Going Native

Spiderwort

Spiderwort painting on four 14" square canvasses

This painting is an extreme close-up of a small Virginia Spiderwort (Tradescantia virginiana) blossom. It is one of 75 species in the Spiderwort genus. It is native to the East coast of the US. It is a beautiful, and easy to grow and maintain addition to just about any garden in Pennsylvania. The bees and butterflies will thank you for it. I painted this on four 14″ x 14″ panels with 2″ gaps. Perhaps it mimics the effect of viewing the blossom through the window of a tiny dollhouse.

The painting comes with Command strips affixed and instructions for hanging.

Price: $200 plus postage

SOLD

Wild Violets

Wild Violets

Many people consider wild violets to be a weed. We enjoy them and plant them! They are wonderful, native perennials that provide sustenance from early spring through fall to bees, rabbits, and other insects and small animals that are essential to a healthy ecosystem. Plus, they add delightful spots of color and bits of softness to a lawn. These tiny blossoms are scattered all across the back yard of the house in Perkasie where we rent an apartment. Each bloom is less than an inch across, so this painting is an enlarged view.

This painting is acrylic on 14″ x 14″ stretched canvas. The edges are painted purple, so framing is optional.

Price: $100 plus postage. SOLD

Valentine’s Day Paintings 2017

For Valentine’s Day, this year, I painted on 6″ x 6″ stretched canvasses for each of our five grandchildren. It was not planned this way, but as it turned out, they all have purple or lavender in them. They say purple is the most provocative of colors. I think it is fun. These paintings have been well received on Facebook. Here goes!

Asters, etc.

“Asters, etc.” is for Brigitta, age 9. She loves green and is a very good, abstract artist in her own right (better than me). In art, anyway, I find it hard to break free from physical reality. This is a freestyle interpretation of asters, with a couple of undefined, red weed flowers blooming, above the jumble of mixed foliage below.

Goldfinch with pulple coneflowers

“Goldfinch” is for Elijah, age 9. He loves it! It is based on a photograph I had taken through the front door window of our house on Front Street. It was the same goldfinch who had serenaded me at arm’s length while I paused on my morning walk just after my open heart surgery.

Lavender Sunflower

My painting for Isabella is of a  sunflower, but with lavender petals. When she saw it, she said, “Poppop, you are a genius!” I surmise she likes it.

Bizaro Skittles

Jacob’s 11th birthday is next week. He wants a cat. His dad does not want any more animals in addition to his three sons in the house. So I painted him “Bizaro Skittles.” It is a portrait of my cat, mirrored, in purple and pale green.

yes!

“yes!” is for our 12-year-old grandson Aidan. I wrote around the sides: “Even when the answer is No, it says YES! I love you. 2 Corinthians 1:19”
It came to me that he is of the age and temperament that he needs to hear this. When his parents or other adults tell him no, it is not because they don’t want him to have fun, it is because they love him and want him to have a long and happy life. I explained this to him when I gave him the painting. He gave me a huge, tight, long hug-of-war hug.

Ruby-throated Hummingbird

Ruby-throated Hummingbird

I painted this Ruby-throated Hummingbird on coarse canvas to echo the one I painted on the cinder block wall as part of the Birds of Perkasie mural that I painted last summer. This is Bethann’s favorite. I painted the Beebalm in shades of lavender instead of pink. This is closer to the color ours was. This is pasted to the hallway wall of the house we currently rent. If we need to move it for any reason, I can simply use warm water and a sponge to peel it off without damaging it or the wall. The clay based, wallpaper paste remains water-soluble forever.

The painting is acrylic on a 25-3/4″ diameter canvas.

Price: $200 reduced to $50 plus postage.

Fill out the form below so we can arrange payment and delivery. I take PayPal, so all credit or debit cards are accepted.

Goldfinch

Goldfinch

This painting commemorates the day last June, shortly after my open heart surgery to replace my damaged aortic valve with a pig valve. I had just exited our house and was passing the front “garden”, a jumble of native plants and weeds. I was moving slowly. A male goldfinch landed on one of the many Echinacea that were in bloom. He was within arm’s length of me. He tilted his head and looked at me; then he began to sing. He went through all of his repertoire, then it seemed as if he turned to me again for a response. I said, “Thank you, Mr. Goldfinch!” He nodded and flew off, It was a magical moment, like something from one of those classic Disney movies.

The painting is acrylic on 6″ x 6″ stretched canvas.

Price: $40 plus postage

SOLD.

Buttonwood Bush Blossom

buttonwood bush blossom

These globular blossoms are about 1″ in diameter with tiny tendrils poking out on all sides. The bushes are native to Pennsylvania. They were here before white men arrived. This is a painting of a blossom on a buttonwood bush in front of our house. That is why the red siding color is in the background. This is acrylic on a 16″ diameter canvas. The edge is painted bright yellow to facilitate frame-less hanging.

Price: $200 plus postage

Sorry. SOLD.

Butterfly Garden

Butterfly Garden

This painting was inspired by our visit to Edge of the Woods Native Plant Nursery. They have a beautiful butterfly garden that contains all of these plants plus several more in a dense, four foot tall jumble. We have all of the plants portrayed, in our yard in front of the little house we rent. They are goldenrod, milkweed, boneset, butterfly weed, native bee balm, oxeye daisies and red lobelia.

Several types of bees were all over the blooms, this summer, along with about a dozen types of butterflies.

It is also available on a deck of cards and soon on other things from our Zazzle store. Click here to learn more:
Butterfly Garden Playing Cards
by ShoutForJoyNet

Painting is acrylic on 30″ x 40″ stretched canvas.

Price: $$300 reduced to $100 plus postage.

Fill out the form below so we can arrange payment and delivery. I take PayPal, so all credit or debit cards are accepted.

Coneflower

Coneflower

This is not a natural color for a coneflower unless one is looking at a yellow coneflower through black light sunglasses, naturally.

The painting is acrylic on 12″ x 12″ stretched canvas. The edges are painted black.

Price: $50 reduced to $25 plus postage

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Echinacea

Echinacea

Echinacea is commonly known as coneflower. It is native to where we live in southeastern PA. By native, I mean it was here before European settlers arrived. Yes, it is the same Echinacea that is in your cold remedy to help dry up sniffles. They grow and spread quite nicely in poor soil, as long as there is good sun and drainage. They are my kind of flower, as they thrive on neglect and attract all sorts of beautiful birds, butterflies, moths and bees.

Painting is acrylic on 12″ x 12″ stretched canvas.

Price: $60 plus postage.

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Bumblebee on a Virginia Rose

Bumble bee on a Virginia rose

I painted this bumblebee on a native Virginia Rose based on a photo from our garden from last summer.

Bumblebees are now endangered in US (regardless of what the so-called president Trump says) due to the use of Monsanto’s RoundUp, mono-culture farming, and the supplanting of native plants with exotics.

We replaced 30% of our lawn with native plants and always see lots of bumbles and other bees, along with butterflies, moths and birds of all types. Native plants are those that were in the area before Europeans arrived about 400 years ago.

The painting is 6″ x 6″ acrylic on stretched canvas, so is about life-size.

Price: $40 plus postage

Fill out the form below so we can arrange payment and delivery. I take PayPal, so all credit and debit cards are accepted.