On my screen, the painting at right is way too light and bright and there's no reflection of the yellow in the shadows around the lemons. This is the pair of Meyer lemons that I started yesterday. Now finished, it's titled "For the Love of Lemons", 6"x6", oil on linen, $50., framed. Sold--thank you Chris.

Karen, the orchardess from www.lemonladies.com would like everyone to know that she's got loads of beautiful, organic, big, ripe, juicy lemons. Treat yourself. You'll love them as I do.

Valerie Knight from WOGL FM, Oldies 98, dubbed Danny, "Champagne Danny" this morning on the "Breakfast Club"radio show. The tickets for the Georges' "Restaurant Deal" set a sales record on the show. I believe all 160+ tickets were sold within minutes. If you heard the show, you can tell that Joe Frost, Danny and the Breakfast Club hosts had a really good time. My favorite part was Danny's remark about not getting "a hat and t-shirt for finishing the 32 ounce cote de boeuf at Georges' ". It was fun to listen to for the few minutes that it was on.

I took Isabella to Maryland this morning and my day hasn't been quite as bright as when it started out this morning. That's when she told me that she didn't go poop in her night night. Which was a surprising statement because she's been using the potty for a really long time. Her night night is her bed. So that remark totally caught me off-guard before my eyes were fully opened. Then it struck me funny, so I couldn't stop laughing. I'm really missing her. 

Before I go, here's the SNOW CREAM recipe that I promised Karen.

Put a clean, large, bowl outside before it snows or as soon as you can after it starts. Place it out in the open away from trees, power lines, etc.

When the bowl is piled high, full of snow, bring it back into the kitchen and pour in two, 15.25 oz. cans of fruit cocktail in heavy syrup and one, 14 oz. can of sweetened condensed milk. I use Santini's organic, that I order from amazon.com. Stir gently just to barely combine the ingredients and serve immediately. Now this is Ernestine's recipe, you can be creative with the fruit, but I don't think you can skip the sweetened condensed milk. Of course you can double and triple the recipe if you've got a big crowd. It's always good to experiment. Let me know if you come up with something good or have another version. Karen, what's your recipe for snow pudding?Well, have a terrific weekend.

Danny and Joe Frost will be on OLDIES 98, WOGL FM RADIO'S BREAKFAST CLUB, tomorrow morning. The show runs from 5:30 am to 9 am. They do a half-price promo on tickets for dinners at featured restaurants and you guessed it, "Georges" is the featured place tomorrow. They start the ticket sales online at 8:45 am. I will be on it. I'll save a bundle, that's for sure. This is the link for the breakfast club and you can click on the restaurant deals to buy tickets.http://www.wogl.com/pages/76470.phpThe painting above is not finished, but I posted it anyway. It was just taking too long for the layers to dry. The colors start to look muddy if they're over mixed. When it comes to painting lemons, I really like the colors to be clean. I got my new box of them today. They're really big, like oranges and a warm, golden orange color as well. I'll finish the painting when I get back from Maryland. Isabella goes home tomorrow.

Well the fever, chills, aches, pains congestion and cough definitely got the better of me yesterday.I was a mess. Isabella would come over to the sofa, kiss me and say "I love you Mom Mom, you're my best friend". If that's not a good reason to get better fast, I don't know what is. When I got up this morning and was fixing breakfast for her, I was wondering how I would get through the day. I was barely able to hold a conversation with Jay when he came home around noon. He got a loose tea called "Flu Fighter", and brewed some for me. About half an hour later I started feeling better. Not drowsy and drugged, like a cold and flu medication, but more clear-headed (that alone is a miracle) and functional. My wonderful daughter-in-law Celeste, came by later this afternoon with flowers for me and candy for 'Bella. I still have a bad cold, but I made a strong homemade broth with ditalini for dinner. I used some beef bones that Jay Jr. had roasted to make marrow on crostini. I froze the bones, for just this kind of soup. It was perfect for tonight. Since I couldn't even focus enough to paint today, the photo above is of Gabriel, Isabella and Jonah on the 18th, when we went to Valley forge Park for President's Day. It was really windy, but unseasonably warm and sunny. I'm looking forward to painting tomorrow. I'm going up to the kitchen now for some flu fighter tea.

Goodnight.

Chef Joe Frost was on 10!, which is an NBC tv magazine on channel 10 in Philadelphia, this morning. He prepared a shrimp ceviche that looked really good. Easy and quick. Jay Jr. was there with him, but he was backstage. Jay said that the football player that was on, John, is it Runyon? I forget his name, is the biggest human being he's ever seen, but also a really great guy. Here's the link to the show. Once you click on it, click on "behind the scenes" and you'll see different scenes from the show. http://www.nbc10.com/10/index.htmlToday's painting is one that I had started from the last box of lemons. "Zested and Juiced Meyer Lemons", 7"x5", oil over egg tempera, on gessobord, $50. framed. sold--thank you Ann.

I'm going to bed, I have the chills and my head hurts so much from coughing, I've had it.

Shortly after the snow started last night it stopped and I was disappointed. Jay and Danny said they didn't think it would amount to much. It did start up again during the night. I don't know how much we got, but it was at least three inches, and that's good enough for me, simply because I wanted to make Snow Cream for Isabella. If you've never had it and would like the recipe, just ask. It's really good and my mother-in-law, Ernestine, taught me how to make it. So since we had a snow day, I made pumpkin pancakes for Isabella. She loved them. The chickens weren't thrilled about the snow, but they ventured out. I have a small-pet, heating pad in their house to keep their water from freezing, but the Penedesencas, pushed the bowl out of the way and sat on it. The Ameraucanas didn't mind the snow at all. Today was the chicken introduction day. I've kept the Penedesencas isolated just in case there were any health or parasite issues. Last night after they fell asleep, I put them all together in a new house so that they would all wake up on new turf. They got along without any problems. Yesterday, one of the Penedesencas laid an egg. I was going to do a painting of  it and then put it in the incubator, but we needed it to make the pancakes this morning. The color is lighter than the Welsummers and Marans eggs, but still darker and without the warm, orangey color of regular brown eggs. Today's pear painting is the last of the series, "Red Unpaired Pear", 5"x7", oil over egg tempera on gessobord, $50. framed.SOLD Isabella and I are going to spend the weekend trying to get rid of these "coughs in our mouths"...and especially in our chests. Enjoy your weekend.

Isabella and I took the roosters out to the Komorowski's today. They just can't be quiet. I love the sound of a rooster, but the incessant crowing was just too much. It's not fair to subject neighbors to that. So, I'm pretty bummed, but they will definitely be happier having the freedom there. It's a beautiful old farm and I can see them anytime I want.

The pears needed to be painted again, so today I painted two. "Red Paired Pears", oil over egg tempera, 5"x7", $50., framed. sold

We're expecting three to six inches of snow overnight.I can't wait.

It snowed tonight, just a coating, but when I went out to lock up the chickens, it looked like a scene from "Edward Scissors Hands". The snow was sparkling like zillions of little diamonds. So lovely.

I asked Jay to get some fruit that I could do a painting of. He chose these three pears. I think they're perfect, even with the few blemishes."Three Red Pears" 7"x5", oil over egg tempera on Gessobord, $50. framed. sold--thank you Ann

Jeanie and the kids came up on Sunday. She and Danny went out to celebrate Jeanie's birthday, so Jay and I stayed home with the kids. They're so cute and funny. Before they left on Monday we went to Valley Forge Park for President's Day. They had a wonderful program. The kids loved it. After they left, we settled in with Isabella. The day was so incredibly beautiful and warm that I got another pen set up for the new chickens. It was such a pleasure to be able to work outside.

Isabella and I spent the rest of the afternoon and evening playing.

We were supposed to have dinner with Penny and Cine tonight, but Isabella has a fever, headache and "cough in her mouth", so we're home.

Danny gave me a small box of champagne truffles from Teuscher Chocolates of Switzerland. They're made with Dom Perignon Champagne and Zagat rated them "the best truffle on the planet". I painted them along with a glass of champagne and ate one as soon as I was sure the painting was finished, I'm saving the other one for Jay. That's true love, they are so hard to resist. Wow! If you've never had one, go to www.teuscher.comand get some online, or locally at their shop at the Bellevue in downtown Philadelphia. You'll want to savor each one. They're really special."Champagne and Champagne Truffles", oil over egg tempera, on gessobord, 5"x7", $50. framed.SOLD The background in the painting is a deep, indigo blue that looks almost black, not brown and the truffles are darker too.

How was your Valentine's Day?Jay didn't get home 'til late, but we had a nice romantic dinner and good champagne. A 1988 vintage, that was different. Mellow, smooth with a honey finish...nice. The best Valentine's Day cards ever and beautiful flowers.I'm really looking forward to the long weekend. Jeanie and the kids will be visiting. I miss them so much. Isabella will stay for the week. We'll be very busy I'm sure.I finally finished the sheep painting. I worked with the background and foreground and then, as I will often do, I just de-emphasized them. Then I focused on the fence and the sheep and the way the light touched them, without overworking them.  It's a pretty dark painting, but that's the way the light is sometimes when the sun is so low at the end of the day. Unfortunately, you can't see how nice the painting really looks, which honestly is much better than this image. It's darker and the warm color and contrast is off. Maybe it's my screen.

"Chester County Sheep at Day's End". 14"x11", oil on gallery-wrapped linen, $350. framed. sold--thank you Ann.

Have a relaxing, long weekend. I'll won't be back until Tuesday since the kids will be here until then.

Here it is, Thursday already and I'm still talking about Sunday, but it was good.

After being entertained by Nestor Torres, with Latin music at the Kimmel Center,and since we were already in town, we decided we were in the mood for Latin food for dinner, so we went to Alma de Cuba at 1623 Walnut Street.www.almadecubarestaurant.comWe weren't disappointed. The food was great. The atmosphere was actually a little too cool and refreshing after coming in out of the 45 mph winds and plummeting temperatures. It looks like the kind of place where you'd see Ricardo Montalban smoothly walking around. It is the perfect place to be on a hot, July night.In any case, the service was outstanding, just the right degree of attentiveness.For starters, of course no matter how cold it was, I had to have their signature Cuban drink, a Caipirinha, which was worth the chill. Jay had the Chupe de Mariscos, a Peruvian seafood chowder with a poached egg. It was incredible, really. I had the Oysters Rodriguez,crispy fried over fufu (mashed sweet plantains with bacon) sauteed with spinach and a horseradish sauce.They were very good, but I wouldn't get them again. I'm not a horseradish sauce fan and I'd want to try something else. For our mains Jay had the Vaca Frita, "Fried Cow", crispy skirt steak, which again was exceptional, but I dislike that strong beef taste. Jay liked it, but he liked my Lechon Asado more and so did I. Crispy skinned pork with garlic/oregano mojo, black bean broth and marinated cabbage with a creamy yucca. I don't have the words to describe how delicious this dish was. It reminded me of the pork belly Jay Jr. made for new Year's Day. So incredibly good. The portions are big, so we sampled our food and had the rest packed for Jay Jr. and Danny to taste. We shared a couple of bites of the chocolate cigar for dessert. Very clever with their Alma de Cuba cigar band on it and the sugar matches next to it, that they light when they present it. It was beautiful eye candy, as well as rich and tasty.Today's daily painting is the last of the truffle series. It's dark chocolate. Maybe we'll have the truffles for dessert tonight. Since Jay has to teach, we're saving our Valentine's dinner for April 5th. We've got a dinner reservation at Vetri, for the tasting menu. I can't wait.

Happy Valentine's Day everyone. Appreciate the love you've been blessed with, it's a gift that needs to be nourished and cherished.

"Dark Chocolate Truffle", 6"x6", oil on linen, $50. framed. Sorry the image is blurry. I think it's my lens. SOLD

Today's truffle is milk chocolate with a dark chocolate swirl. It must have been all of the egg paintings that made this series easier than most. I've really been enjoying them,without having eaten one of the truffles...yet.

So back to Sunday--our very kind and dear friend, Mike Selverian got box seat tickets for us to see Nestor Torres perform with Peter Nero and the Philly Pops. Torres was born in Puerto Rico. He's a flautist beyond compare. He mixes, Latino, jazz, pop and classical music and he does all of this with great style and humor. His rendition of "Beseme' Mucho" was beautiful and soulful, it won out over "Sketches of Spain" as my favorite, but all of it was outstanding. His talent is so over the top. He is very humble, emotional and dramatic. He's also got that kind of "The Sexy" from Saturday Night Live thing going on. It was a phenomenal performance with the "Pops" at their best as well. We really enjoyed it. Thank you very much Mike.

Tomorrow, I'll take you through part 2. I've got to get working on some of the bigger paintings.

"Milk Chocolate Truffle", 6"x6", oil on linen, $50. framed. SOLD

We had a nice weekend. Saturday, I drove the three hours up and three hours back to New York to get my new chickens and hatching eggs. It snowed the entire way up and back. I don't think I would have gone if I knew I was going to be driving that far in the snow. It was good for me though. The scenery was breathtaking in the true sense of the word. The mountains looked like God came along and dusted them with powdered sugar. The effect was even more spectacular with the heavy fog and intense contrast against the black rock formations.

I got a trio of a Spanish chicken called Pendesenca. They're black and the rooster is enormous, he must be three times the size of my Ameraucana rooster, Diego. He sounds like a moose when he crows. Not that he's so loud, it's just that his crow is so deep and almost bellowing. He's a sweetheart though and allows me to put him to bed every night so he doesn't wake the neighbors. I don't think we'll be able to keep him since Diego wouldn't stand a chance near him and the two of them try to outcrow each other, all...day...long!The hens are a little skittish compared to Frida, Flavia and Leenda. Hopefully we'll become friends and they'll calm down.I finally got some Marans...which are the French chickens. These are black copper and have feathered legs. The males are gorgeous and the hens are black. Since mine are only chicks and chicks in progress (eggs in the incubator) I don't know if they will be hens or roosters. Roosters will have to go to new homes. Lastly, there are the Welsummers, which are Dutch...chicks and eggs as well. They'll be brown and a partridge pattern, which is very pleasing.

The chicks and eggs are here with me in the studio.I enjoy the peeping of the chicks.

I'll finish telling about the weekend throughout the week. There's just too much for now.

The snow today is a nice change from rain, especially since I don't have to drive in it.

I didn't post yesterday because my old computer had finally had it. My son Jay took me out and I got an iMac and set it up last night. Then I broke my left forefinger loading the woodstove. I did finish a truffle painting despite that. Being left-handed, it's actually harder to type, pecking with my middle finger, than it is to paint.Finally, Tim sent me a link for the dead bear, but none of his photos.http://www.nbc-2.com/articles/readcollierarticle.asp?articleid=17318&z=13

If the link doesn't work just copy and paste it into your browser.

Today's daily painting is in keeping with the Valentine's Day theme, titled "Vanilla Truffle", oil on linen, 6"x6", $50. framed. SOLD

I think Jay and Tim are living a little too close to the edge down there in Florida. Yesterday Jay told me about all of the snakes that they were seeing. I asked him if he could identify them, but he said no. They did try to rattle their tail, except there was no rattle. He said he would get online and look them up when they got back to my brother's house. Well Pat has a book on Florida snakes and most of them they identified as juvenile cottonmouths! Very venomous and aggrevsive. Some were adults and others were black racers or black rat snakes. They saw even more today. They're having a bad drought there, which maybe why they're seeing so many turtles and snakes.

Nothing new with the bear story. Tim leaves tomorrow. Maybe I'll get some photos soon.

Tomorrow I go to get my chickens and hatching eggs. I'm real excited about that. I will take pix of them for you to see.

My painting of the day is of a raspberry truffle. It's hard to resist not eating them when I'm finished their portraits.

"Raspberry Truffle", 6"x6", oil on linen. $75. framed.

Have a great weekend.

I'm sick and tired of being sick...and tired. This cold is getting worse. Now I have a fever. My brother Pat told me to get some resistant microbes. I don't know what they are, but I'll get some. I hate having to breathe out of my mouth. It could be worse, Jay has to have a tooth extracted tomorrow. Yuck. I'll consider myself lucky. The story of the bear was on the Florida news last night, but Jay and Tim got no credit at all. They said that a park ranger found the bear. That's not true. Tim called the newspaper and asked them if they would be interested in buying his photos of the dead bear. They said no, that they don't pay for photos. Do you think if they were photos of Elvis they'd pay for them? You're right, Elvis is much more important. Just the same, I don't believe them. Celeste's brother, Tim, graduates from the Marines' boot camp tomorrow. Congratulations Tim! We're very proud of him. Celeste left yesterday to drive to Parris Island, SC to attend his graduation....and doing that after taking a nursing test, on which she scored a 90. That's my girl, way to go Celeste. My daily painting is of a beautiful, milk chocolate truffle, dusted with ground hazelnuts. Yes, it's part of the Valentine series. I would have eaten it as a reward, but I wouldn't be able to taste it. Maybe I'll use it in another painting. Better yet, I'll give it to Celeste when she gets back. "Nutty Truffle", oil on linen, 6"x6", $50. framed. SOLD

I think the warm weather set a record today. What a joy, even without the sun. The cool, humid air made it easier to breathe. I spent the afternoon putting netting over my garden. I'll be getting some new chickens on Saturday, so I'll put all of them to bed in a coop in the garden on Saturday night and they can all wake up together on new turf on Sunday morning. They'll be able to run around, eat the weeds, bugs and fertilize, all while being safe from the hawks. Still on my Valentine's Day theme, here is my daily painting. "White Rose--It Is What It Is", 6"x6", oil on linen, $50. framed.SOLD--thank you Penny & David.

To continue with Jay and Tim in Florida, they'll be on the news down there tonight because of the black bear that they found dead. Apparently it had been shot, which is a huge offense in a preserve. They had to go in and sign a sworn statement which interfered with their day of photography in the cypress swamps. Actually, that didn't bother them as much as being kicked out of the park by a ranger and given a warning for being commercial photographers...which of course they're not. The ranger was new and didn't know the difference. He did however call them later to apologize! Now tell me, where do you ever find a situation like that? Good man, I'm really impressed. I'm still trying to get photos of the bear, but they only have them in raw files which are enormous and they don't have a program on my brother's computer to convert them to JPEG. So we'll just have to wait.

My painting of the day is another in the Valentine theme. It's of a heart-shaped topiary at Ladew Gardens in Maryland. We went a few months ago on a 90 degree, indian summer day. The strange looking thing in it is the topiary arrow.

"Heart Topiary at Ladew Gardens", 4"x6", watercolor, on Moulin de Larrouque Aquarelle paper.

It's not for sale because I'm going to use it for a thank you note to Mary Charlotte Parr, Krista's mom-in-law. She sent a wonderful book about Ladew Gardens to me for Christmas.

I got the watercolor paper from Sennelier, in Paris when we were there five years ago. It's very heavily textured, which allowed me to pretty much scumble the paint across in many layers, using a dry brush technique. I took my time and really enjoyed the process.

I'm still feeling miserable, so I'm going to bed early.

'Nite.

I was able to paint some more on the sheep painting on Saturday, but not much.

Saturday night a really sore, scratchy throat started just when I was almost better from the last upper respiratory infection.

Sunday it was hard to keep awake because my head really hurt.

I had planned to go to Maryland to surprise Jeanie and the kids on Saturday and go to a friend's photography reception on Sunday, but I barely got out of bed.

We turned on the Super Bowl during the 3rd quarter. Honestly, not only didn't I know who was playing, but I didn't know and still don't know where they played.

Jay asked me who I wanted to win, so I said NY, just because I like NYC and because it's closer to home. Jay said it would be a huge upset if they won. Well you know the rest. I have to admit, we both got teary when they won.

We're ridiculous, I know it.

Jay Jr. called today to tell me that he was in the Fakahatchee Strand State Preserve and that they found a freshly-dead, black bear! I promised that I'd post any exciting photos from them, but he hasn't sent them yet. So more news about it tomorrow after Jay has a "talk" with the forest rangers. It's a good story.

How today's painting ever made it to this point is almost miraculous. I finished it and put it against a box to look at it one last time and it fell forward into my palette of paints. So, I fixed it as best I could, but it honestly didn't look as good as it did originally. So I hung it to photograph it. Danny accidentally knocked it down. I tried fixing it again. I'm now at the point where I don't know if it's better or worse, but by any other name it's a rose and it's now titled---

" A Rose, It Is What It Is", 7"x5", oil on canvas, $50., framed. Sold.

This painting starts my Valentine's Day series.

I thought that by painting in watercolor today, I'd save some time. I was wrong. I need more practice. I think that part of it was the paint. The binder was kind of gooey, so that when I applied a new layer, the previous layer of green on the eggs, lifted off, even though the first layer was dry. Frustrating at best, but I persisted. The other challenge was that I was determined not to use any white paint. That meant that I had to be more careful and reserve the parts that I wanted to be white or very light. I would have liked more highlight on the unbroken egg, like in my oil paintings. Oh well. So here is my painting of the day, "Watercolor Eggs", 7"x5", watercolor on Moleskine watercolor paper, $35. framed. sold--thank you Ann.

I'm working on small Valentine and Easter paintings, along with the larger sheep painting. Hopefully I'll get a lot done on the larger painting tomorrow.

Jay Jr. is away visiting my brother Pat. He's combining this visit with a photo shoot of the Everglades, etc. His friend and fellow photographer Tim Albertson is joining him. If they send something exciting I'll post it.

Have a great weekend and may your Superbowl team win!

I was reading an art magazine last night and they had an article about internet scams. To reiterate, there will never be a valid reason for anyone to send you more money than the cost of the item/s you're selling. No matter what they say, don't do it. The article said that it could take weeks and even months for out-of-state and overseas checks to really clear. U.S. banks are now being criticized for allowing us to use money from checks that have been deposited in our accounts, but haven't cleared. They give us the money in advance, but we're responsible for the bad/fake checks or money orders, when they don't clear weeks or months later. Please be careful.

Tonight's "daily painting". again, is of a blood orange and kumquats. It'll probably be the last one for awhile since the orange and kumquats are starting to shrivel up. I originally set up this still life with an egg in the glass, but I liked the color of the orange better. Next week I need to order more Meyer lemons.

"Blood Orange in a Glass and Kumquats", 6"x6", oil on linen, $50.Sold.

I'm going to leave you with a link to help autistic children. It's heartwrenching. All you need to do is click on the link and click the play (>)

button. The band that is singing will contribute $0.49 to research for autism every time it is played. Thanx in advance.

Here's the info:

What Kind of WorldDo You Want? The band, Five for Fighting, is generously donating $0.49 to Autism Speaks each time this video is viewed. The funding goes toward research studies to help find a cure. When you have a moment, please visit the link below to watch the video and pass it along. They are aiming for 10,000 hits, but hopefully we can help them to surpass this goal. Click Here!