Blue-eyed Tuxedo

6x6 watercolor done first week of June on 80 lb sketchbook paper of this lovely eyed black and white tuxedo cat. This was one of the refs featured on a WetCanvas online challenge. I enjoyed mixing different complements to make black such as alizarin crimson + thalo green and ultramarine blue + burnt sienna. Blue-eyed tuxedo cats are pretty rare. COPYRIGHT Kay Smith 2026

Jay Bird

6×6 watercolor on 80 lb sketchbook page (Master's Touch) done last week for another WetCanvas weekend drawing event. With this ref, I cropped most of the jay bird's body to focus on its amazing head and feathers. COPYRIGHT Kay Smith 2025

Yellow Poppy

6x6 watercolor using White Nights paints along with sepia fineliner 0.3 pen by Winsor Newton in sketchbook 80 lb paper. Done last month for another online WetCanvas challenge, I liked the cheerful air this yellow poppy has about it. COPYRIGHT Kay Smith 2025

Bare Tree Silhouette

6x6 watercolor/ink in Master's Touch 80 lb sketchbook done last week. Using White Nights paints and Winsor Newton 0.3 grey ink fineliner I did this one for this month's Landscape forum challenge on WetCanvas.com COPYRIGHT Kay Smith 2025

Chicken of the Sea

Chicken of the Sea 15x22 watercolor on 300 lb cold press paper, drawn with Micron 01 pen in about 10 minutes, then painted in 1.5 hours. I was on a previous 2 hour timed painting exercise for WetCanvas. I laid strips of cotton gauze (the kind we used to have in surgery called 'Kling' wrap) on the ink line fish sketch then spritzed green, blue, and yellow dilute watercolor in spray bottles, let dry, pulled off, then mixed grays for the rest. Splattering was done at the end. This was a lot of fun using Daniel Smith watercolors. COPYRIGHT Kay Smith 2025

Broken Fence

7x9 watercolor using White Nights paints on 80 lb sketchbook paper done last week as part of another online challenge on WetCanvas! in the Watercolor forum. Ref courtesy CMorPaint and is a scene in Canada. I took the liberty of altering the fence rails as they were straight in the photo. Most artists know to provide a way into a composition rather than block viewers out with a full fence. COPYRIGHT Kay Smith 2025

Strawberries on Yellow Plate

5x8 watercolor on Winsor Newton 140 lb cold press paper painted yesterday for the first art of the new year. Today two more were done of a cat and a floral garden. The primary colors of the red berries, yellow plate, and blue cloth were exciting to me. Painted wet on dry in a direct manner this still life is available on www.dailypaintworks.com in my gallery there. Image courtesy WetCanvas for the weekend drawing event where participants have two hours to select then paint their choice. COPYRIGHT 2021 Kay Smith

Blue Pigeon

8x8 watercolor and Brusho wc crystals on Masters premium 140 lb cold press paper done over the weekend for another online WetCanvas challenge. Ref courtesy Susan (tyree). I like the metallic shine on the pigeon's feathers and Brusho has the exact hue. COPYRIGHT 2020 Kay Smith

Yellow Crown Night Heron

4.25x6 acrylics and black India ink over failed work (see below). I pencil sketched the heron's head within minutes, then started with India ink doing only the black parts. Then I switched to acrylics to finish him within an hour for the WetCanvas weekend drawing event challenge.  Participants have only 2 hours to select an image and paint it; part of host Susan's challenge was to do a postcard size then mail it.  Now to see who might want this...

BEFORE version:

Images COPYRIGHT 2017 Kay Smith

Wonderful Waxwing

7x5 watercolor and ink on discarded book page done today, sketched with Pigma Micron 01 pen by Sakura.  The cedar waxwing is one of the images (courtesy WetCanvas/Dave Slaughter in the reference image library) I've featured in May's watermedia forum monthly challenge.  The challenge part was to do your painting in sketchbook style.  Here I have made the tree branch an aspen for added pattern.
Image COPYRIGHT 2017 Kay Smith.

Dick Blick Gifts

Dick Blick Art Materials in Galesburg, Illinois sent all WetCanvas moderators a surprise box of appreciation gifts.  As a thank you for our service to the largest art site in the world www.wetcanvas.com I got mine yesterday consisting of Brusho crystal colors and a Holbein spray mister bottle. Brusho sets list for 62.99 and are currently 50.99 in their catalog.  These are brilliant and versatile watercolor ink crystals that are to be sprinkled directly on a wet support, applied with a brush or knife, or dissolved in water and applied with a spritzer. The description states that intriguing organic patterns will appear like magic.  These tiny bottles of tintillating fun are made in England.  Can't wait to try them out www.dickblick.com.  The company featured my Christmas art in their holiday catalog a few years ago.  Thank you Dick Blick, proud sponsor of WetCanvas!

Only Orchids

11x15 watercolor on Canson 140 lb cold press paper done today.  The plant belongs to fellow artist Joanne who featured its image on our last weekend drawing event on WetCanvas.  Participants have 2 hours to choose what to paint and do it.  It took me an hour and if a background had been put in it would've been longer.
Image COPYRIGHT 2016 Kay Smith.

Indian Fisherman - WIP

15.25x 11.75 mixed media on matboard.  Probably finished but will study again tomorrow or during the coming days.  Image is COPYRIGHT 2015 Kay Smith/courtesy WetCanvas Weekend Drawing Event in All Media Art Events forum.  (Two hour timed exercise).

The image above is at the 2 hour mark. The water was not painted in and plaid shirt plus details were omitted; I like the unfinished look to it being rough just like the fisherman who leads a hard life.  You can see the yellow nylon nautical ropes behind him and distant shoreline trees.

 Next is ink line with Staedtler LumoColor black in pen as above.

I chose a hardworking Indian fisherman and decided to use 15.25x 11.75 matboard onto which I put down a stencil of odd shaped holes and painted both acrylic and watercolor (no gesso first). See it here above.

Sleeping Midge cat

4x6 watercolor and Micron 01 pen on a magazine insert card done yesterday for the 30 Cats in 30 Days challenge on Facebook and on WetCanvas! Meet Midget, who goes by Midge, all curled up in her kitty pet bed that is really brown in color, not lavender blue. (She's a rescue kitty from our town's kill shelter).  I used a card from F+W Publications' Drawing magazine that I subscribe to for this cat pet portrait.  Whiskers were painted around and not masked.  Now all of the artists out there can save their art magazine inserts and do some serious painting on them rather than throwing away.  I did not plan for Drawing to be across her white fur, it is just how it worked out luckily.
Image is COPYRIGHT 2015 Kay Smith.

Wild Hibiscus

5.5x8 watercolor on Strathmore Visual Journal 140 lb paper, done a few days ago while on a trip to Albuquerque NM.  Image courtesy WetCanvas (Susan) and featured on weekend drawing event where participants have only 2 hours to chose a photo, draw, and paint it.
COPYRIGHT 2014 Kay Smith.

Giraffes Grazing

7x10 mixed watermedia collage on Canson mixed media paper done this afternoon. Drawn with an orange Magic colored pencil, then a fast underpainting with transparent pyrrol orange/quinacridone gold watercolors was done.  When dry, I added brown and quin burnt orange patterns with some green, then the bg foliage.  After that dried I used brown torn tissue paper that had small squares and a giftwrap paper featuring colored circles, adhered with matte medium.  Lastly, I used a blue Magic pencil to make calligraphy marks in bg trees and bushes.  (Ref courtesy Connie/WetCanvas and featured on All Media Art Events forum, Weekend Drawing Event in which you have only 2 hours to select a subject and do your art).
Image is COPYRIGHT 2014 Kay Smith.