Old Homestead Near Cordell, Oklahoma

Old Homestead Near Cordell, Oklahoma

9x12 Oil On Stretched Canvas

by Cheri Wollenberg

This small 9x12 original painting is of an old homestead near Cordell, Oklahoma.  I've painted it several times in different sizes.  It always interested me.  In spite of the badly deteriorating state it was in it seemed to have a beautiful story behind it.  We would see it consistently every year when we traveled west toward the Texas panhandle on our trips to New Mexico.  Once it was old and gray and almost falling down, but the next summer it had been white-washed and sort of pushed back into a vertical position.  Once it looked as if it had been used as a Halloween haunted house:)  I was always so curious about this old home.  I wondered if it had been made to look good for a movie, magazine story or if it was dressed up because of Route 66 promotional materials.  Whatever....I loved this old home.  I'm very curious about past stories,  and I truly wish I were a writer and I could bring it to life by my own creative thoughts, but this will certainly not happen!!! (LOL)  If you are from Cordell, Oklahoma and have some comments please feel free to comment here on my blog or my FB page:https://www.facebook.com/ArtbyCheriWollenberg/

This small painting is listed in my Etsy store.  You can follow this link to see it.

Old Ford PickupTruck Painting

Old Ford Pickup Truck

16x20 Original Oil On Stretched Canvas

by Cheri Wollenberg

This original oil painting features an old, vintage pickup truck that I painted from a photo.  I took the photo while on a trip to New Mexico about 10 years ago.  It had been parked and may be forgotten by now.  It reminded me of days when my father loved the Ford brand.  Nearly all of his vehicles were Fords.  This painting would make a great gift for someone as a birthday or Father's Day gift.  Christmas gifts can always be promised at a later date since postal delivery is not a promised at this point in 2018, but, nevertheless, delivered later.  You can find this painting in my Etsy shop by clicking here.

Farm Rooster Trio

Farm Rooster Trio

10x10 Oil on Canvas Painting

by Cheri Wollenberg

As my blog states I am a visual artist and I make journal posts about my paintings.  It has been a long while since my last post here on Dancing Brush by Cheri.  It may seem strange, but I sometimes find it harder to write than paint. Composing my thoughts in an organized manner has never been my forte.   In this painting I used a photo that I had taken of our chickens and roosters.  Actually we had 5 roosters at the time.  The only hen in the painting is the white one.  I cropped the photo off to hone in on the three. There were several others around them, but I like the way the heads of these particular "poultry specimens" seemed to have different expressions as if they were "eyeing or sizing up" the viewer (me)!  I hope to cover my tardiness with more regular blog posts in the next weeks.   I'm gathering thoughts (lol).  This painting is in my Etsy store.  You may click the link  Farm Rooster Trio for more details if you are interested.  Thanks for coming by!

Clementine - Cow Painting

Clementine 

18x18 Oil on Canvas

Cheri Wollenberg

Clementine is a black baldy cow.  She seems to be gazing out of a window at her viewer doesn't she?  Our family has been in the cattle business for over 50 years.....going back to my husband's dad who was a farmer and raised cattle.  I especially love to see this crossbred cow mixed with Hereford cows grazing on green pasture.  The design in color, texture, and composition is very exciting for me. For more information on the Black Baldy click here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Baldy 

 Clementine is named for a dear friend in Arkansas.  I am honored to know her.  She is a fine, Christian person and mentored my husband and I when we lived in Fayetteville.  For information about buying this cow you can follow this link.  Just CLICK.  

Mama Red Hen and Chicks - Farm Animal Painting

Mama Red Hen And Chicks

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.

Down The Road - Tree Landscape Painting

Down The Road

12"x12" Original Oil on Canvas

Cheri Wollenberg

I try to paint nearly every day.  Some days I'm successful in accomplishing my goals and some days I have focusing problems!  Some days I look out my studio window which is upstairs in my home, and I see cattle grazing across the road and/or I might have a moment or two giving into a daydream.  Here in Oklahoma we have been experiencing very cold and record-breaking temperatures for the past week and one-half.  The trees that were turning to shades of yellows, rusts and browns are beginning to lose their leaves now and soon will be gray and brown stumps and limbs across winter green pastures.  This painting was a scene of trees about one-fourth mile from our home.  I can see a long ways from my studio...or here in Oklahoma, we might say over yonder!(lol).  I took a picture and this is a cropped view of what I saw that warm day that has turned cold, gray and wintery now.  It is listed in my Etsy store.  Thanks for coming by.

Peaches, Peaches, Peaches!

Bowl of Peaches

12x12 Original Oil Painting

Cheri Wollenberg

 

Recently, some friends of ours from church gifted us with some peaches.  They were beautiful.  They said that this had been one of those years the peaches did well.  They had been healthy, didn't need much maintenance and weren't wormy in spite of not having been treated.  How good is this????  Oklahoma has such extreme conditions on their fruit trees, vegetable and flower gardens.  When we get a good year with moisture at the right time, we can have a harvest dance (lol), just before we eat our crops!  They tasted heavenly and I was so delighted when one of them still had leaves attached to it.  The leaves brought the natural and fresh look I needed when composing them in a still life.  Loved doing this one and I did a small 6x6 painting of them below:  Both can be found in my Etsy store.

 

Pair of Peaches

6x6 Original Oil Painting

Cheri Wollenberg

Tomatoes 2014

Two Tomatoes And a Cup Towel

8x10 Original Oil on Canvas

Cheri Wollenberg

You can find this painting in my Etsy store by clicking here.

Fresh Peaches Still Life Painting by Cheri Wollenberg

Fresh Peaches

6x8 Original Oil on Canvas

Cheri Wollenberg

Adding posts to my blog has sadly diminished again this month!  Personal circumstances have taken priority over my passion for painting, but I'm ready to heal and take my brush in hand and create some small works from things that have inspired me.  Since our lives have been on hold for the past few months we had given up on gardening.  We missed the fresh garden produce.  However, a couple of families in church have gifted us with some beautiful and tasty tomatoes and peaches.  I couldn't resist painting them.  Here as a painting is a sampling of the peaches we were given.  This small painting is listed in my Etsy store.  Have a look here.

Cow Painting - Ms July

Ms July - Hereford Cow Painting

20x30 Original Oil on Canvas

Cheri Wollenberg

Ms July is a Hereford cow.  I enjoy painting Herefords with colors in the natural environment of Oklahoma.  The soil where I live is very red and the greens of the pastures, trees, and grass are complementary in color schema.  In the winter the cattle graze on the wintered gray and beige grasses in pastures that accentuate their coats that have become dark rust in color and hairy.  The blues and grays of distant trees create a beautiful palette.  Reflections of the variety of moods in the sky complete beautiful color to translate to a canvas.  Ms July is listed in my Etsy store.....here!

George - Painting of Multi-Colored Goat

George - The Multi-Colored Goat

14x14 Original Oil on Canvas

Cheri Wollenberg

George is "George of the barnyard" instead of the jungle!  He is another one of the goats that my son photographed.  I think I've had more fun than he did as he shot the images!  He said there were so many of them that it was impossible to take photographs of each one individually.  He said it was a most enjoyable event:)  I certainly love painting them.  George has so many rustic sienna shades, natural and earthy shades that are so raw or un-man-made.  I may go in and touch some of the brightest (not lightest) shades of the sienna colors because they really need some variation.  In the natural light (not the photo) I'm sure they were almost orange to light yellow ochre.  This is really the problem with doing things from photos....you really can't see the shades accurately; however, you can do a lot of interpretation and expression......thus the fun of being the Painter!  George is listed in my Etsy store.  Just a click away!!!!

Cow Painting - Tess

Tess

18x18 Oil on Canvas

Cheri Wollenberg

Tess is a white faced cow with large spots around her eyes. She has a black nose and her hair comes out of two cow licks.  Her long face gives wins her a look of esteem or respect from a viewer.  I get tired of using the same backgrounds of blues and greens when painting so many cows so I like to change things up and try some other colors.  In the photograph I was painting from she was surrounded by some Hereford cows and their coats of rusty reds gave the idea that the rusty sienna, gold, orange and umbers would be interesting.  Give her a look in my Etsy store.  Have a good day:)

Blue and Yellow Still Life Painting

Blue and Yellow Still Life

6x8 Original Oil on Canvas

Cheri Wollenberg

How time gets away!  Writing sometimes takes longer then painting!  This little still life painting features a Blue Willow Pitcher that I purchased several years ago.  I have painted it so many times and I love the sparkle that it brings to compositions with yellows, oranges and rusts.  This is a small daily painting that I finished several weeks ago.  It is featured in my Etsy store.  Have a look:)  Blue and Yellow!

Strawberries and Vintage Blue Glass Creamer Still Life Painting

Strawberries and Vintage Blue Glass Creamer

12x12 Oil Painting on Canvas

Cheri Wollenberg

Thank you for stopping by to visit my blog.  Usually I'm singing my woes that I cannot find the time to paint, but during the last couple of weeks I've painted very consistently full time.  But, to get them posted is another issue!  Spending a great deal of time in one task always takes from another.  Don't you love strawberries! These strawberries were so huge!  My husband and I ate them within 4 days and literally two of them made a huge helping (lol).  When I buy fruit one of the first things I think of is how beautiful!  How Beautiful!  What a blessing it is to eat beautiful food and then in my case, arrange them so that I can make them last longer by painting them in still lifes!!!!  Even in all the snow and bad weather we have had here in Oklahoma we can go to a market and buy beautiful and delicious fruit to eat!  How blessed we are in this life.  This medium to small sized painting is listed in my Etsy store.  You are invited anytime to take a look here.

Still Life Painting of Marigold Flowers and Gourd

Marigold Flowers and Pumpkin Gourd

9x12 Oil on Canvas

Cheri Wollenberg

Orange, marigold flowers in beige pitcher with pumpkin gourd and red cloth in background is the subject for this little still life composition.  A friend and I painted these marigolds set up with a turquoise green pitcher and when she left I couldn't help but paint them again.  The colors were so autumn and cheerful.  This painting is in my Etsy store.  You can find out more about it by clicking here.