First Anniversary Winners

Welcome. I am so glad that you stopped by for the announcement of my First Anniversary Blog Winners. . . . and . .. the . . . . winners . . . . . are . . . . .

Mary from Across The Pond . . . .http://devondesigns-mary.blogspot.com/ . . . Mary won the $100.00 Gift Certificate to Anthropologie . . and the Blue Flower Welcome Sign.

Rhondi from Rose Colored Glasses . . . .http://rhondisrosecoloredglasses.blogspot.com/. .won the $50.00 Gift Certificate from Anthropologie and The Sunflowers Welcome Sign . . . .

Congratulations Mary and Rhondi.

I only wish everyone could have won. Thank you to everyone who joined in my Celebration Giveaway and thank you for your lovely comments and e-mails. I loved meeting so many new bloggers and will visit each and every one of you who have blogs. Thank you to everyone who does not have a blog for visiting and sending me emails.

Please let me know if you have any questions or would like to see me paint something special.

Have a lovely week. Blessings, Erin

First Anniversary Celebration/Give-Away

Welcome to my First Anniversary Celebration/Giveaway. I am so glad that you stopped by.

Please join me and Bentley, my very helpful Studio Assistant, for a cup of tea in my Fall garden for a giveaway to THANK all of YOU for your support of my new blog. Words can't begin to describe how much fun it has been getting to know so many of you in Blog Land, and how appreciative I am of each and every one of you who visited my blog, left comments and are following me on my journey "looking for inspiration for my art - here - there - and everywhere.

I am also honored and would like to take this opportunity to thank all of you who have mentioned my blog on your blog and have shown The Painted Garden under your favorites.

One day I received a phone call from Barbara Jacksier, http://barbarajacksier.blogspot.com of the Book Blog and author of the fabulous book, Waterside Cottages, asking permission to show my art on one of her blog post. We had a delightful chat and she said something that sums blogging up for me - she said "my husband equates blogging to having lots of fabulous pen pals all over the world".

Bentley





I poured you a nice cup of hot tea.

The garden is all dressed up for Fall in your honor.

The pumpkins and scarecrows are all in place.

The garden is all decked out for Fall and ready to celebrate all of YOU.

Bentley is anxious for us to get to your Thank you giveaway.

Bentley has a good eye for finding inspiration in my little garden!

I wanted to show you this cute idea for displaying seasonal flowers in an old sap bucket by hanging it on the back of an Adirondack garden chair.

Now that you have relaxed with a cup of tea, it is time for your THANK YOU Give-Away. The first prize is a $100.00 Gift Certificate to Anthropology. If you do not live near one of their fabulous stores, you can visit their on line store to pick out your gift. The second prize is a $50.00 Gift Certificate to Anthropology.


AND

To celebrate the opening of my new website http://thepaintedgarden.net

In addition to the first and second prizes from Anthropology - Your choice of one of my original paintings, on the $50 Gift Gallery, on my new website where you will find a variety of art ranging from my popular Red Bicycle Welcome signs, suitable to hang in your garden or on your front door, tea pots and tea cups filled with roses and pansies, garden chairs, Flower Shopp, etc. Each painting is an original painted on fine linen canvas - the sides are painted and they are all suitable to display unframed and with the exception of the Welcome signs (which come with a ribbon for hanging). Each painting comes with a display easel.

Simply go to http://thepaintedgarden.net- go the the $50.00 Gifts Gallery and pick out the painting you would like to win.

All you need to do to enter is leave me a comment or send me an email at http://erinsart@ca.rr.com and let me know which painting you would like to win. If you do not have a blog you can send me an e-mail. The winner of the first and second prizes will be announced on October 24, 2009.

First Prize - $100.00 Gift Certificate and your choice of a painting under the Gifts Gallery on my new website.

Second Prize - $50.00 Gift Certificate and your choice of a painting under the Gifts Gallery on my new website.

Thank you for stopping by. I love hearing from you and sincerely appreciate your comments and those of you who are following my journey on my blog. I will see you on October 24th and will announce the First and Second place winners of my Giveaway.

Have a lovely week. Blessings, Erin

Pumpkins and a Celebration

Welcome. I am so happy that you stopped by. I am taking a blog break this week - getting ready to celebrate :

All of YOU and My First Blog Anniversary and Launch my New Website.

You are all cordially invited to attend the celebration and

give-away next week on October 17, 2009

In the meantime, enjoy the Autumn pumpkins as we launch into the glorious fall season.

"Delicious Autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns". George Eliot

"Autumn is a second spring where every leaf is a flower". Albert Camus

Thank you for stopping by. I love hearing from you and sincerely appreciate your visits, comments and followers. If you have any questions, or would like to see me paint something special, please leave me a comment or send me an e-mail.

Don't forget to stop by on October 17Th for a celebration and fabulous GIVE-AWAY thanking ALL of you on my First Blog Anniversary.

Have a lovely week. Blessings, Erin

Looking for Fall Inspiration

Welcome, I am so glad that you stopped by. One of my clients asked me to paint a smaller version of a Garden Shop I painted last year. She wants a little red bird house with lots of Sunflowers and reds to hang in her Cottage style sun room. I would love for you to join me and my studio assistant, Bentley, on a trip to our Farmers Market on this lovely cool Fall morning . Let's look for the perfect painterly bouquet of Sunflowers and see what else we can find.

Looks like Bentley is ready to go!



I love shopping at our Farmers Market - everything is so fresh - prices are great -and best of all - I am supporting our local farmers.

Finding Inspiration . . . . . .

The orange variety of Sunflowers is a new one.

Lovely Mums

There. . . .

Everywhere . . . . . .

A new variety of "Cone" flowers


Everywhere . . . .
So many varieties to choose from. I really love the Sunflowers with a red tinge around the petals.

The original painting had yellow sunflowers, blue hydrangeas and red geraniums and my client wants me to duplicate the look only on a much smaller canvas. Since my blue hydrangeas are not in bloom, I used a photograph that I took last year .

I bought a bunch of the traditional Sunflowers to use in the painting.

Added a little red birdhouse.

Here is the completed painting.

Thank you for stopping by. I love to hear from you and sincerely appreciate your comments and that you have taken time to follow my blog. If you have any questions or would like to see my paint something special, please leave me a comment or send me an e-mail.

Have a lovely week. Blessings, Erin