Ribbon Parade

6x1.75 alcohol inks/watercolor on watercolor paper, a pulled print image that already had the curved shapes painted.  I've used a complementary color scheme of greens and reds in this abstraction.
COPYRIGHT 2019 Kay Smith

Roping

8.25x5.25 charcoal sketch on vintage book page that had been gessoed previously.  This young cowboy is preparing for his roping calf session atop his trusted quarter horse.
COPYRIGHT 2019 Kay Smith

Connections

16x12 mixed watermedia on Italia 140 lb cold press paper completed yesterday, an abstract experiment prompted by seeing downed power lines in past hurricanes aftermath.  Media used:  Watercolor, India ink, and white gesso.  I used a 1.5" flat Daler Rowney brush.
COPYRIGHT 2019 Kay Smith

Clever Crow

9x12 mixed watermedia on Canson 140 lb cold press paper. Using a sheet that I put underneath other works supplied various abstract markings in acrylics, ink, and watercolor.  I took the bird out of his natural environment and placed him here as if snatching morsels of food from his surroundings.
COPYRIGHT 2019 Kay Smith

Majestic Caribou

9.75x3.5 watercolor on Langton 140 lb cold press paper sketched and painted today from some of my older wildlife photos taken on various trips.  This lone fellow looks so majestic against the backdrop of an imaginary mountain range.
COPYRIGHT 2019 Kay Smith

Two Lab Puppies ~ National Dog Day!

8x8 watercolor on Italia 140 lb. cold press paper done this afternoon for National Dog Day.  These were in my animal photos from the 90s but never painted.  The yellow lab and the black lab were playing in the autumn or fall leaves.  A good image to paint on a day it is 111 F. outside.  So hurry up and change seasons!
COPYRIGHT 2019 Kay Smith

Guy in Class

6x4 alcohol inks on professional glossy photo paper done last month using Sharpie markers over the abstracted ink.  The guy in class is looking very focused on what the teacher is saying.
COPYRIGHT 2019 Kay Smith

Poppies by the Fence

22.25 x 16.25 watercolor on Langton Prestige 140 lb cold press paper painted today using multiple poppy photos.  I did quite a lot of negative painting in the background and worked wet on dry for the most part.
COPYRIGHT 2019 Kay Smith

Rescue Horses

9x12 watercolor collage on Canson 140 lb cold press paper finished today.  The idea for this exercise was given to me by another artist who uses it with her classes.  I thought it would be really easy.  Not! You take an old calendar, find a photo, tear into 5 strips vertically then adhere to watercolor paper using matte medium or Mod Podge.  Then paint in between the strips with watercolor and try to match colors and values.  Very difficult! But I do like the results of these three rescue horses how it turned out.
COPYRIGHT 2019 Kay Smith

Happy Dog

5.5x8.5 watercolor over ink line sketch using Micron 01 pen on Masters paper, done a few days ago, for the watermedia forum on WetCanvas! That is a monthly challenge with refs provided by the host Christel from Pixabay.  Daisies were added in foreground by me for a little extra pizzazz.
COPYRIGHT 2019 Kay Smith

Fat Chef with Red Moustache

8x8 watercolor and Micron 01 pen on Italia 140 lb hot press paper done over the weekend from my photo of a figurine chef.  I omitted the round tray he held with a drink on it.  Love doing these funny chefs.
COPYRIGHT 2019 Kay Smith

Downtown

9x6.25 watercolor pencil sketch with watercolor done over the weekend on Lanaquarelle 140 lb hot press paper.  The photo from downtown somewhere had to be finished in 2 hour time limit so my painting time was one hour, 10 minutes.  I liked the cute couple holding hands wearing their green and red complementary colors while a guy seated on the right past the hotel sign was watching them stroll along.
COPYRIGHT 2019 Kay Smith

Chester Cat Looks Up

7x5 watercolor on black Stonehenge 140 lb cold press wc paper done this past weekend.  Working on black paper was a first for me and this took 3 days off and on.  With this dark of a paper you have to build up light values, opposite from working on white paper.  Sketched with a white watercolor pencil and #2 pencil, I got the cat done.  Chester was perched on the back of my brown leather chaise.  White Daler Rowney watercolor used for white fur, and mixed blacks for his black fur.  Patterns on coral background were made using a paper stencil doily and Mint Julep and Periwinkle blue (American Journey).  Those two cool opaques were applied to far left background.  Whiskers were sketched first using white wc pencil.  No masking was used.  Highlights on the cat's black fur were thinned versions of palette greys.  A step by step demo can be seen on WetCanvas! in the Learning Zone on the Watercolor forum (www.wetcanvas.com)
COPYRIGHT 2019 Kay Smith

Kitchen Chefs

11x16 watercolor and India ink line on 300 lb Saunders Waterford paper, an imaginary kitchen scene of three chefs hard at work.
COPYRIGHT 2019 Kay Smith

Daffodil Day

8x8 acrylic inks on Italia 140 lb cold press paper done a few days ago, wishing for a nice spring next year with lots of rain and sunny yellow daffodils in bloom.
COPYRIGHT 2019 Kay Smith

Desert Skull

6x9 mixed media (walnut ink, watercolor, and spray ink stain by Tim Holtz) done on  140 lb hot press paper done last weekend.  In order to depict desert colors and the feel of heat, I had to use browns, clay colors, and oranges to support the almost all white bleached cowskull.
COPYRIGHT 2019 Kay Smith

Sperm Whale

8x8 watercolor on Italia 140 lb cold press paper painted last week for Facebook page All Animals Watercolor challenge.  This paper does not blend well so lots of water had to be used to paint the blue water.  Note reflections above the gigantic creature.
COPYRIGHT 2019 Kay Smith

Spanish Town after JM Parramon

14x11 watercolor on 140 lb cold press Kilimanjaro paper done last month while studying earlier watercolorists' cityscapes (after Jose Parramon).  In this scene it had been raining in Spain and buildings and figures are very abstracted.  You can see some reflections in the rainy street.
COPYRIGHT 2019 Kay Smith

Susan's Mom

9.25 x 6.5 India ink on dictionary page of a fellow artist's mother, circa 1950, done last week for another WetCanvas! challenge to do a 2 hour minimum painting.
COPYRIGHT 2019 Kay Smith

Fiery Tops

6x4 alcohol inks on pro photo paper, an abstract floral design done two summers ago but not ever posted.  This is a fitting title to the triple digit days we've been having here.
COPYRIGHT 2017 Kay Smith

Sweet Swan

10.25x6.25 watercolor on Lanaquarelle 140 lb hot press paper done yesterday as part of this weekend's drawing event on WetCanvas! Also the subject 'swan' is the prompt for this week's animal on Facebook's All Animals Watercolor page, so both challenges are now done with one image.  Ref courtesy Shane (WetCanvas!)
COPYRIGHT 2019 Kay Smith

New Mexico Aspens

8x8 watercolor on Italia 140 lb cold press paper done yesterday, another scene from New Mexico.  Three tall aspen trees take center stage in the foreground while behind are others.  Colors are starting to turn in this southwest country landscape.  Photo courtesy Jo/WetCanvas.
COPYRIGHT 2019 Kay Smith

Tall Flowering Cactus

8x8 watercolor on Italia 140 lb cold press paper using Daniel Smith and American Journey paints.  This imaginary desert flora scene was painted a few days ago.  The cactus seem to be reaching for the sun.
COPYRIGHT 2019 Kay Smith

Colorful Palms

9.5x7 watercolor on paper in Ecosystem sketchbook done the last week of July, another Florida scene from WetCanvas/Valri.  I tried to make the tree tops look more color infused than in real life.
COPYRIGHT 2019 Kay Smith

Summer Rain

8x8 gouache on Italia 140 lb. cold press paper done a few days ago using brush only, no pre-drawing with pencil.  In this imaginary scene dark skies with rain begin pelting the meadow flowers below.  There is a red poppy, a tulip, and a daisy surrounded by wildflowers.
COPYRIGHT 2019 Kay Smith

White Pigeon

8x8 watercolor on Italia 140 lb cold press paper done this afternoon using only cobalt blue and quinacridone burnt orange to begin with then adding quin gold, arylide yellow, quin magenta, and cadmium orange.  A mixed grey of all the colors was used for the building edge and roof line where the partially backlit bird is perched.
COPYRIGHT 2019 Kay Smith

Pricklies

8x8 watercolor on Italia 140 lb cold press paper sketched and painted today from prickly pear cactus just down the road.  This year the southwest native plants have bloomed profusely.
COPYRIGHT 2019 Kay Smith

Backyard Clotheslines

6x6 5/8 watercolor on Canson 140 lb cold press paper, painted today for another WetCanvas online challenge.  Several of the towel colors were changed to enhance the design in this shady backyard scene. Who doesn't remember the fresh smell of laundry that was dried outside? I miss it.
COPYRIGHT 2017 Kay Smith

Pink Parasol

30x22 mixed media done a few days ago using acrylics, gouache, watercolor and ink on 140 lb hot press Lanaquarelle paper.  This started out as a simple sketch and I put it away for a long time and just now taking it apart and repainting it.
COPYRIGHT 2019 Kay Smith

Starbucks, Sundance Square Ft. Worth

7x9.5 pen and ink scene with a Uniball Vision Elite pen on Ecosystem sketchbook, a plein air urban sketch done yesterday before noon in downtown Ft. Worth.  I spent about 45 minutes then had to get out of the hot sun; such a beautiful square with its fountains and cafes.
COPYRIGHT 2019 Kay Smith

Designer Birds II

12.25x23.75 watercolor on 140 lb cold press paper, a comical set of three roosters still life I drew from a ceramic model in my kitchen.  Background was left white to further emphasize the birds design.
COPYRIGHT Kay Smith