I have a new painting to share with you that was commissioned by a friend as a Christmas gift for another friend. It was such a fun painting to do. It took several enjoyable hours to complete. I say enjoyable because of the challenge in painting something I have never attempted.

God is so good to me I could not do these paintings without Him. It is He who has given me the talents and gifts and I want to honor Him with them.

It is a beautiful Saturday morning! Just wanted to share more of the fall flowers from Phipps Conservatory with you. Enjoy!

There was also electric trains and village scenery set up, it was fantastic. I will do a post with photos of those also as well as some other fall flowers.

We have lots of work to do around the house today. We are getting ready to have some painting done and will be scraping old paint off that has started to peal. I also have a painting I need to get started on today as well. Busy, busy, busy. It seems that's how our weeks are these days; all work no play. But that's okay it has to be done and I always feel good when its finished.

A dear friend surprised me with a wonderful birthday adventure today. She arrived at 7:50 a.m. to take me out for breakfast at another friends home, it was delightful! She had the table all decorated with fall colors and special treats. In the center of the table was a beautiful yellow mum with deep red stripes in the petals dressed in pretty fall wrappings, there were tiny (real) pumpkins all decked out in hodge podge, and a tiny camera necklace. We had tea, almond biscotti, quiche and hot homemade applesauce, it was sooooo yummy! We left from there and headed to Pittsburgh for the fall flower show at Phipps Conservatory. I got some beautiful photos to share with you below. So enjoy! It was a fantastic day!

My hubby and I have gotten back into bike riding; we both loved it as kids and younger adults and haven't been on them in several years, since my early 30s. So we decided to invest our anniversary
funds in new bikes and try out some of the rails for trails in our area. We would like to do some traveling over the next few summers to some of the places on our bucket lists and having bikes along with us would be a great way to enjoy a few of those spots.

The first trail we tried was the Butler to Freeport trail, it is pretty nice but I would advise starting on the southern end and head toward Butler. In doing this, you're biking the slight incline first, then its down hill pretty much all the way back. These pictures are on our favorite trail from Foxburg to Parker which is a beautiful 5 mile round trip trek along the Alleghany River (2.5 miles up and back). Eventually we'll have an opportunity to do the Emlenton trail which we're saving for spring.

The top picture on the left I took just before we headed down the trial. Below that, Daryl is riding down the trail a head of me. About a mile from the trail entrance we pulled over a short distance past the bridge so Daryl could make an adjustment to his new seat and I took some pictures. You can't really see it too well, but my bike is parked just in front of his. Behind me was the bridge, the photo of it to the right.

It was really windy that evening and that we struggled against it on the way back. It was tough riding. I enjoyed the ride, it was a beautiful evening in spite of the wind.

White Balloon Flowers

It is hump day! I just had to say it, I love that commercial that GEICO put out, it is one of the better ones that I've seen on TV lately. I don't know what is going on with advertising companies these days, but most of the commercials are just plain annoying. I would love to hear from anyone out there how you feel about the poor quality advertising commercials on TV.

The sun is shinning here in western Pennsylvania but it sure is going to be one humid day. Thunderstorms will be in the picture for tomorrow and Friday. I have a very busy day today.

I'm working on the final sketch of a 3-painting project. Each one is very detailed and unique. I just love doing these types of projects; intricate and challenging.

During the beginning of Summer I did some sketches that I will be working on during the winter months. I was hoping to have had them finished before mid summer but unfortunately that didn't happen. My plan was to have some birds painted and ready to go press but it will have to wait until next Spring, which is much better actually, rushing things can sometimes cause mistakes and we don't want any of those.

I'm gearing up to take some fall foliage photos to share with you when the time comes. It seems as thought the leaves are changing early this year, I'm hoping they will slow the process, I'm not looking forward to the cold of winter ahead. I love the snow but the cold that goes with it is not so nice to the body and the bones.

Have a blessed day all!

Hey All! So sorry I haven't kept up with my blog over the past couple of weeks. I've been pretty busy in my studio. Had our photography workshop August 1st out at Moraine State Park which was a fabulous and enlightening evening. Our class was taught by professional photographer Kim Vensel. I have also taken a few photo excursions when I've been in town to run errands and have included my photos from the workshop and my little excursions.

This is a wasp and her nest that she has fixed to the top of a window on the side of the one of the buildings at Moraine. Looks pretty mean and ready to strike if I got any closer.

The photo to the left is of a small Dogwood Tree in a friends front yard. This will be one that I will sketch out to paint over the winter months. I love how there is just a smidgen of pink on the edges.

Well I best get back to work and get stuff cleaned up for the night.

Blessings to all! Have a wonderful evening . . . until next time.

My new Nikon D3200 SLR camera arrived July 16th just in time for our vacation at Lake Lure North Carolina. I have had so much taking pictures with this camera, and the detail is phenomenal.

This week I got some nice shots in of mama bluebird feeding her babies in the mealworm feeder my husband made for me. I never thought when I put up three bluebird houses that I would actually get all three of them filled with bluebirds—amazing! We also have two other bluebird families that live in an old tree on our property on the other side of our garage. I'm truly blessed and enjoy watching them bring their young to the feeder and hope you will enjoy seeing them as well.

Its is difficult to see how pretty the adult female is through the plexiglass on the feeder, but the young one sitting on the top waiting its turn to be fed is really clear and very cute.

I have hopes in getting much more proficient in taking some professional pictures over the next year. I want to be able to capture some amazing wildlife and birds to set up a file of reference photos that I can do watercolor paintings from.


I will have an opportunity this week at an onsite photography workshop taught by professional photograph Kim Vensel. I'm really looking forward to it and hope that it is a beautiful evening at Moraine State Park.

Tuesday morning I went to my friend Colleen's to photograph some of her flowers. She has one of the most amazing and beautiful flower gardens I've seen in a very long time. I've included some of those shots for you to enjoy also.