Friday, May 29, 2015

The Faster I Go - The Further Behind I Get!

I think my post today is a very FAST "CATCH UP" post.  Somehow in my head I think I can get all of May's posts made before the DEADLINE (May 31, 2015)!  Do you ever feel like that?  I do enjoy posting about my work, but as the title above reveals....something in our lives has to suffer.  I try not to allow my painting be the one!  

Gardening is very much on my mind these days.  For right now we do not have to worry about watering the gardens here in Oklahoma, so my tomato plants may have a better survival rate (lol).  I love tomatoes.  I love painting them and they are wonderful subjects for paintings.   A friend and fellow blogger raises tomatoes and makes salsa every year.  I would love to be like her (Wordweaver Art).  Just getting those tomatoes to grow is a challenge for both my husband and I.  Anyway, I couldn't wait for them to start producing so I have been buying them.  These two in the painting below were so pretty that I took one off and consumed it, but decided to paint the other two with the vine still on them.  I set them on a window sill and the light is from the back of the tomatoes themselves; however, the light bounced around them and the sill providing several exciting design elements that hopefully I managed to record on canvas.  Click on the title if you are interested in buying.  It will take you to my Etsy shop.  Thanks for coming by today to hear me "whine" about time (lol).  
Oil on Canvas
Cheri Wollenberg

Wednesday, May 27, 2015

Two Small Cow Paintings!





6x8 Oil on Ramar Artist Board
Cheri Wollenberg
Sassy
6x6 Canvas Print
Cheri Wollenberg


Today I'm being kind of lazy and posting about two small paintings at once.  I decided to do some smaller works.  Actually this is a challenge to me.  I don't work too well with small brushes. I'm used to doing much larger works of cows, and I use much larger brushes.  These are two of our son's cows.  I have a wealth of resources with his changing herds.  My husband and I run around in the Gator and the cows come up very close to the Gator.  They are so curious and many times think we are coming with something for them to eat.  Had a good time taking photos of these!  



Tuesday, May 26, 2015

Purple And White Iris Oil Painting

8x8 Oil on Canvas
Cheri Wollenberg
I was upstairs in my studio when my husband called me from downstairs and said he wanted to show me something.  As I went down I began to question him....what was it?  Of course he wanted to be mysterious and made me wait.  He showed me this volunteer iris that had popped up very close to the foundation of our home.  It was an unexpected one and he knows how it pleased me to see its beauty.  He also knows what I do with these kind of finds?  It was from some bulbs that I had dug up in my mother's yard last summer.  I had thrown some of the leftover bulb "trash" and soil at the corner of the flower bed thinking that there wasn't anything in it but dirt!

Painting this iris reminded me of my mother.  She left this world last August but she left many memories for her four girls, family and friends.  She loved to garden.  At anytime of a spring and summer day you could drive by her house and she would be stooped over pulling weeds.  Everytime she came to visit me...everytime....if we were standing around visiting outside and she saw a stray weed (she saw plenty of them), she would stoop over and pull it up.  

My mother!  I miss her.  I thank her for many things she brought to my life.  I thank her for the opportunity to see this flower grow up and provide an opportunity for me to paint such a simple, little work.  During the process of painting it I enjoyed once again....my mother's presence.  A long post...sorry!  You can find this painting in my Etsy shop by clicking here.

Monday, May 25, 2015

Maud II - Cow Painting

16x20 Oil on Canvas
Cheri Wollenberg
I think my motto for today will be "pray" in addition to "paint".  In Oklahoma we have had torrential rains the past couple of weeks flooding many parts of our state.  AND, there is more rain to come!  This magnitude of downpour doesn't happen too often here in our state.   In fact we have been in a very bad drought the last several years.  Record downfall and rain measurements are being recorded and might never be broken at least in this generation's lifetime.   Many folks here have lost their homes either in tornados or damage from floods.  Texas has also had such a bad season for storms.   Wheat crops in both states have been jeopardized; however, hard to see during times of hardship, the good and positive news is that our ponds, streams, and lakes have risen back to normal and above.  Also, many other types of crops may thrive.  People in city and rural areas that depend on lakes for drinking water and daily living will perhaps have  a generous amount for a couple of years.  Our cattle will have grass.  It is very easy to see the negative, but we must focus on the positive.

This painting was one I finished a couple of days ago.  She brings a smile to my face.  Hope it helps your day as well.  She is listed in my Etsy shop.  Click here to see.

Saturday, May 23, 2015

Mama Red Hen and Chicks - Farm Animal Painting

12x12 Oil on Canvas
Cheri Wollenberg
My husband and I have lived on farms all our married life except for a 10 year period that his work as a pastor took us to Fayetteville, Arkansas.  He was an agriculture teacher in Oklahoma and farmed full time, raised cattle and preached!  I taught art in school later after our children were in high school.  We have loved both our farm and teaching lives.   Now during the retirement years we still work at farming though on a very small scale.  Our newest venture in raising animals has been chickens!  LAUGH OUT LOUD!!!!! What fun we have had.  Knowing nothing we have raised enough chickens to have fresh eggs now for a couple of years.  Recently we decided to try our hand at chicks!!!  LAUGH OUT LOUD AGAIN!!!!  We started with four eggs because we don't want to have a population explosion.  The reason being is that we could never eat any chickens....only have fun with them and enjoy their wonderful produce.  So...out of the four "planned family" experience we have hatched two.  These two are in this painting.  I couldn't help but want to paint them.  They would not stay still long enough for me to get a good shot of them, so I had to improvise somewhat.  Enjoyed this venture.  Hopefully I can  post that we were successful in raising these little chicks to adulthood someday.  This painting's description and price are in my Etsy store.  Click Here.


Tuesday, May 19, 2015

Blue and White Pitcher with Yellow Roses

10x10 Original Oil on Canvas
Cheri Wollenberg
I have had such beautiful roses this year.  It has not been easy to come by either.  It has taken a good seven years of experimentation, education and hard work.  We live on a hill in central Oklahoma and the dirt is red!  It is red clay but beautiful, but it isn't the best soil or doesn't provide the best conditions for roses, hydrangea or peonies.  Thanks to some wonderful articles in blogs and information on Pinterest I've managed to get my roses to bloom.  I guess my main purpose for working with these particular flowers is that I love painting them.  This particular still life only features a couple, but I'm working on bouquets.  My love for blue and white pottery and china seems to compliment the roses.  This painting is listed in my Etsy store.  Have a LOOK, and thanks for stopping by:)

Poppy The Pig, Original Oil Painting by Cheri Wollenberg

Poppy Original 8x8 Oil Painting On Canvas by Cheri Wollenberg   Poppy is pig who might be hungry and waiting on his master to bring corn or ...