"Life with Grace on Top" by Carolyn McDonald

12" x 9" oil on panel
I've been looking at the holes in donuts and plan to continue.  However, I bought several pastries and thought I would make a few personal statements with them as well.  To see more paintings, go to my website.

"Sweetheart"

12" x 12"
oil on canvas

"Ho, Oh, O"

One of our policies at school is "no food in the classroom." However, if the food adds to the theme of 
the lesson, we just need to make sure everything is cleaned up and in the proper trash can. So, as we were discussing Wayne Thiebauld, I decided they could bring donuts and we would photograph, draw, and paint them. They are not finished with their work yet, but here is the first donut in my series of "Holes." "Ho, Oh, O" is 16" x 16" oil on 1 and 1/2 inch gallery wrap canvas. To see more paintings, go to http://www.carolynmcdonaldfineart.com/

Mom's Favorite

6" x 6" oil on board
This past Summer, Birmingham had a lot of rain.  My gardenia bush had more flowers than I have ever seen it produce at one time.  The bush is close to our garage and whenever I pulled the car in I could smell the gardenia bush and was reminded of my Mom.

"I Want to be Tall"

10" x 8" oil on gallery wrap
$250
# 43 in my 60 paintings in 60 days challenge.
The title says a lot about this young lady.  She is petite and the shoes made her almost 3 inches taller.  She kept watching my easel to see if her shoes were there.  She was SO happy when they finally appeared.

"Pajama Day"

8" x 12" oil on gallery wrap
$250
This is # 42 in my 60 paintings in 60 days challenge.
When I decided to do Leslie Saeda's 30 paintings in 30 days challenge, I discovered that I had a multitude of subject matter "under my nose" (so to speak) in the art classroom.  I had noticed the really neat shoes kids wore several years ago, but it did not occur to me to paint them.  The kids got really excited about wearing their cool shoes, having them photographed, seeing the painting process, seeing the finished work, and seeing them on Facebook.  We have great conversations about why they choose certain brands or looks.  They even decided to join in and draw the shoes too.  I discovered that shoes can easily portray a personality as well as clothes or hairstyles.  Also, the students would walk up to my easel and ask how I achieved a certain color, why I changed a color,  or commented about how I achieved form by using a strong light source to one side when taking the photograph.  Not only do my own abilities in painting improve, but the students learn as well.  I plan to continue this series indefinitely.  To see all the work go to my web page.

"Mr. Formal"

6" x 6"oil on board
We've all been told that in order to do better at our craft, we must practice.  I try to practice what I preach to my students.  They see me painting every day.  They even see the improvement that occurs over time.  I try to be a good role model for my students and hopefully help them see that they too must put time and effort into the things they want to achieve in.  I am currently involved in Leslie Saeta's September challenge of painting 30 paintings in 30 days.  This is # 8 in that challenge.  You can see # 1-7 at my website.  Click to go to my website: