A Welcoming Entrance

"A Welcoming Entrance" - I've been painting a lot of spring flowers this year - I can't help it, as I really love this time of year.  Flowers add so much to a place, whether it be a home or a field or a roadside ditch, the world is a much better place with them in it.   They just seem to add a great deal of warmth and welcome to any place, but most especially home. 

Along the way home, clumps of daffodils, hyacinths, grape muscari wave their welcome and show off their colors just to delight you.  The trees - not to be outdone - put forth their brightest, greenest foliage of the season, not yet touched by Summer's perils (heat, drought and insects). 

(For a closer look, just click on the photos)

This is probably my favorite right at present, and is in my own collection.

Lake Hideaway

"Lake Hideaway" -  There's a nice breeze blowing, making the water a bit choppy but it's a beautiful day to be at the lake in this cozy little lakeside cabin!   Daydreaming and painting along - Just completed, March 2012

(To view a larger image, just click on the photo)

Prehistoric Paradise

"Prehistoric Paradise" -   What a place this Earth of ours must have been way back when the dinosaurs walked the land!   Here we have volcanic looking mountains, lush greenery, and a crystal clear,  unspoiled lake.  Just completed,  March 2012  SOLD

Down the Dirt Road

"Down the Dirt Road" - You never know what you'll find when you venture down the backroads.  Sometimes you might just stumble across a scene something like this one. 

Three little homes settled into the hills, surrounded by spring greenery at its finest!  The old dirt road stretches on and on, into the woods and over the hills behind.    A great little neighborhood!  Just completed, March 2012  SOLD

(Just click on the photo to see a closer/larger image)

The Big Yellow Farmhouse

"The Big Yellow Farmhouse" -   Reminds me of a place that I've always admired, that I used to pass by on occassion years ago as a child.   A big yellow farmhouse - always neat as a pin - and looked something like this from my car window vantage point.     Completed January 2012 - SOLD.

A Walk in the Park

"A Walk in the Park" -  Everything is green and in its finest Spring form, with  that special "glow" that you encounter every now and then - usually right before or right after a spring storm - with the sky is a darker, more ominous blue.  My favorite time to go out and about - after the storm has passed, of course! 

Just completed, March 2012.   SOLD

(For a larger view, just click on the picture)

"The Old Homestead" -  

A beautiful spring day at a small, rustic, prairie homestead-type cabin complete with the old-fashioned well, the rolling hills behind, the sky its bluest blue, and everything lush and green!   

Just completed, March 2012  SOLD

"The Crazy Flower Lady's House"

Just poking fun at myself a bit... You've heard people refer to the "crazy cat lady" I'm sure.  I think that I am more destined to become the "crazy flower lady" since I believe that I've found my limit on cats at 3 of them, outdoor kitties - still enough kitties is enough kitties.  I really can't imagine having a flower limit though! 

Here's a little poem that I wrote to go along with it - all in good fun - just teasing myself (and the others who are similarly busy perusing the pages of those beloved catalogs just now).  Enjoy  :)     SOLD 2012

"The Crazy Flower Lady's House"
By Carolyn Caton, January 2012

Along about the 1st of the year,
begins the arrival of something dear

The flowers are all now long gone - even the mums...
When into the mailbox, the treasure comes!

The treasure I speak of is neither silver nor gold,
But to my eye, more glorious to behold.

The new seed catalogs start arriving you see,
Great deals to be had on shrubs, flowers, and trees!

I'm not to this point just yet, it's true 
But maybe in a year or two....

The "crazy flower lady" is who I'll be,
and that really is just fine with me!


(To view larger image, just click on the photo)

"By the Light of the Moon"  - The big full moon has everything shimmering under its beams, and lights the way home.  The trees leaves, clouds, flowers are all shimmering in the moon light!  (See note below*)  I've just completed this one, March 2012

*Note:  There is a fair amount of metallic paints mixed into this one, and though subtle when you see it in person, it makes it exceptionally hard (for me) to photograph, as the flash creates impossible glares with the metallic paints that I've yet to overcome.   I've tried to add a variety of lighting situations in the photos, though in some the clouds don't show up, and it's hard to see the shimmer in them.  Still, it seems as though it's either too much glare, or too dark.  In reality, it is somewhere in between.   

  

Spring Greetings

"Spring Greetings" -   I've been daydreaming of Spring every since New Year's, and the arrival of my beloved seed catalogs - Already some of the Spring flowers are beginning to awaken, due to the mild winter, and I can hardly wait for their return!    Completed, February 2012