Night Blossoms and Meet the Artist Event

Night Blossoms in the Garden

Nancy Medina Art

8X8

Oil on Canvas

Join me at Stems Gallery in historic Grapevine, Texas, Friday, July 17, from 7 to 9 pm for Meet the Artist Night during the Summer Festival downtown. All my newest paintings will be on display, including my three foot wide container gardens, fields of bright poppies in oil, and many of my miniature works in all floral varieties, colors and sizes. We'll have a drawing for a free original work of art for everyone who stops by. I hope to see you there!

Stems Gallery

417 S. Main

Grapevine, Texas 76051

817-488-8284

Berry Challenging

Berries and Creme

12X12

Oil on Canvas

Nancy Medina Art

Berries on the Porch

Saundra Lane Galloway's summer painting challenge is up and running! Check out her blog to see some of the amazing entries so far, and a whole selection of images you can paint and submit for a chance to win a very cool prize.

Berries and Creme is my first attempt at painting strawberries, though I confess I have eaten my share. We grew strawberries on my parents' organic farm in East Texas when I was little. These plants love sandy soil and hay tucked around their roots. I remember standing in the furrows eating fresh, sweet berries, while the sand smushed up between my bare toes.

Thank you Saundra for such a great challenge. What fun!

Fire Dancers at the Dallas Zoo

Fire Dancer

16X20

Oil on Linen

Nancy Medina Art

My first field trip in grade school was a visit to the Dallas Zoo. I will never forget seeing the hundreds of vividly orange flamingoes and watching them stand on one leg still as statues. It wasn't until I finished this painting for the Dallas Zoo last week that I researched these fascinating birds. Flamingoes are the only birds equipped to feed and live in the caustic environment of a volcanic lake.

Scientists are baffled by their dance, a bowing and bending, a marching back and forth as a group, and then suddenly taking flight en masse. These beautiful birds get their red color from eating spirulina, an algea that contributes to the pigment in their wings. I wonder if the spirulina is the same spirulina we see in health food stores and at our favorite smoothy stations?

Houston We Have Launch!

I'm pleased as punch to be in the juried Daily Painters of Texas group, and the Web site launched today! Saddle up and mosey on over and take a look at this truckload of amazing talent. Texas contemporary artist Laurie Justus Pace has spearheaded the creation of the group and used her own artistic genius to help get us organized.

Our first group show will be in October at the Dutch Art Gallery so stay tuned or check out the web site for more info. You can subscribe to the postings via Google and join our growing group of Followers at the Blog Site. Hope to see you there!!!

YEEEEEEHAWWWWWWW!!! *windows rattle*

Studio Assistant Howard Pee Pugpants Gets His

Cowboy on for the Daily Painters of Texas!

Agapanthus Trio

Agapanthus Trio
10X10
Oil on Gallery Wrap Canvas
Nancy Medina Art

SOLD

It may be 100 degrees in Dallas today, but we did have a nice, wet spring, and I've noticed some of our neighbors have successfully blossoming agapanthus in their beds. Carlos and I like to take long walks to the duck pond early in the morning on weekends, and no one's yard is exempt from our scrutiny.

Sunday we were taking our usual stroll when we spotted our friends who have an elderly pug named Jenny so we stopped to give Jenny a pat. They were talking with another neighbor who looked pretty distraught - when we saw why, it was easy to understand. Her roof was entirely charred. Fireworks had landed on her house the night before and her home was ruined. She said the smoke billowed three feet up from the floor so quickly, she could not find her shy kitty, and she was very worried because her kitty had run outside and had not been found yet.

She was exhausted and all of her clothes and furniture downstairs were unusable. She had been taken to the hospital the night before for smoke inhalation. I thought about her when we got home that same evening, and the kids across the street started shooting off fireworks again. Like most cities, it is illegal to shoot fireworks in Flower Mound's city limits. I had visions of fireworks landing on our roof and could hardly sleep that night. I sure hope her kitty found its way home.

Another Tomorrow

Another Tomorrow

36X48

Oil on Gallery Profile Canvas

Nancy Medina Art

A dear friend lost her mother three weeks ago. She said the doctors thought her mom had months to live, so she had planned to visit her soon. She didn't make it out to see her in time. Never put off until tomorrow what you should do today, she told me. Lately I've been spending so many hours in the studio, it occurred to me I haven't been out to the farm in East Texas to see my mom in months. It's my next big priority. I am so lucky to have another tomorrow with my mom. I wish for you the same.

Flowers That Brave the Texas Heat

Hidden Treasures

12X12

Oil on Canvas

Nancy Medina Art

Geraniums are so tough, these survived the mild winter and returned

to bloom again on our deck this summer. They love the dry weather.

We have two crepe myrtles in our back yard. One is struggling,

but this one has a full head of purple blossoms. The more

sun the better for these guys.

I think these are ragdoll sunflowers, do you know? I buy

packets of seeds and plant them every spring. Some years

they come up, sometimes our birds decide the seeds are a snack.

I confess these flowers are blooming at my mom's house
in East Texas. I wish I could grow them like she can. Her climate
is a bit more conducive to beautiful blossoms.

I transplanted these sunflowers from seedlings into a new

planter box by our back fence. I love how they look against

the worn wood slats of the fence, don't you?

Centered

Centered

12X12

Oil on Canvas

Nancy Medina Art

SOLD

The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt.

Sylvia Plath
1932-1963

Flying the Colors

Flying the Colors

30X40

Oil on Canvas

Nancy Medina Art

Flying is my entry for the Fourth of July show at The Good Art Company Gallery in Fredericksburg, Texas. We will be celebrating the weekend holiday at Flower Mound Studio snuggling a little pug who is recuperating from knee surgery. Studio assistant Howard Pee Pugpants is not an easy patient, he likes to tell me exactly how he feels about everything, and a morning in the crate wearing the cone of shame separated from kitchen activities is not his cup of tea. Dad will take him into the den for a nap on his lap in front of the TV, and we are hoping he will adjust to his six week confinement very soon.

I hope you are enjoying the holiday weekend splashing around in an ice cold lake or lounging under a fan with a frosty glass of fresh squeezed lemonade. Have a safe Fourth!

A Peek Inside Flower Mound Studio

Here is a peek inside Flower Mound Studio this week. A real closeup

would reveal paint spatters on the walls and multiple tiny nailholes...

I didn't crop out the door on this one so you can get an idea

of the scale of some of the works. The only thing I don't

like about painting on a large scale is gesso-ing that big

ole canvas!! Holy cow that takes a lot of work.

But wait, what's missing in these pictures???

Studio assistant Anniebelly...