Butler County Ohio Barn, Oil Painting by Linda McCoy

The Daily Painters group is celebrating during the month of August with a "beautiful earth" theme. One could wonder why I chose a barn for the first day. Can't say really, I pass this barn often, and for those of you who live here in Ohio it's on Cincinnati-Dayton Road in Monroe. What would our landscapes look like without the thousands upon thousands of barns that dot the rural fields? Traveling the midwest you can see them standing, roofs collapsing, hand laid foundations crumbling. The weather isn't easy on the old ones, and after a particularly bad winter they just fold in on themselves. So much history. Many are adorned with the American flag, much like this one. They are a symbol of those who came in the early days and worked so hard to feed their families. Some have been in the same family for generations. But disappear they do, bull-dozed aside to make room for new sub-divisions and corporate farming.
Take the back roads once in awhile..... a beautiful earth indeed.
6"X6" Oil on canvas.

Purple Glass Pumpkin, Oil Painting by Linda McCoy

I'm not sure what the intrigue is about pumpkins, but I guess to understand it you have to travel the midwest during harvest. Fields and fields of pumpkins. Who hasn't stopped at a rural farm stand and pondered over just the right one? Scooped out the gooey insides and spilled seeds all over the floor? Stuck a candle behind it's freshly carved spooky as possible face? Tried to make a pie from a real pumpkin instead of the canned? Roasted the seeds in the oven and sprinked while still warm with a bit of salt?
I purchased this glass variety from Michele at The Glass Studio in Berea Kentucky. http://www.kaht.com/multiple/glass_studio.htm . It's a beautifully hand blown purple glass with an amber color stem. I placed it in the sunshine so as to back light it. I'm sure my painting doesn't do Michele's glass art justice, but I just had to try.
6"X6" Oil on gallery wrapped stretched canvas.
COPYRIGHT 2008 Linda McCoy

Green Vases, Oil Painting by Linda McCoy

Went into a local florist in Westchester http://www.flowersbynyla.com/ to purchase flowers, and this little green vase set was sitting on the counter. Really Green! I loved it so here it is in oil. Thanks to the staff at Nyla's for being so helpful. 6"X6" Oil on gallery wrapped stretched canvas. 

Red Berets Oil Painting by Linda McCoy

Berets were originally worn by Northern Basque peasants and were knitted from wool. Today berets are normally made from wool felt.
Berets are associated with a variety of different people. A beret completes the image of the stereotypical Frenchman (even though berets are fairly rare in France nowadays) or French peasants; artists, painters and intellectuals. It also was the stereotypical headgear of film directors until it was replaced in the public eye with the baseball cap in the 1980s. It also became the standard headgear of the Castilian peasant. (Description by I.Com)
A brief oil sketch, oil on masonite 6"X6"

Lily of the Inca's and Perfume Bottles by Linda McCoy

The Lily is a Alstroemeria, or Lily of the Inca's. A Pom Pom mum and Hypericum Berries finish off the floral. The tall perfume bottle has a Calla Lily stopper, and the small bottle has a Closionne floral pattern. This is really a colorful painting, another addition to the perfume bottle series. 6"X6" Oil on gallery wrapped stretched canvas. 

P.S. July 29, 2008. I've changed the background on this painting three times. You are not seeing things, I just couldn't make up my other mind!

All images copyright by Linda McCoy 2008

Watercolor Hydrangea by Linda McCoy

I painted this with a limited palette of ultra marine blue, cerulean, smalt, Winsor green and yellow. A little Winsor red was used in the first wash of color. I'm working in oils on larger pieces, but meanwhile the watercolor paintings are a nice change of pace.

7"X7" Watercolor on Sennelier Paper $100.00 tcoy1@msn.com SOLD

Images are copyright 2008 by Linda McCoy

Watercolor Peony l l by Linda McCoy

7"X7" Watercolor on Sennelier paper. $100.00 tcoy1@msn.com SOLD

Watercolor Gladiola by Linda McCoy

Just abstract shapes really. I don't know much about these lovely flowers but I found this little bit of folklore.......
According to Jesica Conrad, Beltrami County Master Gardner:
"In gladiola folklore, when Apollo accidentally slew his friend Hyancinthus, gladiolas sprang from his blood. That is why gladiolas are often associated with grief, a common funeral bouquet. In folk tradition, young men wore gladiolas to the marriages of their friends symbolizing the parting of their youth. Gladiolas are also thought to be the lilies of the field that Jesus referred to in the Sermon on the Mount. In the Victorian Language of Flowers, the gladiola represents strength of character. The name Gladiolus is from the Latin gladius, meaning “small sword.”
7"X7" on Sennelier watercolor paper $100.00. tcoy1@msn.com
All images on this blog and my website are COPYRIGHT 2008

Peony, Watercolor by Linda McCoy

Watercolor on Sennelier paper. Every once in awhile I head back to the watercolors. It's a never ending search for the transparency of the petals. 7"X7" $100.00 tcoy1@msn.com SOLD

All images on this website/blog are COPYRIGHT by Linda McCoy 2008

Snuff Bottle with Gladiola, Still Life Oil by Linda McCoy

Snuff bottles were used by the Chinese during the Qing Dynasty to contain powdered tobacco. Smoking tobacco was illegal during the Dynasty, but the use of snuff was allowed because the Chinese considered snuff to be a remedy for common illnesses such as colds, headaches and stomach disorders. Therefore, snuff was carried in a small bottle like other medicines. The snuff bottle is comparable to the snuff box used by Europeans. (Wikipedia)
A fun little painting with a lot of details. 6"x6" Oil on gallery wrapped stretched canvas. $100.00 tcoy1@msn.com if you are interested in purchasing.

Rachel's Bouquet, A Closer Look

6"X6" Oil on Gallery wrapped stretched canvas SOLD

David's Boutonnière, Rachel's Bouquet

Heartiest congratulations to you both! Many many years of happiness!

A bridal bouquet dates back to ancient old traditions that are still a major part of the modern day wedding. In the Roman Era, the bride and groom wore floral garlands, portraying their new life together and a hope for fertility. The bouquet was symbolic for showing the women in bloom -a coming of age, so to speak. In the Victorian days, the bride and groom would send flowers to each other. Each flower would have a separate meaning. Through this the bride’s bouquet became an unforgettable tradition. SOLD

Perfume with Geranium, Still Life by Linda McCoy

I'm not a collector of perfume bottles, but I love their shapes and colors. My last visit to a department store perfume counter was a week or so ago, and I was amazed at the beautiful bottles. Seems like the manufactures are trying to out do each other with the bottle designs.
Both of these bottles are hand blown glass. Fun and colorful painting.
6"X6" Oil on gallery wrapped stretched canvas. $100.00 tcoy1@msn.com

Perfume and Peony, Still Life Oil Painting by Linda McCoy

Mischievous nymphs were said to hide in the petals of the Peony thus causing this magnificent flower to be given the meaning of Shame or Bashfulness in the Language of Flowers. It was named after Pæon, a physician to the gods, who obtained the plant on Mount Olympus from the mother of Apollo. Once planted the Peony likes to be left alone and punishes those who try to move it by not flowering again for several years. Once established, however, it produces splendid blooms each year for decades. (Taken from The Language of Flowers, edited by Sheila Pickles, 1990)

The large perfume bottle is old, I don't know what green liquid occupies the bottle. The small bottle is a Czech cut glass perfume bottle, a tiny charm hangs from the collar.

The peony provides the base for many perfumes. Thierry Mugler has a fragrance named "Angel Peony." I might have to try it.

6"X6" Oil on gallery wrapped stretched canvas. $125.00 tcoy1@msn.com

Pear Blossoms and Perfume, Still Life Oil Painting by Linda McCoy

9"X12" Oil on gallery wrapped stretched canvas. $150.00 tcoy1@msn.com  Sold

Peony Buds, Oil Painting by Linda McCoy

When I was a kid growing up on the South Side of Chicago, my mother and Grandmother used to bring in Peonies out of the garden. It seemed to me like there were millions of them. They would soak them in the bathtub to make sure the ants met their maker and didn't end up chomping on the Wheaties in the pantry. This seemed like a late spring tradition and following it, I never bring the peonies in the house until they have been soaked in a bucket of water.
We lived on the block of 70th and Sangamon, in a two flat building. My grandparents lived upstairs. What a great place to grow up. There were huge apartments at the end of the block, and the neighborhood was host to more kids than we could ever count. So many neighborhood games, whatever happened to those? On summer mornings you would wake to the click click sound of the jump rope hitting the sidewalk; girls playing Double Dutch. Ten, twenty, thirty, forty.....counted in cadence, till you tripped and gave up your turn.
Root beer floats, Ice cream trucks with aqua colored Popsicles. We hid under porches, ran through gangways, and never seemed to tire. We played hide and seek at dusk, and if you didn't want to be found you could find just the right place.
Little corner stores with candy on a piece of paper. Bull's eyes. Bazooka Bubble Gum with comics on the wrapper. In the evening people sat outside on their porches and drank ice cold beer. If it was really hot and very still you would get a whiff of the Chicago Stockyards, an awful smell. They were a good distance away, but how that smell did travel.
But I digress, back to the peonies! How this painting ended up being not about peonies, but more about the glass is a mystery. Well maybe not. I liked the abstract shapes the stems made in the cut glass so that sort of took over. OK well, more than sort of.

6"X6" Oil on gallery wrapped stretched canvas. $100.00 tcoy1@msn.com   Sold

Orchids

9'X12" Oil on gallery wrapped stretched canvas.
$125.00 tcoy1@msn.com

New Guinea Impatiens, Oil Painting by Linda McCoy

Just fun with a new Red from Blue Ridge. Azo Red. Just the right color, not too blue, not too orange, but a bright true red. A little on the abstract side, these flowers are large, and come in a variety of colors. I covered the entire canvas in the red, since that was the color of the flower and their veins. I applied the greens and grays, then lifted the vein out with a small brush which held a little turp. I used paper towel to lift some of the greens out along the edge of the canvas so the reds would show through.

I fear the peonies will never open, and that the hard rain which is coming tonight may beat them up before they have a chance to show off. Just have to wait and see.

9"X12" Oil on gallery wrapped stretched canvas. $125.00 tcoy1@msn.com

Iris Parfait

Iris Parfait indeed! The glass is called a ka-dink. They come in a set of four of different colors. Of course they are made for ice cream and such, but I thought of them as vases. The glass is frosted. A lovely gift from my daughter for mother's day. This is my second Iris painting today, soon they will be gone until next spring. Make hay while the sun shines!
9"X12" Oil on gallery wrapped canvas. $125.00 tcoy1@msn.com

Lavender Duet, Iris Still Life by Linda McCoy

The Iris's are just fun to paint. In the changing sunlight the possibilities are endless. Still waiting for the peony's to open! Maybe later this week.
6"X6" Oil on gallery wrapped stretched canvas. $100.00. tcoy1@msn.com