By George, I Think I've Got It!

So much of my life was spent near the ocean, on the ocean, and in the ocean, and it has been such a big part of my life that I want to keep my art as close to what I've always loved as possible.

Growing up my family visited Naples, Florida quite often. Fishing and swimming were what we did as a family. I recently came across this old photo of me and my sisters. My little sister was too young, but our mother loved to dress my other sister and I as twins, even though I am two years older than her.

 I decided to do a painting of us with our "cute" bathing caps and matching swim suits.

On one of our recent trips back to South Florida, my husband took this photo of a sand piper.

It became the inspiration for one of my beach scenes..

In fact, I feel so inspired by this type of work, that I am going to focus on it for most of my art pieces.

The Beauty Of An Orchid

I am very fascinated by orchids. I love the line and design in the beautiful, delicate blooms. They are clear and perfect. The Master is such an amazing designer.

We sometimes purchase these just to be able to paint and photograph them. They make excellent subjects for still life.

The photo above is hanging in my home. It was photographed by my husband a few years back. It is still one of my favorites. Don't you just love the vibrant colors and design?

Sometimes, our orchids will go for years without a blossom. Even in the absence of blooms, they have interesting shapes and designs in the leaves and the air roots. When they do bloom, it is a cause for celebration and new painting and photo opportunities.

This is an oil painting I created several years ago.

Take some time to take in the beauty around you. You can even find these flowers in a local supermarket or at your nearby florist if you don't already have some.

Photo Ops

Inspiration comes to me in many forms. My wonderful husband is a photographer/teacher. He has many talents, but if I say so myself, this one is his best.

He is always taking pictures of nature, interesting objects, buildings, etc.

When I see one of his photos that I like, I usually think of a way that I can create a card around it.

He has grown a garden just so he can take pictures of the beautiful flowers.

Yep, he built this too. I told you the guy has talent.

Lots of beautiful birds like this Cardinal visit our porch daily. (Of course he feeds them just so they will come and pose for pictures.)

He also builds birdhouses for photo ops.

Our younger son took this beautiful shot. He's quite an artist in his own right.

If you are interested in learning about photography, my husband has a website where he teaches basic photography skills. The site is www.WayneRasku.com.