Saturday, December 31, 2011

Fencerow Sunflowers

5.25 x 4.25 watercolor of wild sunflowers lined up in a row by an old white picket fence.   You can see these type flowering weeds growing everywhere.

Friday, December 30, 2011

Window Box of Flowers

23x35 watercolor on Yupo synthetic paper, a commission that is now SOLD. 
The customer wanted her blue window box of various annuals highlighted against the yellow stucco wall.

Thursday, December 29, 2011

Daily Special chef

22x15 watercolor on Fabriano 140 lb hot press paper, drawn from a tiny figurine from my chef collection.  This image was used by the local United Way campaign a few years ago and is one of my favorites.

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Murray River

11x15 watercolor of the Murray River, at twilight, located in Australia.  Ref courtesy of WetCanvas image library.  I like how the darkness encloses and envelops the stark trees and setting sun on its water.

Monday, December 26, 2011

White Gold poinsettia

10.5 x 16 watercolor on Arches 140 lb cold press paper, Daniel Smith paints, begun on Christmas eve then painted each day through today. A few years ago I bought a large white poinsettia with mottled golden leaves with red splotches and took many photos. The first painting had the large plant with roses behind it and I sold it quickly as a husband's gift to his wife. This is the second painting featuring the white gold leaves and bracts of that lovely specimen. At least in our area I've not seen any more poinsettias as lovely as this was. Happy New Year everybody!

Sunday, December 25, 2011

Meltdown

6x4 watercolor of two snowmen slowly going down, down, down under suddenly sunny skies.  This painting is SOLD.

Saturday, December 24, 2011

Wild Fuchsia Christmas Ball

10.5 x 8 watercolor begun a few days ago then finished today during the continuous snow.  No one was out shopping so I stayed in the studio and painted.  For this image, I used a large hot pink fuchsia Christmas ornament.  Light reflections are the shapes seen within.  For shapes outside the sphere, I drew a nail polish bottle and let its top rounded edge be seen within the ball.  Lastly I used a rubber stencil stamp to make the curlicue marks for patterns.  Some of these lacy looking areas were imaginary on the polish bottle as seen on far lower right.  Merry Christmas to all of you!

Friday, December 23, 2011

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

You Better Watch Out Santa

12 x 5.5 watercolor painted today of the old Santa himself checking his list and looking for naughty boys and girls.  This is on Arches 140 lb cold press paper.

Monday, December 19, 2011

Barnyard Snowman

10.5 x 5.5 watercolor of a happy fellow in the country in the barnyard.  After all the animals need entertaining, too, for wintertime blues.

Sunday, December 18, 2011

Lilypad Illusions

11.5 x 28.5 watercolor over abstract underpainting with several blues and aureolin yellow applied very wetly.  When dry, I used my #28 round brush only (no pencil) to do negative painting establishing forms of the pads.  No masking fluid used, only paper over white flowers secured with bits of masking tape.  Daniel Smith paints were used; backruns encouraged and enhanced.

Saturday, December 17, 2011

Pen Gwen

30 x 22 acrylic on watercolor paper 140 lb cold press, wax crayon resist.  The title is a pun, a play on words, for penguin, so here she is in her red sunglasses taking a stroll along a snowy path.

Friday, December 16, 2011

Down for the Count Snowman

6x4 watercolor snowman, another in my series of melting figures wishing everyone a merry and happy holiday season! Merry Christmas!

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Fox in the Snow

9x12 watercolor of a woodland fox coming out to hunt its next meal.  This vignette was painted in a direct but loose manner in one application.

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Old St. Nick

11x15 watercolor of the old man himself ready for Christmas.  I drew this figure from a life size Santa doll and hope he can fool all the boys and girls on his annual North Pole trip across the skies.

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Goner Snowman

9 x 4.75 watercolor on Italia 140 lb cold press paper, another melting gentleman in my snowman series done today. This fellow is a GONER! Even the cardinal perched on his hat knows the end is near and he can make a birdnest out of the leftover parts OR peck at the carrot for lunch.

Monday, December 12, 2011

Almost Gone Snowman

6.5 x 5 watercolor on Italia 140 lb paper, drawn and painted today right after my studio overhead lights were fixed. Now I can see like daylight in that dark kitchen. This fellow is another in my series of melting snowmen and still looks quite happy to be Almost Gone!

Sunday, December 11, 2011

White Amaryllis

11x15 watercolor on Arches 140 lb rough paper of fresh white amaryllis blooms.  The background is totally imaginative.  These lovelies are just waiting for holiday excitement at Christmas.

Saturday, December 10, 2011

Done Gone Melting Snowman

6.25 x 4.75 watercolor on Italia 140 lb cold press paper, painted yesterday for a little fun image of a snowman giving up the ghost once the sun came out.

Friday, December 9, 2011

Christmas Tractor

12x9 watercolor of a broken down ancient antique tractor that has seen better days than this snowstorm, yet a wreath hangs on its front to celebrate Christmas.  Merry Christmas!

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Christmas Balls, Birds, and Branches

9.5 x 18 inches watercolor of glass balls and birds, real branches, and snowy forest background.  I painted this last December and really liked the horizontal format and the holiday feel to the decorations.

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Winter Farmhouse

16x20 watercolor scene of white farmhouse decked out for Christmas with wreaths on the doors and its own tree out front in the snow.

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Poinsettia Patterns - a poured watercolor painting

22x15 watercolor of various colored poinsettia plants that I made by doing negative painting once initial poured colors had dried on 140 lb cold press paper.  (In some areas I put down 1" wide pieces of masking tape first.) I let the paints mix and mingle on the surface then developed the loose abstract design, trying to preserve whites.

Reindeer

11x7.5 watercolor on Saunders 140 lb cold press paper, drawn and painted yesterday for the landscape monthly challenge in WetCanvas! an online artist community.  This fellow appears to be waiting the sleigh and Santa for their journey into the skies.

Monday, December 5, 2011

Mr. Snowman

15x11 watercolor of a friend's two nieces building a snowman outside and he appears happy to have them make him come alive.  You can see the front lawn still had green grass.

Sunday, December 4, 2011

Cosmos and Coneflowers

10x30 watercolor floral to perk up the dreariest of days.  This is on Arches 140 lb cold press paper and is done wet on dry method with Daniel Smith paints.  With all the snow scenes I've been doing lately it was time to change to a bright happy floral.  Tomorrow I will return to Christmas and winter themed art, so stay tuned.

Saturday, December 3, 2011

Friday, December 2, 2011

Longview Christmas House

15x22 watercolor on Winsor Newton 140 lb cold press paper house and landscape all ready for Christmas and its season of joy.  This old Victorian home was actually unoccupied and rundown when I photographed it so I made it habitable again with curtains and a fresh evergreen wreath in the windows.

Thursday, December 1, 2011

December snow scene

15x22 watercolor imaginary landscape with snow I painted about 2 years ago, then it was selected as a card design by a major company. From its frozen stream to the cold grey skies here's hoping your December is a grand one!

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Snow Bunker landscape

22x30 watercolor, acrylic, torn brown paper packing material and golf scenes collage on 300 lb Saunders wc paper.  This mixed media collage was painted in a group paint out in a neighboring town near their golf course.

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Beverly - mixed media figure

22x15 charcoal drawn figure on 140 lb hot press Fabriano paper with gouache paint and Caran D'Ache crayon accents.  Paper was prepared by adhering old phone book pages with half matte medium and half water then pulling off leaving parts of the Fabriano visible.
This woman was at a neighborhood hat party and had her eyes closed while talking.  Background elements are imaginary abstractions.

Monday, November 28, 2011

November

11x15 watercolor of a cold November day in the country landscape.  Since the month is almost over it was time to post this scene preparing for colder days ahead.

Sunday, November 27, 2011

Partial to Red Poinsettias

15x20 watercolor on the back of an old dog that wasn't worth trying to make better.  I spritzed water then threw paint loosely with 1" brush in wide areas using NO PENCIL.  Let dry, then began to carve out red, pink, and all shades in between of poinsettia leaves with green at bottom of potted plant.  Background is neutral with UB, Coastal Fog mix and some Periwinkle Blue (American Journey) colors.

Friday, November 25, 2011

Winter Wolves

20x16 watercolor on Arches 140 lb cold press paper, Daniel Smith paints.  In this wintry imaginary scene, three wolves gather to plan their next activity within the snow covered trees and brush.

Thursday, November 24, 2011

Flower Market

Flower merchants line up with their lovely wares while other vendors peruse this open air market in South America.  This 22x15 watercolor depicts their daily life amongst vivid hues of gladiolas and lilies.

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Red Mesa and Buffalo

12x24 watercolor on Arches 140 lb cold press paper, painted wet in wet today.  Signal Peak mountain is east of our town of Big Spring in west Texas and is part of the Great Plains where the Cherokees roamed.  In this imaginary scene I ignored local color and made the terrain red and red orange while the animals are pale gold with cool highlights.

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Florist Lilies

22x15 watercolor floral of pink and white and yellow lilies from the florist.  Painted loosely wet in wet there are also red toned flowers behind called fillers.  No masking was used.

Monday, November 21, 2011

Dog Pet Portrait

22x15 watercolor dog portrait commission for her owner's Christmas surprise.  I've no idea what breed she is but she is adorable and so fluffy.  In the photo provided she was waiting for someone to throw the ball so she could play.  This work is SOLD.

Sunday, November 20, 2011

Sunbaked Adobe

15x11 watercolor on Winsor Newton 140 lb cold press paper, Daniel Smith paints.  This was drawn from a scene I photographed in Phoenix, Arizona and is painted both wet in wet and wet on dry.

Saturday, November 19, 2011

Cat on Blue Bench

5.5 x 7.5 watercolor of tabby cat Dave lying on his old faded blue bench.  He belongs to Lin who provided this photo of him for our Weekend Drawing Event on WetCanvas!

Friday, November 18, 2011

Parody of Parrots

30x22 acrylic on watercolor paper 140 lb cold press.  My Puerto Rican parrot photographs provided me with vivid hues and eager excitement. I wanted one large central bird on a full sheet of paper to say ‘tropical foliage and feathers.’ Drawing from memory, I placed a large head at the top. Using curved line dominance in a vertical format, I repeated interlocking shapes for movement with the main parrot’s body. The medium and small birds’ heads were created by using negative painting. White areas were left untouched. Finding my background too busy, I unified its abstraction by adding mint and turquoise green acrylic and letting small pieces of underpainting show.
This was a fun process as its focus was on design and this work is SOLD.

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Mad as a Wet Hen

15x22 watercolor and ink on 140 lb cold press paper, drawn using several photos then painted wet in wet.  After it dried I went back in with black India ink for minimal line work and loaded watercolor onto a brush for splatters of paint.

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Dragonfly with Poppies

13.5 x 16.25 watercolor and spray webbing on gessoed matboard.  The silver spray created a lacy transparent effect on its wings.  Since I love poppies I added them to the background.  Last summer I painted this, entered into a juried show, but have not posted it here.

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Sunflower Glowing

11x15 watercolor on Saunders 140 lb cold press of a mature sunflower; this was my demo yesterday for a workshop in San Angelo, TX.
I have painted several versions of this flower and one of those was all in pinks and is now sold.  Each version is more fun than the last. It was done wet in wet with transparent colors.

Monday, November 14, 2011

Little Friskies

22x30 mixed media collage on Saunders Waterford 300 lb paper.  The 3 cats are painted on Yupo, a synthetic paper, cut out then adhered to printed images of Purina's cat chow I laid on my Epson printer from a real food bag.  These collage elements are on top of acrylic painted watercolor paper.  I really ought to send this to Purina for their Friskies line.

Sunday, November 13, 2011

Heirloom Hollyhocks

30x11 watercolor on 140 lb Italia cold press paper, painted in a direct manner on paper spritzed with water.  Drawn from my studio hollyhocks these regal reds emphasize their heirloom quality as old fashioned flowers so full of nostalgia.  This painting has won Best of Show.  This work has now been SOLD.

Saturday, November 12, 2011

Popping up Poppies

11x15 watercolor done today on hot press paper on the backside of a failed dog portrait, so this one was an old dog for sure.  This scene is largely pure fun of orange poppies using Daniel Smith's transparent pyrrol orange and new gamboge, and was featured in a timed contest on WetCanvas in the Weekend Drawing Event.  My time was 55 minutes using direct painting of darks first on dry paper.

Friday, November 11, 2011

Ruby Slippers - Red Roses for Veterans

7.5 5.5 watercolor, drawn and painted from life this morning at 1100 hours on 11-11-11, to honor our nation's veterans on their day.  Red roses signify love and the red splatters denote bloodshed of those wounded or unable to come home, past and present.  Happy Veterans Day to all of you, our brave men and women!

Dry Desert Icons

30x22 watercolor on Kilimanjaro 140 lb cold press paper painted earlier in the month. I have painted this southwest landscape mission more ...