Evildoer Siamese Cat repost

15x11 watercolor wet in wet painted yesterday and reposted here after some touchups done.  I really looked at Jezebel today and thought her little face was too dark in the painting, not allowing for her creamy fur to show above the eye and on top of her head. So I lifted and smoothed out with a Fritch scrubber brush from Cheap Joe's.  Also her left front leg was too wide so corrected that and finally took out the very top of her arched back to have a lost edge.  That was my intention yesterday but got too involved and didn't.So now my studio kitty should read as a better pet portrait.

Evildoer Cat

15x11 watercolor painted wet in wet today for my daily work, featuring the lovely Jezebel.  In this imaginary scene she is desperately trying to scoop out a goldfish because so far all she has done is slop water out of the fishbowl.

Zebra Family

5.25x11.75 watercolor done this afternoon as my daily painting.  I had sketched these animals from small figurines years ago as a basis for a very large oil commission so the pencil drawing remained in my sketchbook.  Today I decided to draw them again on Strathmore 140 lb cold press paper and using a limited palette of quinacridone burnt orange and ultramarine blue I did an abstract background. When dry I added stripes based on what color was in the initial wash.  This was quick and easy and too much fun!

Spirit of the Sea (gulls)

22x30 latex acrylic on Kilimanjaro 140 lb cold press paper, painted today in about 2 hours.  The photo ref was at a shopping mall featured on WetCanvas so I edited out the stores and placed these guys back on the beach where they belong.  Sketch was done with watersoluble colored pencil and 3 colors of Crayons, then paper wet both sides heavily, and acrylics added with a 1" sponge brush. I blended with my fingers and at the end splattered using dark brown mixed watercolor plus white acrylic.

Desert Icons: Mission and Cactus

30x22 watercolor on 140 lb rough cold press paper, an imaginary desert scene of a mission front and saguaro beside it.  Years ago I first painted this with some variation and this time used rough paper for texture on the old stucco facade.  It is not photorealism but one I enjoyed painting again in a southwest style.

Stan's Horses on Cracker Barrel Map

This watercolor work is about 9x11 and is a section I cut out of a large Cracker Barrel map of the USA.  I love to eat there and these maps are free that show all their restaurant locations.
Years ago I'd painted this pair of horses in a smaller format and given to my brother Stan.  Unsure if the medium would color the paper enough I did have to use 2-3 washes in this vignette and of course draw the animals larger.  They were eating hay when I took their photograph and the white horse is eating quickly while the bay is watching something at a distance.  Paints used:  Daniel Smith quinacridone burnt orange and gold, UB, manganese, arylide, raw sienna, undersea green, carbazole violet, cobalt teal blue.

Old Faucet with Sunflowers

11x12.5 watercolor on Kilimanjaro 140 lb cold press paper; Daniel Smith paints.  This is an imaginary country still life with the vivid sunflowers, old rusty hydrant faucet and weathered wood barn wall behind.

Pasture-ized Milk Cows

15x5.5 watercolor of a tranquil countryside of rolling hills and milk cows enjoying the sun and green grass.

White Barns

7.5 x 11 watercolor, first painted a few years ago, then the other day unframed it and reworked parts of it.  I don't do too many landscapes but this scene is one of my favorites.  Landscapes are fine as long as there are some signs of life such as animals or buildings.

Reflection Waterlily Leaf

15x11 watercolor on Fabriano 140 lb cold press rough paper and Daniel Smith paints.  This pond scene was my second demo yesterday for the class.  We studied atmospheric effects in water such as this leaf reflection.  My colors are exaggerated of course, no plain browns and greens here.

Picnic Basket still life

11x15 watercolor demo today for my workshop held at my studio.  I cropped an old photo of a store window display, changed colors around then drew and painted this on Acquerello 140 lb cold press paper by Dick Blick.

Natural Daisies

7.25 x 11 watercolor on Saunders 140 lb cold press paper, an exercise in negative painting in this imaginary nature scene.
To make the splats for flower centers I stood on a chair about 5 feet above the paper, and with loaded brush squeezed varying shades of browns and let them fall.  Where those landed then became the central portion of each daisy.  I then painted around each with mixed pale value green, then several values of greens to carve out leaves and stems.  Finally I took a rigger brush when dry and put in positive shaped dark brown twigs.

Woven Strawberry - watercolor weaving how to do it

15x11 watercolor of a very large strawberry painted twice on separate 140 lb cold press Kilimanjaro paper, then cut one into horizontal strips and the other into vertical strips to weave together.  I'll show the step progression from beginning to end so that you may get up the courage to try a weaving yourself.

 Two drawings side by side on large backing board

 Crowns in mixed greens but not totally identical - wet on dry

 Closer view of first one done and yellow green underneath

 Added a bead wash of transparent pyrrol orange + gamboge

 More paint:  Permanent red by DaVinci

 Continuing on down adding Grumbacher true red, permanent rose

 First berry finished with thalo yellow green at bottom

 Second berry at the crown with small amount quinacridone gold

 Adding pink and reds very wetly

 More permanent red, plus colors above

 Finished berry - water spritzed onto it and gamboge splatters

 Side by side views

 Background mix of UB, cobalt, permanent rose, arylide; one diagonal blue gingham square

 More squares with Prussian, cobalt teal blue, mixed purples

 Both strawberries completed! Close but not identical

Cut one into vertical strips then horizontal 3/4 to 1" in width, with slight wavy lines

 Weaving begun at top of vertical image

 Continuing on downwards


The left one is now the only one with 3 strips left over that I'll save in the collage bin!

Enjoy if you try this technique, just give it a go!  NOTE:  Update! See new post on weaving tulips for April/May 2015 here

 



Cosmos Charisma

15x11 watercolor on Kilimanjaro 140 lb cold press paper with Daniel Smith paints.  This one is a demo finished a few days ago for an online painting group.  I used pale pink cosmos that grew in my studio garden.  First I did an abstract underpainting with primaries of permanent rose, ultramarine blue, and arylide yellow, then did the flowers wet on dry.  The pencil drawing for it could be also used horizontally.  This is direct painting with one application of pigment.  It is now SOLD.

Holiday Designs in July

15x11 watercolor on cold press 140 lb paper of a very cold cardinal that has now been SOLD.  Good news for my winter holiday designs here in July:  I have been contacted by the Dick Blick company for permission to use 10 of my Winter/Christmas themed art designs for their 2012 holiday catalog! Yay! It is truly Christmas in July here in hot west Texas!  Thanks to this company for promoting artists, encouraging us, and providing us with topnotch art supplies through the years.  They are a major advertisor for WetCanvas! dot com as well.

SunShine Sunflower

15x22 watercolor of a mature sunflower bending its head down from the weight of the summer sun.  This painting was a demo, done in about 1.5 hours, and has now been SOLD.

Giraffe Park

12x9 watercolor of a pair of giraffes in a nature park and they seem to be in love.  All their pattern was done brush only and was not pre-drawn with pencil.  This is painted on Canson Montval 140 lb cold press paper.

ChitChat Parrots

22x15 watercolor on 140 lb cold press paper, a unique design from my imagination.  Painted wet in wet, it is a happy work of these two macaws chatting away in the rainforest or other tropical setting.

More Pears on Pepper Plate collage

11x15 watercolor over collage book pages and slick toilet seat covers on acid free matboard; used matte medium to adhere papers to pencil drawing.  Paint was applied last.  These were fresh pears I put on a large ceramic southwestern pepper motif chip bowl.

Object of My Affection: Siamese Cat Jezebel

22x15 watercolor of studio cat Jezebel taking her morning sunshine bath in a south window there.  I found her as a stray kitten in 2000 so she is now 12 and still as feisty as ever.  My favorite memory is that she stared down and rushed at a runaway boxer dog several years ago and didn't even have to hiss or spit as he turned and ran.  Here's to your 12th birthday, sweet Jezzie!

Boy with Red Beach Pail vignette

15x22 watercolor vignette painted wet in wet of a young boy playing on the beach with his red pail, scooping sand and having fun.  I took his picture on our last trip to Puerto Rico in the brilliant sunshine.  Support is 140 lb Arches cold press paper with Daniel Smith pigments.

Sunsplashed House

6x10 watercolor on Saunders 300 lb cold press paper, Daniel Smith paints begun yesterday then finished up this afternoon.  This is a closely cropped old white house in Charlottetown, photo courtesy Wendy of WetCanvas, and is featured in July's Landscape forum. I love the splashy shadows made by the huge tree on the flowers, picket fence, and front foreground.

Backlit Poppies

15x11 watercolor on 140 lb cold press paper of mixed color poppies backlit by the sun.  This painting is SOLD!

Pair of Ponies

8 1/4 x 4 3/4 watercolor on Bristol 300 series paper over Tombow brush pen sketch as seen in below image; done this afternoon with Daniel Smith paints:  Quinacridone burnt orange and gold, UB, green gold, arylide, carbazole violet.  I've been wanting to do a line and wash work for awhile.  This pair of ponies will be featured this weekend on WetCanvas! online All Media Arts Forum.  Photo courtesy Maureen.

Kool Koi

15x11 watercolor on Yupo medium weight synthetic paper, drawn and painted today on the backside of another work.  These 3 guys look like they're up to no good swimming there in their own little world.  I used Daniel Smith transparent pyrrol orange, gamboge, quinacridone burnt orange and quin gold, yellow, UB, and American Journey Midnight Blue and raw umber violet.

Fourth of July Porch

12x9 watercolor of an American iconic white frame house with welcoming porch plants and of course flying the Stars and Stripes. Today we celebrate our Independence as a free nation.  God Bless America!!!

Poppy Presentation

11x15 watercolor on Kilimanjaro 140 lb cold press paper finished today; this poppy field is similar to one called Pops in the Park.  I'll be doing a demo on a scene similar in August for Painting Friends at Indian Rocks Beach, FL.  It was painted wet in wet but as it is still so dry here I kept rewetting the paper then gave up and worked wet on dry using Daniel Smith, American Journey, DaVinci pigments. Some negative painting of shapes can be seen here and there.