a good idea when I started.
Our yard is full of wonderful flowers that bound into bloom every Spring and continue through the summer. My husband loves to work in the yard (if it’s not too hot), but never remembers the names of the flowers. When we are discussing an area in the yard he calls it by “the pink flowers”, or the “red flowers” and etc. I thought it might be fun to put together a journal of the flowers that grow in our yard.
What I am discovering is that it will take more time than I thought it might. I started to do the journal in watercolor, but quickly learned that my paper was not nearly thick enough for that. So I got out a pencil set that I purchased several years ago for a portraiture class. I took it to my sketching group and quickly discovered I needed to sharpen all the pencils and did not have a sharpener with me.
As you can see, sharpening all of these took a bit of time! So far I only have completed two drawings. The drawings are small in nature, but considering how many different flowers we have in our garden, it might take a bit.
One day about a week or two ago, I was getting out of the car and it was raining. The area between the street and the sidewalk was a muddy mess, and that is where I had to cross. I looked at it and thought about the fact that we had a variety of blocks and steps just hanging out by the side of the garage. I decided a walkway might not be a bad idea. When I started I did not think about how long it might take to make this three feet or so little sidewalk. Four hours later all the blocks of different depths are in place and now (not in this photo) there are drought resistant plants planted around the area.
It was a fun little project using what I had in a fun and artful way to make a short walk. I am sure it is going to progress from here to more planting and hopefully beauty in the near future. My point in this is that you can find beauty and art anywhere. It will be fun to see the red creeping thyme that I planted after this picture was taken start growing and adding to the beauty of this little project. It is fun to enjoy our artistic creativity in a variety of different ways!
It’s spring, so I always think of flowers blooming and birds singing. I painted this lavender field in honor of spring. l would love to know what you think of the colors. Flowers make me happy, as they are beautiful and smell wonderful. There are a few stinky ones that should be avoided like a skunk. There are so many to enjoy, it is hard to pick a favorite. I love Tuberoses for their scent and Passion Vines for their amazing design. I am inspired this spring to put together a journal of all the flowers just in our yard. As I start the project, I’ll share the progress on my blog.
As the grapevines start blooming with grapes, they too are a beauty to behold. I hope to capture many images of vineyards to paint this year. When you first view the vines, they seem monotone, but looking more intensely they are profusely filled with a great variety of colors. Bringing in the surrounding scenery has more life to a painting. This one is 16 x 40, as I had a frame that size and am wanting to use what I have in my studio before buying more.
Moving to Vacaville from the PNW it is surprising how few paintings I sell, as I used to sell several every month. What do you think about putting up a sign in front of the house on Saturday Farmers Market, as many people walk by on their way there.
One of my friends is an amazing photographer of birds and insects. She has been asking me to do a Monarch Butterfly for a while. This is only 8 x 8 inches and was fun to do. I am working on a second one, so this one is not alone.
I have artist friends that only paint landscapes, and some only paint seascapes. I am always looking for something to paint and love suggestions from friends. I think I have a rather bright / free style of painting. I can usually tell my mood, by the colors I select for my paintings. I do love the look of dark and moody paintings, but it is just not my personality.
It would be wonderful to find exactly what my style is, and stick to one look. There are so many different ways and things to paint, how do you settle on just one look? Maybe I would be more successful selling my work, if I stuck to one style. Oh well, not today!
One of my friends sent this to me the other day. It seems so true for so many things! We work so hard on our own to be successful doing what we love, and so little of the work is seen and even less is acknowledged. Moving to a new area only adds more to the bottom of the triangle. In my case I moved to a different state, where I knew very few people and literally no artists. So, not only are my connections to “my art community” changed, my collectors live in another state, the design store where I sold my big abstracts is too away to easily or practically deliver and/or to keep track of what has sold. On top of that, Social Media is constantly changing and evolving.
Have you noticed that most of the email that you receive is “junk mail”, trying to sell you something. Few people email anymore. Text is the way of the day. I don’t even begin to know or want to know all the slang that is acceptable for text. They had a quiz of the new slang words at a local Rotary Meeting, and only the members that had teenage children had any idea what most of the new slang meant. Not only do you have to move from email to text, apparently you need to learn a new world of abbreviations.
Another new way of connecting is via “Link Tree”, which I learned about, but have no clue how to do. Reels should be used on Social Media; so here is another new application that one should learn to let people know what they are doing.
Was selling your art ever easy? Probably not, but you sold it via people you knew, their connections and perhaps a gallery or more with whom you associated. Living in a town with only one gallery, that is “out of the way” of most street traffic, and a town where art does not seem to play an important role certainly changes how and how much art you are able to sell.
I’ve been lucky to sell a few pieces to people I’m meeting, and by putting a sign on the sidewalk that says: “Artist at Work”, as you cannot have an “Open” sign if you have a home business where I live. In the Spring and Summer when I am working I open the garage door to my studio, and occasionally someone comes in from the street and talks, or buys cards and on a rare occasion buys a piece of art. It is a good way to relinquish some older pieces, as everyone is looking for a “deal”.
I’ve donated pieces to local events, but never hear much about it. I am always glad to support a good cause, but sometimes think I am a good cause too! Ha Ha
Being an artist, if I have not sold something in a while I might not feel like spending so much time in my studio making art. Then someone buys a small piece and the enthusiasm comes back. I wonder if most artists feel that way.
What I really wonder is why some works make it into shows and others don’t? Is it totally up to the juror and what they personally like, or is there more to it. I’ve been accepted into several shows, but never won a prize. Looking at winners I often wonder what makes the difference? Please let me know if you know.
Working on same larger abstracts, I thought all of a sudden it might be fun to paint quite small paintings. I took the three larger pieces I had painted and translated them into a smaller version. It was great fun!
Only the texture in this painting gives away the difference in size between the two. The first one is 6″ x 6″ and the one right above is 24″ x 30″. It is fun to see the differences. The little minis take a lot less time and are very relaxing.
Another example of bigger and much smaller.
There is a much bigger difference between these two! I wonder if you like the smaller or the larger? The ones below are all minis that I plan to grow into larger works with time permitting. I would love to have a pop-up show somewhere nearby to share them with a wider audience.
