Garden Center Rabbit

12x9 watercolor on Langston 140 lb cold press paper, a previous plein air painting during a group paint out in Midland.  I took about 1.5 hours to sketch then paint with travel palette and outdoors gear.  The white rabbit garden statue was quite large sitting amongst the clay pots of petunias and other annuals.
COPYRIGHT Kay Smith

Calicos Eating Pie

9x12 watercolor done about 2 weeks ago of my brother's pair of calico cats.  They were eating leftover pecan pie in the barn and seemed to enjoy the treat even though not nutritious at all.  This is painted on Canson 140 lb cold press paper.
COPYRIGHT 2019 Kay Smith

Old Porch

15x11 watercolor on cold press 140 lb Saunders paper, a scene in our town of one of the old railroad houses.  The tree to the left has now been removed and the old wooden exterior has been replaced or repainted grey.  Shadows in my photograph are one of the appealing parts of the design.  No closets were in the house when I went inside many years ago.
COPYRIGHT Kay Smith.

Tree Trio

3x2.5 watercolor miniature done with a palette knife recently before doing a larger demonstration.
Imaginary landscapes such as these aspen trees are a lot of fun to create.
COPYRIGHT 2019 Kay Smith

Wednesday Daisy

6x4 watercolor on Canson 140 lb cold press paper done today as this morning was fresh as a daisy.  Painted wet on dry using a #1 script liner and #8 round brush using Daniel Smith paints.
COPYRIGHT 2019 Kay Smith

Rose Impressions

6.5x11 watercolor and pink/crimson Brusho crystals done today on 140 lb cold press Langton paper.  Yesterday I started it by spritzing water over dry paper at random then applying two new colors, Holbein's Bright Pink and Opera over wet areas.  Then Brusho was sprinkled over that and again water spritzed over the scattered crystals.  I used canned air to blow the wet pigment for an abstract background. When dry today I began isolating white and pink shapes reminiscent of roses and negatively painted those and green leaves and stems.  Quinacridone violet and alizarin crimson are the shadowed areas using a #1 script liner brush.
COPYRIGHT 2019 Kay Smith

Perfect Primrose

14x11 watercolor on Kilimanjaro 140 lb cold press paper completed today.  Evening primroses grow wild here in west Texas and are usually pale yellow to bright yellow with some pink ones.  This close up view shows its interesting center and display of long, slender yellow stamens.
COPYRIGHT 2019 Kay Smith

Fence Row Sunflowers

5.25 x 4.25 watercolor of imaginary wild sunflowers lined up in a row by an old white picket fence.   You can see these type flowering weeds growing everywhere.  This country scene is done on 140 lb cold press paper.
COPYRIGHT Kay Smith 2019

Remington Statue ~ plein air sketch

11x8.5 ink sketch on Strathmore mixed media art journal done en plein air this morning at Hotel Settles in Big Spring.  I hosted the Odessa Watercolor Horizons Group artists for a paint out.  Two of Remington's western statues are east of the main entrance and this is a crop of one of them.
COPYRIGHT  2019 Kay Smith

Springtime Sparrow

4x6 watercolor on Canson 140 lb cold press paper done today.  First I used a primary color set of quinacridone gold, Blue Bice, and permanent rose to splash over a dry background creating an abstraction. Next I sketched the bird from a small figurine, painting him in quin gold and burnt orange along with sepia. Shadow was a mix of quin magenta and indigo.  When dry splatters were added with a #12 round brush and Blue Bice (American Journey/Cheap Joe's Art Stuff).
COPYRIGHT 2019 Kay Smith

Concrete Jungle elephants

16x20 watercolor on Canson 140 lb cold press paper using a limited palette of burnt sienna, ultramarine blue, and quinacridone gold completed today for an online challenge (photo courtesy Pixabay).  This one took two days to get it just right as it is largely a painting of neutrals with dark, medium, and light values.
COPYRIGHT 2019 Kay Smith

Cosmos World ~ First Day of Spring!

9x8 watercolor on this the first day of Spring 20 March! Just some bright pinks, blues, greens and yellows in this airy painting.  Another in my cosmos floral series using photos from my studio garden.
COPYRIGHT 2019 Kay Smith

Pronghorn Resting

5x7 watercolor and ink line using Micron 01 pen on vintage book text done last week.  This antelope is having himself a rest from his hunting.  We saw so many of these in the plains between western Texas and eastern New Mexico.
COPYRIGHT Kay Smith 2019

Cosmos Field

5.25x8.25 watercolor done in my grunge/junk journal today, a vintage 1950 book, over gesso on part of the page. I used two of my cosmos photos from 2009 and combined the white flowers with the others.  Although a small format this one really packs a Spring punch as it arrives day after tomorrow.
COPYRIGHT 2019 Kay Smith

Cosmos Afternoon ~ Demo Acrylic Inks

8.5x11 acrylic inks floral on watercolor paper done this afternoon as a demonstration for Odessa Art Association.  I have used the same pink cosmos photo and edited out other blooms in it to focus on one large flower and several supporting new ones.  This paint dries almost immediately and it is a slightly opaque look compared to transparent watercolors.
COPYRIGHT 2019 Kay Smith

Aspens in Snow ~ Demo WC Palette Knife

15x11 watercolor demonstration for Big Spring Art Association today using a palette knife only.  This is on Canson 140 lb cold press paper/Daniel Smith paints:  Quinacridones burnt orange/gold, ultramarine blue, indigo, sepia, transparent pyrrol orange, raw umber, and Mission Gold burnt sienna.  In this imaginary tree scene, one can feel the first snow and see several remaining autumn leaves clinging to branches.  I painted this upside down.  A similar scene was also done with a palette knife featuring birches in 2012.  Negative painting can be seen in the background on other trees.
COPYRIGHT 2019 Kay Smith

Belize Umbrellas

15x11 watercolor on 140 lb cold press Saunders paper, with Daniel Smith paints.  Using a marketplace photo from our trip to Belize several years ago, I painted this townscape rapidly using only bright colors at the center of interest.  The background was a wash of manganese blue except for the white of the paper showing.  I like the open market vendors selling their wares.
COPYRIGHT 2019 Kay Smith

Christian's Koi

15x10.25 watercolor on gessoed watercolor paper, drawn and painted from one of my giant koi pond photos taken at the Las Vegas Flamingo Hilton.  Their darting about under the water seemed to go with the gesso streaks as if water was actually above them.
COPYRIGHT Kay Smith

Unfolding Blues

18x10 alcohol inks on paper done last week, an exercise in using more than one blue and one green, plus a dark blue almost navy, as the dark color.  The stem was made using a wooden chopstick and the color Lettuce.
COPYRIGHT 2019 Kay Smith

Three Red Pears

6.75x9.5 gouache on book text, a page from an old dictionary, done recently as part of an online challenge. Gouache is the perfect medium for a still life subject such as this.
COPYRIGHT 2019 Kay Smith

Birdbath Garden

7x5 on Moleskine sketchbook for watercolor, a garden scene done over the weekend in hopes for sunny warm weather soon.
COPYRIGHT 2019 Kay Smith

Winter Tree Grove

5x5.5 watercolor on 140 lb cold press paper done during our last December's frosty, icy spell of an imaginary grove of trees.  Fog and frost create a dimmed and hazy focus on the outer trees.
COPYRIGHT 2018 Kay Smith.

Barn Buildings

15x10 watercolor vignette on 140 lb Arches cold press paper of an imaginary farm scene complete with barn outbuildings, silo, trees, and debris scattered about.
COPYRIGHT 2019 Kay Smith

Redness

4x6 alcohol ink on glossy photo paper with ink line sketched over using Micron 05 pen.  With this red abstract background the focus is easily upon the geranium blooms.
COPYRIGHT 2019 Kay Smith

Rabbit Morning

7.25x5 watercolor and gouache over ink line drawing with Micron 01 pen done over the weekend.  As a companion piece to Rabbit Days, this black and white rabbit is sketched on a novel page from a discarded book.  He appears ready to hop right onto your lap with this macro view.
COPYRIGHT 2017 Kay Smith.

Old Barn and Trees

2.5x3.5 watercolor miniature on Arches 140 lb cold press paper done today, an exercise in painting negative shapes using only two values, dark and light.  In this imaginary scene winter has moved in to stay.  Colors used:  Quinacridone burnt orange, ultramarine blue, and sepia.  Actual size of this art card edition original can be seen below.
COPYRIGHT 2019 Kay Smith.

Actual size

Sunflower Jungle

4x6 alcohol inks on glossy photo paper done today as a last ditch effort to save a blue green abstract marked design.  What to do? Add yellow for petals then dark brown/black for centers and voila! you have sunflowers growing and glowing.  Too much fun are these inks.
COPYRIGHT 2019 Kay Smith

Blue Koi

12x9 watercolor on Canson 140 lb cold press paper begun this weekend then finished today.  As part of a WetCanvas event, artists have 2 hours to choose an image then paint it so I chose this blue fish (courtesy Li Newton).  It was first drawn in ink in my sketchbook then traced onto the wc paper which had various marks on its surface from other works.  Touches of white gouache were used. A lot of work but a lot of fun!
COPYRIGHT 2019 Kay Smith

Orange Tulip Row

6x9 alcohol inks on paper card just done, a rather abstract floral of orange blooms complemented by their green foliage.  Seeing these imaginary tulips help put us all in a Spring frame of mind.
COPYRIGHT 2019 Kay Smith.

Canada Goose

7x9.5 watercolor pencils on paper done last month, a goose happily swimming along in the water which I've depicted with multiple blues and greens, with a few orange accents.  Photo courtesy WetCanvas/Federico Garcia.
COPYRIGHT 2019 Kay Smith

Rabbit Days for March

5x7.25 watercolor, gouache, and ink line on old novel page of a discarded book page.  Sketched with Pigma Micron 01 pen I put in the dark mixed blacks and browns first then added white gouache on his fur.  Whiskers were drawn with white gel pen.  Now that Spring is happening this month on the 20th rabbits have been on my mind.  Love to paint black and white subjects so hope you enjoy.
COPYRIGHT 2019 Kay Smith.