Warm Tropical Flowers cheer me up in the dead of winter!

Took advantage of the wonderful winter sunshine and painted another floral small.

"Warm Azaleas"

8"x8" oil painting on museum quality flat panel

$80

A bright pink rose in the middle of winter!

Today, on a super snowy winter day, I found good light, so I decided to paint.  I looked through my hundreds of reference photos, but kept coming back to flowers.  So today I did a rose and I might get one more painting in before the early dusk settles in.

"Pink Rose"

8"x8" oil painting on museum quality flat panel.

$80

Countdown to Christmas!

So I am a little later on my Christmas cards than I had expected to be this year and when I was rooting around my photo files I could not find any new pictures of this past year that I wanted to share, so I decided to paint a card instead!

"Christmas Ornament"

8"x10" oil painting on museum quality flat panel

$45

Flowers from a distance!

I was drawn to flowers again today, but in a much different format.  I haven't painted on a flat panel in ages and I remembered why today.  The slick feel of the panel doesn't give me the nice toothy feel of a canvas and so the paint acts in a completely different manner.  It produces a whole new texture than I typically like, but I liked the way this turned out.  Enjoy!

"Wildflower Mountain"

11"x14" oil painting on museum quality flat panel

$100

More flowers!

I started to paint today and really wanted to get poppies out of my system so I could find a new and more intriguing subject.  Although I still adore poppies, I am thinking it's time to branch out and find something completely outside the box and my comfort zone.  Time will tell if I find that subject!

So for now, enjoy the poppies!

"Poppies III"

10"x10" oil painting on 1 1/2" profile canvas

$100

Today's Painting - on my wedding anniversary

Today is my anniversary.  I am married to the most incredible man.  It feels like we have always known each other and have been together since we were kids.  Hard to believe it any other way.  I guess that is what it feels like when you find someone so very compatible and on the same wavelength when it comes to the important stuff. 

My dear husband is out of the house today working and I decided to paint and I guess I felt inspired and loved and so very content.  I hope I put those feelings of joy and love into this painting today.

Enjoy!

"Close Up of a Poppy"

12"x12" oil painting on 3/4" profile canvas

$125

If you like ocean critters - stay tuned!

I felt particularly inspired lately to paint and with some new ideas that came to me late at night.  I have 7 paintings lined up and ready to go...

Here is the first of the sea life series drawn from my sister's love of the ocean, diving and her adventures down below.

"Hammerheads of Galapagos"

18"x18" oil painting on 1 1/2" profile canvas

$200

Second Painting of the Day!

"Rooster"

12"x12" oil painting on 3/4" profile museum board

$140

Deva's Ganesh

My friend Katy Latta has a lovely little 3 year old daughter named Deva.  She's full of life, full of love and since she thinks Ganesh is the coolest thing ever, I decided to paint the elephant God for her so she could have him look over her all the time.

Hugs to my friends!

"Deva's Ganesh"

16"x20" oil painting on canvas

Sold

Yesterday's Effort

A great artist and friend, Dreama Tolle Perry, talked about "just showing up" on her blog yesterday and it got me inspired to get in front of my easel, even though I wasn't really sure what I wanted to paint or feeling especially moved to paint.  

I rifled through some of my reference photos and was tickled by the feel of some poppies, so I just "showed up" and let the rest happen.  

Here is the resultant painting.  Makes me smile, so it's a masterpiece in my mind!

"Poppies II"

12"x12" oil painting on canvas

$150

Who doesn't love manatees!?

Today's painting!  My biggest canvas to date!  4'x2'!  I love manatees, I love the tranquility and peaceful feeling when I look at this.  The colors and subject make for a happy, serene experience!

Hoping my sister will want it for her Florida water front home!

"Manatee"

48"x24" oil painting on canvas

$400

From Flowers to Jelly Fish

Well, I am drawn once again to the jelly fish today when I was looking through my inspiration photos.  I hope the people who keep asking for jelly fish like this!

Jelly Fish

18"x18" oil painting on 1 1/2" profile canvas

$200

Delicious buttermilk gluten-free pancakes!

Wow!  These turned out even better than the typical buttermilk pancake!  I didn't even miss the gluten!

Obviously, to cook GF you need special flours and starches, so I recommend either hitting Bob's Red Mill in Portland (as I did) or going online to King Arthur Flour and finding the ingredients and keeping them handy.

So far I have made GF pizza dough (yummy and crispy!!), GF pancakes now and GF bread.   All worked out great once I got used to the different texture and long list of ingredients that accompanies GF recipes.

Give these pancakes a try.  They were so good I ate mine sans butter, sans syrup and sans jelly.  They were so good by themselves!!

1 1/2 cups of GF Flour mix (This is a blend of 140g of brown rice flour, 47g of potato starch & 23g of tapioca starch/flour)
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
4 tablespoons sugar (I used maple sugar!!! Made it delish!  Could smell the hint of maple sweetness and taste it too!)
1 1/2 cups of buttermilk at room temperature (I use the dehydrated buttermilk powder so I can have buttermilk in the house all the time - this stuff is amazing)
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 extra-large egg, room temperature

Heat your griddle to medium high
In a large bowl, place the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar and whisk together well.
In another bowl whisk together the egg, buttermilk and butter.
Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour wet ingredients on top and whisk until all the lumps are gone.
I ladle the batter onto the griddle and when one side looks dry and has holes in it, I flip over and cook until lightly browned on the other side.

These are best served nice and hot off the griddle!

ENJOY!!

Pink Poppies

Pink Poppies

14"x11" oil painting on 1 1/2" profile canvas

$80

White Poppies

My painting today!  Enjoy!

"White Poppies"

12"x12" oil painting on 3/4" profile canvas

$150

Mini Flowers

Trying to play around with ideas and decided to go smaller this time with a mini version of a painting I have had in my head for a while.

Irises

4"x4" oil painting on 1 1/2" profile canvas

$20

Gerbera III

No...these aren't romantic titles for my paintings, but I am so involved in the learning process, the feeling out of technique, the feeling out of my desires, inspirations, and ability to convey my feelings for the subject onto the canvas that I find each painting more of a study rather than an art piece.  A lesson for me to learn from.  A project to complete to guide me to my next project.  I am so wanting the art to teach me about myself that I attach a title to the pieces that are purely descriptive.  It helps me detach from it, step back from the easel so to speak and evaluate, learn, observe and feel.

So...I present...

Gerbera III

18"x24" oil painting on canvas 

$200

More Seattle Inspirations!

My latest work, another study of the wonderful Gerbera Daisies I photographed in Seattle.  

Gerbera II

11"x14" oil painting on 1 1/2" profile canvas

$125

Memories of Seattle. Part I

It has only been a little over a week since I left Seattle and came home, but it feels a lot longer!  I have already been teaching classes three times a week and just getting a month's worth of dirt and dust out of the house has taken all my other free time.  But...I have had some time to paint and today I painted from some photos I took at the U district's Saturday market...

Enjoy!

"Saturday Market Gerberas"

Oil Painting 

11"X14" on museum quality flat panel

Three weeks down...one more to go!

It's been a very long three weeks for many reasons.
1.  TONS of yoga classes
2.  Missing my sweetheart and home
3.  Missing my doggies
4.  WAY too much class observation
5.  Did I say TONS OF YOGA??!

I figured it wouldn't be a cake walk, but boy, this has been tougher than I had ever imagined.  I thought it would be hard physically, but it has been way harder mentally and emotionally.  Just being away from home this long and the 12 hour days has been draining.  I have learned so much and I am enjoying this journey, but I am so ready for this path to turn back toward home and into my sweetheart's arms.  I am counting the days now...only 7 days until I am driving home to Oregon and I relish the thought of sleeping in and taking a few days off from yoga and just soaking up time with my love, Matt.  Absence certainly makes the heart grow fonder, but it also makes it hard to concentrate on the tasks at hand and staying in the moment.  I thankfully have 5 lovely ladies that have helped me stay in this moment and enjoy the time spent here.  Without them, I might have bailed and run home by now.  Thank you ladies.  You are the best!

Special wishes and love to:
Brittany
Katy
Shana
Renee
Cat
Amazing women each in their very special way.  Thank the Lord for sending these gals my way!

I Have Arrived!

Well, after a long day driving to Portland to pick up the new car and driving from there to Seattle to get ready for my training course, I am exhausted!  

The MINI Cooper was wonderful to drive though!  So much fun and totally suited to city driving, so with the gorgeous weather and light traffic, it was a good trip up here to Sunny (today at least) Seattle.

Settling in to my new digs for the next month.  I am staying in a converted garage/now massage studio/guest quarters only a few steps from the Yoga School.  It's super convenient and smells heavenly and relaxing, just like a massage studio should.  I am sure I will sleep very well while I am here, both from the relaxing atmosphere, but also from the extra long days of training.

So...tomorrow I will get familiar with the neighborhood, get my food stocks up and do some yoga, walking and maybe some sketching before the big first day of school.

Pics and posts to follow!
Helen

Bittersweet Goodbyes

Well, all kinds of changes have hit us in the last couple days before I leave for a month long teacher training.
1 - House deal fell through, so we aren't purchasing a house after all.  Kind of a relief honestly, since my poor husband would have had to move us all by himself while I am in Seattle.  But, now time to figure out what's next for us and see what the universe sends us.
2 - We bought a new car.  It's the first new car I have purchased in a very long time.  We settled on a MINI Cooper Countryman.  A larger, more rugged version of the original MINI Cooper, so hopefully it will fit our country lifestyle better and help us contribute to a greener planet by allowing us to park the diesel truck and save on fuel!
3 - We found a new home for two colts we had inherited from friends.  I just haven't been interested in working with colts and having three more mouths to feed isn't what we want going into winter.  So, while I am happy to see them go, it's a bit of a bittersweet goodbye as the big ego'd cowboy tries to show how incredible he is by rough handling a green filly.  Had to leave and come in the house.  I put my two cents in and they ignored it (what could a dumb woman know anyway?), so I figured I had to live with my decision and allow the horse to make the adjustments needed to get along with the heavier handed style found around here.  That's such a big reason I am so turned off by the horse world.  Dominating a gentle, peace-loving prey animal doesn't make sense and it certainly isn't in the horse's best interest.  Cowboys are a dime a dozen.  Horses are precious.

So...on that note, I am going to post my latest painting and hope to leave you with a prettier picture than I just walked away from.

Koi Pond

Oil painting

12"X12" on 3/4 profile museum panel

More to come from my adventures in Seattle.
Hugs.Helen

Ready, Set, GO!

Counting down the last few days at home before I embark on an amazing adventure in Seattle.  I am lucky enough to be able to attend a month long 200 hour Iyengar yoga teacher training!  It's going to be as rewarding as graduating from college!  I am a little apprehensive about being able to keep up (7am-730pm daily, 6 days a week), and not being able to see my sweetheart or babies (Poppy & Chewy) for a whole month, but the excitement is quickly erasing all those fears.

I am taking my sister's advice...I am going to look forward to a month long of relaxing exercise, meditation, pranayama (breathing exercises) and the culture of Seattle.

I will post how it goes...
Keep watching...

We have a house!

We are very excited.  Just over a year after moving here and worrying that we would never find a home with land for our horses and in a place we loved, we have found our new home!!

It's a little white 1918 farm house sitting on 42 acres with a creek running through the back of the property and huge Cottonwoods shading the house and yard.  Sound like a dream?  It is for us!  The property is peaceful and really lovely.  We are ever so grateful for this opportunity!

Chewy

Chewy about 2 weeks ago
 Chewy a couple days ago!

He's growing like a weed and I am hoping to catalog his growth by making a painting a month of the little critter.  He's still silly, biting and one of the lovingest puppies ever.  We adore him.  

Life Under the Sea!

Moon Jelly Fish

12"x12" oil painting

on 1 1/2" profile wrapped cotton canvas

Today's endeavor.  My first jelly fish...I have a few more planned, hopefully this helps me to understand how to get that ethereal, transparent look of a jelly fish in water.

Life by the Sea

Shore Bird

Oil painting 

10"X10" canvas

Coming Up For Air

Oil painting

10"X10" canvas

I usually do at least one painting a day, sometimes up to three a day.  I am going to try and post each painting as it comes.  

My Gallery is up!

Howdy again!

So excited to get some of my paintings online for everyone to see and actually put some price tags on them to hopefully start supporting my habit.  Check out my gallery at : 

http://dailypaintworks.com/Artists/helen-gallaway-3134

This is one of my favorite paintings...Yellow Elephant.  The colors just jump off the panel and it's hot and cool at the same time.  

"YELLOW ELEPHANT"

14X11 OIL PAINTING ON MUSEUM QUALITY 3/4" PROFILE PANEL

My latest inspiration...our new puppy Chewy (Chewbacca).  He's another Catahoula pup and about 3 months old now.  He's a little bigger than this photo already, but I will keep posting him on the blog so you can track his growth and antics.  

This is the painting I did of Chewy.  My first.  I am sure there will be more of those as he grows!

"CHEWY"

14x11 OIL PAINTING ON MUSEUM QUALITY FLAT PANEL

Updating my life...getting back to blogging

Howdy!

Long time no blog.  Sorry!

Been busy recreating my life I guess.  This cowgirl has started doing other things and horses and baking have taken a back seat for the time being.  Still have horses, but just not spending time out there with them for some reason.  I guess it's time for a horse sabbatical or something of the sort!

I have been painting quite a lot though and I am thoroughly enjoying it.  Took a fantastic workshop in March on Whidbey Island with the fabulous Dreama Tolle Perry!!  Check out her blog!  Dreamatolleperry.blogspot.com.  She is amazing.  Period.  Fortunately, I will be taking another workshop in January - this time in sunny Marco Island, FL!  What a perfect time to get away during the NW winter blahs.

So this morning was nice and cool and I had a bunch of leftover ripe peaches from our weekend BBQ, so I decided to make a peach pie while the temps were down and the oven wouldn't overheat the house.  YUMMY!  Boy it turned out amazing!  I donated half of it to a friend so that Matt and I wouldn't pack on more pounds than we need.  Wow.  Gotta do that again before summer is over, or at least get some fresh peaches and freeze them for a warm winter peach pie or cobbler.

So, here are a few of my latest paintings and a pic of the pie!  Enjoy and write me if you want the recipe.  It's delish!