Girl in Green Dress

5.5x8.5 watercolor using White Nights paints and Winsor Newton grey fineliner pen to sketch, done in mixed media sketchbook for day 17 last month. This exercise was part of #sktchy30faces30daysfigures challenge for September. An enjoyable assignment painting this young girl in a green dress sitting in the grassy field. COPYRIGHT Kay Smith 2025

Red Boots

9x8.25 ink using sepia 0.3 pen by Winsor Newton and watercolor in sketchbook; this is for day 11 of current #sktchy #30faces30daysfigures. I enjoyed the attitude the woman muse has as she posed in red boots on a bar stool. COPYRIGHT Kay Smith 2025

Outdoor Shower Man

8x6 watercolor on handmade rough 140 lb cold press paper for day 4 of #sktchy #30faces30daysfigures exercise. This was a fun attempt at drawing then painting a male nude figure. COPYRIGHT Kay Smith 2025

Blushing Woman

9x7 mixed media on Canson 140 lb cold press watercolor paper done yesterday using watercolor, India ink, alcohol ink, and acrylic.  First I made the warm colored background the day before then using black India ink and a chopstick, added the woman's features.
COPYRIGHT 2018 Kay Smith.

She Wore Flowers in Her Hair collage

14x11 paper collage on canvas using cut magazine text, female face features, and flowers while outline was drawn with black permanent marker.  This project was done yesterday afternoon after seeing similar faces online.  I used Veranda, Victoria, and Birds&Blooms magazines and ModPodge.
COPYRIGHT 2018 Kay Smith.

Beach Beauty

12x9 mixed media on Canson 140 lb cold press paper done this week for another Sketchbook Skool assignment in the Polishing series of lessons with Nelleke Verhoeff instructor.  In this figure I've used cutout triangle for bikini bottom, striped bikini bra, eyes of a magazine model and hair cut from dark grey tile advertisement.  Watercolor used for ocean or sea behind and sandy beach.  Lots of different combinations can be created from use of ink line, watercolor, and collage elements.
Image COPYRIGHT 2016 Kay Smith.

Woman in White Dress at Beach

11x15 watercolor imaginary scene done today using no references so hope the clouds and woman look proportional and in scale.  A light pencil drawing of the woman was first but no drawing done for clouds or ocean.  I did forget to put some seagulls flying overhead but can add them later.  This one will accompany my December Living magazine article our local newspaper, the Big Spring Herald, publishes.  You can make up your own story for this seascape.  What is she looking at, thinking of, or about to do? Meet a lover? Pray? Sunbathe? Watching a storm develop?
Image COPYRIGHT 2015 Kay Smith.

Ray's Woman

22x15 watercolor of an imaginary nude from the back I painted awhile ago for a friend's husband's bathroom.
This work is SOLD.
Image is COPYRIGHT Kay Smith.

Bearded Man

8x5.5 on Strathmore Visual Journal mixed media paper.  I drew him today with Pigma Micron 01 pen then added watercolor wet on dry.  A photo of an unknown European bust was the reference; our WetCanvas challenge was to make him appear human.  The bust had long wavy hair and full beard.  He looks like he just found out his health insurance was cancelled.
Image COPYRIGHT 2013 Kay Smith.

Head of David

11x7.5 watercolor on Fabriano 140 lb rough, a study of Michelangelo's David done before I get a larger head in charcoal done on a half sheet.  From my photos at Caesar's Palace, Las Vegas, I will visit there again in November and also the flamingos at the Hilton for more references.  This one was done today with a limited palette of quinacridone burnt orange, ultramarine blue, and permanent rose.  I tried to get the granite stone texture as well as lose some edges.

Mister Mystery male figure

22x15 gouache watermedia over charcoal drawing of a mysterious tall, dark, and handsome man on Arches 140 lb hot press paper.  I collaged 4 large phone book yellow pages onto the watercolor paper with half matte medium, half water, then applied 3 strips lengthwise of 1" masking tape, waited 10 minutes then pulled off various parts of the pages that would remove (use a wide palette knife to make sure the tape sticks).  After drying, I began drawing over the collage then applied gouache (watercolor with white added).  The phone book pages collage was taught to us by instructor Liz Hill of Houston last October.  Thank you Liz! Check out her blog Irreverent Art.