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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

Balancing Act - vegetable still life

18x12 watercolor of two onions and a red bell pepper balancing on a sunflower mosaic vase I'd turned on its side.  They're resting on cut glass mosaic top of an old hospital stretcher in my studio.  At upper left is a portion of Talavera pottery holding plants.  I set up this still life last year then drew and painted it before the onions and pepper got too ripe sitting in the sunny south window.  This is dry brush on Strathmore 140 lb cold press paper.

Fantasy Flowers

15x22 watercolor wet in wet on Saunders Waterford 140 lb paper painted last night and today of imaginary flowers.  They could be cosmos, peonies, poppies, tulips, you name it.  Look closely and you can see negative painting of leaves, stems and other natural foliage in between its shapes.

Nesters - Birds in Broken Clay Pot

15x22 watercolor on Lanaquarelle 140 lb hot press paper of two birds nesting inside broken clay pot.  I had first painted this close up of tiny items a few years ago then took the painting and redid its main areas.  The tiny birds and pot nestle inside a larger clay pot holding a topiary from a florist.  With my camera I shot a macro view for art purposes; the birds are actually made of mushrooms so I had to make them appear realistic.

Unlisted Number - watermedia collage

22x15 Fabriano 140 lb hot press paper, charcoal drawing of a mannikin profile, then watercolor, gouache, and gift wrap paper from Dollar General used as collage in parts on her blouse. I had painted this figure before only reverse profile using transparent watercolor.
The hot press paper was treated first using a technique Liz Hill taught us in her class last month where you lay phone book pages down then peel them off, hence the title.

Ranchos de Taos - Stormy Night

12.5 x 22 watercolor of an imaginary stormy scene at Ranchos de Taos, the most photographed church in America.  Located in New Mexico I stopped here and took many views to paint.  Its walls are an ochre in color but I have rendered them white in this painting and given the church an orange roof.  Its crosses depict hope and calm for weary souls amidst turmoil and uncertainty.

White Cyclamen

22x15 watercolor of my white blooming cyclamen plant in sunny south studio window.  White subjects are my favorite to paint as you must inject color and muted tones within the white.  In watercolor you simply use the white of the paper and no white paint as in other mediums.

Rosemary II

22x15 watercolor, gouache, watersoluble crayon and colored pencil, plus charcoal.  This painting was done last weekend and I have reversed the image from the first time I drew this figure.  In the first one I used paper napkin collage as well as acrylics for the pattern and background respectively.   

Mission with Statue

30x22 watercolor of a California mission and statue of St. Francis I painted a few years ago.  This is a direct application painting wet in wet.