This is one of my paintings done on a glass window that was removed from someone’s home while remodeling.  Not quite an antique, but certainly no longer in a landfill.

Chickadee’s have a delicate look and and soft features when you watch them.  Dainty creatures of nature, I could watch them flutter for hours around the feeder. 

I frosted the front of this window, with spray to give it an easier base to paint on.  Similar to the Stevie Ray Vaughan Painting but instead of using charcoals, I used enamel paint for the soft pine and chickadee, I used the KISS approach on this painting - Keep It Simple & Straightforward. 

It is titled “Top-Shelf SRV Music”  from Vintage Guitar Magazine. 

Stevie Ray Vaughan & Friends was released a few months back, and IMHO, no matter what Stevie plays on, or who Stevie played with, his style and his sound was always recognizable.

A true fan thirsts for the next album, the next concert, and the next street side appearance but in the case of our late great blue’s legend that will not be happening, we can only continue to enjoy what has been released and continue to be hopeful that there is more hidden in the archives and estate.

Have we heard better Stevie? I would say absolutely, someone gave me a track of Stevie performing I’m Crying and the lyrics are classic  heartache, soul searching and down to the knitty gritty of blue’s music.   The track I got, seems to date back some many years, but is it signature Stevie, I can hear it, and there is not a day that goes by that I don’t listen to at least one of his famous tunes and the scream of his guitar shakes my bones.

Everyone can critique Stevie & Friends in their own way, but for those of us who; no matter the day, no matter the mood, when you hear that first cord hit, you immediately feel a smile embrace your being, and you instantly are thrown into the depths of what Stevie Ray Vaughan was all about.  He was a man that walked a road not much different than most of us, with questions and uncertainty as he states in his AA speech on page six  he says….

I used to think that if it wasn’t done my way, that it was completely wrong and it couldn’t be anything close to right because you just didn’t know. I know it’s kinda, it’s…sometimes I found out that it’s real comfortable not knowing everything…

Chew on that a little while..as my husband always says to me.. stop being an “in-charge”  do something that envokes your passions, do something that you love, and remember…..once in awhile, to use the words…”no doubt” they can be profound.  

I will confess, the spirit that guides me through life, aka - guardian angel, spirit guide… always uses the expression, “no-doubt” so I felt it fitting to add that to the bottom of Stevie’s Ray Vaughans Hat.. No Doubt, either don’t doubt what’s in front of you, or in awe.. you can sit back and revel in what is truly a miracle happening around you.

I painted Stevie’s Ray Vaughans Signature hat, because of it being an icon and a statement. I started this many months back on a solid semi-gloss back ground of a shabby piece of particle board, it had divets and grooves, that lent a bit of a challenge factor to the entire piece, trying to get the curves of the hat correct.  This was done entirely in acrylics, with a smidge of enamel paint for the edges of the hat, and the feather for texture.  

Snow, Snow Go away!

Can we have any uglier weather?  Fog, snow, rain and just plain old garbage, I realize somewhere at this very moment that people are out listening to the surf, beer or margarita in hand, and watching the pelicans hunt the fish…and I am stuck in Chicago!

I sent this enamel painting down to Missouri, where they obviously miss the snow!  I obviously do not! My husband plows snow for the Village, and I know he certainly doesn’t as I can hear the snores escalating as he falls to sleep for the third time today, after missing the entire half of Super Bowl XLII, because he was plowing!

I miss the cats and the deck with a twelve pack of corona light, and my friends down there!

Done on a six paned old antique window with mullions in tact, these two sweet chickadee’s and chipmunk look over the holly and the berries.

I used a thick enamel paint to create the mounds of snow below the 3 furry friends.  With a bit of silica sand added in, adding a glistening effect on the holly and spread through out the painting.

I was asked to do another version of my very first post of Stevie Ray Vaughan, but incorporate more tree’s and an icy river within the conches of his signature hat.

The song Shake For Me resonated in the back of my mind, the icy part, I am in Chicago, so that is so not an issue at this very moment, as we are under a winter weather advisory. Shaking is the only option as you go out into this winter mix of ice, snow and cold.

The original piece that I did with a woodless graphite pencil is still without any conch design. So I happily obliged. I did a tropical beach scene in the last mutli-medium sketch of Stevie, which some liked and some had comments that it did not look right.

Well, I suppose the additional order of for another Stevie proved them incorrect. I painted the original tree’s and mountains on an 8 x 10 canvas, enhancing the icy waters of the river with water caps with white tips. The tree’s in the background were begun with a ebony black and I added the greenery with a rough round bristle brush. Adding depth to the trees along the river bank.

I put the dark reds with the orange setting sun just as a glimpse in the rivers bed towards the end of the river. The entire 8 x 10 was done in Acrylics by Anita, a real reasonable paint to purchase for any art project!

Upon completion of the painting, I scanned and used photoshop to merge the two pieces, I had to use the lasso tool in photo shop to inlay the painting into the conches! I will elaborate later on the signature “no doubt” that sits at the bottom of the sketch.

Enjoy ~

I can only say..FREEZING here in the suburbs of Chicago.. this piece was out of the archives.  It now resides somewhere in Canada, where it can be quite possibly colder than Chicago.  Not a pretty thought.

This is a window that came out of an old barn in Elgin, Illinois. (Thanks Aaron) I wanted to portray “freedom” and as I was told by the gentleman who purchased it, thats just what it said.  It reminded him of his weekend  ride down in Florida.   This is one window that I did not leave in tattered state, it was cleaned up and painted with outdoor oil paint, semi-gloss white.  The mullions were in terrific shape! I used a recycled piece of cardboard for the canvas, and painted the ocean, streets and palms.  The canvas was painted with acrylics by Anita, and I painted the front of the glass in enamels, giving it a more of a 3D effect.  I used silica sand to mimic the waves crashing on shore. 

When I look at my pieces that are tropical themed, they immediately take me somewhere warm, which by the way is not the suburbs of Chicago, where there is now in my opinion way to much snow on the ground!