Woven Studio Hollyhocks

15x22 watercolor done by painting two almost identical works then cutting one in vertical wavy strips and the other in horizontals.  Woven together the strips make an exciting new piece of art from boring or otherwise overlooked scenes.  This one was my first attempt and is SOLD.
Image is COPYRIGHT Kay Smith.

Shutters in Belize

22x15 watercolor painted from photos I took while in Belize City; this old white wooden house had been let go and run down as were most of the older stately homes and mansions the British built.  Its fence also was trying to hold on with tall spindly white pickets guarding the secrets within.  Palm fronds and tropical flowering bushes nicely framed a lone green shuttered window.
Image is COPYRIGHT Kay Smith.

Red Barn, Stormy Skies

6x12 watercolor painted today on Strathmore 140 lb cold press paper.  After painting the rusted vintage truck yesterday I was still in a country frame of mind I suppose as I went through many of my barn photos searching for one not yet attempted.
Image is COPYRIGHT 2014 Kay Smith.

Old West Texas Truck

11x15 watercolor drawn yesterday and completed today, a commission that is SOLD.  This old hunk of rusting metal was photographed by me in Lamesa, TX years ago, sitting by its lonesome self in a vacant lot.  With my third time painting a rural scene such as this, I've omitted a few background houses and made the setting into a landscape with cloudy skies.  Foreground weeds are done in many layers as well as negative painting and splattering.  It was done on Arches rough 140 lb cold press paper/Daniel Smith pigments:  Quinacridones burnt orange and gold, undersea green, ultramarine blue, green gold, burnt sienna, raw umber, sepia, raw sienna, coastal fog, carbazole violet, indigo, transparent pyrrol orange and Halloween orange.

Geisha Girls

22x15 watermedia of two Asian women I drew from dolls then added imaginary costumes and umbrellas painted a few years back.  I used gouache, watercolor, Caran D'Ache on 140 lb hot press paper.  Here's another one that I drew letters and numbers on the background, then added and subtracted areas and glazing over others.  When almost done I used color spots to punch up highlights of these two sweet girls.  This work is SOLD.
Image is COPYRIGHT 2014 Kay Smith.

Birdhouse Row

5.5x8.5 watercolor and ink line on Master's Touch sketchbook paper painted today after sketching yesterday.  This imaginary scene reminds me of a little nature neighborhood surrounded by plants, flowers, pots with its residents busy doing bird things all day.
Image is COPYRIGHT 2014 Kay Smith.

Blackberry Patch

5.5x8.5 watercolor and ink with Pigma Micron 01 pen on Master's Touch sketchbook paper done over the weekend.  It was featured in the current weekend drawing event on WetCanvas and photo ref was courtesy Valri Ary.
Image is COPYRIGHT 2014 Kay Smith.

Summer Peaches

15x11 watercolor on Canson 140 lb cold press paper done today, a Painting Friends still life challenge featuring canned fresh peaches and ripe ones ready to eat (photo courtesy Mollie Jones).  I love the blue and white kitchen towel, the white tall bowl and the sunny imaginary foliage outside the window.  Shadows and reflections of each shape cause bounce light to occur thus creating color nuances most people don't see.
Image is COPYRIGHT 2014 Kay Smith.

Pickled

8.5x5.5 watercolor over ink line drawing using Pigma Micron 01 pen on Master's Touch sketchbook paper drawn yesterday and painted today.  Inspired by local canning products I can use this pickle jar to hope our Howard County Fair is a good one this fall.  Carrots, red bell pepper and garlic cloves dot the bottom part of this simple still life of vegetables.
Image is COPYRIGHT 2014 Kay Smith.

Keep Cows Weird

5.5x8.5 watercolor and ink (Pigma Micron 01 pen) on Masters Touch sketch book done last night, one of two painted while out of town for the weekend.  Drawn from life, I used a small figurine cow then made up the flowers in this contemporary cow vignette art.
Image is COPYRIGHT 2014 Kay Smith.

Cottage House Doorway

15x11 watercolor on 140 lb cold press paper of a white brick cottage style home located in east Texas I photographed in 2009.  Garden flowers are imaginary as it was in January with no sun, just cold temps.  I featured this house portrait on a WetCanvas contest this month in the Watermedia forum where I am a moderator.
Image is COPYRIGHT 2014 Kay Smith.

Chester's Cat Treat

5.5x8.5 watercolor and ink line with Micron 01 pen on Masters paper completed yesterday, Thursday, for the 1905 Hyperion group who met at my studio.  Chester is one of our 5 rescue cats who cannot resist a Dairy Queen Blizzard treat no matter the flavor.  I set mine down in the kitchen and turned my back only to find him chowing down on the cold ice cream.
Image is COPYRIGHT 2014 Kay Smith.

Taste of Freedom Dog

5.5x8.5 watercolor and ink line with Micron 01 on Masters paper done yesterday. This dog pet portrait shows a grateful fellow sticking his head out a car window to feel the breeze.Copyright 2014 Kay Smith.

Bird Dreams

9x12 watercolor, gouache, and India ink on Canson 140 lb paper completed yesterday.  It was a vertical loose and splashy sunflower, brush only that I painted Monday, being in the mood for sloshing pigment on paper that did not turn out.  So yesterday I began by lightly drawing in black India ink the shape of a bird.  Doing many bird paintings has triggered venturing off on an abstract tangent such as this, with vivid reds hitting electric blues.  Lollipop shaped flower petals were carved out negatively using gouache.  Light washes of white gouache were overlaid on much of the background.  The large dark irregular circle to the left of the bird is what's left of the sunflower center.  All in all it was total fun seeing what might pop up to be developed.  A tiny golden tree is to the bird's right, below his beak.  Feather and leaf shapes can be seen throughout.
Image is COPYRIGHT 2014 Kay Smith.

Bashful Burro

5.5x8.5 watercolor and ink line with Micron 01 pen on Masters paper done a few days ago.  This one was placed on WetCanvas Southwest/Western forum and photo courtesy Jenna.
Image is COPYRIGHT 2014 Kay Smith.

An Ancient Doorway

12x9 watercolor imaginary door set in stone that must be in an ancient building.  Painted on Canson 140 lb wc paper, this vignette will lead the viewer right on up to it.
Image COPYRIGHT 2014 Kay Smith.

Ready to Ride

15x11 watercolor and black India ink on Canson 140 lb cold press paper, done yesterday. My total time was 1 hour and it was drawn using a General's carpenter pencil, flat lead. I eliminated other figures and horses in the background, and strived for a loose splashy and spontaneous look.  This is featured in WetCanvas weekend drawing event/photo ref courtesy Gail Bowers.
Image is COPYRIGHT 2014 Kay Smith.

Old Farm Truck

12x9 watercolor completed today of an early rusty 1950s Ford flatbed truck that belongs to my husband's family in Vealmoor, TX.  I shot this rear end back of the vehicle years ago along with several others but never found the right mood or time to draw and paint it.  They used it to haul water and some object sits on top; its passenger door forever standing open, ready to work again.  There's something about old trucks or cars no longer needed that are forlorn and sad, a testament to busier times.
Image is COPYRIGHT 2014 Kay Smith.

Rust in Peace

11x15 watercolor of a broken down and rusted out old roadster.  On this one I used a limited palette and was able to do lots of negative painting in the foliage surrounding the junky car.  These antique vehicles are fun to paint and have a character all their own.
Image is COPYRIGHT 2010 Kay Smith.

Thai Cows

6x8.5 watercolor and ink tip pen on ColorSketch paper done recently from a WetCanvas weekend drawing event featuring Thailand scenes.  I loved these unusual looking cows walking along with soft greenery in the background.
Image is COPYRIGHT 2014 Kay Smith.

Putting for Birdie

20x22 watercolor golf scene of a foursome playing the hole hoping to get a birdie.  The reverse side of this is Coconut Crazy posted recently, so whoever purchases one gets the other as a freebie.
Image is COPYRIGHT Kay Smith.

Dolphins Hope and Winter

8.5x5.5 watercolor and ink on Masters paper done today.  I got up before 5 a.m. to draw these two dolphins.  Winter has a prosthetic tail made for her especially which you can see the beginnings of on the right side dolphin.  Hope was trying to nurse her dead mother when found.  Both Clearwater Florida rescue residents will star in their own TV show, Dolphin Tale 2, this Friday, 12 Sept. 2014.
Image is COPYRIGHT 2014 Kay Smith.

Lobster Pots

6x8.5 watercolor and ink with Micron 01 pen drawn and painted today for WetCanvas' weekend drawing event.  Photo is a crop of the ref provided by Kathy Mackay that she took in Newfoundland.  It was a grey overcast day and I was taken by the pile of lobster pots or traps by the boathouse, the boat and otherwise ordinary marine scene.  I have missed doing the line and wash paintings of various subjects.
Image is COPYRIGHT 2014 Kay Smith.

Trashy Trashy Poppies - steps for floral collage demo

12x12 mixed media collage on matboard with steps outlined below (media used: watercolor, gouache, ink, newspaper, paperback novel pages, yellow rice paper, cocktail napkins, giftwrap, doily, decorated craft paper).  Matte medium used to adhere collage elements by coating front and back with 1" flat sponge brush for housepainting.  Design based on 2012 painting "Trashy Poppies".

 Reference red and orange poppies reproduced on 2006 calendar for Wyoming Watercolor Society above.

 All paper has now been stuck and flattened.  Small round paper doily has been used many times as a stencil; you can see its different paint colors.  I've outlined in black Tombow brush pen the poppies and leaves and stems.  Cocktail napkin had a black background with its own flowers so we shall see if this works!  Gold fleur de lis design is on some of the paper scraps.  Yellow rice paper is bright! What a mess of trash we have here now.

 Begin to paint poppy petals using watercolors and if not strong enough, will use gouache.  If that isn't working I'll get acrylics.  Main top poppy has both watercolor and gouache; the reds start to bring it to life.  Stems and other greenery is put in.  It is easy to lift paint since the matte medium is on top of collage.

 Close up detail of large main poppy bloom with its dark center of indigo and carbazole violet for a mixed black.  Some of the yellow pre-printed flower is visible now through my first paint layer; I don't want it to overpower the poppy.  Periwinkle blue plus UB and white gouache is added around the poppy.  I'll glaze over the top yellow (top left) so it is not so prominent.

 With this step, darks are laid in with indigo, ultramarine blue and quinacridone burnt orange for a heavy dark.  I'm even able to pick out areas for negatively painting stems as you can see in this detail.  I'll leave the napkin flowers alone.

Darks were finished, blues added around the composition, referring back to original poppy design.  Centers were put in with mixed black on lowest flowers.  Blue glaze was added lower right for balance.  I lifted out lower left petal so the word SUMMER is more visible.  The gold and white giftwrap shines softly giving the composition an elegance for all the trashy components.  Such fun on a Sunday afternoon!  This is the finished work in progress of mixed media collage Trashy Trashy Poppies 12x12.
Image is COPYRIGHT 2014 Kay Smith.

Skillet Chef

15x11 watercolor on Canson 140 lb cold press paper drawn yesterday then finished today.  Inspired by a little figurine chef, I quickly sketched his profile in pencil then put in colors mixing black (quinacridone burnt orange + ultramarine blue).  His red scarf is Grumbacher True Red, alizarin, transparent pyrrol orange and Halloween orange.  This comical guy is another in my chef series spanning many years; each one is more fun than the last.
Image is COPYRIGHT 2014 Kay Smith.

Tampa Travelers

8.5x5.5 ink and watercolor or line and wash of my quick airport sketches waiting in Tampa.  People move quickly so it is imperative to get the figure and attributes down right away.  I used Pigma Micron 01 pen by Sakura, then after arriving home on 23 August, applied transparent watercolor to the two women.
Image is COPYRIGHT 2014 Kay Smith.

Cosmos and Red Watercan

12x9 watercolor and colored pencil on 140 lb cold press paper, done this Monday after seeing a similar watercan in the mountains . Cosmos flowers are imaginary along with the green foliage, grass and dirt.
Image is COPYRIGHT 2014 Kay Smith.

Rusted Jimmy Truck

11x14 watercolor of an old antique 1940s GM truck, commonly called a Jimmy, that I painted in 2010.  This work is now SOLD.
Copyright Kay Smith.

Crow Master rooster

11x8.5 watercolor on Kilimanjaro 140 lb cold press paper, drawn and painted over the weekend for an online exercise with WetCanvas! Using my iPad, I flipped the white rooster image then used a summer filter to make him more colorful with vivid yellow gold and gamboge feathers.  Blue Bice by American Journey are the opaque turquoise blue areas for cool touches in a warm temperature painting.  No masking was used for his tiny feathers above his eye.  The larger the wattle and comb, the more females he can attract.
Image is COPYRIGHT 2014 Kay Smith.

Waiting to be Petted kitty

6x4 watercolor, colored pencil and ink line drawing sketch on a magazine insert done on Friday.  I was needing to do my daily art and could not reach my art supplies bag while on a mountain trip, so used one of those annoying cards.  This ginger tabby kitten does not care; he only waits to be petted.
Image is COPYRIGHT 2014 Kay Smith.