Finally (with plenty of encouragement from friends and family), I’m painting again!

As you can see, I have been working on Santa’s hands – one holds a glass of milk, while the other holds letters from children all over the world. I feel as if these hands tell the whole story of the developing painting.

I wanted to show you these small sections of the painting so you can see the great detail that goes into it.

As you may already know, the medium I work in is soft pastel chalks. Everything I paint is in chalk. It’s not like the blackboard chalk you might be thinking of – pastel chalks have the same pigment as oil paints but with a dry binder instead of oil. This is why my pastels look like oil paintings!

Each hand took me over three hours to paint. I may be a slow painter, but I believe this makes sure the finished product is the best it can be. As I get closer to the finish line, I’ll go back over each part of it and add more detail as I orchestrate all the elements of the final painting.

So far I don’t have a title for it, but ideas are coming to me as I paint. Any thoughts?

I also wanted to let you know I’ll be introducing some new gift ideas for the Fall and Holiday Season. They’re not on my website yet, but you can be one of the first to see them if you visit me at the Night Market in Market Square. I’ll be there tomorrow (August 18th) and next Saturday (August 25th) from 5 to 10 pm. Stop by and see what’s new for the holidays!

One last thing… what kind of Grandma would I be if I didn’t share a Twins’ update with you this week? They do a lot of sleeping, and sometimes it feels like I hardly ever get a chance to see them with their eyes open! But they’re growing and making lots of progress, and they’ve been pretty easy on their mom so far. Big sister Aria loves hugging them and blessing them with a kiss.

Have a great week… and don’t forget to come see me at the Night Market!

The twins are home!!!

Life is finally starting to settle down a bit since the girls came home on Tuesday. They still seem so tiny, but they’re steadily gaining weight. Autumn is almost 6 pounds now, and Abigail is not far behind her.

Here are two of my favorite pictures from Homecoming Day… Abigail in the car seat looking like she’s waving and Autumn just looking beautiful. (You’ll have to forgive me for being a proud grandma!)

Today Tom and I took Aria to her new favorite place, The Children’s Museum! Here she is, showing Bop Bop the finer points of road construction…

Last week, I put it out there that I was behind on my work and worried about the twins. I was overwhelmed with your responses, and I’ll admit some of them even brought me to tears. Your kindness is much appreciated. Your thoughts, prayers, and love in the last month have helped us more than you can imagine, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Now that the twins are home, things are starting to settle down as we get used to the “new normal,” but it is still a big adjustment. Though I’m back to working on my new Santa, I still haven’t been able to devote full time to painting. Maybe next week I can get more focused!

We’re currently in the Dog Days of summer, but of course I’m looking ahead to my lineup of shows in the coming fall season. My calendar is definitely shaping up as I receive my acceptance letters in the mail. I’m also getting my new products in and photographed for my website – you’ll be able to see them there sometime in the next few weeks. I believe it is going to be an exceptional year (maybe because I’m so darn happy?).

I look forward to seeing all of you and helping you in your gift decision-making. Please let me know if you have any special occasions coming up where I can be of assistance… and remember, it’s not too early to start shopping for the holidays!

Have a great week! And again, thank you!

As you know, Tom and I have been eagerly awaiting the birth of our twin granddaughters, originally expected sometime in August.

However, as time passed, our daughter developed more and more complications in her pregnancy. Alyssa was admitted to the hospital, and for the last week and a half, we’ve been in crisis mode as we prayed for our daughter’s life and the lives of her twins. The situation changed minute by minute, with the actions being taken based on the precarious state of her health and the babies’ well-being.

Finally, the decision was made to deliver the babies at 34 weeks and 2 days because the stress level was so high, and Alyssa was encountering more and more setbacks. At that point, the risks of prematurity for the babies were outweighed by the threat to Alyssa’s health.

So with blessings from above, our daughter gave birth to beautiful twin girls on Monday night. (Things have been so topsy-turvy that I’ve lost track of time and had to think a moment about when it happened!) Even though the girls are fraternal twins, I believe as of right now that they really look alike! What are your thoughts?

Big Sister Aria with Mommy

The upside to spending the last couple of weeks hanging around in hospitals is that I’ve had plenty of time to think about some new gift items I will be introducing for the coming holiday season. I don’t have photos of them yet, but there will be a new tray set, a bookmark, and several new ornaments.

Because these are all handmade, they will take about a month to be ready, and there will be a limit on what I can reorder for the holidays. Just a heads-up because once they’re released, if you like them, you may want to order early for the gift-giving season. (This is true for all the full color metal pieces.)

You’ll find them all under Collectibles at www.lindabarnicott.com

Have a great week, and may your blessings be as great as mine.

Well, I’m back from vacation, and what a vacation it was!

We avoided the touristy parts – no Zoo, no Sea World – and other than splurging on a few movies and restaurants, Tom and I did just about every free thing there was to do in San Diego. Much of our time was spent just enjoying the ocean, the boardwalk, and the bay.

We walked, we talked, we people-watched, and we especially loved watching the seals and sea lions! Balboa Park (shown in the photo above) was our favorite place to hang out. The part I liked best was listening to talented musicians play a huge pipe organ in an amphitheater right off the square.

What we discovered about San Diego is that the folks who live there are an eclectic bunch who really enjoy life and expressing themselves. Whether they were walking their dogs along the beach (it seems like everyone in San Diego has a dog!), riding bikes or scooters, or walking on tightropes between two trees, every person we met was happy to stop and talk.

We have a winner!

Now for the big announcement you’ve been waiting for…What did I paint in the snow globe that Santa is lovingly holding in his hands?

(Drum roll, please…)

The correct answer is:  A Snowman
(actually, a snowman family)

…And the winner of the contest is Sandy Wilkins!

(Believe it or not, Sandy was the only one who correctly guessed the answer! I’ll be contacting her later today to arrange delivery of her print.)

I had an amazing number of responses, and I’m sorry I couldn’t answer every one. There were so many great ideas that maybe next time I’ll ask what should I paint instead of what did I paint!

I dropped a clue in one of my earlier emails that the snow globe contains something I had never painted before.  Over the last several years in the Market Square Holiday Chalet, I’ve met quite a few people who are snowman fans and collectors who asked if I would consider putting a snowman in one of my Santa paintings.

When I began planning this year’s Jolly Old Elf series, the very first thing I thought of was how I could include a snowman in one of them. I knew I wanted it to be more than just your average snowman, and I wanted it to be fun and friendly.

I decided to paint a snowman family to represent the special connection between Santa and our families as well as the bond shared between family members, especially in the holiday season.

At Christmas time, snowmen have been known to come alive, and Santa is part of the magic that makes it happen. The true miracle of snowpeople is not a magic hat that makes them come to life, but families and friends working together in harmony to create the snow masterpieces for all to enjoy!  It is the love put into these snow creations that brings them to life in our dreams at Christmas and in childhood memories for years to come…

So before the rest of the world sees it, here’s “Santa’s Snowy Friends:”

​

Thank you all for your participation in this contest. It was so much fun to read all your ideas!

The prints are already available on my website under Prints for Sale, “Jolly Old Elf” series. Click here to check it out! 

Have a great week and a great Fourth of July!

Vacation must really agree with us – Tom and I are super relaxed and enjoying our time away. A change of scene is something I highly recommend for everyone. Even if you can’t leave town, just spending some uninterrupted time with your loved ones is energizing for your spirit.

Sometimes you’re lucky enough to have a great vacation experience that stays with you for the rest of your life. Other times you might have an experience that’s memorable… but for the wrong reasons!

This actually isn’t our first visit to La Jolla. We vacationed here once many years ago when our children were young. At that time, I thought it would be a terrific idea for all of us to try kayaking together. Boy, was I excited! We paid close attention to our kayaking lesson, and we were sure it would be a cinch. We decided that Tom would take Alyssa since she was so small, and I would take Britt.

The plan for the kayak tour was to go out to the marker, then turn toward La Jolla’s caves. We would do a three-point turn inside the cave, and then we would all paddle back out to the marker and return home together.

But I knew we were in trouble before we even got over the first wave.

Tom and Alyssa paddled as straight as an arrow and soon made it out to the marker with the others. Britt and I, however, couldn’t keep our kayak straight no matter how hard we tried. We tried paddling and then counting and paddling. We were hardly making any headway and were soon exhausted. I had a feeling it would take us so long to get to the marker that we’d have no time to rest like everyone else, and they would take off for the caves and leave us lagging behind again.

Sure enough, we were the last to reach the cave, as Britt and I straggled in, worn out and embarrassed. Just as I had feared, everyone else had already started the return trip, leaving us to fend for ourselves. For a moment, I thought to myself, “This is how people get lost at sea.”

Somehow, maybe just by instinct, we finally made it back. I developed a much greater respect for the ocean that day… And I never set foot in a kayak again!

Now, wasn’t that a nice story?

The stories behind my paintings are much happier ones – and often just as memorable! If you’re in the market for a meaningful personal gift for someone you love, I’ll be returning home in a few days, ready to help you pick out something special.

Meanwhile, today is the first day of summer, which means… it’s festival season! Mark your calendar for July 5th through 8th for the Westmoreland County Arts and Heritage Festival (also known as the Twin Lakes Festival). I’ll be returning this year, looking forward to being out and about… and maybe even seeing you?

I still think La Jolla and its ocean may be one of the most beautiful places on Earth, but I’ll stick with my Three Rivers.  See you back in the Burgh!

Tom and I are in San Diego for the next two weeks getting some much needed R&R!

And San Diego is definitely a great place for that. It’s really a beautiful city. The historic Gas Lamp District (as seen in the photo above) is one of those places I would love to paint, especially the unique trolleys.

Since we arrived two days ago, we’ve been focused on putting our feet up and basking in the sun, but soon we’ll get out and see all the sights we’ve heard so much about.

Of course I couldn’t leave work completely behind… so I’ll take this opportunity to remind you that midnight tonight is the deadline to enter my “What’s in Santa’s Snow Globe?” contest.

One lucky winner with the correct answer will receive a full-sized 9 x 12” giclee print of the painting, suitable for framing. If more than one person gets the right answer, I’ll put the names of all the correct guessers into a hat and draw a winner.

So get your ideas in by midnight tonight! The winner will be announced on June 28^th(incorrectly stated in last week’s email as June 21^st).

This week I had an opportunity to do something I love but don’t get to do very often. I spent an entire day visiting the beautiful garden of one of my clients to paint a plein airpastel.

Claire’s remarkable garden is an exceptional, very personal expression of her love for landscape design and the beauty of nature. There is a unique gate and a wooden fence, both handmade by Claire herself, and they’re quite striking. They became the essential elements of the painting, but I also made sure to include the bird feeder, which is one of my favorite features.

I first went to Claire’s garden a week ago for a photo shoot with sketching time. I took over two hours, from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m., just observing how the morning light entered the garden. While I was taking it all in, a cheerful cardinal landed on the wooden fence and cocked its head at me, almost as if to say “Hello! Can I be in the painting, too?”

We had fabulous weather and of course, I ended up staying the whole day! Plein airpainting is something that feeds my artist’s soul, and I hope you can sense that feeling of joy when you see “Claire’s Garden.” (I’m thinking of creating a print from it.)

So have you entered my contest yet? 

In my last email, I asked you to guess “What’s in Santa’s snow globe?”

I’ve been having a lot of fun reading over all the interesting responses I’ve received so far. There have been so many great answers… I must say, I never realized how creative you all are! As a matter of fact, maybe next time I should ask for your input FIRST – because you gave me so many cool ideas that I almost had second thoughts about my original choice!

(Don’t worry – I’m already committed to my plan, and I’m going to stick with it!)

One lucky winner with the correct answer will receive a free print of the painting of Santa and the snow globe. If more than one person guesses the right answer, I will put the names of all correct guessers into a hat and draw a winner.

The contest closes at 11:59 pm on Thursday, June 14th, and the winner will be announced on June 21st. 

You have one more week to submit your best guess of what’s in the snow globe… So far only one of you has guessed the correct answer!

As you can see, I’ve finished the sketching part of the process, and I got my feet wet today by starting the first layer of the painting. I still have a lot to paint, but here’s a first look.

I can’t wait to hear your ideas about what’s in the snow globe! Is it a toy train?…Santa’s Harley?… or maybe a Super Bowl trophy? All will be revealed in two weeks!

Artists sometimes have an upside-down perspective on the seasons. Because the creative process takes time, we have to think many months ahead to prepare for the next season.

So now that spring/summer has fully arrived (simultaneously this year!), my thoughts have turned toward Christmas… particularly, the 2018 paintings in my “Jolly Old Elf” series.

This year’s companion print – the one that inspired me first – is Santa looking into a beautiful sparkly snow globe. But as you can see, the globe is empty!

It’s not that I don’t know what to put in the snow globe – I’ve already decided, but I’m just not ready to finish it quite yet. So in the meantime, I thought why not have a contest to see who can guess what’s going to be inside the snow globe?

Here are the rules…

Each person gets one guess. The contest will run until I reveal the entire sketch. Everyone who guesses correctly will be entered into the drawing, and the winner will receive a free print of this painting when it’s finished. As always, you’ll know when it’s done because I like to share the progress of each painting with you!

The deadline for entry is Thursday, June 14^th, and the winner will be announced on Thursday, June 28^th.

What’s inside the magical snow globe? Put on your thinking cap and send me an email with your best guess!

Merry (early) Christmas!

P.S. – Some of you have young children who are finishing up the school year, and you may be looking for gifts for teachers, aides, cafeteria staff, and so on. One of the attendees at my morning meeting today just ordered a Mother Teresa candle and three boxes of Pittsburgh and Kennywood note cards.

She told me that she needed them for next Wednesday and requested that I sign them in gold (as I’m always happy to do for any customer). I assured her that I had them in stock and would have them ready in plenty of time for her son to take them to school.

So if you’re thinking about end-of-year teachers’ gifts, check out my website,  www.lindabarnicott.com. You may find that perfect gift to say ‘Thank you for caring for my child.’