Prickly Pear Canyon

7x5 watercolor and ink on handmade rough paper recently done for a sister-in-law birthday gift. I've used Winsor Newton sepia 0.3 fine liner pen to sketch then black STA brush pen, and black Sharpie in addition to the fluid paint on this imaginary cactus landscape. COPYRIGHT Kay Smith 2026

Desert Plants

8.5x5.5 watercolor in Master's Touch sketchbook, 80 lb paper, done last week or so, a scene of desert plants including a century plant, agave, and other cactus or succulents. This landscape can be seen here in Texas or other locales in the southwest. COPYRIGHT Kay Smith

Cozy Cactus

6x6 mixed media in Masters Touch sketchbook 80 lb paper done last week, another imaginary cactus landscape. For this I used Brusho wc crystals in grey, olive and moss green, watercolor, and black India ink for line work. COPYRIGHT 2023 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

New Mexico Yucca

8.5x11 watercolor and ink (Uniball pen) on Crescent Rendr sketchbook done last week while driving between Socorro and Carrizozo, New Mexico.  I stopped to photograph the land in its desolate beauty; yuccas were the only living thing to be seen for miles in this semi-arid country.
Image is COPYRIGHT 2015 Kay Smith.

Mission Landscape

15x22 watercolor imaginary landscape that put a southwest mission into its rolling hills.  This was painted wet in wet on 140 lb cold press paper.

Red Mesa and Buffalo

12x24 watercolor on Arches 140 lb cold press paper, painted wet in wet today.  Signal Peak mountain is east of our town of Big Spring in west Texas and is part of the Great Plains where the Cherokees roamed.  In this imaginary scene I ignored local color and made the terrain red and red orange while the animals are pale gold with cool highlights.

Mission with Statue

30x22 watercolor of a California mission and statue of St. Francis I painted a few years ago.  This is a direct application painting wet in wet.