Orange Rudbeckia

This brilliantly hued orange rudbeckia was growing in another pot beside the urn behind so I've positioned it actually in front of the urn. Finished today, it is 17x20watercolor and painted wet in wet then wet on dry. I was at the Casa Decor Mexican import store in Ruidoso, NM when I shot the photo; small pink and magenta vinca also lend their helping hand.

Sissinghurst England

15x11 watercolor on hot press paper of the well known building at Sissinghurst in the UK, where we visited last May and June.
Many painters have rendered their version of this popular place.

Polly Parrot

10 x 8 watercolor on Saunders 140 lb cold press paper, painted wet on wet in my hotel room from one of my Puerto Rican parrot photos.
I used Prang watercolors.

By the Sea porch scene

16x12 watercolor of a nice comfy wicker chair, a bouquet of hydrangeas, and a plate of lemon squares by the imaginary sea, just enjoying the last of the warm weather.

White Barns

7.5x11 watercolor landscape rural scene of barn and outbuildings all painted white.  Landscapes are not my forte but every now and again enjoy painting one, especially country farms that truly show our American roots.

Bike Sale

10.5 x 5.5 watercolor wash over Micron 01 pen drawing of a bikes scene. I chose a strip of Saunders paper that had tan and other colors left on it after I cropped it off a larger piece. You can see those marks on the right side.  Part of a contest on WetCanvas! many more bikes reference courtesy Bonnie; challenge was to do a wash over line.

Hot Date poppy

Hot fiery oranges and reds grace this macro poppy view in a dynamic watercolor floral.  22x15 on cold press 140 lb paper.

Mums in Oriental Vase

15x22 watercolor of golden chrysanthemums spilling out of this exquisite vase.  Red patterned cloth is draped behind with black symbols.

On Line, Clothesline That Is

Since today is the last day of summer here are fresh laundry items on the line blowing in the breeze.  What a very long hot and dry summer this has been, and we are sooooo glad to see it gone here in Texas! This watercolor is 22x15 painted wet in wet on cold press 140 lb paper.

Old Shed

11x15 watercolor on 140 lb cold press Saunders painted wet on wet and wet on dry.  It's an old English structure called the Mangerton
shed done awhile back as part of one of the WetCanvas contests.

Roses Abstract in mixed watermedia

15x22 watercolor, acrylic, spray paint on Arches 140 lb cold press paper.  Large circular plastic lids were placed onto the paper then drawn around and negative spaces painted.  Color was splashed on and stretched cotton gauze cheesecloth was laid on top; color was touched to its edges.  This was allowed to dry.  Meanwhile I "found" rose shapes, stems, and leaves then developed those.  Lastly I stamped a rubber circular stamp onto dry paper for detail.  This one has a lacy, Victorian feel and is a romantic painting.

Menu Man Chef

15x22 watercolor on Fabriano 140 lb hot press paper painted as a demo yesterday in Odessa, TX.  I had only 1 hour to paint this happy menu man and only a few finishing touches were needed.  While working in Albuquerque this tall ceramic statue was greeting customers at a family Mexican cafe so I took photos, then skewed one of them in PhotoShop to use.  He was advertising also for Santa Fe Brewing Company.

Longhorn

15x22 watercolor and colored pencil on 140 lb Arches hot press paper, done yesterday in a direct painting method.  Note the star on his forehead in the shape of the State of Texas.  Hello out there all you UT fans!

Mask-erade

20x26 poured watercolor onto dry Saunders 140 lb cold press paper. I put torn masking tape over it first and long strips at random. With no preconceived ideas I laid torn paper doily placemat pieces then spray painted those. After all dried, removed tape and confetti came to mind, then portions of playing cards painted using real ones for reference. I put 5 and a 3 for 1953 the year I was hatched, and a King of Hearts the K for my name. The 2 of Hearts upper right means the 2 that can go with the 3 card for 23rd, my birthday date. Lastly I used real feathers to paint negatively red, green, yellow, blue feathers around eye holes then developed eye masks in the lower part, two obvious masks and there's a third one hidden.  See if you can spot it.  The whole thing is a mess but reminded me of Mardi Gras and was fun to do a poured fairly abstract piece.

Coffee and Donuts

11x15 gouache watermedia on 140 lb Saunders cold press paper, painted very rapidly and in a loose direct manner. The powdered sugar donuts are just waiting to be dunked.







Ivy Basket

8.5 x 13 watercolor of my hotel ivy basket that was not this colorful, in fact it was ugly fake plastic leaves but the basket was decent. This was drawn from life and painted wet on dry.  It is SOLD.

Indian Corn Harvest

15x11 of multicolored harvest corn, an imaginary scene painted today in an hour using only a #28 round brush on Italia 140 lb watercolor paper.  No drawing was done.  I spritzed the paper then began laying in darks first, a mix of Midnight Blue and Copper Kettle (American Journey) tube paints.  Other colors are Daniel Smith.

Woodland Leaves

7.5 x 11 watercolor of a grouping of white and green variegated leaves photographed in Wales by Lin on WetCanvas! a feature of our current Weekend Drawing Event.  This was painted wet on dry in a direct manner; background is negative painting and imaginary.

Pretty Boy Peacock

15x22 wet in wet watercolor painted quickly and spontaneously of this proud peacock strutting his stuff for the camera.  Ref courtesy WetCanvas! weekend drawing event 2010.  Paints used:  Daniel Smith, American Journey, and DaVinci; paper 140 lb cold press Strathmore.

God Bless America

Liberty says "God Bless America" on this Lord's Day remembering those fallen heroes 10 years ago on September 11, 2001.  Let us never, ever forget and cherish our freedom that is not free.

Neighbor's Cat

24x18 watercolor of a very curious cat looking outside his house to some intriguing object, probably a bird or a moving tree branch or even another cat.  Painted wet in wet on Canson Montval block I used Daniel Smith, DaVinci, and American Journey paints.



Chili with Pink Zinnia - a pet portrait

15x22 watercolor of my tuxedo kitty named Chili.  He is now 10 years old this month and I've painted him many times.  A few years back I set up a still life of fresh zinnias in a sunflower pitcher, an old quilt and napkin and he jumped on the table top and decided to be part of the not-so-still still life.  Although this painting was not done today I'm posting Chili's portrait in honor of his birthday.  It was painted wet in wet with no masking for his whiskers.  This set up was in my living room that has dark Hunter green walls...there appeared tiny marks in the paint so after it dried I added different pieces of color for an unusual pattern.

Puerto Rico Condo

19x12.5 watercolor on Italia 140 lb paper, American Journey paints begun yesterday and finished today. I took this photo of our condo on our first visit to Puerto Rico in 1995 with the intention of painting it someday, but didn't realize it would take me this long! This is wet on dry painting darks first.

BEFORE version of China Cabinet

This is the still life that got me interested in reworking into a vertical composition as posted below in China Cabinet.
Size 15x22; flowers, vase, pitcher, onions and cloth were items we used to paint from in an oil painting workshop with Ann Templeton in Odessa, TX several years ago.  I used many of my photos of those to paint watercolors later on.  I just did not like this one as my white pitcher proportions are off.  Flowers were okay but not spectacular and there was plenty of color.  When reworking it I did crop it as you can see from comparison of the two.  The title of this one was called Ann's Garden Variety.

Three's Company - fruit still life

15x22 watercolor demo for a local art group of three pears colorfully displayed on a white tablecloth done in about 1.5 hours.  I love the shadow play evident on the far right pear.  Photo ref courtesy WetCanvas! reference image library.  Paper is Italia 140 lb cold press, paint is American Journey by Cheap Joe's Art Stuff.

China Cabinet - a reworked watercolor still life

20x12.5 watercolor and gouache over a failed still life that was a floral in a red vase, a white pitcher, and onions on a white cloth and a blue and red table drape.  I did not like the floral so turned it vertically and drew cups and saucers.  Later I went back and added line to include Oriental fans, a pagoda, pink roses, etc.  Today I reworked the bottom area by adding white gouache on cup and saucer, strengthening the reds and blues, then correcting compositional areas.  My original still life that was drawn and painted from life has now been redone 3 times.  I can post the 2001 original BEFORE version if anyone wants to see it for comparison.  Other artists may disagree or dislike reworking/recycling their old dogs but I love it, plus I have now had 2 of them accepted into the Western Federation of Watercolor Societies exhibitions.  These annual shows have about 4500 artists competing for selection.

Green Turtle - a daily painting

11x15 watercolor painted yesterday of this happy turtle underwater swimming in Belize; this fellow was part of the WetCanvas weekend challenge and ref courtesy of Li Newton.  Thanks Li!  Its back is actually brown tones and the challenge was to do primary colors or as a children's book illustration.  Total time under 2 hours per the limit.  Italia 140 lb cold press paper used with AJ and DS paints wet on dry.

Three Cows - a daily painting

Another daily painting from my trip this week of three lovely cows going off together, done in watercolor, 5x7 on hot press Fabriano paper and Winsor Newton travel kit paints.  So many of these animals have had a very bad year with the continous drought here in Texas.  Pray for rain!

Blue Bowl of Strawberries - daily painting

5 x 6 3/4 inches, a daily painting in watercolor done while on a business trip this week, a small work of fresh strawberries in a blue bowl in my hotel room.  This is on cold press paper using Winsor Newton travel kit paints.