Woven Flowers of Passion

15x22 work is actually two identically painted scenes of pink roses in front of a house. The original was ho-hum boring so a few years later did another exactly like it as I'd saved the drawing. I got the idea of weaving them together after seeing the work of Nancy Maas, which is much looser and not as tightly woven. One painting you cut wavy strips horizontally, and the other cut vertical strips, then weave in and out. When done I vacuum mounted onto acid free matboard to frame it. Now it looks much more interesting! COPYRIGHT Kay Smith 2024

House with Laundry

5.5x8.5 watercolor using White Nights paints done last week; ref courtesy another artist for online challenge in watermedia. COPYRIGHT 2024 Kay Smith

Rose Garden: I Never Promised You This

15x11 watercolor on Arches 300 lb cold press paper, a floral garden enhanced by negatively painted leaves and old white house in the background, an imaginary floral landscape.
Image is COPYRIGHT Kay Smith.

Old Porch

15x11 watercolor completed today of an old white house here in town I've painted before. It is an old railroad abode commonly called the Heckler house that sits at 18th and Main Streets.  When I photographed it in 1996 it was rundown and its proud porch falling into ruin. I've eliminated its second screen door that was where the mailbox is, for clarity.  A woman who lived here as a child commissioned one painting then another and the second one had a black and white cat on the porch.  But the first version I sold to a single guy who moved away and the last version to a lawyer in Wyoming; all were different sizes and color variations.  At any rate, no matter the buyer, old country house porches such as this evoke feelings and memories of nostalgia.  Today's version is an online demo and if time permits I'll post step by step work in progress (WIP) here on the blog.

Country Life (house)

22x30 watercolor on 140 lb cold press Saunders; DaVinci and Daniel Smith paints.  Several years ago I painted this from a photo image I'd taken and cut into an odd number of vertical strips.  I mixed them up then drew each section as its own little painting, all parts of the whole.  I loved this old white wood frame house, its porch, bench, laundry, and garden.  This work is SOLD.

Sunsplashed House

6x10 watercolor on Saunders 300 lb cold press paper, Daniel Smith paints begun yesterday then finished up this afternoon.  This is a closely cropped old white house in Charlottetown, photo courtesy Wendy of WetCanvas, and is featured in July's Landscape forum. I love the splashy shadows made by the huge tree on the flowers, picket fence, and front foreground.

Pleasures of the Porch

15x22 watercolor on Italia 140 lb cold press paper, Daniel Smith paints of an old southern style wrap around porch I found on a trip to Mississippi years ago.  Wish I had the house, porch and lovely garden!

Flowers of Passion - woven watercolor

15x22 work is actually two identically painted scenes of pink roses in front of a house. The original was ho-hum boring (I'll post it soon for comparison) so a few years later did another exactly like it as I'd saved the drawing. I got the idea of weaving them together after seeing the work of Nancy Maas, which is much looser and not as tightly woven. One painting you cut wavy strips horizontally, and the other cut vertical strips, then weave in and out. When done I vacuum mounted onto acid free matboard to frame it. Now it looks much more interesting!

Hollyhock House

Finished! After a couple more hours I can say it is done and was a joy to work on this simple cottage garden scene.
Now on to the next one whatever that will be as only my muse knows.

Hollyhock House continued in progress

Now I've invested about 2 hours total into the garden scene working the entire right side, sky, trees, gate, background foliage and path leading into the composition. I'm still working wetly as I go along, spraying with the mister bottle letting some blending happen. A few hollies will be in sharp focus and others softly blending into their surroundings. Probably 20-30 minutes more and will be done with this one.

Hollyhocks House - Work in Progress

This new one is of an old white house and large garden featuring various colored hollyhocks, and is drawn with a brush on Italia watercolor paper, 15x22. I first spritzed with water here and there then blocked in the main shapes which took about 10-15 minutes.