BELLE

5x7 oil on canvas panel

I have not participated lately in our monthly challenges, but was grateful for Spring Break to rest, relax, and finally paint! I loved this "paint with your other hand" challenge and I do hope you will try this out. I did 2 paintings for this challenge and will try to get the other one posted by the end of the week. I began each painting with a blank canvas and using my left hand, sketched a few reference points and just had fun. I absolutely could not paint with my other hand until I sat on my right hand, it needed to be out of my way. So much fun, I hope you try this exercise!

HOME GROWN

I have the fondest memories of my grandparents love for gardening. Fruit and vegetables were rarely, if ever, purchased at the grocery store, instead all was grown with their loving hands. Their surplus was shared with all and what could not be shared was "put up" for the months ahead. I, on the other hand, depend on the grocery bins and the local farmer's market for my fresh produce.

Carol, this painting is for you for the Texas Moleskin Round-Up. I had to double-dip and borrow the What's for Dinner theme and use it for your Sides theme, too. Folks, I'm so sorry I missed the last couple of months, hopefully I can catch up and participate now.

UPSIDE DOWN

8x8 oil on canvas panel

For July's theme of Upside Down, I bring you an upside down sleeping kitty. I'm watching the evening news right now, and it looks like our temps will drop from 104* to 100*...WooHoo!
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ADORE HIS SACRED NAME

11x14 oil on canvas
Well, I've had to pull from the archives for this category because my entire life right now is consumed with school and more school. This is one of my students, Madyson, signing the word adore from the hymn, Lift High the Cross. As we are introduced each month to a new hymn, one of our teachers teaches the children sign language. In addition to hearing their sweet voices, it is truly a beautiful thing to watch children "singing" with their hands.

I recently learned that this painting is one of three that has been accepted to hang in a museum in honor of one of my late professors, Elemore Morgan, Jr. To pay tribute to a most beloved mentor, teacher, and friend, the museum is honoring him through works of his former students and I am thrilled to be included in the year long show. Here is a video of this kind, soft spoken gentleman, speaking about his love for art and the rice fields he so loved to paint. Years ago when we were first married, my husband and I sat in one of Elemore's favorite rice fields for a portrait, his wedding present to us; wow!

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WASH DAY

8X10 oil on canvas panel

Here I am a day late posting my solution for the tool challenge. Every Spring, our first and second graders experience life as a Colonial and a Pioneer. The children dress appropriately and experience a range of activities, like writing with a quill pen, making butter, and washing clothes with a washboard, a very handy tool back in the day.
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STOCKPILE

11x14 oil on canvas
One of the things I like about Winter is we get the pleasure of seeing where birds have successfully hidden their nests amongst the bare branches of deciduous trees. I hope you can accept another nest painting after Kay's beautiful paintings. I tried to come up with another idea, but ran out of time and had to go with my original thought of a nest full of eggs.
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AZAELAS IN THE PARK

11x14 oil on canvas

Oh, dear it is official, I am not a flower painter. I attempted a few this week, all wipe outs and one so bad, I just threw it in the trash. As I wailed and threw fits, my sweet husband very confidently suggested, "just paint like Nancy Medina". As you know it doesn't quite work like that, but I do like that a few posts down she refers to a glass of wine, now that I can do.

Ann Rogers encouraged me to post this painting. She and I went out last spring together and painted one day in the Turtle Creek area of Dallas. Each Spring the azaleas put on a show and just scream paint me, so we did!
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LONGHORN RANCHER by Angela Elledge

8x8 oil on canvas panel
I met Kermit several years ago while visiting home one summer. My brother had kept a newspaper article for me about a man who had left his successful career to return home to SW Louisiana and begin a career as a longhorn cattleman. I boldly called him and explained that I was interested in photographing his longhorn cattle for future paintings. We had 3 cameras working and took well over 800 photos...click and shoot, edit later...what did we do before digital photography? Not only did I leave Kermit's ranch with an abundance of material for paintings, but he would not let us leave without a huge bag filled with an assortment of longhorn steaks! If you've never been to Louisiana, you're missing out on meeting some of the kindest people around.

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WATCHDOG

8x10 oil on canvas panel
Just under the wire for my entry in this month's chair theme. I have a pair of these large overstuffed chairs in the living room, facing directly opposite of each other and perfect (if you're Cowgirl) for either looking out the front windows or the back french doors. If you are Cowgirl, the only way to sit in these chairs is to climb up onto the top of the cushion, sit in the center and make sure you squash the cushion into a perfect V shape. Apparently, these are the best seats in the house for watching important stuff like, people walking their pets, squirrels hiding nuts, children playing, and leaves blowing in the wind. All of these things bring loud barks and whines alerting me to the crazy antics of my neighbors; thanks Cowgirl, I'm not sure what we would do without your watchful eyes.

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PINK GOES WITH PINK

6x8 oil on canvas
My best friend, Tina is quite the fashionista, and apparently so is her little granddaughter, Kate. When I received this photo, it cracked me up and I could not help but paint it for our theme of Pink. I painted Kate about a year ago in another funny little ensemble, you can see that painting here.

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CAMO KOI

8x16 oil on canvas panel

Here's one more fish for September. I delivered some commissions to a client and while there, discovered their beautiful koi pond. I don't remember this guy's name, they were quite friendly and seemed to enjoy posing for the camera. I think the background looks like wannabe camouflage, so until ya'll help me out with a title, Camo Koi it is.
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DAVE'S CATCH by Angela Elledge

8x8 oil on canvas board

Dave is one of my plein air painting buddies and a man of many talents, not only can he catch his own fish, he can cook them up, too! This is another one of my little 1 hour painting studies and was so much fun to paint. Thanks for the photo reference, Dave!

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GREAT AUNT TEE #2 by Angela Elledge

6x12 oil on canvas board nfs


A while back I posted my first painting of Great Aunt Tee (seen here). Some important things you should know about Aunt Tee, she loves the Lord, loves to fish, rides a little grown up tricycle and a scooter with a license plate that reads "Here Comes Trouble", and has been known to take a shot or 2 or Crown Royal! Oh my, did I really just share that?

The original Great Aunt Tee painting brought a very pleasant surprise to my family. A very long time ago my father and his siblings lost touch with a cousin that they had not seen in 60+ years. That cousin and his wife were each on a computer one night working on different search engines searching for any relatives they could find. They had very few names to work from, but the one name Michael could remember was Sister Charlita Wills - Aunt Tee. He typed in her name and my blog came up referencing my painting. Michael took one look at the painting and knew immediately that that was his Aunt from his childhood! They contacted me through my website, I put them in touch with my Dad, and I believe there is a plan to get together next summer. You just never know what happens when you post a painting!

Thanks to my brother I have hundreds of photos of Aunt Tee doing what she loves most. Here is a short little article and a wonderful picture of Aunt Tee on her tricycle, which just happens to be fully loaded for the unexpected fishing excursion! I do hope you read the article, it's a quick little read and she's oh so cute!

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ASHLEY'S DREAM by Angela Elledge

Ashley and her husband, Brian had a dream for a very long time to live in New York and pursue their dream of acting. Ashley and Brian's dream came true, they are most gifted and talented and are realizing their dreams every day!

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COWGIRL by Angela Elledge

6x9 oil on canvas

Ok, let's just get this out of the way, I know I'm probably stretching it when I say this little pup has a dreamy look in her eyes, but she does...let me explain!

This is our new little puppy, Cowgirl. After we lost our 15 year old Schnauzer Zoe, we dreamed of a new dog, and look what we dreamed up! After all that time we had forgotten what it was like to have a new puppy in the house, but we now know that cute little innocent look is actually Cowgirl dreaming and scheming what she's going to explore or destroy next!

I promise I will not incorporate a dog into each of our themes, but just this once I had to!

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SITTING PRETTY

8x8 oil on canvas board
by Angela Elledge

As I was looking for my daughter and nephew at a local water park, I discovered these two young ladies enjoying the cool water and the hot sun.

Summer Slumber

8x8 oil on canvas

Early last summer we spent a weekend at a friend's lake house in East Texas plein air painting. Let me explain, plein air painting in E. Tx in the summertime does not happen, it's just too hot! However, if you set up right on the edge of the lake and your sweet husband serves you iced tea, it's not that bad.

This particular area is a dry county so we came prepared with a few bottles of wine for our evening dinner. At some point David (one of the painters) decided we needed beer, so he and Jay (my husband) took off for the 45 minute round trip beer run. My husband is not much of a drinker, but he was up for the drive and probably was tired of waiting on me and ready for a change of scenery. They came back and were enjoying their new refreshments, which means my husband was drinking his normal 1/2 of a beer, my friends and I were on our 3rd painting of the afternoon and after a little while we realized Jay was missing. Away from all of us, nestled in the shade, we found Jay enjoying a perfect summer afternoon in East Texas.

I enjoyed painting the hammock, the light and shadow and the weight of the hammock was a joy to paint.

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The Dallas Lunch Ladies!

From left to right, Gwen, Ann, Angela (me), and Nancy had lunch at an awesome Vietnamese restaurant. Even with my GPS I could not find the restaurant, thanks to Nancy for the detailed step by step directions or else I'd still be driving around Addison looking and searching for these 3 very talented artists. After lunch, Ann suggested we visit Southwest Gallery and off we went on an incredible adventure. You could hear us oohing and aahhing over and over, and you might as well know we had to be pried away from several paintings. Please check out SW's site and make sure you look at John Cook and Xiang Zhang's incredible paintings (my personal favorites), I promise you will not be disappointed!

It was a great afternoon filled with a lot of joy and laughter; thank you lunch ladies! We are planning on doing it again soon, and hope Kay and Linda can join us next time.

THE COWBOY ARTIST Angela Elledge

8x10 oil on canvas

Several years ago we met this artist at McKinney's Art Walk. In addition to his cowboy attire, he also had his horse with him. Look for more art about this fella, I feel as though he should be a series of paintings.