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!

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 ...