Pair of Autumn Aspens

12x9 watercolor and Brusho wc crystals on Grumbacher 140 lb cold press paper done week before last, another imaginary tree painting showing close up of their bark. COPYRIGHT 2023 Kay Smith

The Edge of Fall

8x8 mixed media on Canson 140 lb cold press paper done today as it is the first of November and we usually have scenes such as this. I used Gansai Tambi paints along with other watercolors to put in the trees, background, and foreground. No pencil sketch for the trees. While wet I added white gouache then grey Brusho wc crystals. Snowy foreground and shadows are mostly dilute grey Brusho. Sky is American Journey periwinkle blue. Some Brusho was left in the sky and now it appears to be birds flying in the distance. Splattering added at random using Naples yellow and AJ Halloween orange. COPYRIGHT 2022 Kay Smith

Autumn Mood

12x9 watercolor done last week on Canson 140 lb cold press paper, an imaginary grouping of trees and a background of multilayered fall colors. The golden hues were put in wet in wet quickly and when dry the trees stark branches, trunks, etc., were added with a script liner #1 brush in warm sepia. COPYRIGHT 2022 Kay Smith

End of November

6x9 watercolor and Brusho wc crystals on Masters 140 lb cold press paper done today using a spatula type palette knife along with matboard pieces to make lines and marks. In this imaginary scene, some of summer's colors remain in the landscape such as green, yellow, and yellow green while autumn's golden colors sneak into it. Brusho used at the base of the trees and brush for texture. COPYRIGHT 2021 Kay Smith

Aspen Run

14.5x10.5 watercolor on gessoed matboard done from one of my New Mexico photos of a row of aspens glistening gold in the morning sun. I've exaggerated the background adding more darks as if there were green foliage behind. The Capitan highway was in between that and the trees so I have made that more blue as if it was water. Not as many red leaves were there in real life so I've used artistic license. COPYRIGHT 2020 Kay Smith

Autumn Air

4.5x5.5 watercolor on Canson 140 lb cold press paper begun on the first day of autumn two days ago.  In this imaginary scene most trees have shed their leaves.  Behind are fiery reds and oranges of foliage lighting up the landscape for the season change.  Even the rocks are glowing with natural color.
COPYRIGHT 2019 Kay Smith

Trees in Fall

5.5x8 watercolor on Dick Blick 140 lb cold press paper done last week for another online challenge. This featured one main tree then a million other smaller ones and a multitude of branches.
COPYRIGHT Kay Smith 2018.

Rainy Day Apple

8.5x11 watercolor done this weekend on some new paper, Stonehenge Aqua 300 lb, I'd ordered to try and really do like its performance.  This apple tree ref courtesy WetCanvas and is part a challenge this month.  The paper lifted color easily and took a lot of abuse.  Rain was done using white designer's gouache.
COPYRIGHT 2018 Kay Smith.

Pocket Park

9.5x7 watercolor and ink on Ecosystem sketchbook painted yesterday after last Tuesday's plein air event downtown Big Spring.  Sketched in ink using Micron 01 pen, this lamp post and tree scene indicate the crisp autumn air showering the town's sidewalks with fallen leaves and debris.  Late afternoon shadows are streaking diagonally across the very old brick building behind in the background.  Someone had planted cotton seeds in the raised flowerbeds along with squash, I guess for that country touch!
COPYRIGHT 2017 Kay Smith         Email:   1971ks@att.net to purchase via PayPal.        Cost:   $115

Autumn Landscape in Inks

4x6 alcohol inks on paper, an abstract done today using 4 colors of Willow, Ginger, Burro Brown, and Sunset Orange. I used canned air to make the vertical tree like marks on right side and going across to the left middle.  With cooler temps and rain every day since last week, autumn definitely is here and these colors can testify.
Image COPYRIGHT 2017 Kay Smith.  Contact 1971ks@att.net   to purchase via PayPal.       Cost:  $75

Old Texas Vehicle

5.5x8 watercolor and ink on Strathmore Visual Journal for watercolor sketched yesterday and painted today.  I used Micron 01 pen in this 50s era vehicle from an old photo the year my parents married.  Fallen leaves scatter across the road with white picket fence in the distance in this rural scene.  There was another digit in the license plate that I left off.
Image COPYRIGHT 2015 Kay Smith.

Three Birches palette knife painting

12x8.5 watercolor using only a small palette knife of birches on Strathmore 140 lb cold press paper, done this evening.  I used the knife usually reserved for my oils and scraped and dragged paint up and down until tree shapes were visible; lots of lost edges to blend in with white snow background and foreground.  I was not sure I could do shadows with the knife but those were easy once I wet the horizontal areas with water, then the paint.  Colors used:  Quinacridone burnt orange and gold, carbazole violet, UB, Midnight Blue, raw sienna, transparent pyrrol orange, new gamboge, Peachy Keen, Brown Derby, Coffee with Cream.

Great Horned Owl

15x11 watercolor on Saunders 140 lb cold press paper, work in progress finished today. Here in this last step, I've added distant background water and foreground.  I might glaze again the foreground water but for the most part, he is done.  In the ref, he had a red brick building behind him, so I've taken artistic license and put him in a more natural setting of a lake with trees.

This is the third step showing distant horizon line of autumn colorful trees, plus tail feathers.  I dropped small amounts of water into an almost dry watercolor where it lost its shine, to give the illusion of fog.  Also I added a few reflections of trees and finishing touches to the tree branch the owl is perched upon.

Here is the completed great horned owl's body, step 2 of my WIP.  I'll lightly draw in a branch for him, then plan the background elements. (Owl photo reference courtesy WetCanvas)

The Forest for the Trees

15x11 watercolor on Strathmore 140 lb cold press paper finished tonight.  This exercise in negative painting has 6 levels, beginning at the front row of trees and stepping up as you work towards the last one.  Its title is actually "I Can't See the Forest for the Trees", which may well be my state of mind on a good day.  I felt like celebrating autumn with this weekend's cold front, the cats cuddled up in their flannel pet beds, and the smell of pizza.  It was a good afternoon to spend painting.  When dry, I splattered new gamboge, transparent pyrrol orange, and Prussian blue.

Aspen Run

14.5x10.5 watercolor on gessoed matboard done this afternoon from one of my New Mexico photos of a row of aspens glistening gold in the morning sun.  I've exaggerated the background adding more darks as if there were green foliage behind.  A highway was in between that and the trees so I have made that more blue as if it was water.  Not as many red leaves were there in real life either.

Changing Seasons trees

12x9 watercolor on Langton 140 lb cold press paper, Daniel Smith paints, an imaginary scene drawn yesterday and painted today.  I had decided it would be a winter scene then today changed the season to autumn as it has more colors.

Backwoods Bluejay

5x7 watercolor, painted today, of this jay surveying his autumn landscape and seeing the first snowflakes falling. He's my attempt featured in WetCanvas Weekend Drawing Event in which participants have 2 hours to draw and paint their choice from 16 photo references provided. Reference courtesy maltman.

Step 9 - Foreground established

As this detail of the trunks shows, I have added darks made by mixing warm brown of orange and carbazole violet as well as Copper Kettle and ultramarine blue. Foreground area is now in for its initial color mingling of wet paint. I will let this dry and add other layers to correct values.
I've splattered color at random amongst the trunks, leaves, and twigs.

Backlit Aspens Demo

15x11 watercolor on Italia Acquerello 140 lb cold press paper finished yesterday. I will post each step here as a demo for this poured painting that was created with a brush only. NO PENCIL was used to draw any portion.

Aspen Gold

22x15 watercolor close up view of New Mexico aspens in full autumn color. This painting was purchased and hangs in Texas Senator Kel Seliger's office in Austin.