Revelation ~ reworked Trumpet of the Lord

22x15 watercolor and gouache done in May, a reworked scene that was an ascending angel above trees. It is now a mission with stormy skies, white doves, clouds and a foreboding that reminded me of the words in Revelation. I kept the trees at the bottom foreground. This is on 140 lb cold press paper. COPYRIGHT 2023 Kay Smith

Porky - a redone painting

22x15 acrylic and ink over a failed watercolor of watermelons that just did not work. This pig art is featured in Chris Unwin's book The Artistic Touch 5. I took some of the lemon shapes in the watermelon fruit still life and made pig rears as you can see in the background, and also did negative painting where needed. The hardest part was his large head as I wanted some of the watermelon to show yet needed basically one color in the shape. When we raised pigs and hogs on the farm they were often fed watermelons. COPYRIGHT Kay Smith

Mission Soleil

22x15 gouache over ink sketched outline of an imaginary mission on 140 lb hot press paper. This was done over an horizontal abstraction painting that just was not working and is the second time to paint this mission bell tower. COPYRIGHT Kay Smith

Sunflower Power

15x22 watercolor on Fabriano 140 lb hot press paper of a single sunflower drawn over a failed painting that was a neighbor in a purple suit.  As one of my contemporary reworked or recycled pieces this one was lots of fun to develop into warm and cool hues with an abstract background that might be leaves, stems and petals.
COPYRIGHT 2018 Kay Smith.

Baby Callas

15x22 watercolor of calla lilies bouquet, another one of my redo works from an older failed painting.  The original was a baby girl portrait so this was turned horizontally and developed into a floral.  It won a point for me in a Western Federation show and is one of my favorites.  Look closely and you can see where I've stamped a doily design to indicate lace.  This work is SOLD.
Image COPYRIGHT 2016 Kay Smith.

China Cabinet

20x12.5 watercolor and gouache, one of my reworked pieces over a failed horizontal still life that had a red vase, white flowers, etc. I decided to make it more Asian by including fans in the background along with that style architecture.
Image COPYRIGHT Kay Smith 2011.

Painted Pony

22x15 watercolor that is now SOLD.  It was painted over a white peony floral that I didn't like.  Look closely and you can see the flower centers.  After horse outline was sketched in I used mostly darks to fill in the background and some greys for shading values.
Image COPYRIGHT Kay Smith.

Party Pigeon - a reworked watercolor

8.5x11 mixed watermedia of a pigeon looking to party over his rooftop for New Year's Eve.  This is the AFTER version.  Below is shown this work in progress where I sketched the bird with black felt tip pen on top of the failed disaster watercolor.  The couple was not real.  Now I think it is a much more interesting painting.  Gouache and Montana acrylic markers were used on top of the old watercolor. Support is Italia 140 lb cold press paper.  It has been awhile since I reworked any existing paintings.  Image COPYRIGHT 2015 Kay Smith.

Work in progress with this middle view showing a lot of the pigeon's body painted.  I knew it would be difficult to cover the man's black hair with gouache, watercolor, or pastel, so opted to use acrylic markers.

BEFORE version 11x8.5 titled Be My Valentine.  As ugly as he is, I'd not want to be his sweetheart and she is no prize either.

Coconuts Crazy - redone

20x22 watercolor of bunch of coconuts in lovely palm which was way too high key when I painted it a couple years ago...took it out of its frame and repainted the background, several of the nuts and part of the trunk.
Image is COPYRIGHT 2014 Kay Smith.

Flirty Flamingos - reworked watercolor

After getting more email inquiries about this painting I thought I'd post it again here, and that will feed into Daily Painters website where most of my work sells.  It is 15x22 watercolor over a failed geranium painting. In the old composition, I'd done geraniums and practiced negative painting leaves.  It was so totally horrible no artist in their right mind would show it.  Either they'd paint on the back or throw in the nearest bin.  But I love to remake and save lost sinners, hence this attempt at a redesign.  It did win Best of Show at one of our Big Spring Art Association exhibits at Howard College.  This fun scene is one of many of my old dogs redone into something else, reworked or recycled to make a better piece of art.  Currently I'm gathering information to submit to North Light books on my rescued paintings.  It is thrilling to note that one of them, Baby Callas, collection Terry and Jan Hansen, won a point with the Western Federation of Watercolor Societies as did another, Alter Egos, collection John D. Jones.  The latter won my 5th and final point with WFWS.

Aspens Ashimmer - reworked watercolor

22x15 watercolor and gouache on 140 lb cold press paper, my demo for today's workshop class.  Our task was to take an old painting that just didn't look like we wanted, and remake it into something better.  For mine I choose a previous floral that had already been redone but still was lousy.  I turned it vertically and drew aspen outlines using black watersoluble Tombow brush pen, then with white gouache and watercolors, mostly opaques, I painted this scene.  Below you can see the old dog itself.

BEFORE version, titled Poppies and Berries, that had lots of negatively painted leaves and blooms...way too much detail as is my usual habit.

Midland Texas Palette Club Workshop

Here are 11 of the 13 artists at my two day workshop in Midland, TX on reworking old dog paintings; there were a couple of oil paintings done also (not shown).  Some of their work was transparent watercolor, acrylics, inks, and other media.  Stay tuned for the demo that is shown here back center.  Once a month I have an all day Saturday class for those wanting to learn, and conduct a 2 hour evening class each Monday.

Party Animals (zebras)

15x22 watercolor of two zany looking zebras with their stripes razor blade cut out, then a failed painting put behind upside down.  Now they have pattern as if they needed more! This is perhaps my first work in which I added one that just didn't work but did not collage it, done several years back.  Party Animals won a creativity award and a point with a major watercolor society.

Jacque Rabbit reworked watercolor demo

22x15 watercolor, gouache, over failed watercolor painting of a too detailed floral.  One of my line drawings was placed over the old one and the shape outlined in fine tip Sharpie.  I placed a full sheet acetate over and began laying in large areas with paint to see what worked and what did not.  There was lots of negative painting in the original piece and I wanted some of that patterning to show in the finished rabbit.  This was begun as a demo last Monday at the Palette Club in Midland, TX.  There are tiny touches of line emphasized with Caran D'Ache watersoluble crayons.  I will be back there in June 7-9 for a short workshop teaching this method; email me to find out more:  kay1971smith@aol.com

Here is the old failed painting, an imaginary floral which shows what was in my brain at the time last year, mostly nothing! I did like the warm coral, pink, gold, yellow, magenta, and orange colors accented by the dark hunter and lime greens, and cobalt teal blue.

BEFORE:

Zebra Vibration - mixed watermedia

30x22 mixed media (watercolor, ink, wax crayon, acrylic) over a failed abstract work.

BEFORE version of China Cabinet

This is the still life that got me interested in reworking into a vertical composition as posted below in China Cabinet.
Size 15x22; flowers, vase, pitcher, onions and cloth were items we used to paint from in an oil painting workshop with Ann Templeton in Odessa, TX several years ago.  I used many of my photos of those to paint watercolors later on.  I just did not like this one as my white pitcher proportions are off.  Flowers were okay but not spectacular and there was plenty of color.  When reworking it I did crop it as you can see from comparison of the two.  The title of this one was called Ann's Garden Variety.

China Cabinet - a reworked watercolor 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.  Today 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.  I can post the 2001 original BEFORE version if anyone wants to see it for comparison.  Other artists may disagree or dislike reworking/recycling their old dogs but I love it, plus I have now had 2 of them accepted into the Western Federation of Watercolor Societies exhibitions.  These annual shows have about 4500 artists competing for selection.

Porky Pig

22x15 acrylic and ink over a failed watercolor of watermelons that just did not work well.  This pig is a few years old.  I took some of the lemon shapes in the fruit still life and made pig rears as you can see in the background, and also did negative painting where needed. The hardest part was his large head as I wanted some of the watermelon to show yet needed basically one color in the shape.  On the farm, we used to feed the pigs watermelon so this just fit the bill.

Flirty Flamingos

15x22 watercolor over a failed geranium painting. This fun scene is one of many of my old dogs redone into something else, reworked or recycled to make a better piece of art. On Saturday, March 26, in Colorado City you can watch me create another one! Join us at Studio 20!

Figure Accepted in Western Federation Show - detail

Detail of Brunette, 30x22 watercolor done from a failed sunflower painting that was juried into the Western Federation of Watercolor Societies 2011 annual exhibition.

This year's show will be held in New Mexico and this is the 3rd point earned with WFWS towards signature status. I made up this figure and am thrilled that it is the second reworked/recycled piece that has made it into WFWS. My first one was of yellow wildflowers. So do not throw in the bin any that you don't like. Keep them and eventually a new exciting artwork may result.

The Federation is comprised of 11 watercolor societies who take turns hosting; juror for the Albuquerque show is Dale Laitinen. The show runs 6 May-5 June 2011. The WFWS website can be seen at this link: http://www.wfws.org/