China Cabinet - a reworked still life

20x12.5 watercolor and gouache over a failed still life that was a floral in a red vase, a white pitcher, and onions on a white cloth and a blue and red table drape. I did not like the floral so turned it vertically and drew cups and saucers. Later I went back and added line to include Oriental fans, a pagoda, pink roses, etc. Then I reworked the bottom area by adding white gouache on cup and saucer, strengthening the reds and blues, then correcting compositional areas. My original still life that was drawn and painted from life has now been redone 3 times. COPYRIGHT Kay Smith

Geisha Girls

22x15 watercolor and gouache on 140 lb cold press paper, an older work that is SOLD. 
These women figures were drawn from small figurines.
Image COPYRIGHT Kay Smith.

Geisha Dolls

15x22 gouache on hot press Lanaquarelle 140 lb, drawn yesterday in watercolor colored pencil and painted today.  I also dropped in several places watersoluble oil pastel.  These dolls were a part of an Asian display at a very large antique store and I got remarkable photos from which to paint.

Asian Persimmons

15x22 watercolor on cold press paper, 140 lb, a fruit and statue still life I photographed using fresh Asian persimmons. They were given to me by my Vietnamese friend Rose. I already had the tall and heavy statue, so set the persimmons on a brocade silk pillow in a sunny window. I wanted it to have a mysterious feel of the Orient.

Persimmons on a Pillow

Here's my acrylics on wrapped canvas started last week in Doug Walton's class then finished a few days ago. I think Doug wanted it to be total abstraction but I need to have some semblance of reality within a composition. From my photo of Asian persimmons given to me by Rose, Vietnamese nail technician, setting on top of a pillow cover I photographed them in many different views. Pillow covers were made in India and have pearls, braid, ribbon, lace, embroidery, silk, cotton, etc. and make excellent backgrounds using simple fruit and/or other still life items. Size is 24x20; photo was horizontal but was in such a hurry I drew the fruit with a brush in acrylic vertically. Canvas was textured using white acrylic stamping with bubble wrap, let dry, then paint applied very thin in spots, and wiped off in others.

Thai-Dyed Woman (reworked abstract acrylic)

30x22 watercolor, acrylic, black India ink, black marker on 140 lb Winsor Newton cold press paper, painted in 3 hours today. I used an old horrible abstract of Santa Claus that was horizontal, flipped it, drew an outline of this Thai woman (reference from Dewi, thanks!) then painted her, leaving her skin the original underpainting patterns.