Joyeux de Vivre

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6 x 8

oil on panel

I couldn't wait to paint this baby's portrait, commissioned during my September campaign. This is from a photo provided by the baby's mother. What a cutie. She clearly embraces life with unrestrained glee.

Northern City, Western Light

11 x 14

oil on board

This was begun earlier en plein air and finished at home last night. The Well Street Bridge, an example of a "whipple through truss bridge", is considered one of the most important surviving historic bridges in Indiana. It's no longer used for car traffic since the road leading to it was removed and rerouted to a newer bridge that crosses the St. Mary's River, connecting the old north neighborhood to downtown. But it's charm and importance to this community continues as it's new functions include a space for weddings, yoga classes, outdoor movie nights, and a favorite subject of artists. I'm way behind on my intention to paint every day during this very busy month, this being day 24 and only my 13th painting, but it's more than I usually produce and has been a rewarding project. I've raised and sent my donation to Hurricane Harvey Relief and have taken on 10 commissions, thus solving the question, "what should I paint?", for the time being. I've also agreed to another live wedding reception painting (gulp) and to do a portrait demo early next year. It's all good.

I Love October

6 x 8

oil on board

October is my favorite month. My son is an October baby, I'm an October baby, many of my favorite people are October babies, and it's the month we got married. When I was a kid, I always associated my birthday with Halloween, which I also loved back then. It's fun when the time rolls back around to pull out the decorations and I rediscover pieces old and new. One of my oldest and most favorite is the little girl figurine in this painting. When I came upon her this morning, I thought - there's my painting for today, so I surrounded her with a few of my newer favorite pieces for this little Halloween vignette. The piece on the left is a small painted gourd made by Rosey Bolte of The Uncommon Gourd in Nashville, Indiana. It's so cute it stays out through the fall and ends up on my Christmas tree.

Bacon?

8 x 6 

oil on gessoboard

I'm loving these little doggy portraits. This is another one of Grace, peering up with those big, hopeful eyes. I love her. I can see now I'm not going to make my goal of finishing a painting every day. Big, busy weekend ahead and I doubt that I'll even paint at all. So this is day 13. Maybe I can catch up next week.

Good Boy!

8 x 10

oil on board

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I have to admit, it's hard to keep up with painting and posting every day. I started this guy last night and didn't get back to him until tonight. But I did love painting this big, lovable, sweet face. And am very happy to say I've met my goal to make $1000 for Hurricane Harvey victims with the sale of these daily paintings. So thank you to everyone who has bought or commissioned one.

Clara

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8 x 10

oil on board

For Day 9 of my attempt to paint every day. Clara's grandmother and I have been good friends, since our early days as nurses. I did a little portrait of this youngster's mother when she was about the same age. I'm so taken by her pink highlights, I'm thinking of doing the same thing.

Metea Morning

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8 x 10

oil on panel

I didn't paint this one today although I did paint all day. I did a portrait and thought I had it nailed right up to when I thought I was finished. I took a break, came back, and bam, something is off. I'm hoping it won't be a total do-over but my brain is too tired to tackle it tonight. So for Day 8, I'm posting this one which won 2nd place at the Kekionga Plein Air Paint Out.

Alexis

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8 x 8

oil on board

My friend's little angel, Alexis. Day 7 of daily painting for the month of September.

Grace

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8 x 10

Oil on panel

This is a quick and gooey painting of my happy doggy niece, Grace. Such a good girl! Daily painting day 6!

California Sky

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11 x 14

Oil on board

This is from a photo taken by my niece Alyssa who lives in Southern California. I took a few liberties and turned the tree on the left into a palm tree and slipped in a mission where a house stood. Trying to "California it up" a bit. But the amazing sky is all there although this painting still doesn't do it full justice. I think I'll try this again later and take a bit more time with it. This is Day 5 of my goal to paint every day.

Out to Lunch

6 x 11.5

oil on panel

This is Day Four of my attempt to paint every day. I'm kind of proud of myself. My husband and I were taking our cat for a ride out in the country. Yeah, she loved it. Not. I want her to see that car rides are "family fun times" and not always the dreaded trip to the vet's. Anyway, we came upon these gals having a little snack and I have really wanted to paint cows, so here we are. This little lady in the foreground was kind enough to pose for a photo. 

I'm putting all of my paintings on sale this month for $150 plus shipping in hopes of raising $1000 to send to Texas for Hurricane Harvey Relief. In light of the catastrophic enormity of loss, it's just a little, but every little bit helps. If you see this and are interested, please contact me at terri_buchholz@yahoo.com. The paintings are unframed and also they are fresh and will need some dry time of approx. 6 weeks, before they can be varnished.

Thank You

Morning Shot

8x8

oil on cradled panel

Not a great photo, but this is day 3 of my effort to paint every day. Leslie Saeta offers a challenge to do 30 paintings in 30 days and this year, happily, several of my friends have joined in. See it here.    30 in 30.

This little teacup was discovered in an antique store recently and I've been anxious to paint it. I kept it loose and took great effort to "lose my edges". What is it about teacups? They are certainly nostalgic and very cute. Just not hearty enough to manage my coffee addiction. I bought a couple, so I'll be trying this again in the days ahead.
All of my paintings posted for this month of September, are on sale for $150 plus shipping. In the original painting world, that's a bargain. I know in the rest of the real world, that much money buys a lot of groceries. And that's the point I guess. If and when I make $1000, it will all go to the Texas Hurricane Relief. I'm checking into appropriate charities and thinking the Red Cross. If a buyer has a preferred charity, I'll certainly honor that choice. For purchase, please contact me at terri_buchholz@yahoo.com.

Susan

 Gifted
7 x 5

oil on panel

This portrait is a thank you gift to my friend Susan who is the uber publicitymeister of our art guild. This woman makes things happen! In July, when I won Best of Show at The Annual Ventures in Creativity, she contacted the newspaper and the next week they ran a very generous sized color photo of it. She also recently gave me a fabulous book on one of my heros, John Singer Sargent. A note just didn't seem adequate for such marvelous things. 

I took this reference photo for her portrait on a lovely, sunny day and there were interesting shadows across her face. I'm not sure they translate well, but it was another fun challenge. Speaking of challenges, this is DAY TWO of my quest to paint and post every day.

Tea with Rosemary

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8 x 8

oil on panel

My friend lent me her beautiful brass tea pot for a paint subject. I set it up in a light box with a sprig of rosemary for this classic little still life which I think came out very nicely. I choose it for my first work to kick of a challenge to do thirty paintings in thirty days. I've tried this before and have never hit the goal, but regardless, it creates a nice tension to paint daily, so here we go again.  Wish me luck and a little self discipline!