1000 Gifts 881-900 and a Cake

This month Paint On My Walls is officially one year old and to celebrate this blogging milestone, I painted picture of a birthday cake with one candle for my blog.   I just love celebrating milestones.  It gives me such a sense of accomplishment to look back at the beginning of this journey and see how far I have come emotionally, spiritually and creatively.  

There was a time in my life when I really wanted to paint but couldn't even force myself pick up a brush. I wanted to worship God, but couldn't find my voice.  I wanted to live, but felt dead.  I have a story, and part of that story includes a dark journey through depression to a life I could have never known with out God's merciful love toward me.  This is the reason I am writing a list of 1000 gifts.  This is why I paint, and why Paint On My Walls is about celebrating color, light and life.  I celebrate all these things, because there was a time when I couldn't.  So in this post, I sing with paint and say, "Happy Birthday" to Paint On My Walls!

Birthday Cake With One Candle
by Cheryl Harris White
Oil on Canvas Board
9" x 11"

Since I am working with oils and a palate knife this month, that is what I used.  I loved mixing these primary colors until they were just right.  There is actually a little bit of red, blue and yellow in every color you see here, even the white icing on the cake.  I spread the white paint mixture very thick.  It actually felt like I was icing a real cake.  The only difference was, I couldn't like my knife.

My List of 1000 Gifts Continues...

881) Depression
882) Darkness
883) Pain
884) Sadness
885) Tears
886) Sorrow
887) Crushed dreams
888) Rebellion
889) Loss
890) Wishing
891) Hope
892) Acceptance
893) Understanding
894) Humility
895) Naming gifts I am thankful for
896) Contentment
897) Trust
898) Joy
899) Believing
900) Color, Light and Life

1000 Gifts 861-880

These were done with very thick oil paint being spread with a palate knife. I definitely had more fun painting Poppies with oil paint than acrylic. 

Five Poppies
by Cheryl Harris White
Oil on With Palate Knife
On Canvas Board
9 " x 12"




Continuing my list of1000 Gifts 861-880

861)  Seeing things I want to paint

862)  People under umbrellas

863)  A pink glow in the sky at the end of the day 

864)  A child's laughter

865)  Canadian geese

866)  Pink lady apples

867)  Juicy pears

868)  Catching up with old friends

869)  Crisp air 

870)  Walks

871)  Tulips

872)  Poppies

873)  Pansies

874)  A daughter who sings

875)  A son who plays baseball

876)  Recovery 

877) The stories of Madeline

878) and The Velveteen Rabbit

879) Mist shrouded trees 

880) Music in the morning 

A Painting With Boats

My favorite night of the week is the night I go to art class .  I am studying with Dominique Galleron Johnson an excellent artist with a studio in Grapevine.  This was our first painting and I got to bring it home last night.  It feels windy to me, but yet also calm and restful. 

A Painting with Boats
by Cheryl Harris White
Oil with Palate Knife
on Canvas Board
18" x 24"

Apples To Apples

Palate knife and oil paint apples.  At my first oil painting class our teacher had us paint an apple using only a palate knife. I loved mixing the colors for this project.  Here is one of my first attempts...

Hello I'm An Apple
by Cheryl Harris White
Oil on Canvas
4" x 6"

The painting above says to me, "Hello, I'm an apple... a solid roundish shape sitting here just waiting for something."  and it is fine if you like that sort of thing.   I can definitely tell it is an apple, but the painting doesn't make me believe it is really full of juicy sweet goodness... and so I just had to try again... 

Joy! Bliss! Tart and Crisp!
by Cheryl Harris White
Oil on Canvas Board
6" x 6"

I just couldn't be done until my apple shouted, "Joy! Bliss! I am cool, tart and crisp and just looking at me is like wiping the juice off your chin after a crunching off a bite of my delicious nourishing sweetness!"  Ahhh, it glows!   If I had to eat an apple, I'd choose this one...wouldn't you?

Pear

This was done with oil paint and a palate knife, no brushes.  It was a lot of fun to mix these colors and the paint just spread on like butter on toast.  I really like this medium so much more than using acrylics. Can't wait to try more.

Pear
by Cheryl Harris White
Oil on Canvas
4" x 6"

1000 Gifts, 841-860

841) My birthday dinner in Rockwall
842) Losing and Finding Titus because it showed us how special he is
843) Family quality time
844) Assertiveness
845) Things that inspire me as an artist
846) First attempts
847) A day of rest
848) A pantry of food
849) Wine and cheese at art class
850) Having to carpool with my teenage daughter,  
851) Great people to work with
852) Seeing Caleb work so hard for baseball

853) Fresh air
854) Paws racing on the wood floor
855) Beginning oil painting
856) The science of color

857) Yellow
858) Blue
859) and Red
860) Finishing my value study


Extra thought... I did this value study with my new oil paints using no black.  I hate thought of buying black paint.  The painting above was really done with just red, yellow, blue and white paint.  It looks kind of boring, I know, but I had so much fun doing it.  It is a gift because doing it, led me to think a lot about color.  Isn't it interesting that this can be made from yellow, blue, red and white, but nothing colorful can be made from black?

Oil Paint!

I can't believe February is already here. This month I will be posting some of my beginning attempts at oil painting.  I am taking classes at A Touch of Paris Art Gallery in Grapevine and absolutely having a blast.  Stay tuned.

Courtney's Tree Collage Video

A Tree For Courtney
Acrylic Collage
3' x 4'
by Cheryl Harris White

My daughter wanted a large collage of a tree and one of her favorite poems by Robert Frost to decorate her bedroom.  She wanted it to be whimsical.  This video shows the steps as we progressed through the project.  I painted the background and the basic sketch of the tree and she chose words from magazines that she liked.  The words she chose were... 

"Learn,A fresh start, Brilliant, Friends, New, Sport, Bloom, Green, Original, Unleash, Fairy tale, Sweet, Fresh, Dream, Love, Fun, Together, Life, Imagine, Your moment, Hearts on Fire, Adored, Rhapsody, Real," and of course, the poem itself.  The tree is a collage of both scraps from magazine and dried acrylic paint.  This was the result. Enjoy!

1000 Gifts, 821 - 840

821) Flowers for my birthday from Dad

822) Birthday wishes

823) A cake at work

824) Birthday hugs

825) A grove of huge trees with twisty branches

826) Daffodil sprouts

827) Duke home safe from travel

828) Family dinner

829) People who care when you are hurting

830) Strength

831) Laughing during oil painting class

832) My art teacher's beautiful French accent

833) Color mixing

834) Caleb home sick two days

835) The golden sun at 7:35AM setting the dew aglow

836) Rain

837) Kind words 

838) Listening to my kids tell me what they remember about their childhood

839) A pink envelope in the mail box 

840) Encouragement putting the wind back in my sails

All Together Now! Four Trees Series

Autumn, Spring, Summer, Winter (left to right) 
Four Trees Series
Four canvases 12" x  24"
Acrylic Collage on Canvas
by Cheryl Harris White
Not For Sale

Autumn Tree - Painting 4 of Four

Autumn Tree
Acrylic Collage on Canvas
12" x 24"
by Cheryl Harris White


The words inspiring this tree are worthy, love, beautiful, color, believe.  Strong sturdy long lasting autumn words. I love the different colors of leaves I found for this one and all the red I found for the trunk. This one is my favorite one out of all four.  Which one is your favorite?

1000 Gifts - 801 to 820

801) Guessing riddles
802) A day spent at home just with my son
803) Kiwis
804) A cleaned off desk
805) Listening to some of the wisest women I have ever met discussing the subject of prayer
806) My mom once prayed to become pregnant for 20 years and I was the answer that God gave her.  She was over 40 when she bore her first child. I was her gift.
807) My daughter once prayed for 20 seconds that her brother would win his soccer game and her prayer was answered in 20 minutes.  It was the only game his team won all season, and my son made the goal. Seeing her mustard seed size faith grow, was my gift.
808) My mom learned patience and long suffering
809) My daughter learned that God really is there and that He listens to every care upon our hearts, no matter how small.
810) Knowing that there is nothing too small or too big for God to care about.
811) My husband's servant heart
812) My oil painting lessons.
813) Playing with our cute puppy on my lunch break
814) Medicine making my ear aches go away
815) A beautiful January day
816) I like actually seeing the whole shape of the trees this time of year.
817) Sharing my thoughts and art with you
818) Birthdays
819) How happy my dog is to see us
820) A voice mail from my sister

Summer Tree - Painting 3 of 4

Summer Tree
Acrylic Collage on Canvas
12" x 24"
by Cheryl Harris White

For Summer Tree, the colors on the tree are much warmer at the top and cooler at the bottom.  The words of summer are... Magic, Experience, Home, Gift, Abundance, Design and True.  The dark purples and blues at the roots  invoke the feeling of laying in the shade of the tree on cool damp grass .   As your eye follows the branches upward toward the top, the crimson, red and hot pink leaves set the tree afire, glowing in a blaze of summer heat.

1000 Gifts 781-800

781) Saturday Evening Worship Service 
782) Learning new song
783) Working on a collage with my daughter
784) A rainy Monday after a great weekend 
785) A chat with a close friend I rarely get to see 
786) Family dinner
787) Hot tacos in crunch shells
788) Hearing Courtney sing
789) Caleb's love for Titus
790) Inspiration for Summer Tree
791) Encouragement about my art
792) Finishing painting 3 of 4 
793) Endings and Beginnings
794) Car chats
795) A home
796) A car
797) A job
798) A beautiful January day
799) Being home for lunch
800) A new painting for the blog tomorrow!

Spring Tree...Number 2 out of 4

Spring Tree
Acrylic Collage
12" x 24"
by Cheryl Harris White

This is the second in a series of four pieces illustrating the seasons.  All four will be trees with the words that inspired my creativity worked into the roots and trunk.... Paint, Garden, Replenish, Everlasting, Journal, Understanding, Imagination, Artistry, Transformational, Creating, Tree, A symphony you can see... these are the words and phrases that really spoke to me about spring.  

The next one will be Summer... and I can't wait to share it with you.  

1000 Gifts 761-780

761) The changing seasons
762) Things that grow
763) The bright white blooming paper white narcissus blooming in my kitchen
764) Pink winter roses on the rose bushes by my door
765) Rythems of nature
766) Bulbs sleeping in the earth 
767) Getting ready for school to begin again
768) New dishes
769) Finding one last christmas gift that had been forgotten under the tree
770) Playing games and laughing with friends on new years eve 
771) Everybody home sick, but at least we are together
772) Rest
773) Hot bean soup
774) Last visit with Dad before he flew home to Minnesota
775) My kids playing with their cousins
776) My son holding his puppy 
777) My daughter making her own brave decisions
778) Words cut out of magazines
779) Inspiration for Spring Tree
780) My second painting of four almost ready

Best of 2011

Fire Poppies

Mountain Poppies

Poppies for Millie

In the Poppy Paint Series....   The winner is..... Poppies For Millie!  Owned by Millie Welsh

Rose of Sharron

Something To Celebrate

Hope

Love

Peace

Three Crosses, A Story Told in  Art 

In the Cross Series....   The winner is..... Three Crosses, A Story Told in  Art  

Three Trees At Night

Fire Tree

Color Tree

Nine Birch

Six Birch

Trees On Blue and Red

Rain Path Birch

Eight Birch

June Forest

Confetti Forest

Aspens For The Olsons

In the Tree Series....   The winner is..... Aspens For
The Olsons

The Art of Gratitude

Eucharisteo

Last Supper

In the Bible Series....   The winner is..... The Art of Gratitude

owned by Ann Horner

Thank you all for participating in this journey with me in 2011. I am inspired and motivated by all of your comments and encouragement and look forward to more to come in 2012.  Up first in the new year will be more from my Four Seasons Paintings... The next one will be Spring.  Coming soon....

1000 Gifts 741-760

741) Christmas Eve service next to my Dad
742) Squeezing his 86 year old hand when Isack sang O Holy Night
743) Silent tears
744) Singing hearts
745) Laughing while stuffing stockings
746) Another wonderful Rockwall Christmas
747) Barbara's birthday lunch at PFChang's with all our family
748) Watching people receive gifts 
749) Watching my nephews play legos and mousetrap
750) New Pajamas
751) Seeing my kids play dominoes with their grandparents
752) Peace in my home and my family
753) When Ian said, "An angel would kind of be like seeing a dinosaur, but with light shining all out of it."
754) Titus and Libby playing
755) Caleb and Titus bonding
756) A four day work week
757) Inspiration for second season painting
758) Time to work on it
759) Light
760) Music

Re-Post of A Worthy Christmas Painting

Beautiful Star
Acrylic on Canvas
24" x 48"
by Cheryl Harris White

This is a re-post of one of my favorite Christmas paintings I have done so far.  It is currently on display at CAM Center Dallas.  I just wanted to repost it here today to wish a Merry Christmas to my blogger family. May you be filled with the wonder of Our Savior's birth this season.

1000 Gifts 721 - 740

721) The inspiration for Winter Tree
722) Glue
723) Magazines
724) Bold colors
725) Being connected to others
726) Time passing
727) Raising teenagers
728) patience
729) waiting
730) slow, but steady growth

731) kindred spirits
732) empathy
733) understanding
734) memories
735) being grounded and rooted
736) deep roots
737) clean air
738) sleep
739) short days
740) long lasting relationships

Winter Tree ... One of Four

"Winter Tree"
Acrylic and Paper Collage on Canvas
12" x 24"
by Cheryl Harris White
Not For Sale


This piece is one of a set of four I just started.  It was also a specific answer to a prayer for inspiration.  I combined words and colors from magazines along with acrylic paint to create this one.

"Of all the moments we gather in our lives, Those we cherish are the moments shared." is on one of the roots.  Wonder, Color, Lush are on the others.  Spreading up the trunk are the words Kindred Spirits and Understanding.  I liked the idea these concepts are the foundation of something lasting and beautiful and that is what I tried to re create in this painting.

Stay tuned for the next three.  Each one will illustrate a different season.

1000 Gifts 701-720

701) Breath prayers
702) Nourishment
703) Sparrows 
704) Christmas shopping with Duke
705) Our family having game night
706) Spending all day painting on Saturday
707) I can't wait to share it soon
708) Being inspired
709) Time
710) Candlelight
711) Seeing my kids wrapping presents
712) Caramel flavored coffee
713) Giving
714) Hugs
715) Puppy paw prints on the floor
716) Seasons
718) Change
719) Growth
720) Wet leaves on the sidewalk

1000 Gifts 681-700

681) Hearing Fifty voices harmonizing while belting Christmas Carols...
682) and being one of them
683) Dan's Christmas Devotional
684) Sharing a meal with friends I've known since we lived in Lubbock
685) Knowing that there is a Courtney shaped void in the world and that it is up to God to help her find it.  

686) Watching Caleb pitch
687) Seeing his smile when he walked off the mound
688) An amazing day watching boys play baseball sitting among friends...
689) A perfectly crisp blue sky
690) Catching up with old friends 

691) 13 year old boys who love playing baseball
692)  A 16 year old girl's confidence and strength
693)  Clarity after the fog
694)  Coffee in a thermos
695)  Everyone running around trying to figure out how the puppy keeps getting out

696) Bells on the doorknob
697) Scampering paws on the wood floor
698) Wrapping presents
699) Philip Yancy's book on Prayer
700) The sounds of  house waking up in the morning

1000 Gifts 661-680

661) Hearing Caleb laugh when he's playing with his puppy
662) Rain dripping down the window pane
663) Fresh roasted Coffee
664) Folded laundry
665) Christmas plates
666) Art in my home
667) Festive tissue paper
668) Gift wrapping
669) Perfect rolls hot from the oven
670) Warmth

671) Learning what it means to treasure someone
672) Catching up with friends rarely seen any longer
673) A note from my Aunt reminding me of my childhood
674) Joy
675) Wet golden leaves
676) Glowing candles
677) Less pain 
678) Energy
679) Efficiency
680) Inspiration

1000 Gifts 641-660

641)  Thanksgiving memories in Rockwall
642)  Kids helping set the table

643)  Visits from old friends
644)  Noticing how fast kids grow

645)  Talking about college with my daughter
646) Talking baseball with my son

647) A 4 day weekend
648)  Thanksgiving 

649)  Duke's amazing pecan pie
650) Crisp air smelling like wet leaves

651)  Staying home
652) Not shopping on Black Friday

653) The sound of our puppy running on the wood floor
654) My phone going through the washer and not having to answer it now

655) Making a Christmas ornament
656) Post lighting our pre-lit tree with Duke

657) Decorating for Christmas
658) Seeing my kids make wise and good choices

659) Liking my kid's choices in friends
660) Looking at my home and family and feeling my heart about to burst with thankfulness

1000 Gifts 621-640

621) Humility
622) Encouraging blogs that inspire me
623) Waking up
624) No back pain
625) Balance
626) Rhythm
627) Hearing thank you
628) Saying I love you
629) Paw Paw's Birthday dinner
630) Courtney's show
631) Being surprised by her
632) Having family there for support
633) Seeing them have fun
634) Hope
635) Patience
636) Wonder
637) Perseverance
638) Honesty
639) Endings
640) Beginnings

My Art Goes to Italy

A church community in 
Italy used art from my Parable Paint Series as inspiration for a fun evening of food, fellowship and creativity.
The painting they chose was the Parable of the Sower... 

from 

Matthew 

13:1-23

illustrating four kinds of soil; or ways people respond to Christ.  

These are photos from the night they got together to do their group art project.

I loved seeing the variety of ages of people working on the project together.  


Each of them painted a section of 

the original design.  

When they were finished, they were able to put them
all together ..

to

create 

the entire

image. 

 

What 


they


created


was


not



only


a


unique


piece


of 


art 


. . .







but


       also










a 

     beautiful 


                 experience!





Even though this all happened in Italy... I feel by sharing my art as the inspiration for their project,  I was also there.

 

Since I was not...
I had to miss out on their delicious food.  
Yum!   






I am so happy to share their creative spirit with all of you.  BE INSPIRED !!!