There's gold in them thar' hills ...

Well, there is in my living room. And, I do live in the foothills of western North Carolina. Was once a popular gold mining area. Bit of trivia.

Just finished a new abstract this morning and hung it up on the wall ...

Pockets Full Of Gold, acrylic on 1.5" gallery wrapped canvas / triptych of 18" x 48" panels.

I'm pleased with the painting. Hate the photo. Bad lighting in the living room for photo taking. Even zinging it through Photoshop didn't help much. Oh well.

Namaste', y'all ...

Triumph over turtle troubles!

Wow. Been away from here way too long.

I have excuses, but I won't bore you with those.

Instead, I shall share my newest painting! I do believe this is my second most favorite painting that I've ever done. Funny that. I really struggled with this one, thinking at one point I might even scrap the whole idea. It was frustrating. I knew I had to paint sea turtles. Couldn't get the little buggers out of my head. They wouldn't let me move on to something else. I just kept slinging paint, getting irritated, slinging more paint, irritated again ... roller coaster ride. I bet I started over at least five or six times.

Then one afternoon I was online, looking at photos of sea turtles and stumbled across Templeton Rye Blog and The Adventures of Templeton the Turtle ...

Sweet wee hatchling turtle. I melted. I also had an idea. I printed out that photo and was off to the studio!

I started with the background. Wave meeting sand ...

Added the turtle ...

Basic turtle close-up ...

Wave close-up ...

Turtle detail ...

Turtle with necklace chain ...

Finished painting ...

I have yet to come up with a good title for this one. I haven't even put wire on to hang it. Maybe I'll go do that now ...

Namaste', y'all ...

I want ...

It isn't too often I post stuff about knitting, which is surprising since I'm a knit-nut. Anyway, I was reading one of my fav blogs yesterday - Knitting In Color - and clicked on this link - Toe-up Entrelac Socks, by Natalia Vasilieva. Since not everyone is a Ravelry member, here is a picture ...

I fell madly in love. I want these socks. Only thing I would change about them would be make them longer. Not a big fan of short socks. Too bad I haven't gotten brave enough to begin the 'knitting my own socks' phase of knitterdom. Someday!

If I had these socks I would only take them off long enough to wash them, dry them, then put them right back on. They are awesome.

Bring it on, Baby!

Seems that every time I walk outside I discover yet another mini miracle of Spring ...

My Hostas are coming up. I love the way the leaves look in the sun ...

Don't have anything planted in my flower pots yet, but Mother Nature gave me these pretty Dandelions for now ...

One of my old fashioned Lilac bushes is blooming. This one is still kind of small. It blooms before the bigger one, isn't quite as fragrant, but it's still very nice ...

Namaste', y'all ...

Lovely little violets.

The first year the husband and I moved into our house I discovered these pretty violets growing in the yard ...

Commonly called "Bird's Foot" or "Crow's Foot" Violet.

I always look forward to seeing them come up in Spring. They are such a delicate shade of lavender and the leaves remind me of feathery fans. I wish they grew over every inch of the yard!