Autumn Gourd Painting Original by Cheri Wollenberg

Autumn Gourd Painting Print

Original Oil Painting by Cheri Wollenberg

This small still life painting of a decorative gourd pumpkins were arranged and painted by me a few years back.  I loved setting the arrangement up for a quick study.  The colors are golds, greens, cool whites, oranges and browns.  The perfect image to display for your fall decor.  It comes printed on a variety of products, and you can visit my page on Fine Art America by clicking the link on this page, or you can click the link above and go right to the print.

Barn Landscape Painting Bella Vista, Arkansas Original Art by Cheri Wollenberg

Barn At Bella Vista, Arkansas

Original Oil Painting 

by Cheri Wollenberg

Barns are an interesting subject to view as we travel through the countryside. We appreciate their practical use and wonder what kind of animals are kept in them, or what kinds of farm products are stored in them. They tell a story...usually of farmers and families; however, they entertain many who love to view rustic country scenes throughout our nation. I saw this barn as we traveled north to Missouri. The barn was up on a hillside and I snapped it at a perfect time from the car. I was so glad to get the image so that I could paint it later, because I loved the beautiful rustic colors of the fall and earth from down below.  You can purchase a print of this barn by following the highlighted description under the image above.

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.

Whimsical Santa Claus IV

Santa Claus IV 

Playing Music In The Starry Night

16x20 Original Oil Painting

by Cheri Wollenberg

I've painted a lot of Whimsical Santa Clauses lately.  I've also painted more realistic ones.  The old world style of Santa Claus really intrigues me. These paintings have been a lot of fun to plan and begin the process of placing them on canvas.  I played Christmas music today as I painted.  I'm thankful for the season, for what it means to me spiritually and that I can in some way make others smile a little with my ideas or the execution of the idea on canvas.  This is listed in my Etsy store.  Just click here.  Also, to see other Santa paintings and demos follow me on FB at

https://www.facebook.com/ArtbyCheriWollenberg

I'm Only An Oil Painting Artist!

 

I have sadly neglected my blog for quite some time again!  This past year (2016) has been a very eventful and fascinating year in my art life!  A couple of years ago I had an opportunity to license a painting of some whimsical snow carolers.  They were printed on popcorn tins during the Christmas shopping season of 2014 and 2015.  It was delightful to see this happen, but I have had some of my work licensed for other products during 2015 and 2016 and amazingly these works have been printed on things like dishes,rugs, pillows, fabric, and so forth.  To tell you about this is way too long and boring, which brings me to the next series of blog posts.  They are fascinating to me, because I'm Only An Artist, but I admire quilters so very much.  The block pictured above is around 100 years old.  This one is from a group that was given to me from my granny's unfinished stash about 20 years ago.  That's a story in itself, and I will share more about it later.  Starting tomorrow I'll be sharing the process of a quilt being made by a lady who is using the fabric from my designs sold by Robert Kaufman.  She has generously shared her process through images and notes and I'm excited about this to say the least!  And, concerning the story of the 100 year old quilt blocks made by my granny and her friends......that will have to come later.  For now, I'll end this post by using Paul Harvey's famous words...please tune in tomorrow to hear...."The Rest Of The Story".

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.  

Cow Painting - Bonnie

Bonnie

6x6 Oil on Canvas

Cheri Wollenberg

I have trouble painting with small brushes these days.  I prefer using larger brushes and painting on larger supports; however, I know that stretching myself is good.  So this small 6x6 painting called for smaller brushes of course (lol).  Also, blond cows are not my favorite to paint, but somehow this one appealed to me as I looked through my photos.  I thought the red would be good for her warm blond coat.  I'm pleased with her.   For pricing, click HERE.

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).  

Two Bright Tomatoes

Oil on Canvas

Cheri Wollenberg

Purple And White Iris Oil Painting

Purple And White Iris

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.

Maud II - Cow Painting

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.

Still Life Painting - Red Strawberries and Yellow Tea Pot

Red Strawberries and Yellow Tea Pot Still Life

12x12 Oil on Canvas

Cheri Wollenberg

Still painting strawberries!!  This painting features a brilliant yellow pottery tea pot with deliciously red strawberries strewn around it on a white cup towel. I love red.  I love strawberries and I love to paint.  This is my painting for today!  You can find this painting in my Etsy store.  CLICK HERE.

Blue Bonnet Duo - Two Cows Standing in Blue Bonnets

Blue Bonnet Duo - Two Cows Standing in Blue Bonnets

20x30 Oil on Canvas

Cheri Wollenberg

 

I was inspired to create this painting of these two cows, one an Angus cow and the other a Hereford cow, standing in a field of green grass and blue bonnets when my son brought some pictures to me that he had taken while working in Texas. He is a cattleman and works for Stockman Oklahoma Commission Company. He regularly travels to Texas to film cows for video sale and/or supervise loading cattle for his company's customers. He knows how excited I become when he brings home beautiful pictures of Texas hill country and cattle. He doesn't always have time to take photos, but last spring he got some great shots of blue bonnets.  This painting features two of his own cattle here in Oklahoma close to my home. I placed the Texas blue bonnets inspired by his photos in the composition for fun.  Click here to buy.

Red, Delicious Strawberries - Food Still Life Painting

Strawberries and White Creamer

8x8 Oil on Canvas

Cheri Wollenberg

 

Strawberries have a way of coming into my painting compositions every year about this time.  I can't decide whether the inspiration comes from loving the delicious food itself, their color and handsome design, or whether they look  stunning and inviting mixed with other shapes, colors and textures.  Either reason I enjoy painting them as a favorite food and subject in of my small my still lifes.  This one is listed in on Etsy.  Click Here. 

Retro Cat and Red Apples - A Still Life Painting

Retro Cat and Red Apples

6x8 Oil on Canvas

Cheri Wollenberg

 

This little ceramic cat was an article that graced my grandmother's home for many years.  As a child I was fascinated by it as well as other items that she had placed around in various arrangements or on certain table tops with family pictures.  She had 9 children of whom my mother was number 6.  My grandfather had been a farmer all his life except when he served in WWI so they didn't have a lot of monetary things.  Their home was full of love; however my grandmother of 4'11" was a disciplinarian!  I'm sure she had to get her bluff in some way because of her size if not because of the need for organization in a large home and family situation.  Plus, on this side of my life I understand why one would not want 15+ grandkids jumping on her beds.  All this to say, I was not allowed to play with her knick-knacks, but I had a great imagination.  I imagined stories around this little ceramic figure....some of them quite whimsical.  It became one of my possessions when I found it in my mothers garage many years later.  This little painting makes me smile.  I smiled all the time I painted it.  The figurine is in other paintings I've done.  I still get a charge of memory out of arranging it in compositions great and small.  It is listed in my Etsy store.

Dancing Prancing Roosters at Sunset by Cheri Wollenberg

Dancing Prancing Roosters at Sunset

20x30 Oil on Canvas

Cheri Wollenberg

 

The sun was setting and there was a glowing back-lit landscape behind them.  I had taken my camera out to photo the chickens right before we put them up for the evening.  These five roosters were prancing in front of the silos and the sun behind them was glowing as it was going down.  I deliberately painted them lighter from the photo I had because in life they showed up so much better; however, as always...painting from a photo never is as good as painting from life.  I enjoyed painting them though and maybe I recreated a little of their prance.  They are listed for sale here.

Ms Hilda - Cow Painting

Ms Hilda Cow Painting

24x24 Oil on Canvas

Cheri Wollenberg

I painted this cow from a reference photo I took of one of my son's cows last summer.  The grays on her coat were very unusual.  They seemed to reflect the green hues from the pasture she was grazing in.  There were blue grays, green grays and even some beige colored grays depending on the way she was turned in the sun.   Red seemed to be the color that looked best in the background.  The colorful background seemed more complementary to her over-all appearance.  Click this listing if interested in buying her:)

Cherries on Napkin - Small Still Life Painting

Cherries on Napkin

6x8 Oil on Canvas

Cheri Wollenberg

I hate to be inconsistent in posting on my blog; however, life has many detours!  I'm working on two very large commission projects so I haven't had the time to paint or post lately.  Here is an offering until I can get other things done.  It is in my Etsy shop.  You can follow by clicking here.

Still Life Oil Painting - Owl Planter and Harvest Gourds

Mr Owl and Harvest Gourds

8x10 Oil on Canvas

Cheri Wollenberg

Sometimes as artists we have to paint things that are really fun!  We have to relax and allow our creative energy to express something that we find either amusing, comforting or even alarming!  Recently I lost my mother and I was gifted with many beautiful green plants.  After about a month some of them needed repotting.  So I began a journey to find flowering pots that would look good with my very eclectic home décor.  I must say that I'm very conservative when it comes to adding accessories of this nature to my farmhouse style.  First, I do not have a green thumb, second I want plain things to work into my already over-eclectic furnishings because I have a tendency to make "stuff" statements rather than "good" statements about my life style.

But.....My mother loved birds and living things and as I shopped for pots to house these wonderful plants given in her memory, I decided to get a few that would remind me of her and so.........the owl planter made it to my cart:)

 

I loved painting this quick little study.  This painting can be found in my Etsy store.  Just click here if you are interested.

Three Tomatoes Set on a Sill

Three Tomatoes Set on a Sill

6x18 Original Oil Painting on Canvas

Cheri Wollenberg

I have  shared on previous posts about the nice people who have brought garden produce as gifts to my husband and I.  What good friends we have!!  They shared with us because our garden turned out to be a flop!  We only harvested onions in the spring and a very bad tasting watermelon later in the season.  A few circumstances of life visited us this year that created a challenge for us to keep it up and running.  However, we enjoyed these gifts of ripe peaches, corn on the cob, and a bounty of tomatoes in several different ways of preparation (lol).  I prepared them first in still compositions that made my mouth water and then we prepared them for eating!  I love to paint red things.  Red shouts energy, excitement and love!  We received our friends' love over and over:)  It is for sale here.