The Christmas Candle | Official Movie Website

The Christmas Candle | Official Movie Website

I'm so excited to see this movie by Max Lucado which comes out November 22nd!  I was so delighted to see that Susan Boyle was going to be in it.   Susan was the winner of "Britain's Got Talent" in 2009.  Check out the link.

Working on Christmas Cupcake Paintings in September

Yes, it is only Sept., but I work on Christmas paintings year round. I've decided to paint this "Fruit Cake Cupcake" painting again and a few other cupcake paintings to use for licensing projects.  When I originally painted my cupcakes they were all on little 4" x 4" or 5" x 7" canvas which are way too small to photograph for licensing.   

Today I decided to paint two of this design.  The one on the canvas I will be selling and the other, larger one (painted on canvas paper) I will photograph for licensing.  I may also eventually sell my larger illustrations.  

As you can see in the photo above, I enlarged the design on my printer and will be changing the lettering layout to better fit the canvas or simply leaving the lettering off.  

Halloween Painting Listed on Ebay

"Echoes of Trick or Treat"

This painting is now up for auction on eBay.  You can check it out by clicking on the title above.

I don't want to bore you with a lot of my vacation photos, but want to share a few of my favorites this week.

If you've never been to the Maroon Bells near Aspen, Colorado, you need to put it on your bucket list.  I've been to Colorado many times but had never heard of it.  Below are a couple of my favorite photos when we went hiking through one of the trails.

I'm amazed by Aspen trees:

One of the most photographed mountains in America is this one in the Maroon Bells and now that I've been there, I know why.

Praying for the families of Colorado.  This has been a tough year for fires and flooding.

I've got to get back to my painting!

Celebrating our 40th Anniversary Colorado Style

We had our photo taken at Helen Hunt Falls before we were married and decided on this trip to do it again.

Colorado has always been our favorite place to vacation.  This was the perfect trip with my favorite vacation destination and my favorite guy!

Colorado Vacation

We've been in Colorado for vacation for the past couple weeks and it's been hard to return to reality.  

I must get back to work today so I'll share more tomorrow.  Hopefully I'll have some time to check out what's been happening on your blog.  You miss a lot when you are out of internet range, have no t.v., and no cell phone service.  But, it was heavenly!

On House Cleaning......

This is a message my son, Eric, put on Facebook and this is how I feel about housework:

I thought Endust was supposed to be a one-time-use product, 

but it doesn’t really, you know, “end dust.”

It really should be a one time deal.  What do you think and is dusting your least favorite chore?

I'm busy cleaning though I wish I were painting.

Echoes of Trick or Treat / A Halloween Painting

Well, I'm ready for Halloween, how about you?  Just kidding.  I'm not carving my pumpkins just yet.  This painting was such a delight to paint from the two girls dressed as a lady bug and bumble bee to the cats perched on top of the arched hedge between the two lower houses.   I adapted this painting from a smaller one I had done years ago and just kept adding and adding.  I will put this  painting on eBay when we get a little closer to fall.

Echoes of trick or treat resound through the night as costumed children squeal with delight!

"Echoes of Trick or Treat"

Spooky House Halloween Painting

Would you walk up to this house on Halloween night (house on lower left)?   I've always thought this house looked a little spooky from the day I took the photo and I think it works well in this painting.  Once I finished painting the shrubs and sidewalk, I realized that all the lights are off in this house.  I may have to change that.  I like my Halloween paintings to be child friendly especially with little goblins going door to door.  What do you think, lights on or off?

I started the lower right house this afternoon and hopefully this painting will be finished by the end of next week.

Halloween in July

Goblins are now running through the streets of my Halloween painting chanting "Trick or Treat" in tiny ghostly voices.  

I'm still trying to beat the heat by painting a fall scene in July and it seems to be working.  We were actually able to open the windows last night and let in a cool breeze and today only topped out in the low 90's.  

What are you doing to get your mind off the stiffling heat?

Another Makeover and Halloween is Right Around the Corner

I've had this box for years and had never done anything to it.  In fact I forgot to even photograph it in it's raw wood state.   This box has great storage, but I simply had no place to put it.  My mother decided it would make a great foot stool for her small apartment, so a couple weeks ago we painted it and covered the top with linen.  Our first plan was to use black brads under the lip of the lid to hold the fabric.  Noticing that we were straight line challenged and that our brads appeared to be curving up and down, we went out and purchase rope and wrapped it around the edges three times to cover the staples that were now holding the fabric in place.  It's definitely not perfect, but Mom loves it and that's what matters.

Below is the painting that is currently on my paint table.  I still need to come up with the remainder of the village that goes at the bottom of the painting.  I love the vibrant hues of autumn and all the little jack-o-lanterns are just so fun to paint.  Those little smiling faces will greet the little goblins I'll be adding next.

Montgomery Ward Chair Trash to Treasure

Just in case you think that bloggers have got it all together, let me give you a little background on this project.  I started this back in January and this is July.  I'm very good at putting things off, also known as procrastinating.

I usually finish my projects once I start them, but will make no promises as to when that will be.

Here is the chair that was given to me by a dear friend.  I have a collection of chairs that come in handy when we have a large dinner and I run around the house collecting them to put around our dining table.

This chair closely matches my buffet which I hope to paint sometime in the future.  (Note the Christmas decorations on the buffet.  I told you I procrastinate.  This photo was taken in early January.)

My husband had to cut a new plywood seat.  Even though this one was terribly cracked it was sturdy (more likely petrified) beyond belief.  But, to be safe we replaced the wood.

This is the Mongomery Ward tag that was attached to the bottom of the seat.

If you read my blog you know that the table did get finished way before this chair and I blogged about it here.

This was the dingy/dirty chair cover that I removed.

Nasty/stinky padding was removed.

I used left over fabric from my window coverings to replace the old chair fabric (please ignore the dirty window)...

and cut new padding...

The chair was painted as per the instructions for the side table above.  You can check out the link for the "Side Table Transformation" for that information.

I found some blue and white checked fabric napkins in my buffet that I used to cover the chair back and added a button in the center.

What do you think?  Should I paint the buffet?  What year do you think I might get that done?  

I'm linking today with:

Fabulously Creative Friday... Linky party!

4th of July Folk Art

Happy 4th of July!  Wishing you and your family a safe and fun filled holiday!

Check out Max Lucado's blog post for today.  It's a very inspiring read!

God Bless!

Goodbye Google Reader

I'm not sure how many of you know this, but as of Monday, Google Reader will be gone.  My favorite way to read the blogs I follow is through Bloglovin'.  

If you haven't moved the blogs that you read to a new reader, it is truly so easy to transfer them to the Bloglovin' website and you won't have to miss a single post.  Once you join, they give you easy steps to transfer all the blogs you read.    

You can also subscribe to my blog using the widget in the sidebar of my blog or you may sign up to receive my posts by email which is also in the righthand sidebar.  

If the air conditioning isn't keeping you cool this summer please check out my "Autumn Blaze" print in my Etsy store.  Why is it that I'm always ready for Autumn in the middle of summer?  Don't forget to use the 15% discount code that is always available for my readers:  BLOGREADER11

Just copy and paste the code at checkout.  

Old Art New Colors

Sometimes life takes over and time to paint and blog is in short supply.

So I've been reworking some of my artwork on photoshop.

"Baked Fresh Daily"

"Baked Fresh Daily"

"Celebrate the 4th of July"

"Celebrate the 4th of July Blue"

These prints are available in my Etsy shop and my blog readers always get a 15% discount when you type in the code:

BLOGREADER11

Have a great weekend!

Catherine Holman

Dragonfly Cottage Summer Folk Art Painting on Ebay

I have listed this painting on eBay and it is now up for auction:

"Dragonfly Cottage"

Loving couple, Alice and Joe, built this little cottage using their unique artistic abilities. Alice, an artist and gardener, loves bold color and painted the front door and the trim purple, much to the astonishment of her neighbors. Joe, works with metal and designed the brass dragonfly downspout for the house. Now, the neighbors are their biggest supporters of their artwork!

I'm a little behind on my posts this week because I've been busy painting, but I did want to thank Diane at Lavender Dreams for the package that she sent me in the mail.  I won the movie, "Ring the Bell", that was a giveaway on her blog.  I was so surprised to see that she had made me a crocheted bracelet with a little white seashell that she got from the Canaveral National Seashore.  She also knew that my favorite color was red which makes it even more special!  Check out Diane's beautiful creations at "Diane's Dream Designs".

Snowman Print Giveaway Winner and Spring Garden

Two choices really stood out for me in this print "giveaway", but there can only be one winner as my husband says.  Letting everyone be valedictorian because we don't want to hurt anyone's feelings, isn't right.  So, our valedictorian and winner of the "Name this Snowman Print Giveaway" is Tanna at The Brick Street Bungalow.  Stop by and congratulate Tanna and enjoy her beautiful home and knitted creations.  The new title is "Chimney Smoke & Cheery Snow Folk"!  Thanks Tanna, I love it!

We've had so much spring rain that our roses have bloomed their little hearts out.

Our hearts and prayers go out to all the people in the midwest who have suffered loss of family members, homes, and those who were injured during the tornados.  

Snowman Print Giveaway

It's finally finished!

I won't be selling the original until sometime in the fall and will announce that on my blog.

Put on your thinking caps and help me come up with a title for this new snowman painting.  Leave your title in a comment on this post and the lucky winner with the best creative title will receive an 8 x 10 inch print of this winter scene.  If I don't receive a title that works, I will simply draw names to decide the winner.  You have until Friday evening at midnight central time to enter.  

Good Luck!

Memorial Day

Whether you are celebrating with family, at a park, at the lake, or beachside, let's take time to say a prayer for our fallen heroes and remember the sacrifices they and their families have made for us.

Snowman Painting Party continued....

My heart is breaking for the people of Oklahoma.  You are in my prayers.  

I'm hoping to finish this painting today or tomorrow and will get our  "title" contest started.

It's a Snowman Party in May

Two more houses are being added in the front between the snowmen.  I'm working on them right now, but wanted to give you another sneak peek.  

I will be having a "giveaway" as soon as I finish this painting.  An 8" x 10" print will be given to the reader with the best title for this painting.  

I'll be back with the finished painting soon!

Snowman Painting Continued....

I get up early in the morning pulling weeds and planting flowers, then come inside and paint snow.  How strange is that?

If you look closely at the bottom of the painting you can see two more houses to be painted and a snowman family.  

Hope everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day!

Dragonfly Cottage

Last week I had to stop working on my snowman painting long enough to paint this design again.  I didn't have a high resolution image to send to the Farmer's Almanac for a 2015 calendar.   So, if you missed the chance to purchase the painting the last time it will once again be available on eBay this week.  I will add the link once the auction is up and running.

"Dragonfly Cottage"