Pomegranate Still Life

4.5x6.5 oil pastels over ink sketch with STA 0.1 pen on toned tan paper done over the weekend for an online challenge limiting participants to 2 hours.  Photo courtesy WetCanvas.com
COPYRIGHT 2020 Kay Smith

First Rose of Spring

12x12 watercolor and Brusho wc crystals on 140 lb cold press paper started yesterday in pencil from my first blooming rose, a peace rose bush, at my studio.  First the paper was spritzed with water then dilute permanent rose paint applied.  When dry, spritzed again at random and dusted Crimson Brusho watercolor crystals over that.  Lastly a pencil sketch was drawn of the rose and each petal was developed.  Background was partly negative painting and positive shapes wet in wet.  (Brusho is by Colourcraft/UK)
COPYRIGHT 2020 Kay Smith

Bee Orchid

11x8.5 watercolor on Stonehenge 140 lb hot press paper done last week; photo courtesy WetCanvas. This specimen was growing in the wild and I liked its inner beauty as shown by its interior.
COPYRIGHT 2020 Kay Smith

Blue Pansy Eruption

4x3 alcohol inks done recently on paper using only one blue, indigo. I like seeing how the ink separates once air blows or alcohol dilutes it.
COPYRIGHT 2020 Kay Smith

Pollen Gathering Bee

2.75x4 watercolor on 140 lb cold press paper done yesterday of a lone bee getting its pollen from the top of a pink coneflower. It is time to see nature going about its business for spring in this pollinator art.
COPYRIGHT 2020 Kay Smith

Actual size:

COPYRIGHT 2020 Kay Smith

Dewi's Bright Sunflowers

14x11 gouache over ink sketch with Micron 03 pen on Strathmore toned tan paper done last week; photo courtesy WetCanvas/Dewi.  In this online timed event participants had 2 hours to draw then paint their selection.  Her sunflowers were in a cut glass vase.
COPYRIGHT 2020 Kay Smith

Bitter Cold Bluejay

8x8 watercolor on 140 lb cold press paper completed yesterday from one of my many bird photos.  This one had fluffed up feathers to protect its body against the icy cold and snowy environment.
COPYRIGHT 2020 Kay Smith

Baby Seahorse

4.75x2.75 Brusho watercolor crystals, watercolor, and gouache on 140 lb cold press paper done last week for another prompt on All Animals Watercolor Facebook page.  In this imaginary underwater scene I've tried to capture its innocence.  Note the curled tail.
COPYRIGHT 2020 Kay Smith

National Cuddly Kitten Day!

12x9 watercolor on Canson 140 lb cold press paper.  This kitten is imaginary for National Cuddly Kitten Day for March 23.  Previously I had painted an adult cat with identical markings so this kitten just has to be related, in an artistic way.
COPYRIGHT 2020 Kay Smith.

Bouquet by the Window

9x12 acrylics over an alcohol inks background done today. Previously I'd used the Canson 140 lb cold press paper as a blotting tool for inks on 4x6 photo paper.  Lines and interesting shapes seemed to say vase, flowers, table, and window.  Lightly I glazed diluted acrylic in pale yellow over entire background eliminating whites.  I like how the colored abstractions seem to be reflections now both inside and outside in this imaginary still life.
COPYRIGHT 2020 Kay Smith

Baby Chick and Hedgehog

5.5x8 watercolor in Strathmore Visual Journal painted on Monday this week in response to an online challenge where the prompt was 'hedgehog'.  Such very small creatures this one is paired with a baby chicken.
COPYRIGHT 2020 Kay Smith

Another Spring Flower

18x18 watercolor on Canson 140 lb cold press block painted in about 2 hours.  I used DaVinci, Daniel Smith, and American Journey paints and it is SOLD.  It is my favorite floral daffodil painting and I'm glad another artist owns it.
COPYRIGHT Kay Smith

Daffodils for First Day of Spring

11x15 watercolor of naturalized daffodils enjoying the early spring sunshine and blue sky.  This is painted on Italia 140 lb cold press paper wet on dry with negative painting for stems and foliage.  Happy first day of the spring season 2020!
COPYRIGHT Kay Smith

Old Ingram Antique Store

22x15 watercolor on Winsor Newton 140 lb cold press paper of an old antique store between Ingram and Kerrville, TX.  I used to take off a week each summer to the hill country and study with Ken Hosmer who taught me the secrets of watercolor at Hill Country Art Foundation.  There are so many unique places to see and photograph and this stone house with red geraniums was begging to be painted.
COPYRIGHT 2020 Kay Smith.

Blue Heavens

5.5x4.25 alcohol inks on paper recently done using only a couple of ink colors. It is interesting to see how their composition will separate into other hues in an abstract manner with little effort by the artist.
COPYRIGHT 2020 Kay Smith

Four Chickens

9x9 watercolor on Canson 140 lb cold press paper done this past weekend for another online challenge.  Here are four fowl birds two of which may be roosters, a pullet and a hen.
COPYRIGHT 2020 Kay Smith

Irish Stoat

5.5x8 watercolor on Strathmore Visual Journal done a few days ago for the Facebook page All Animals Watercolor March challenge.  This is a very interesting little creature in the ferret, mink, weasel, and ermine family.  Some photos online show them with large rabbits as their prey.
COPYRIGHT 2020 Kay Smith

Man in Hat sketch

8.25x5.5 ink sketch of a man wearing a hat done in January for Sktchy's 30 Faces in 30 Days challenge and not shown on the blog.  I used a Staedtler 0.3 pigment liner on vintage book page with this portrait.
COPYRIGHT 2020 Kay Smith

Mexican Sunflower

17x22 watercolor of a sunflower face done with pinata colors and a turquoise sky using one of my sunflower photos I've used before many times.  The inner spots resemble confetti.  Only the green leaves are natural appearing.
COPYRIGHT 2020 Kay Smith

Tiny Green Landscape

2x4 alcohol inks on paper done a few days ago of an imaginary landscape that could be anywhere.  The three layers were done with 2-3 colors of inks and trees created by blowing air upwards.
COPYRIGHT 2020 Kay Smith

Tufted Titmouse in Winter

8x8 watercolor on Italia 140 lb cold press paper, an imaginary tufted titmouse on a snow covered evergreen, perched and ready for its next activity.
COPYRIGHT 2020 Kay Smith

Red Burst

6x4 alcohol inks on paper done last week as a quick studio demo for friends.  Using only two colors this floral ink bloom was created.
COPYRIGHT 2020 Kay Smith

Spring Petunia Pots

2.75x3.75 watercolor on 140 lb Saunders cold press paper done today, a quick study of pots awaiting plants and some already in clay pots. 
Actual size is below:

COPYRIGHT 2020 Kay Smith

The Stampede 1950

11x14 watercolor commission on Kilimanjaro 140 lb cold press paper, a combination west Texas landscape of Signal Peak, a 1950 pickup truck, and the legendary Stampede dance hall.  This work is SOLD.  Prints have been enabled on my Artspan website beginning with 8x10 up to 23x30 sizes; https://kaysmith.artspan.com
COPYRIGHT 2020 Kay Smith

Reds A Poppin'

15x15 watercolor on Canson 140 lb cold press paper done today for a timed challenge of 2 hours or less and I painted it with 10 minutes left.  Painting the red poppies in a direct manner wet on dry, I used primarily Perylene Maroon, Transparent Pyrrol Orange and Alizarin Crimson (Daniel Smith) and True Red (Grumbacher).  Darker red shadow areas had a mix with ultramarine blue, quinacridone violet, and thalo blue.
COPYRIGHT 2020 Kay Smith

Red Squirrel

5.5x8.5 watercolor over ink line sketch completed today for an online challenge in All Animals Watercolor on Facebook.  Each week is a new animal.  Red squirrels resemble our brown ones except for their ear tufts and white chests.  Initial sketch with Micron 01 pen is posted below.

COPYRIGHT 2020 Kay Smith

Abstract Floral Study

4.5x3.5 alcohol inks crop from a larger sheet of watercolor paper, a mix of pulled prints from wet photo paper turned upside down and stamped onto it.  So difficult to get new ideas at random and this is one way of doing that, looking for possible compositions within a larger abstraction.  I see a floral shape with a pink center upper right so that will spark a new painting in a different watermedia.
COPYRIGHT Kay Smith

Greener Pastures

11x14 watercolor on Kilimanjaro 140 lb cold press paper, a calf who was staring out at his green pasture from one of many livestock photos.  Spring has already begun for this Hereford fellow and now on to the next patch of tasty grass.  Lots of rain so far this year for cattle owners.
COPYRIGHT 2020 Kay Smith

By Big Bend

3.25x4.5 alcohol inks and watercolor on Saunders 300 lb cold press paper done a few days ago, an imaginary miniature scene of the Big Bend National Park in Texas.

Actual size is below:

COPYRIGHT 2020 Kay Smith

Blue Pansy Bouquet

9x8 acrylics over alcohol inks abstract painted last week, an imaginary floral in a vase.  The inks were pulled off smaller inked pieces, rewet with alcohol, then applied upside down to make an assortment of colors.  Then orange and yellow acrylics were brushed on and around blooms and vase in negative painting method. At the lower left can be seen a section of the original background underpainting.
COPYRIGHT 2020 Kay Smith

Tree Trunks in Snow

6.5x8.25 watercolor on 140 lb cold press paper done over the weekend, a simple scene of sunlit snow surrounding bare trees and branches.  The cooler hued shadows fall over animal tracks and parts that have melted in this winter landscape.
COPYRIGHT 2020 Kay Smith