Easter Egg Hunt ink sketch

6x6 sketch done early this morning of a little girl hurriedly grabbing colored eggs in the grass. I used Faber Castell grey pen.

Wish You Were Here - beach scene

21.75 x 16.5 watercolor on Italia 140 lb soft press paper done today.  This is a crop from a horizontal beach seascape with major elements rearranged, such as removing the picket fence that went straight across, parallel to the bottom, a compositional no-no! The scene had brush, grass, and branches throughout so those were edited and omitted.  Now the viewer can walk in and go towards the next dune, the water, or the houses distant upper left.  All I drew with pencil were the houses and large foliage upper right; all else is done with a brush.  Sure wish I was there!

Brown Pelican

11x8.5 finished version of a pelican on the wharf.  After my first sketch, Inktense pencils were added as seen in the image below.  Next I added water and gently brushed in the colors.  It is easy to see how just a small amount of water changes the whole composition into a more softer feel from a graphic presentation.

Initial sketch done with Pigma Micron 01 pen and is featured on WetCanvas.com in the Southwest/Western forum for March.

Spring's in the Air - watercolor demo today

15x11 watercolor on Arches 140 lb cold press paper, a vignette of imaginary spring blooms, watercan, and little hummingbird.  Today I took off work and did the Snyder, Texas Palette Club program, held at their airport.  It was loads of fun on a bright and sunny spring day!

This is me holding the finished painting Spring is in the Air.

Heavenly Hibiscus

16x13.25 watercolor on Italia 140 lb soft press paper, drawn and painted yesterday in a loose, splashy manner with a #12 synthetic round Robert Simmons brush.  Daniel Smith paints were used, primarily quinacridones coral and magenta, transparent pyrrol orange, green gold, undersea green, carbazole violet, alizarin and ultramarine blue.  Others used were fuchsia, permanent rose by Da Vinci.
Happy Easter to all of my friends and followers!

Beach Umbrellas

12x18 watercolor of various colorful beach 'brellas on a sandy beach complete with palm trees and warm temps.  I drew this with Pigma Micron 01 pen.

Bluebird - Inktense sketch/ink images

6x6 bluebird sketched with Pigma Micron 01 pen, then Derwent Inktense pencils colored in with water as final application; the first step is shown below sans water.  For the background, I just pulled pigment away from the bird for a soft muted atmospheric approach.

This view is totally different, a rather raw unfinished look which I do like.  I bought the Inktense small set at Jerry's Artarama while in Houston week before last and tried them out with this bird.  The set only has 12 colors so not much variety there.  Manufactured in the UK, I had seen the pencils in use by many artists with some amazing results.  I enjoy trying new art products; you never know what's out there that might just fit the bill.  By the way, the top image above is not that reddish in real life.

Donkey with Daisies

6x6 Derwent Inktense watersoluble pencils with Pigma Micron 03 sketch of a cute donkey named Juniper. After it was done, I added the uncolored daisies for whimsy in honor of Spring finally arriving.  Juniper was featured on last Saturday's WetCanvas Weekend Drawing Event and belongs to Jean, one of two donkeys she owns.

Boxer pet portrait

6x6 watercolor pet portrait of a young boxer named Thor.  He is Vernita Bridges Hoyt's dog.  I drew him from life with black Sharpie ultrafine tip pen.  He looks very fierce and mean here but is a sweet fellow in real life.
This work is SOLD.

Wild Strawberries

6x6 watercolor done today of imaginary wild berries.  First drawn with Pigma Micron 01 pen in my sketchbook, then on to watercolor with 1-2 applications of Daniel Smith paints.

White Iris and Citrus

7.5x11 watercolor on Arches 140 lb cold press paper/Daniel Smith paints.  Last week in Jan Fabian Wallake's design class at Watercolor Art Society-Houston (WAS-H), we were to draw fruit and flowers in a contemporary manner then paint it.  Emphasis was on elements and principles of design, negative painting, and overall improvement of our existing methods.  With this one, I used flat floating shapes with contour line and uneven negative spaces between each part.  A fun yet thoughtful exercise to shake up your composition if it is in a rut.

Uncaged Birds

8x11 watercolor on Italia 140 lb soft press paper.  It's the first one painted yesterday since taking Jan Fabian Wallake's Houston workshop last week. She recommended we take a photo and deconstruct it into geometric shapes totally unrecognizable using design principles then paint it. I took parakeets in a gilded cage, drew them and an archway on newsprint, disregarded the cage bars, and did lots of thumbnail sketches. Then with scissors I cut out another bird and arranged and rearranged on tracing paper until a composition emerged. The archways are now doors, the birds (black and white for contrast) are uncaged and free, with some pattern surrounding them.  Cool accents are in a warm color dominance; note the other bird at top by a slice of orange, rather bland and almost unnoticeable.  I'm thinking of painting this again in a larger format.

Below is a shot of the tiny photo.

Palomino Horse

6x6 watercolor and ink line wash, a macro view of a palomino complete with a white star on his forehead.  This was done in my new sketchbook with Pigma Micron 01 pen last week for a daily sketch.

Tulip Trio - anticipating Spring!

15x22 watercolor of imaginary parrot tulips blooming in the soft spring sunshine.  For this one, I splashed and poured paint in a random array of warm colors:  Permanent rose, gamboge, aureolin, transparent pyrrol orange, quinacridone coral, alizarin crimson, then added cools of manganese blue, Prussian and ultramarine, plus mixed greens.  No tube greens for me!

Daffodil Hill

11x15 watercolor done a few years ago of happy yellow faced daffodils blooming alongside white ones on a hill, an imaginary scene just in time for springtime.  The front stems are negatively painted in this small floral landscape.

Little Red Barn

6x6 ink and watercolor sketch using new sketchbook my friend Leada Wood gave me; this is a detail from a larger one.  So, Spring is around the corner and we won't be seeing any new snow here, as temps were in the high 80s today.

Baby Tree Frog

8.5x11 cute tree frog sketched with Micron 01 pen, then watersoluble colored pencils added then washes with water.

Footlong Hotdog

Here is my footlong hotdog, complete with jalapenos, red and white onions, slaw, pickles, tomatoes, red bell pepper, cilantro, celery, and mustard on poppyseed buns, all made up! It's watercolor 6.5x11 on Italia 140 lb cold press paper, drawn with Pigma Micron 01 pen, and painted with Daniel Smith paints today.  Now I'm hungry for a Sonic Chicago dog...

Buenos Aires cityscape

11x8 watercolor cityscape, an online lesson I finished tonight taught by Fernando Pena, an awesome painter and good friend.  With loose washes on wet paper, a town scene and its people quickly came together from his ref photo.  Now it is time to post it for him to see.  It was sooooo hard not to put in all the detail I love.  See Fernando's youtube videos HERE.

Flirty Flamingos - reworked watercolor

After getting more email inquiries about this painting I thought I'd post it again here, and that will feed into Daily Painters website where most of my work sells.  It is 15x22 watercolor over a failed geranium painting. In the old composition, I'd done geraniums and practiced negative painting leaves.  It was so totally horrible no artist in their right mind would show it.  Either they'd paint on the back or throw in the nearest bin.  But I love to remake and save lost sinners, hence this attempt at a redesign.  It did win Best of Show at one of our Big Spring Art Association exhibits at Howard College.  This fun scene is one of many of my old dogs redone into something else, reworked or recycled to make a better piece of art.  Currently I'm gathering information to submit to North Light books on my rescued paintings.  It is thrilling to note that one of them, Baby Callas, collection Terry and Jan Hansen, won a point with the Western Federation of Watercolor Societies as did another, Alter Egos, collection John D. Jones.  The latter won my 5th and final point with WFWS.

Tulip Tapestry

15x22 watercolor drawn Sunday and finished today, a totally imaginary scene.  I had a new nursery garden catalog which had a tulip with these dark blue/purple centers inside green topped with brilliant reds, called 'poppy tulips'.  Butterflies or moths circle gently over the tulip garden against the stark white background.  It is time for Spring!

TransPear-ant Pears

11x15 watercolor of several pears which I tried to make transparent by stenciling doily pattern on top of and under the fruit.  This is sort of a freeform, happy little painting full of light and color.  Daniel Smith paints were used with Strathmore 140 lb cold press paper.

White Petunia Hanging Basket

16x20 watercolor on Arches 140 lb cold press paper with Daniel Smith paints.  This was painted partially wet in wet rapidly using floral photo ref of some vibrant white petunias in a basket by studio door.  It was taken before I had the shutters painted from purple to pale green.  The building also had red trim, hence the red background behind flowers.

Bassett Hound

12x9 watercolor on Langton 140 lb cold press paper/Daniel Smith paints completed today from a recent ink sketch.  He seems oblivious to anything else going on in the world.

All Around the Town

12x9 watercolor on Langton 140 lb cold press paper/Daniel Smith paints and Winsor Newton.  First I sketched the scene using black ultrafine Sharpie pen and did crosshatching in darkest value areas such as doorways and windows, then painted it.  At the very end, a woman was added.  Photo ref courtesy my friend Kev Fowler who took it in Skiathos, Greece; buildings edited out for clarity and design.