"While weeding the garden one day..."

"While weeding the garden one day...", a photo by Art by Cheryl on Flickr.

Back in the garden....artistically speaking, that is...
As the temperature took a dive far below freezing a few days ago and the wind blew and the snow came down, I thought it would be good to start the new year off thinking about warmer times.

I started this piece 13 years ago--hardly seems possible! I call it "While weeding the garden one day..." The inspiration? ~ I was weeding the flower border one summer morning and looked up to see the zinnias in all their glory up against the blue sky. It was a stunning sight.

While I do love the winter, I am also looking forward to spring and a new growing season to inspire and record in my artwork.

"While weeding the garden one day..." ~  14" x 10" ~ colored pencil on Stonehenge paper

My new cards ~

My new cards ~, a photo by Art by Cheryl on Flickr.

Painting Ornaments ~

ornaments, a photo by Art by Cheryl on Flickr.

For a little something different, I usually paint up some floral ornaments around Christmastime each year. They are a nice break from the intense detail of my usual work. Joining my display of botanical and other artwork I will have a supply of ornaments ready to go for the Holmes for the Holidays Art Show in Millersburg this weekend (Nov. 23), and The Holiday Artisans Market, Dec. 6 & 7 in Wooster, Ohio.

Preparing for the Nature Art Fest

I think I have most everything packed up and ready to go to the Nature Art Fest at Wolf Creek this coming weekend ~ Saturday, November 9, 10am-5pm and Sunday, November 10, 12 noon - 4pm. This is my first year participating in this show and I'm really looking forward to it. It's a beautiful venue.

I will be taking mostly botanical art with a few landscapes sprinkled in. And bunches of new note cards, including the holly branch pictured here.

Stop by if you're in the area. It looks like a very nice event.

White oak leaf with acorns (quercus Alba)

White oak leaf with acorns (quercus Alba), a photo by Art by Cheryl on Flickr.

While on our annual trip to the cottage on Catawba Is. I found these acorns with leaf attached on a morning walk on the beach. I thought the green of the acorns was so striking and had to bring some along home with me. The color quickly changed even though I kept them in the fridge. Maybe it was too cold? But I am learning to take many photos and made some color notes and sketches. This is the result. A memory of our vacation by Lake Erie.

Remembering Mom

rosa "Cadenza" (aka "Annie's Red"), a photo by Art by Cheryl on Flickr.

I have been working most of the summer on this flower portrait of rosa "Cadenza" aka "Annie's Red. It is from a bush that I have growing by the fence in my cottage border. As I am finding with so many of the plants in my garden there is also a story that goes with this special rose.

In 2002 at the passing of my Mom, a close friend who shares my love of gardening said that she would like to remember my mother with a rose to plant and that I should pick out one that reminded me of her. Mom's gift was loving people and being a faithful friend. Right away I knew that the rose would have to be red. Just seemed right as I remember her wearing red on occasion and it seemed to fit her personality. Not in a bright, explosive way but rather, as this rose illustrates, more deep and subdued. Miss you Mom. :)

rosa "Cadenza" aka "Annie's Red"
~colored pencil on h/p Fabriano Artistico
fine art prints and note cards available

teardrop ornament

teardrop ornament 001, a photo by Art by Cheryl on Flickr.

This is a sample of the ornaments I paint for 'Tis the Season, an all year Christmas store in Berlin, OH. These are a little larger with a different shape than the ornaments I've been painting. Always fun to do.

From a Late Winter Walk in the Field

from a late winter walk in the field , a photo by Art by Cheryl on Flickr.

The subjects for this page of botanical studies were collected while taking a walk in the field behind our home. These so called "weeds" were so striking set against the covering of snow. One of the things I love about botanical art is seeing the beauty in the intricacy of the ordinary.

"From a Late Winter Walk" ~ graphite ~ 16"x20"

New Local Artist Group Forming

This past November/December a group of artist friends and I put our artwork together for a Holiday art show at the Holmes County Cultural Center. (see photo at left) I had a great time working with this group of talented people again. Some of us had worked together before. Others were new to the group. It's always good for me, as an artist, to be around other creative people. The impression I got from most of those in the group was that it was important to them as well. So, out of that creative environment comes this new venture.

On Tuesday, March 12, 2013 the first meeting of the artists will be held at the Holmes County Cultural Center, 434 North Washington Street, Millersburg, OH. It will be in the evening around 6:30 or 7:00. I'm waiting on input. You will notice there is no name for the group as yet. We will work on that at the first meeting.

I am very excited about beginning this new group. The vision as I see it is a place where fine artists and craftspeople can come together to share work, be inspired and inspire others, network, share info on upcoming shows, galleries, exhibits--all to make us better artists in the long run. I find that I occasionally need that interaction with others because I am alone working away at my art so much of the time. I've also heard this from other artists that I know. So, we are offing an opportunity to connect.

The other purpose of the group is to plan art shows in Millersburg and surrounding areas. This will help give artists an outlet and exposure for their art. I believe this region could be an "art destination" in the future.

So, if you'd like to join us, please contact me (above) and I will keep you informed. Looking forward to meeting with you!

"Spring Visit to Marblehead"

The Ohio State Park art project continues........I have finished my second piece in this series. It is a graphite drawing of Marblehead light and keeper's house. My husband and I frequently travel up to my friend's cottage on Catawba Island in the springtime. On this trip in April of 2011, we took the short drive over to Marblehead to see the lighthouse. We had packed a picnic lunch and planned to eat it at one of the picnic tables overlooking Lake Erie. But the sky clouded over and weather turned cold and windy so we went back to the car and had our lunch there instead. After we finished we braved the elements (it really wasn't that bad ;) ) and hiked around on the rocks by the shore. We continued on the path that brought us behind the keeper's house, an area of the park we had not been before. And that's where I shot this photo. Imagine - a chilly wind, the sun trying to peek out from behind the clouds that were racing by, the buds just beginning to break on the trees....

This is the result of our "Spring Visit to Marblehead". 

 A Limited edition of 100 prints are available of this drawing.

Holmes for the Holidays Art Show and Sale

A few months ago I thought it was time to contact some of my artist friends to see if we could get an art show together again. The new Holmes County Cultural Center provided the perfect venue for a weekend art event around Christmastime. So, this is where I'll be, joined by 7 other accomplished artists for the First Annual Holmes for the Holidays Art Show and Sale. Let me introduce you to these very talented people:    Vickie Boley of World Cup Teas, who will be offering her fine teas for sale and tasting. She is also a wonderful painter in oils and will have some of her paintings and prints for sale. ~ David Ernst with his pen and ink barn art and whimsical cartoon portraits. He also has created several comic books which are a lot of fun. ~ James Spires from Wooster who does amazing pottery and sculpture and is well known in the area and in other places around the country as well. ~ Sharon Strouse will have her wooden rose arrangements which are so beautifully and creatively done. ~ Robert VanNatta III, a watercolorist who paints in a beautiful impressionistic style ~ Don Weisgarber, who is also a watercolor artist, with wonderful paintings of many local scenes ~ and Heidi Yoder, an up-and-coming pencil artist, who will have prints and also does commission work. Her portraits are especially lovely and so very realistic.

So please join us ~ Opening Reception, Friday, November 30, 2012 - 7pm-9pm ~ And Saturday, December 1, 2012 - 11am-8pm at the Holmes County Cultural Center, 434 N. Washington Street, Millersburg, OH (beside the Victorian House Museum).

...and as a special treat at Friday's Opening Reception, Toni Shreve will bring beautiful music of the season from 7pm - 9pm.

***Make a day of it and visit the Victorian House all decorated for the holidays and the Millersburg Glass Museum also housed in the Cultural Center Complex.***

"Curt's Drive Home ~ somewhere along an Arizona highway"

Sometimes we have to live with a painting for awhile and continue to let it "speak" to us before we can officially call it Done. Such was the case with "Curt's Drive Home". It had been on our wall for close to a year and was telling me that something was missing. It was looking like a setting with nothing going on.

My husband's friend Curt had allowed me to use his photograph for reference. The telephone poles were in the photo and actually were what attracted me to the scene in the first place. But when I got to that point I questioned whether they were needed and, do I want to run the risk of ruining the sky? I know, color me "chicken". 


So this morning while feeling rather brave, I tackled the poles and I must say I am at last totally satisfied with the painting. Lesson learned. 


As a side-note....while I was working away at it this morning I noticed that I had "forgotten" to sign the piece last year when I thought it was finished. :)

Sunrises at the lake

("Catawba ~ early morning") 

5x7 pastel

In the summer of 2010 my husband and I vacationed at Catawba Is. on Lake Erie as we have been doing for the past several years. I like to take at least one morning during the week to go to the beach to watch the sunrise. On one of these early morning beach-walks the sky was just stunning. It seemed to get more beautiful with each passing minute. I was able to shoot many, many photos to use as references for the paintings I would do at a later time. 

This will be my project for the next couple months--learning and painting lake sunrises. This little piece is the first of that series.

Ilex (holly) branch with berries

It seems with every picture I do there is a story...


I had so much fun working on this piece. It all started back in November. I was having lunch with my friend, Vickie B. and noticed the beautiful hollies she had growing in the foundation plantings around her house. I later went back and she was kind enough to let me snip a couple branches. Wrapping them in damp paper towels and sticking them in a plastic bag, I brought them home. I've had success in the past storing my botanical subjects in the fridge until I was finished with them so that is where it lived for several weeks. It made it through the Christmas season and, finally, I was ready to start the first week of January. (My family was very happy that they would soon not have to navigate around the "plant in the refrigerator" while getting out the milk jug. :) )


It was just the perfect branch. I did nothing to change the composition. I took many photos and made color swatches before I started in case I wouldn't finish before the leaves and berries would wilt and fall. Leaves tend to move and change color in the process. As I neared the end of the project I was very thankful for the photos and color notes. But the original holly branch served me well. I was amazed at how long it survived. (You can view the work in progress on my Flickr Photostream.)