Dog Days of August

8 3/4 x 12 inches watercolor on Canson 140 lb cold press paper drawn with Magic pencils today and painted.  The pencils are watersoluble and come formulated with 3-4 colors in each variety.  Marks are different colors and can give an artist a jump start to expressing creativity.  This dog has a sandy brown longhaired coat and light brown eyes.  With the Magic pencils giving me suggestive line ideas, development of a more colorful innovative subject resulted.

Red Hat at the Beach

7x5 watercolor of a woman on the beach wearing a red sun hat and looking out to the ocean.  This work has been SOLD.

Elephant Eating

15x10 watercolor of a happy ellie eating from a tree.  Painted on Canson Montval 140 lb cold press paper I used Daniel Smith/DaVinci/American Journey paints.  This was done wet on dry.

Purrfect Harmony cat

15x22 watercolor done several years ago of black and white cat playing his own harmony purrfectly with just the right key piano notes.This work has been SOLD and is in the collection of Leada Wood, Studio Twenty in Colorado City, TX.

Black Beauty hollyhock

30x22 watercolor on Arches 140 lb cold press paper, done several years ago, and purchased by my friend Debie Pirkle.  She brought it to be reframed so I took this opportunity to take a higher resolution photo image for my files.  Today I delivered it to her new house and it looks right at home there, framed with dark brown and an orange-red inner mat along with custom dark wood molding.  This black beauty is my favorite floral from the studio garden and is one of those you hate to part with.  This painting is SOLD. 

Ready to Ride

8 3/4x 6 inches watercolor on Strathmore 140 lb paper; Daniel Smith paints, done today as my daily work.  Original photo featured on WetCanvas weekend drawing event by Lin.  You have to draw and paint your subject in under 2 hours.  This one was about an hour.Lin said the horse was in Laugharne, Carmathenshire, Wales where the RSPCA found him abandoned and starving.  A woman rescued him and they do dressage together.  For this work I've not painted her riding him and edited out buildings and clutter showing just him, such a handsome guy!

HonkyTonk Shoes

7x11 watercolor and Pigma Micron 01 pen on Strathmore paper, drawn from some of my wild shoes and imaginary ones.  Ready to go dancing at the nearest honkytonk!

Being a Lab on a Green Couch

7x10 watercolor on Langton Prestige 140 lb CP paper; Daniel Smith paints done today as my daily painting.  I got wild with the color adding midnight blue to shadow areas on the dog's coat, quinacridone gold and gamboge on highlights and quin violet along with quin burnt orange elsewhere...green couch is covered in a loose slipcover.  At the end of an hour I let drips happen where they were.  This one is featured on WetCanvas Weekend Drawing Event and ref courtesy of Susan the host.  The labrador was chocolate in color and couch was blue; the dog blended into the furniture and was a boring dull hue.

Apple - torn paper collage

10x10 wrapped canvas, a torn magazine paper collage applied with matte medium after drawing an apple outline.  This is my daily painting for today.  An iPhone is hidden somewhere within; can you find it?

Leopard Prowl

5x7.5 watercolor painted from one of my zoo animal file photos with an imaginary background and foreground.  Splattering was done when dry using a loaded brush with red orange, blue, and mint julep for texture.

Windowsill Veggie Still Life

15x22 watercolor of a collection of vegetables and a pot of herbs still life in a sunny windowsill.Painted wet in wet quickly for that juicy loose look.

Beach Cottage

15x11 watercolor of a Florida cottage at Indian Rocks beach where I was to be staying all week but didn't due to airlines mechanical problems Sunday.  At least thru painting I can pretend I'm there enjoying the sand, sea, and sun.  This was painted wet in wet on Italia 140 lb cold press paper with Daniel Smith pigments.  Photo courtesy Bonnie Tunney.

Nasturtiums and Poppies

10x8 acrylics on wrapped canvas done today.  These two types of blooms you don't see in compositions together usually.  The sides are also painted with overlapping design elements.

Blue Monday hydrangeas - no pencil or photo

10x15 watercolor of blue and white hydrangeas painted very wet in wet on Canson 140 lb cold press paper using Daniel Smith paints, done today.  No photo or pencil used, just brush only.

Party Pods

15x22 watercolor on Fabriano 140 lb rough paper and Daniel Smith paints done today using only a black & white photo.  So all color is made up, following the values present in the photo copy.  One lone lotus blossom rises amongst the partiers who sing and dance above a sea of lilypads.

Rustification - old truck

12x18 watercolor of a very old rusted pickup truck I photographed in Lamesa, TX years ago.  I did paint a more colorful version before but sold it, and today decided I'd play up the rust and weedy vacant lot more.  First I put down very wet washes on dry Strathmore paper of ultramarine blue, quinacridone gold, and permanent rose.  After drying I got the darkest darks in wet on dry using carbazole violet and quinacridone burnt orange.  Lastly I painted in an old fence post lower right that wasn't in the original one.  This work has now been SOLD.

Open Air Market

22x15 watercolor painted wet in wet of a woman shopping for fresh vegetables and fruit at an outdoor farmer's market.
This scene is done on Saunders 140 lb cold press paper with Daniel Smith paints.

Burro

7.25x6.5 watercolor of a small burro I photographed last year on another New Mexico trip.  This fellow was in an area with another almost identical animal.  I added red trim to his halter but the flowery weeds were pink.  They were very friendly and walked up to be petted.  This is painted on Strathmore 140 lb cold press paper with Daniel Smith pigments and is a daily painting.

Pepper Basket

4x7 watercolor of an old beaten up basket I saw while in Ruidoso years ago, holding ripe red chile peppers.  This basket was at a nursery greenhouse called 4 Seasons and I liked the shadows on the pavement and bright sunlit area to the right lower side.  Paper support is Strathmore 140 lb cold press with Daniel Smith paints.

Thru the Fence

5x9 watercolor on Strathmore 140 lb cold press paper with Daniel Smith paints, done yesterday afternoon.  There's something about old fences with vines and flowers poking thru that says country subject to me worth painting.

White Tea Rose

15x11 watercolor of one of my white tea roses, painted wet on dry Strathmore 140 lb cold press paper with 1.5" flat brush. I painted this rose while in the mountains of New Mexico this past weekend and do like its softness and subtlety.

Fresh Apple

7.5x11 watercolor on Fabriano rough 140 lb cold press paper, painted yesterday and today while on a long weekend trip to the New Mexico studio.  There were apples everywhere!