"Stand By You"

I also got a green bell pepper from Ms. Sarah, and it inspired this painting. I have to agree that the green bell pepper is a good subject for still life. We're almost finished with our second painting project in our class. I'm excited and will post that next week.

Watercolor painting is so interesting. I am learning so much but there is so much more to experience about watercolor.

I talked to my mom today. It's always good to talk to my mom. She's an amazing woman - so lovely and loving.

"Dear Lord, thank you for my wonderful mother who is a source of strength and inspiration for me. Please, Lord bless her and shower her with grace, give her good health and keep her in your care."

Belated happy birthday to two awesome people : the Lovely Arianna, and her Dad, Mark! We love you and we miss you! God bless you!

"I Dew!"

Marital bliss is a wonderful blessing. One old joke says that the longest sentence in the English language sounds like the title above - "I do". But the gift of finding the one person whom you could love and will love you in return, the one person whose heart is the exact match to your very own -- now that is simply God's grace.

I tried that dew drop technique here to add dimension to the tulip. What do you think? I like it. Do you see the fourth dew drop? It's on the stem.

How about the tulip? I know. I'm just gonna have to do another one and another until it's better.

"Dear Lord, thank you for my wonderful husband. Please bless him indeed."

I was reminded of the wonderful prayer of Jabez by a fellow volunteer at the Church Ministry on Monday. It's a great prayer - and yes, God granted it. God bless you and have a nice day!

"Four Sisters"

I also love painting tulips. I painted four tulips in this painting. Just like me and my sisters, these tulips are the same but each one is different. Each one is unique.

I painted this more or less free-hand. I know I should use a model and trace the drawing or at least pencil sketch it, but I just felt like this was the way to go with this one. I kind of like the way it turned out. It's pretty quiet and simple. What do you think?

"Dear Lord, thank you for my wonderful sisters. They are all beautiful women both inside and out. Bless them always, dear Lord."

"Triplets"

I painted these three sunflowers last night. I love sunflowers but I have to admit it is a challenge to paint them. I used pale yellow and cadmium red for the petals. For the center of the flowers, I used burnt sienna.

What do you think of this painting? I hope you like it. I just keep on painting everyday, I believe it's the best way to learn and get better. One of my favorite daily painters, Carol Marine, mentioned in her blog that daily painting really helped hone her skills. Practice makes perfect.

"Dear Lord, thank you for the blessings you give us everyday. Thank you for the beautiful flowers that you created for us. Let each one be a reminder of your great love for all the world, that you gave your only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. (John 3:16)"

Let us count our blessings, not our troubles. Let us pray more instead of worrying. Worry doesn't solve anything, it just adds wrinkles to our face.

"Three's Not A Crowd"

These fresh tomatoes were given to me by our Pastor's wife, Ms. Sarah. They came from her garden. Very good and yummy!

Notice a change in my signature. My painting teacher told me to try to write out my last name. What do you think?

"Thank you, Lord for nature and the plants -- the fruits and vegetables. Bless us with enough rain that waters the trees and the plants in the land."

The tomatoes were awesome, I just had to try to paint them still life... I hope I did them justice.

"Three Magnolias"

This is my first painting from my painting class. As I mentioned earlier, I've been going to the painting class being taught by the wonderful painter - Mr. John Tilley. For our first lesson, we used the Magnolias painted by Mr. Tilley and this was my version of it.

I thought that it was pretty neat that we painted magnolias -- the state flower of Mississippi. "Go State! Go Bulldogs!"

For this painting, we used impressionism for the background and more of realism for the main subject. I learned a lot of techniques while doing this first project. But like I told Mr. Tilley, the gouache is my new best friend!

Our lovely daughter is visiting her mom and so we are all missing her. My husband and I, and Mr. Wu (the cat) and Larry (the dog), too.

"Dear Lord, thank you for the beautiful Magnolias. So big, so pristine. Lord please bless our daughter, and keep her always in your loving care."

I love going to my painting class. There is so much to learn and so much fun to have.

"Tulips For You!"

Using the wet in wet technique is so much fun. I love painting tulips and maybe someday I will get better at it. This is a really small painting-- i think maybe 6" x 6", on acid-free watercolor paper. I used blue for the nice contrast it has with the red.

Using the wet technique develops one's patience-- because you have to wait for the paint to dry before doing the next thing you want to do. But it is very rewarding in the end.

My beloved eldest sister got married on the 18th of July. Congratulations and best wishes, Ate Jean and Knut! May the Lord bless your married life with abundant love and joy!

My darling husband traveled with me to Washington, DC. It was a 13 hour drive, but when you're with someone you love, the time (and the miles) just fly by. We are grateful for the hospitality of our hosts - Tito Brod Boy and his lovely wife Tita Purita. We enjoyed barbecue with our hosts and with Carlo and his lovely wife Janet, and their lovely children as well as with Arnel and his lovely daughter. We wished so much then that we had brought our own lovely daughter. Definitely next time.

"Dear Lord, thank you so much for friends who warm our hearts with their love and generosity. Life is full of ups and downs, please give us strength to weather the downs."

Focus on the positive! Let's count our blessings.

"Two Yellow Daffodils"

Time flies so fast. "It's like water through my hands"-- words from an old song.

I painted this picture after my first formal painting class. I had so much energy and excitement after the lesson that I wanted to try the new stuff I learned, but I couldn't work on my classwork til the next meeting.

I haven't been able to blog daily and I apologize for that. The last week of June we travelled to Indiana to celebrate one of my best loved friends' birthday. We got to spend some wonderful time with her and her family. "Happy birthday, J.A.!"

And then, of course, soon thereafter we had the 4th of July week-- we travelled to New Hampshire to be with my husband's family. We had a wonderful time with the wonderful family who were so hospitable to us. "Thanks to Uncle Mark and Stephanie and their kids, Bryanna and Arianna!" They even brought us along with them to two 4th of July parties. We especially enjoyed the live band and appreciated them singing our requested song - "Sweet Home, Alabama"!

"Lord, thank you for granting us safe travel and blessing us with wonderful friends, family, and church family."

Time flies and we just got to spend as much time as possible with the people we love.