Today's daily painting is actually from yesterday. It just got too late to post it, so I went to bed and saved it for today. These habaneros are from my garden. Habaneros have a lot of character to me. They're full of subtle veins, then there are the bumps, curves and colors, that are not subtle at all. You can look at them and know that they're dangerously hot. Last September when Jay and Celeste got married, (I know, I can't believe it's almost a year,) we had porchetta, (Italian pig roast) for their reception. I made all of the assorted hot peppers from my garden, but made the habaneros separately so no one would mistake them for sweet or not brutally-hot peppers. Rich Mattis, the owner of the Gryphon Cafe' in Wayne, http://www.gryphoncafe.com/ loves really hot peppers. He's the one that introduced me to Habanero lemonade. Well, Rich put the habanero peppers on his roast pork sandwich. He said that "they were so hot they caramelized his tongue"! That leaves us with "A Gang of Hotties", 7"x5", oil on gessoboard, $50. SOLD. This painting has much more texture to it than is normal for me. I needed to put on a lot of layers and use the texture to express the veins and ridges. Finally, a huge congratulations to all of the Komorowskis on the birth of Lilly and Caleb's firstborn...yesterday....a son. I know he weighed 8 plus pounds and I believe he is Caleb Jr. I'm sure I'll find out soon. We're thrilled for all of you. May God bestow His richest blessings on your family.

If I don't make it back here over the weekend, have a terrific weekend and holiday.

I was leaving the house this morning to go to Chadds Ford to meet with and see an exhibit by Ellen Reed. She's a very talented and prolific Delaware artist. Her work is up at the Kendal Center for the next few days. Drop by to see it if you're in the area. Great prices on her work.

Anyway, I looked across the driveway to see all of these morning glories in bloom. This photo truly struggles to do these flowers justice. It does my heart good to see such a site. I plant them every year. Some years are great--like this year and some years when it's too wet and cold for too long, the seeds rot in the ground.

It was a blessing to finally meet Ellen and her friends. I had a great time.

Thanx Ladies!

I really like painting lemons. They take several layers to develop, but are very gratifying to paint. Very similar to eggs. The fig was a little more difficult to describe in paint because it has a matte surface which doesn't lend itself to showing off it's form. If there was an even slightly shiny part, it would show better. I love the color combination though. The purple and lime colors with those tiny specks are just beautiful to me. The sunrise background just kind of happened. After playing with it for a little while I decided to go with it. It looked appropriate to me. Just what I love to see when I wake up at 5 am, like I did this morning. Very cheerful. Of course the sunrise wasn't as spectacular.

"Fig and Meyer Lemons Sunrise", 6"x4", oil on deep, gallery-wrapped canvas, $50. SOLD.

I had a doctor's appointment last Thursday and then had a ton of work to do to get ready for the six August birthdays we celebrated on Sunday-my Aunt Jeannie, my son-in-law, Carter Smith is 38, his daughter/my granddaughter Josie is 2, my daughter-in-law Celeste turned 27--today actually, my grandson Jonah is 5 and Danny's girlfriend, Laura turned 21 yesterday. So we had a full house and a lot of fun. Jay Jr. did his killer ribs and chicken and Jeanie did her amazing coconut cakes.

Tonight, Jay and Celeste are headed to Gilmore's in West Chester, http://www.gilmoresrestaurant.com/ it is owned by the former chef de cuisine of Le Bec Fin, http://www.lebecfin.com/ speaking of which, that's where Danny took Laura last night for her birthday.

So, HAPPY BIRTHDAY once again everyone!

With having a root canal today I decided to just do a quick wash of a morning glory. I'm not happy with the image here as the center of the flower is actually white and the surrounding areas are not so orange, it's more yellow.

The painting is titled "Morning Glory Study" and is 7"x5", watercolor, on Moleskine watercolor paper, $25., framed. SOLD The more I look at it, the more I like it.

If the antibiotic and Ibuprofen continue to do their jobs, the root canal part is behind me. Thank God.

Also, thanx for your prayers and angels, I could truthfully feel them.With the complications from last week, the process could have gone two other totally different ways, which would have really been terrible. But, it was a success and I'm happy that it's over.

On a happy lemon note, when Danny came home from work this morning he grabbed a lemon and ate it like an orange. He said they're really sweet.

I got my new case of Meyer lemons from orchardess, Karen Morss of Lemon Ladies http://www.lemonladies.com/ the online lemonade stand. The lemons are outstanding. I've mentioned before how Meyer lemons are smoother and softer- skinned than regular lemons, with a warm golden color to them. They're also sweeter and more fragrant. It was a wonderful experience to open the box of lemons on such a cranky day, so I had to paint one right away. I chose a small one. Here then is my interpretation of what the glass is saying to the lemon, referring to when the lemon becomes limoncello, after which, it will be mine.

"You Will Be Mine", 4"x6", oil on deep, gallery-wrapped canvas, $50. SOLD.

After this series of lemon paintings I can see that an egg would look good in that glass.

Tomorrow is my next root canal--I could use a prayer.

Today was brutal if you have mold allergies. I was barely functional for half of the day. I'm excited about the daily painting though. Again, the subject is from my garden. This tomato is an heirloom Cherokee Purple. "Cherokee Purple, Heirloom Tomato", 6"x4", oil on deep, gallery-wrapped canvas, $50. SOLD.

It was really difficult to capture the underlying purple-green color. I spent so much time on it. I worked for a very long time on the weird idiosyncrasies of the bottom half and then just swiped it all away with my brush when it was finished and I was ready to photograph it. I've learned--but today too late in the game-- that sometimes when you paint something from life, as I always do with these paintings of the day, that you can't always paint what you see. This tomato had contours in real life that looked totally fake when I meticulously copied what I saw. Fortunately, I've also painted enough tomatoes to be able to paint how it would look if it was slightly "normal". The inside is even more fake looking. I cut one open (before I decided on this particular tomato,) to see what it would look like as a painting. It just didn't look natural, so I made it into a sandwich and ate it! The taste was different, but still really good.

Tonight Debussy is turning the rain into solace.

Today's painting is more accurately not a daily because it took me a little longer than a day. It's also a bigger painting.Again it's of hot peppers from my garden at the most beautiful stage-at least to me. When the green is morphing into a bright red and orange. They're commonly referred to as Italian Long Hots.

So here is, "Long, Hot Italians", 9"x12", oil on canvas board, $350. SOLD.

Please note that the background is bluer and not as dark as in this image. Also this image is not as sharp as the painting.

Gotta go, Jay is upstairs playing some terrific jazz.

I really don't want to talk about my root canal, but unfortunately for me, it's not over.

The front part of the tooth is finished, but I have to go back next Wednesday to have the rest of the tooth completed. The bad part is the infection, which has totally knocked me down. I believe the worst of it is over though. I finally feel like the antibiotic is starting to kick in. This is the latest I've been up in a few nights. The past two nights I've had the bizarre fever dreams and have been sleeping for 13 hours. Hopefully tonight will be more restful.

I took Gabriel back to Maryland today and I miss him something awful already.

He's so serious and funny at the same time.

The daily painting tonight is of the kung pao, stinkin'-hot peppers from my garden. I'm leaving them to dry and as you can see, they're already starting to wrinkle. They'll be really good this winter, fried in garlic and olive oil until crispy like potato chips. Then we'll crush them up and sprinkle (or springle, as my Grandmother used to say) on top of spaghetti.

"A Trio of Hotties", 4"x6", oil on deep, gallery-wrapped canvas, $50. SOLD.

This is my granddaughter Josie. She's two years old today. The morning she was born, Jonah and I were zooming down I-95 to Maryland so that I could be in the delivery room. Of course we hit a traffic jam in the middle of the night and missed the birth. I got to give her her first bottle though. She took it right down, no hesitation or interruption. Here she is two years later, beautiful, isn't she? Tomorrow I go in for a root canal. The old toothache turned into a mess. I'm taking another antibiotic. If I don't post anything tomorrow you know why. Please say a prayer for me.

Jay took Gabriel to the Mercer Museum in Doylestown yesterday while I went to the Michener Museum http://www.michenermuseum.org/ Gabriel won an award for animal tracking. I feel as though I won something also. The exhibit- which was titled "Artists of the Commonwealth" (referring to the Commonwealth of PA) was small, but it was just enough to see and study. I really enjoyed it. My personal favorite was "Young Scientist", by George Ericson, aka, Eugene Iverd. Ericson didn't miss a detail. The color is just wonderful. So many wonderful paintings there. The exhibit won't be around much longer, so see it if you can.

The painting di giorno at left has my name through the painting. I'm having an issue with my images being uploaded from this site, so this will be the way that you will see them from here on. I'll also need to do the same to the already posted images as well.

In any case, this painting of Roma tomatoes from my garden, is titled "THREE ROMANS", it's 6"x4", oil on deep, gallery-wrapped canvas, $50. SOLD.

The painting is a little lighter brighter, redder and the strokes smoother. These tomatoes will be saved for Christmas "gravy".

This painting should have been posted yesterday, but I just wasn't happy with the shine on the bug. This is the bottom of the Figeater and it is a very shiny, metallic, bright green. Much more intense than the top of the bug. I was having difficulty describing with paint, that intensity. This is accurate and I'm satisfied with it now, so I'm finished painting this Figeater beetle, at least for now.

"The Figeater-Bottom", oil on deep, gallery-wrapped canvas, 4"x6", $50. SOLD-THANX PENNY BIRD!

We want to extend our warmest wishes and congratulations to the Blair Family on the arrival of baby Charlotte. I don't have the details, but we are just thrilled for them and know she must be as gorgeous as her mother, Emma and grandmother Gill.

Gill's got a birthday as well, so happy birthday to you too Gill!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend everyone.

I tried for hours to post this painting yesterday. I just couldn't get it to work. I'm trying again now.

I feel lucky because today is my Aunt Jeannie's birthday. After just losing her husband, I know there's not a lot of joy in it, but Happy Birthday Aunt Jean!

Last night when it got dark, Jay and I went outside. I locked up the chickens and he sprayed the spot where we've seen yellow jackets going in and out from under the siding outside of the studio. We used a non-poisonous spray of mint oil and then sealed it with insulating foam. Well this afternoon Jay went down into the studio, while I was in Maryland picking up Gabriel. He called me there to let me know that the studio was full of very angry, dying bees. Apparently my contractor neglected to install the outlet cover and cable wire cover correctly and the bees made entrance in those spots. All of this, by the way, as I am listening to "The Secret Life of Bees" on an audiobook as I travel back and forth to Maryland!

I waited until 7pm tonight and went into the studio and cleaned up hundreds of dead bees. I hope it's over.

Speaking of bugs, the painting di giorno, which is actually from yesterday, is another painting of the Figeater beetle, just a different view. It's much better in "person", the painting that is, because the rim under the wings shows up as the bronze that it really is. Larger than Tuesday's painting, "Figeater 2", oil on deep, gallery-wrapped canvas, is 6"x4", $50., framed.

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The image at left is a little too dark and duller than the original painting, but pretty close. This painting is of a bug that I found in my yard last week. It's called a Figeater (Cotinus nitidia), or if you're in the South, you'd call it a "June Beetle". It is one of the largest of the Scarabaeid Beetles, so called because it is related to the sacred Scarab of Egypt. Pretty cool huh?

The bottom of it is really iridescent. The top is dull in comparison, nonetheless still beautiful and bright green. As you may have guessed from it's name it eats figs... and other fruits. I had five fig trees last year, but they didn't survive the winter. Maybe he was looking for them. I sure didn't see any others like him last year.

"FIGEATER", 4"x3", oil on canvas, $50.SOLD

Saturday was a day of immeasurable sadness. Saying goodbye to someone you love is so hard. To say this has been a hard year is an understatement...five deaths in Jay's and my families to date. Knowing my Uncle was dying inspired the ascending ethereal eggs. The painting of the day is "Ethereal Golden Egg Ascended" 7"x5", oil on gessoboard, $50., framed, SOLD shows the only thing left of the golden egg is it's reflection, along with red ( not very visible) trailing from the risen egg down and into the reflected egg. This is the pain and suffering that is left behind, definitely and mercifully not included in, or with the golden egg. Being with my Aunt and cousins, along with their families, my brother Pat, his son, Jay, my children, my grandchildren and friends, there at my Uncle's memorial service somehow seemed to strengthen all of us and at the same time help dissipate the pain and sorrow. His daughter Jeannine put it best, "Big Nick loved big".

Coneflowers (Echinacea) are one of my favorite flowers, especially the purple ones. I mentioned in a previous blog that I bought a few new ones this year. Here is a white one at left. This is a watercolor. I feel that I need a lot of practice with watercolor. "White Coneflower", 6"x8" watercolor on Moleskine, watercolor paper $25. SOLD.

I'll try again another day.

My Uncle Nickie's memorial service is tomorrow. The man had incredible presence. He was handsome (amazing eyes), brilliant, passionate and volatile, but not violent. The perfect combination in an Italian man. It's hard to comprehend that he's actually gone.

I'll try to make it back here this weekend. If not, enjoy yours.

Yesterday came and went with appointments and a cord of firewood delivered. It was hot yesterday too, but with at least a little breeze. It felt wonderful to have the wood delivered and stacked. Even with the hot weather, firewood = security to me. If we would lose electricity from a storm, a fallen tree or someone hitting a utility pole, we would have heat from the wood stove in my studio and we could cook on it.

After all of that Jay and I went to Georges' for dinner. So I never got to pick up a brush.

Today was an outside work day. It was really hot. When I finished working I got a chair and sat in the driveway and did a fast and loose watercolor of some of my garden phlox. They were one of my Mother's favorites and I love them too. Their fragrance is wonderful and they bloom from mid-July to the end of the summer. This variety is light pink with dark pink "eyes" in the center. It's called "Bright Eyes", and is titled "BRIGHT EYES WATERCOLOR STUDY", 6"X8", watercolor on Moleskine watercolor paper-$25. SOLD.

It was hot today in the sun, but with the breeze and low humidity, it was a gorgeous day. I haven't had a chance to work in the garden much with Isabella here last week,

so I went out today to see what was ripe. I picked at least 10 tomatoes from those two Whopper tomato plants and two big cucumbers. I called my sister for her cucumber and tomato salad recipe. It was really good. I also picked herbs and these two peppers that are in the painting at left. Now I'm never in a hurry to pick peppers unless I need one for a tomato sandwich or tomato salad. If we're having roast pork, or Italian sausage sandwiches, then I'll pick all of them and fry them up in olive oil with garlic, Cippolini onions and wild mushrooms. The reason I picked these peppers is that I absolutely love the combination of colors on the longer pepper. To me it is so incredibly beautiful.

I knew I had to paint them together because when I picked the long one, the red, curled one, was wrapped around it. So here they are, "Two Hotties", 6"x4", oil on deep, gallery-wrapped canvas, $50. SOLD.