Hello!

Before we get into today’s painting I want to thank you SO much for sticking with me on this little painting-a-day adventure.  Your support and excitement has fueled me and has been hugely instrumental in moving our family into our new house!  I feel so very blessed beyond measure.   We will be moving into our new home on the 15th!  It is a darling little condo right in the middle of downtown Greenville!  Just what we wanted – down to the little secret garden, the sunlight studio space, and hardwood floors.  Really.  I feel extremely blessed and I am SO SO SO thankful to you guys for helping to make this happen.
The home will certainly need some love – but I’m quite good at that, and really enjoy putting my creative mark on a space and getting a little dirty in the process.
My little girls are giddy with excitement about having their own room again, and I have this strange urge to plant an herb garden and make my own pots out of concrete.  Don’t ask me why…

As I mentioned yesterday, there will be four more landscape paintings in this project.  So, three more landscapes after today! Then I will be moving into my new home, getting settled, and preparing for the Indie Craft Parade!

I am SUCH a huge fan of “To the Stillness”.  This landscape is lively, and beautiful, yet so very peaceful and calming.  I really love the layers and layers of blues and greens, and, as usual, the texture.  I tried to capture it with my lens, but a camera cannot do an oil painting justice.  There are so many little instances in this painting where the texture, color, and brush strokes align just right to making “To the Stillness” beautifully complex and lush.

To the Stillness

16×20 inch, oil on canvas
Available in the studio shop for $100

Sometimes hard things happen and your heart sinks to the bottom of your chest (like when you lose your perfect diamond ring in a very deep, dark lake – as I did yesterday, or a loved one becomes very ill, or you lose your job…) but no matter how hard life becomes God always gives you moments of refreshment and peace.  These are the moments that I hold on to and hope for.  These are the moments when trusting God is easy and precious.  These are the moments that make the hard times manageable and your spirit strong.  “To the Stillness” is about the journey to this restful place.  I hope that when you look at it you can feel that refreshment, peace, and quiet in your heart – even for just a moment.

I would like to thank my studio mate Julie Dodds of Willow Florals for always being so crazy generous with you beautiful props and blooms.  Guys, this girl is talented.  If you need flowers, she is your gal!  — and I’m really digging her collection of stunning vases, tiny potted plants, and air plants! And these Billy Balls (the awesome yellow blooms you keep seeing)… I think I am in love with them.

See you tomorrow at noon with Painting No. 11!