Imaginary Pansies

6x6 watercolor on sketchbook paper 80 lb done today, a quick warm up for today's art before tackling a larger painting. I used Rosa Gallery paints from Ukraine. Yesterday I laid the paper onto my wet palette colors in the large palette and let dry overnight. Turning it sideways the flower shapes became obvious so pansies they became. No reference used, no pencil sketch. Master's Touch sketchbook was used. COPYRIGHT Kay Smith 2025

Red Prickly Pears Vignette

10x14 watercolor with White Nights paints done last week on Stonehenge Aqua 140 lb hot press paper; such a fun exercise from my earlier value study. In that study I used a black Tombow brush pen on Fabriano Bristol 100 lb paper for three values of dark, medium, and light with a #1 rigger brush to get a mid-tone. COPYRIGHT Kay Smith 2025

Hummer Buzz

8x8 watercolor with White Nights paints done last week while on a short trip. This is on 140 lb cold press Grumbacher paper. In the hummingbird scene one can wonder who will get the nectar first, the bee or the bird? COPYRIGHT Kay Smith 2025

Driving Rain

6x6 watercolor on 80 lb sketchbook paper painted yesterday, an imaginary landscape of stormy rain and wind upon the land. I used palette mud for the most part plus Moonglow by Daniel Smith, COPYRIGHT Kay Smith 2025

Desert Day Cactus

9x12 watercolor using White Nights and Tombow markers on Fabriano Bristol 100 lb paper done last week. In this imaginary desert scene, cactus pad leaves were put in first using various markers. Lastly, I sketched in a southwestern tile roof building in the background to fill empty space. COPYRIGHT Kay Smith 2025

Memorial Day Flag

9x7 watercolor in sketchbook, using White Nights paints done yesterday of Old Glory, our USA flag. Inspired by the flag flying at Alto Cafe in New Mexico, this painting symbolizes our patriotism this Memorial Day. COPYRIGHT 2025 Kay Smith

Ann's Chile Ristras

9x7 watercolor in sketchbook done a few days ago, on 80 lb paper, from a photo I took at Ann Templeton's home in Ruidoso Downs in 2004. We were at a Ken Hosmer workshop and he took us to the famous oil/pastel artist's riverside adobe for a paint out. I first painted this simple chile pepper scene years ago on a full sheet 30x22 which went to a new home. COPYRIGHT Kay Smith 2025

Hosta Blooms

9x6 watercolor using White Nights paints on Fabriano Bristol 100 lb smooth done last week. This plant was featured in this month's WetCanvas challenge in the Florals/Botanicals forum. COPYRIGHT Kay Smith 2025

Red Cactus Pears

11x15 watercolor on 140 lb cold press paper done last week using one of my older cactus patch photos that was first done in a sketchbook in 2018. I've done more negative painting in the background of imaginary shapes and colors. COPYRIGHT 2025 Kay Smith

Farmland Shadows

9x7 watercolor on sketchbook paper done a few days ago, an abstract take on an unusual landscape subject and its shadows. COPYRIGHT Kay Smith 2025

Window Wall Cactus

10x8 acrylics on canvas done last week in anticipation of a WetCanvas acrylics challenge due today featuring a window. Including a few prickly pear cactus leaves at the bottom plus its surrounding shadows makes a nice composition. COPYRIGHT Kay Smith 2025

Dairy Cow

Dairy Cow 6x6 watercolor on handmade rough 140 lb cold press paper, done last week from several dairy farm photos. Focusing on the Holstein's head I've also shown a portion of her hay feeding trough. COPYRIGHT 2025 Kay Smith

Mission Wall Cactus

9x7 watercolor on 80 lb sketchbook paper (Master's Touch) done last week from mission photos I took in Tucson years ago at San Xavier Del Bac. Accidentally I fell into one of these patches of cactus spikes and thorns while there. COPYRIGHT Kay Smith 2025

Old Sad Basset Hound

9x7 watercolor and ink with Micron 01 pen done this weekend on 80 lb Master's Touch sketchbook; this is one of images I posted for WetCanvas' regular Weekend Drawing Event. Participants have 2 hours to choose their photo then draw or paint it. COPYRIGHT Kay Smith 2025

Woven Tulips

15x11 watercolor on 140 lb Canson cold press paper finished work from 2015. Two almost identical tulip paintings were cut into horizontal and vertical strips to weave into one piece. This concept was used in planning the tulips I posted yesterday. COPYRIGHT Kay Smith

Cuddly Tulips

9x7 watercolor done a few days ago on an impulse in Master's Touch sketchbook, 80 lb paper. No photo ref was used. A fun and lively floral for spring. COPYRIGHT Kay Smith 2025

Daffodil Pond

7x9 watercolor in Master's Touch 80 lb sketchbook paper done last weekend for another online WetCanvas event. Ref courtesy of Connie in Netherlands. Yellow tall blooms at the shoreline were possible daffodils, hence the title. COPYRIGHT Kay Smith 2025

Slow Roll Wave

4x9 watercolor using Rosa Gallery paints made in Ukraine on Canson 140 lb cold press paper; ref courtesy WetCanvas landscape forum host. This was painted week before last, a marine scape that was so pleasurable. COPYRIGHT Kay Smith 2025

Old Milkcan and Sunflowers

8x8 watercolor on 140 lb cold press paper by Master's Touch done last week or so, an imaginary country still life scene. An old rusty milkcan holds court by the weathered wooden fence and the wild sunflowers or wildflowers blooming around it. COPYRIGHT Kay Smith 2025

Pink Dogwood

12x9 watercolor on Canson 140 lb cp paper done last week or so as a class activity; ref provided by one of the students. A difficult backyard scene to recreate so we tried to simplify the elements to focus upon the pink dogwood blooms. I did do negative painting in the foreground with the larger leaf shapes. COPYRIGHT 2025 Kay Smith

Mother Nature

11x8.5 ink and watercolor using White Nights paints and an STA 0.8 pen on Strathmore 90 lb art journal for mixed media. This was done last week and is another neurographic. With this I included an imaginary woman's face and then looked for leaves if she was Mother Nature. COPYRIGHT Kay Smith 2025

Pompous Penguin

8.5x5.5 collage on mixed media paper from sketchbook done last weekend. This was part of a weekend drawing event on WetCanvas; ref courtesy the RIL. COPYRIGHT Kay Smith 2025

Reimagination

5.75x5.5 miniature mixed media on matboard done in April using parts and pieces of earlier works and sketches for a fun reimagined abstract. I used ink, collage, watercolor, and acrylics. COPYRIGHT Kay Smith 2025

Range Riders o

15x22 watercolor on 140 lb cold press paper that I had applied gesso acrylic ground on in March. In this imaginary ranch life scene two cowboys can be seen in their yellow raincoats on horseback doing their work. COPYRIGHT Kay Smith 2025

Blackheaded Bird

6x6 watercolor using White Nights paints done last month for another online challenge. This was done in Master's Touch sketchbook, 80 lb paper, wet on dry. It is a reed bunting. COPYRIGHT Kay Smith 2025

Threatening Sky

5.5x8.5 watercolor using Da Vinci and White Nights paints, an imaginary stormy landscape done last week. This is in a mixed media sketchbook an is a limited palette of two colors: Payne's Gray and Naples Yellow. For the tree I did use a bit of mixed brown. Using these two opaque colors was quite a fun challenge. COPYRIGHT Kay Smith 2025

Ginger the Bunny

9x7 watercolor on sketchbook paper 80 lb, done mid-month in April. This bunny Ginger belongs to one of the artists who hosted our regular weekend drawing event on WetCanvas. Such an adorable animal smelling daffodils. COPYRIGHT 2025 Kay Smith

Lone Rider

Lone Rider 11x15 watercolor on Master's Touch 140 lb cold press paper, an imaginary western cowboy range rider out alone on his job. This was painted in March. Ranch life is a hard life but those who do it love it. COPYRIGHT Kay Smith 2025

Diane

8x6 watercolor with White Nights pigments on Fluid 140 lb hot press done today from a photo we took yesterday of friend Diane and I at my studio. COPYRIGHT 2025 Kay Smith

Beachfront Property

21.75 x 16.5 watercolor on Italia 140 lb soft press paper. 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 on this beachfront property. COPYRIGHT Kay Smith

Retro Rooster collage

10 x 14.75 mixed media (watercolor, acrylics, newspaper, napkins, catalog pages, ink) I composed over a failed geranium watercolor. The rooster head and neck were from a former failed barnyard painting with him and 2 hens that did not quite work. The hens I cut out also and adhered to an old shack scene called "Chicken Ranch", that should still be on this blog. His purple legs just kill me; feathers in front are from newspaper photos of old wood. It is a conglomeration of elements with a whole lot of country style and was fun to make. COPYRIGHT Kay Smith