Lilacs are to me "comfort flowers".  They bring back fond memories of my childhood and always make me think of pleasant thoughts.  I've been "lilac challenged", for many years...as a gardener I feel pretty confident that I can grow just about anything I set my mind to, but for one reason or another every time I've set about growing lilacs, something has happened to them.  Ultimately the times I've just finally successfully gotten some lilacs to bloom, I've moved and left them for someone else to enjoy!  It's a curse.  This year I have the first blooms on my new bush at this house.  Of course the late freezes put a short life to them....sigh.  Still I picked what I could and got a painting from them!  I think I will hold onto this painting for myself for a while, but I thought I'd post them and see what you think?  Can you smell the lilacs?

Lilac Teacup    o/cb   10x11

Sugarbowl and Crabapple Blossoms      o/cb  11x8.5

So... my last post was about intense glow, using color to create the drama.  Today's post is really just the opposite..I wanted to create a sense of quiet, peacefulness.  The soft pastel colors and delicate handling of the sugarbowl and flowers is meant to bring the viewer to a more contemplative mood.  The sugarbowl has an antique charm about it.  Our world seems to have lost so much of it's appreciation for "delicacy".  Now-a-days we want bold, powerful, colorful glitz and glamour.  Sometimes it's just nice to appreciate something that is quietly beautiful.  

Basket of Gold

I tried some experimentation on today's painting.  The name of the flower is Basket of Gold so I wanted to make it appear to "glow".  I experimented with colors and tried a much brighter background, not so neutral as I have been using.  The flowers are tiny little sunbursts that grow in clusters.  I wanted to give the sense of individual flowers without losing the freshness of the value groups.  So, here it is...let me know what you think!

Basket of Gold     o/cb     12x8

Well this week I thought I'd try taking the fast way down a flight of stairs..ooch.  Not recommended.  I have been very sore and stiff but trying to get some painting in anyway.  I have found my overall attitude has been a bit more negative than is usual for me and I wonder if that shows in my painting?  Today I will work on my computer and do some catch up with that.
In spite of that I am posting my recent piece...."TwoLips and Hearts".

  TwoLips and Hearts     o/cb              10.5x9

Angelique Tulips

I look forward to these tulips in my garden each year.  They are so soft and delicate looking.  Because of their multiple petals I think they look more like peonies than tulips.
  I had a little difficulty with the composition on this one.  I felt instinctively that the round vase with the roundness of the flower shapes was a bit redundant.  I tried a more vertical vase and was not happy with that at all, so the round vase won out anyway!  I do like the way the values turned out on this one.  I've been feeling that my paintings overall have been too dark but this one I think I caught a nice light to it.  So the learning curve continues!
I hope you enjoy the tulips!

Angelique Tulips            o/cb         8.5x9

Song From the Hearts

Song From the Hearts     o/c     11x7.5

The way the hearts bounced across the stems made me think of music notes on a staff.  I wonder if you played the notes, what the music would be?

A Very Unique Flower Indeed

Bleeding Hearts o/c   14x10

Bleeding Hearts must be one of the world's most unique flowers.  They truly are beautiful little hearts with a "drop" falling from them.   I wanted to represent them in a way that felt a little less traditional.  I laid the composition out to be a bit more contemporary and then I worked at keeping the brushwork fresh.  I love green glass and had great fun trying to create the glass and show that each container was just a little bit different in color.  Hope you enjoy it!  Thank you for viewing my art!

West Michigan Regional Competition

I am pleased to say that two of my paintings were accepted in the West Michigan Regional juried exhibition in Lowell, Michigan!
The exhibit runs through April 26, 2012
http://www.lowellartscouncil.org

Red, White and Blue   o/c    20x16

Red Amaryllis      o/c       15x23

Every year this competition brings in some of the best artists in the region.  This year was no exception.  I feel very honored to have my paintings selected to hang in this show.  If you get a chance it is a great show to see.  It is a small show, fewer than 100 pieces but the quality is impressive.  Kudos to my friend Kathleen Kalanowski for taking home a Jurors Recognition Award for her beautiful landscape, "Awaiting Fields"!

Fwd: Dreama's Day to Day Paintings

I loved this blog and was quite certain that Dreama would NOT really mind if I shared it:)  Dreama's work is always so vibrant and cheerful and her blog's are very entertaining...hope you enjoy it!   Barbara Schilling ( PS.  Anyone over 30 has one of these photo's in their album!)

Dreama's Day to Day Paintings

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"For Your Eyes Only" Posted: 07 Apr 2012 03:07 PM PDT "Italian Kisses" Framed Print Click to View Framed Price (with or w/o mat ) We have winners!! Gretchen Stoudt was one of the winners (Congrats Gretchen!) for my monthly giveaway.  She said it was a difficult choice, but she would love a print of "Italian Kisses" as it evokes such wonderful memories of her time spent there:)) Jean Gallo was the other winner and she has selected my book, Let There Be Love.  Jean said she had four kitties of her own, so it made the decision especially difficult.  A cat painting, or a floral or a landscape.  So she settled on the book as the best compromise 'cause it has 'em all:))  Congrats Jean! For mature audiences only.... Whoa!!!  Hope I didn't cause you to spew too much coffee while viewing the perfect photo of me:) I know, you're hopeful I will make this pic available as a limited edition print;) FYI--For obvious reasons, the hairdresser responsible for that up-do is now in the witness protection program. After that photo session, I vowed to never go in search of the perfect photo again;) You know what I am talking about.  Our quest to capture our perfect selves for posterity's sake.  We get our hair "sculpted" into place , the "just right" outfit with matching jewelry, and then begin posing in ways that look as natural as chimps giving a high tea.  Breath sucked in, head tilted, teeth clinched, hands like lobster claws trying to trail "naturally" over the shoulder of someone else who looks to be in pain as well. Somehow, when the photos first come back, we actually think they LOOK nice!  Then the years pass, and they become great fodder for....well, posts like this;)) What usually becomes a favored photo of ourselves or a loved one, are the candid shots taken of you just being you and me just being me.  Maybe no make-up, maybe a little bulge showing somewhere in it.  Maybe even some un-sculpted hair-dos. As a general rule, that all goes pretty much unnoticed because what we see is a face full of love, smiles,  and hope--the REAL person.  Which is much more perfect than the "PERFECT" person in the other photo. So here's the deal.  We can't, nor do we wish, to "pose" our creative work to be perfect, anymore than we do ourselves.  A mission to create "the perfect" work of art can end up with a stilted, unnatural something that looks nothing like the vision in our hearts.  Art and Fear makes this point so well in the  tale of the professor who place his students into Group A and Group B at the beginning of the semester, with the directions that Group A would be graded on  one piece of sculpture (they only had to produce one).  Group B would be graded on quantity--no matter how it looked, the more pieces, the higher the grade. Well, Group A hovered, labored, and worried over their one piece, trying to produce the perfect work (kind of like the labor involved for me to look that Awesome in the above photo;)).  Group B, with great gusto, just began making piece after piece, not focusing on perfection, but just showing up and doing the work. Guess which group produced the best quality pieces?? You know it....Group B! Which serves to remind us all-- B(e) yourself in all things--that is what will delight and bring JOY to yourself and those around you! Forget perfect, BE real instead;))) P.S.  If you care for me, please do not share this post.  I have a reputation to maintain--I could quickly be dubbed as a Bob Ross look alike. I know that is what you were thinking.  I wasn't born yesterday, as can be proven by the afore shown hair-do and shoulder pads;)) If, on the other hand, you believe all of Eddie's trash talk, then share it with everyone. I'm not afraid.  I lived through the 80's fashion derailment.  After that, there is not much of anything left to fear. P.S.S.  For those of you not afraid of big hair and painting with me, due to much whining of those who do not want to wait 'til 2013--I am adding one 3-Day workshop in Paris, KY , July 16-18, 2012. You are getting the scoop here first:))  Click here for the info:)) And speaking of silly photos...here's Ed Be sure and check out Dreama's Art Supply Store To reply to this post, email Dreama at: Dreama@DreamaTollePerry.com--Thanks!

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Barbara Schilling

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What could be more appropriate than tulips in a blue delft pitcher!  I painted a larger piece today.  I saw the bouquet of Tulips setting on the table this morning and knew I had to paint them.  being a full bouquet as they were it seemed a bit large to try to fit it into a small canvas format so I scaled them to a 13x16 size.    I'm pleased with it.  I might try to enter them in the Tulip Time festival poster contest they have every year in Holland, Michigan.

"Tulips and Delft"    o/c    13x16

I am pleased for the opportunity to hang a show of 19 pieces at the Bella Vista Church in Rockford.
The show will be up throughout the month of April.
Thanks much to their Art Director, Connie Kuhnle, for the opportunity and for the absolutely beautiful job she did in hanging the show.
For information regarding the location and times available, please, contact the church at

http://www.bellavistachurch.org/#/about-us/contact-us

A Pitcher of Tulips     o/cb      7.5x8

I have a collection of pottery called "Rose Parade", this pitcher is one of my favorite pieces from the collection.  I thought it would set off the Pink tulips well.  I like the colors together and I think the overall feeling of the pastel colors together is very Springlike. I experimented a little with the composition on this one, just to create more interest.....