Chicken a la King

22x15 watercolor of chickens on the farm pecking around the hay bales below the quintessential red barn.  Just as the rooster crowed to welcome a new sunny day, we welcome a brand new year.  Happy New Year to all my followers, friends, and fellow artists!

Happy New Year! Party Hearty!

15x11 watercolor on Arches 140 lb cold press paper finished today.  I've titled this one "Splendor in the Glass".
New specialty drinks for those wanting to imbibe, the red one is a cinnamon whiskey with lime.  I think I'll have iced tea, though, and stay at home.  I want to wish all of my followers and friends a very happy new year!

Cowabunga cows

15x22 watercolor and ink on Italia 140 lb soft press paper using 3 color limited palette:  Quinacridone burnt orange, ultramarine blue, and Peachy Keen painted today.  I drew them first in pencil, then added black India ink sparingly, then applied paint wet on dry.

Funky Fellow zebra

30x22 watercolor SOLD completed a few years ago.  After drawing the zebra, I cut stripes with a razor blade and removed them, then placed an old dog of a watercolor behind.  This provided pattern and gave the animal some pizzazz.

Antique Books

22x15 watercolor of antique vase and books done several years ago and SOLD to a family who donated it to a cancer treatment center in Midland, TX.  I've searched for it when I have been there to no avail, but did locate it last week, and took a higher resolution photo through its glass as I didn't have one decent image.

Old Porch

15x11 watercolor completed today of an old white house here in town I've painted before. It is an old railroad abode commonly called the Heckler house that sits at 18th and Main Streets.  When I photographed it in 1996 it was rundown and its proud porch falling into ruin. I've eliminated its second screen door that was where the mailbox is, for clarity.  A woman who lived here as a child commissioned one painting then another and the second one had a black and white cat on the porch.  But the first version I sold to a single guy who moved away and the last version to a lawyer in Wyoming; all were different sizes and color variations.  At any rate, no matter the buyer, old country house porches such as this evoke feelings and memories of nostalgia.  Today's version is an online demo and if time permits I'll post step by step work in progress (WIP) here on the blog.

Bookworm cat

11x15 watercolor on 140 lb hot press Lanaquarelle paper, drawn yesterday and painted this afternoon.  This fat fellow is titled "Bookworm" and is a cat featured by this weekend drawing event host on WetCanvas! He has his own little shelf perch and seems quite comfortable.  Time limits to paint and draw are 2 hours.

Red Lion Amaryllis

15x22 watercolor floral, drawn and painted from life a few Christmases ago.  I left the background white in an attempt to make the red blooms more vibrant.  Support used is 140 lb cold press paper with DaVinci/Daniel Smith paints.

Old Santa

4x6 watercolor painted today from a photo taken at a local florist shop Inspirations. This lifesize Santa stands at their front door. I love his crooked glasses, as if he had one too many hot toddies on his route around the world.  Support is Langton Prestige 140 lb cold press paper with Daniel Smith paints.

No Smoking

30x22 watermedia (acrylic and gouache) plus torn paper collage on some of the main figure and background. I had done the entire piece in gouache then added acrylic and small amounts tissue paper collage and the composition just did not work.  So today I tackled it again and am not sure it is finished.  The far right figure is watching the guy having a smoke break while far left guy has his eyes closed, so what can be the artist's intent?

Photo Inspiration for Pink Poinsettia & Puss

Here is the photo I used of front studio room featuring large pink poinsettia plant, column, silver paper doily, Siamese Jezebel, painted cabinet behind her red wicker chair.  There's a painted window in the actual window, upper right.

Pink Poinsettia and Puss

22x15 watercolor, oil pastel, and colored pencils on Saunders 140 lb cold press paper drawn and painted from life today and yesterday. Jezebel is my studio cat and she posed prettily looking at the pink poinsettia plant.  The wicker chair she sat in is red but here I've made it purple to fit in with pinks.  The plant sits on a very old concrete column that is peeling copper paint.  Its pot is a harsh green so here I have painted in blues and golds.  While wet, I sanded colored pencils into the areas and enhanced other parts with oil pastels that are watersoluble.

Peppermint Amaryllis

11x15 watercolor of white with red edged amaryllis in full bloom.  This work is SOLD.

Candy Cane - a Christmas still life

12x9 watercolor on Strathmore 140 lb cold press paper, drawn today using Magic Pencil (colored pencil) then quickly laying in wet mixtures of greens using Prussian blue and UB plus arylide yellow and quinacridone gold. I also used undersea green by Daniel Smith. Candy canes are the cheapest decoration you can find probably but always enjoy seeing their fresh red and white swirls on a green tree.
Merry Christmas, everybody! Feliz Navidad!

What's New Pussycat?

11x15 watercolor and India ink on Saunders 140 lb cold press paper, painted this afternoon.  I first sketched him in pencil then went over the lines with black ink. When almost dry I began laying in browns and golds wet on dry with 1" sable flat brush.  This is Roger, a cat I had years ago, doing his thing:  Sleeping! Colors used: Sepia, quinacridone burnt orange and gold, raw umber, UB, Coastal Fog, permanent rose.

Terrible Tuna

22x15 mixed watermedia collage on Lanaquarelle 140 lb hot press paper.  I first laid a Big Spring Herald newspaper sheet and adhered it to watercolor paper, rolling with a brayer, to remove air bubbles. When dry, I put long strips of masking tape over in a random pattern and pulled that off which removed some of the printed text. Then I sketched tuna fish with Caran D'Ache watersoluble wax crayons and painted inside of the fish. Using a 1" wet brush, I spread the colors.  Next I used various cool colors plus white gouache to go over the entire background. After all was dry, the tuna was too terrible and boring, so I outlined him in black India ink then began adding torn paper collage. I did leave a few areas untouched and think the fellow is ready to eat.

Winter Wood

10.75 x 4.25 watercolor using palette knife on Saunders 300 lb cold press paper, done today of this quiet aspen wood in snow. Background trees were painted with a brush; this is another in my forest series of birches and aspens.

Chilly Chaps (Penguins)

8x5.5 watercolor on Canson 140 lb cold press paper with Daniel Smith/AJ paints, drawn today. I used several cool colored crayons including white to outline trees behind the penguins, then laid in loose spontaneous washes of ultramarine, manganese, midnight blues. Carbazole violet was used also.  No masking applied; just went around snowy white areas leaving as the white of the paper. Black was mixed with alizarin crimson and thalo green for this pair of chilly chaps.

Asian Persimmons

15x22 watercolor on cold press paper, 140 lb, a fruit and statue still life I photographed using fresh Asian persimmons. They were given to me by my Vietnamese friend Rose. I already had the tall and heavy statue, so set the persimmons on a brocade silk pillow in a sunny window. I wanted it to have a mysterious feel of the Orient.

Evergreen Edges

7x6 watercolor and crayon on Lanaquarelle 140 lb hot press paper, another imaginary forest trees in a series.  This one was done today and included a decorated evergreen for Christmas.  Merry Christmas to all of you and a happy good night!

Santa Hat Snowman

6x4 happy snowman in a Santa Claus hat with red scarf.  I made the snow look so real you can imagine touching its cold powder.
This is watercolor on cold press 140 lb paper done a few days ago.

Funky Deer

10.5 x 7 watercolor and glitter crayon on Lanaquarelle 140 lb. hot press paper, an imaginary deer or moose creature dressed for winter holidays.

Pink Christmas Tree

11.5 x 7.25 watercolor and crayon on Lanaquarelle 140 lb hot press paper, another stylized Christmas tree in a series of conical funky shaped ones.  Look closely and you can see Christmas Tree spelled out in green lettering inside it.

Untouched Powder

5x7 watercolor snow scene at dusk showing pristine white powder untouched by animals or humans.  Four birch trees stand guard in front of evergreens in background.  I painted this imaginary scene today on Lanaquarelle 140 lb hot press paper with Daniel Smith paints:  Permanent rose, Prussian blue, sap green, quin burnt orange and gold, carbazole violet and burnt sienna.

Red Bike

11x15 watercolor I started over a week ago and took too long so finally got it done yesterday.  Support used is Italia 140 lb cold press paper with Daniel Smith/American Journey paints.  The red bike belongs to Li Newton of the Bahamas and I changed its setting then added flowers to the basket as well as shutters.

Frosted Flakes

10.5x7 watermedia on Lanaquarelle 140 lb hot press paper, done today.  First I marked tree cone shaped lines with white and grey crayons, then filled in with various watercolors:  Raw umber, Coastal Fog, Mint Julep, Midnight Blue, UB, Manganese Blue and Daniel Smith's Undersea Green.  While still wet, I dropped more colors in, then splattered white gouache on all of it.  It's just a fun one of three trees in snow with their frosted flakes.