Old Christmas Tractor

12x9 watercolor of very old rusty tractor in snow I painted a few years ago on Strathmore 140 lb cold press paper.  After adding a Christmas wreath to cheer up the old fellow, I put in icy branches and snow splatters.

Santa & Toy Horse

10x7 watercolor on Langton 140 lb cold press paper and Daniel Smith paints.  I painted him last week in my hotel room; he seems to be hurrying along to get the toys ready for distribution.

Mad Cat

4x6 watercolor cat pet portrait on 140 lb Canson Montval paper with Daniel Smith paints, done today.  This orange and white tabby is sure cranked up about something that is irritating him.

Scarlet Macaw

12x3.5 watercolor parrot, a scarlet macaw, I did last night for a short class demo.  Colors were put in wetly on dry 140 lb watercolor paper and allowed to mingle and mix.

Cat in the Hat

11 x 6.75 ink and watercolor of my tuxedo cat Chester in a Santa hat.  Chester is huge and a big boned boy we adopted September 2011 from Big Spring Animal Shelter.  I've been playing around with ink cat sketches as well as other animals, adding water, and seeing what develops in this watermedia piece.  The Santa hat is watercolor and the painting is done on Canson Montval 140 lb cold press paper.

Poppy Explosion

11x7.5 watercolor poppies that are imaginary, painted on Langton 140 lb cold press paper a few days ago in my hotel room.  You can get some pretty vivid colors from a travel palette and a little bit of effort.

Glass Christmas Tree

10x7 watercolor of glass ornaments on a blown glass Christmas tree still life.  Painted on Thanksgiving a few days ago in my hotel room, this tree was cheerful to do, especially with reflections each ornament made.  This is the second holiday themed painting for 2012 season, with the first one a Santa in white that is already sold.

Couch Cats

10x15 ink and acrylic on Canson 140 lb cold press paper, drawn this afternoon with India ink tip.  Spritzing with water enabled the ink to blend and diffuse while wet and dried permanently.

David's Tulip

11x7.5 watercolor of red tulip my youngest brother David photographed for me from his yard.  I painted it today as a class demo using every red, red-orange, and pink on my palette with alizarin crimson and Grumbacher's red used the most.  Grass and gray neutral background colors were mixed using arylide yellow and ultramarine blue along with quin burnt orange and UB.

Dick Blick Catalog Features Kay Smith Art!

My work is in Dick Blick Holiday catalog! One of, if not the largest art supplier in the country, is featuring 7 of my winter and Christmas watercolor paintings! Four are seen in the framing section on these two pages above.  I was contacted several months ago by their representative who saw my art on Daily Painters website, then provided several images from which to choose.  Already I've sold the white amaryllis as seen on right hand page above, so thanks Dick Blick, I love you guys and Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah!

White Santa

11x7.5 watercolor drawn and painted today.  This one is SOLD.  He goes with two others I've done for Debbye Valverde, and I do hope she likes it.

Fairgrounds

11x7.5 watercolor with ink drawing, Pigma Micron 01 pen, on watercolor paper 140 lb cold press paper.  For a monthly challenge on WetCanvas in Watermedia forum, we were tasked to doing a scene from county fairs and I had some very old photos of Howard County fairgrounds.  This one of two girls on a horses carousel wa too fun to pass up.  I eliminated much of the background clutter and junk as well as underneath the carousel top.

Calico Cat and Fall Leaves

6x6 watercolor on 140 lb cold press paper of a calico cat sitting amongst fall leaves.  She blends right in! I painted this about 2 years ago and named it "I'm Leavin'".  I really enjoyed painting all the negative shaped leaves.

Juicy Fruit Strawberries

10x14 watercolor of fresh strawberries on a plate, waiting to be eaten.  I enjoy these complementary color schemes and my favorite combo is red and green as the use of them side by side intensifies their hues in this simple still life.

Partnership pears

11x15 watercolor pair of pears, a demo for yesterday's students in which we were exploring the properties of watercolor on hot press paper, Fabriano 140 lb.  The Bosc pear is darker red in reality and note the other's lost edge where light hits its right upper edge.

Zinnias and Butterfly

22x15 watercolor of my studio zinnias with a perfect butterfly perched on top doing his daily routine.  The title of this older painting is "A Summer Day", and as today was cold and windy after a first fall freeze last night, I thought of butterflies and blooms with longing. But still do have pansies and ornamental kale to keep some color going in the windowboxes.  This was painted on cold press 140 lb. paper.

Poppy Portrait - Happy Veterans Day!

22x15 watercolor on Italia 140 lb paper; Daniel Smith and American Journey paints, done today.  I drew this with a wet brush only on wet paper front and back and continued to spritz at random.  The background is imaginary also with a budding bloom lower right pointing to the main orange red poppy.  It had been awhile since painting any poppies so this was long overdue and too much fun! The papaver somniferum is most appropriate to paint on Veterans Day!!! Thank you to all the veterans in my family, coworkers, patients, and those brave souls still in unform; God bless America!

Vintage Vehicles

11x15 watercolor on Lana hot press 140 lb paper and Daniel Smith paints, drawn yesterday and painted today; three oldies parked for good.  The middle one is a 1931 Swift Ten two door coupe which has seen better days.

Old Wagon

5x8.5 sketch of old wagon, drawn in medium black felt tip ink pen along with a little pencil work.

Shaggy Dog pet portrait

10x15 watercolor dog pet portrait of this shaggy fellow who resembles a mop.  I love to paint white subjects and white backgrounds and this composition has both.

Grove of Trees

10x7.5 watercolor on Canson 140 lb paper, painted today with palette knife and round brush, no pencil drawing.  It is so much easier without seeing the lines and thinking you have to follow them or fill them in! Negative and/or lost edges are apparent using this approach in an imaginary grove of autumn and evergreen tree vignette.

Grazing Zebras

5.75x7 watercolor on Canson 140 lb cold press paper, drawn and painted this afternoon. First I applied a primary color underpainting of ultramarine blue, quinacridone gold, and permanent rose.  After drying, I painted the animals' stripes with a mix of UB and quinacridone burnt orange.  Shadows were UB and permanent rose; background same colors plus Halloween Orange and green gold.  Lastly, splatters were applied to foreground with the same brown mix.  Some edges are lost over their posterior areas.  This work is SOLD.

Mums and Melons Fall Still Life

15x22 watercolor still life painted wet in wet from fresh potted chrysanthemums in copper pot, old bottles, fruit and cantaloupe melons on a brilliantly hued silk scarf.

Gentle Giant Elephant

20x16 torn paper collage on wrapped canvas started yesterday (see the first phase posted below) then finished up today.  Using various heavy paper magazines, colored pieces were torn by hand and applied with matte medium both sides.  When totally dry I will varnish with gloss medium and sign it.

Most of the elephant was done yesterday in about 1.5 hours, although with this work in progress, I had to go back and correct values today.  You can see the black marker lines on the gessoed canvas where I drew background and foreground grasses.  This work is now SOLD.

Frozen Riverbanks

7x5 watercolor on Strathmore 140 lb cold press paper, done today of a wintry snow and ice mix on trees along the riverbank.  This work is SOLD.

Nevermore Ravens

11x15 watercolor of several different raven poses, inspired by my favorite poet Edgar Allan Poe.  I have posted this image here a few years ago and wanted to see it again these few days between Halloween and December which he mentioned in his poem "The Raven". My friends and family don't know it, but I had memorized his 1845 haunting melancholy verse and it remains one of the best in literature.

Garden Friends

10x7 watercolor on Langton 140 lb cold press paper of various garden items and freshly cut flowers in my old metal pail.  Due to little rain this spring we had hardly any flowers to look at.  Here I've added imaginary cosmos, poppies, larkspur, etc., all sitting on worn out wooden folding chair.  This work is now SOLD.