Horse Herd

5x7.5 watercolor (on Moleskine for watercolor) sketchbook paper of several horses from some of my photos.  Grouped together they are a herd stomping their feet and kicking up dust.  This is today's work and can be purchased from my gallery on Daily Painters www.dailypainters.com
Image COPYRIGHT 2015 Kay Smith.

Bird Shadow

8.5x5.5 watercolor and ink on paper done yesterday, drawn from a small bird figurine.  I had bought 4 different birds in various poses that I could use to draw.  I used neutral colors with this as the figurine is a pale light blue grey.  To me, it looks like a sparrow now.
Image COPYRIGHT 2015 Kay Smith.

Mary Had a Little Lamb

9x12 inks on paper done over this past weekend as part of a WetCanvas drawing event.  Photo courtesy Valri Ary.  In the reference this baby lamb was surrounded by its mother ewe and others so I omitted sketching them to focus on him.  Tombow brush pens in black and burnt sienna were the media used with water on Cheap Joe's sketchbook.  Now you can think perhaps by its title am referring to the popular nursery rhyme, or you could really stop and think about Mary, the mother of Jesus, who did have a little lamb, the Lamb of God.  In this piece, he is looking towards the viewer as if to ask "Will you follow me?"
Image COPYRIGHT 2015 Kay Smith.

Shell Collection

7.5x5 watercolor and ink (Micron 01 pen) on Moleskine for watercolor sketchbook done today.  A collection of various shells gathered from different coasts display their vivid colors of the sea.  From a sand dollar to urchin to conch to clam, etc., you can see the sea harvest is joined together by dried kelp in this illustrated journaling.
Image COPYRIGTH 2015 Kay Smith.

Foxgloves

15x11 watercolor on Bienfang 140 lb cold press paper begun yesterday then finished today from many of my garden flower photos. These were photographed in a nursery in Ruidoso NM.  Tiny brownish purple mottling spots are actually markings which are honey guides for bees.  Foxgloves also are the pharmaceutical source for the cardiac drug digitalis and the entire plant is poisonous.
Image COPYRIGHT 2015 Kay Smith.

Sunday Sunflower

7.5x5 watercolor drawn in pencil on Moleskine for watercolor sketchbook yesterday, then positively painted leaving the background showing the underpainting...just a different way of working that I often forget to do. Colors look different on top of existing blended first wash (one wash only).  The underpainting first step is below.

 Underpainting with Prussian blue, quinacridone gold, and permanent rose transparent watercolors.

Image courtesy Cynthia LaBelle/Copyright 2015 Kay Smith.

Dragonfly

15x15 mixed media collage on Saunders watercolor paper that is today's work.  I took the worst painting I had which was a collaged dragonfly using newspaper print over acrylic background of multiple colors including gold glitter.  Focusing on the insect I cut 7 inches off its left side then added acrylic inks, fluid acrylics, India ink, and Caran D'Ache Neocolor II wax crayons.  Then glazed over background with yellow green, then thalo blue/green, then gold.  Next was stenciling wing marks using a paper Valentine doily and permanent magenta ink.  A flower outline upper left was added to the curved green line then another larger dark magenta bloom under its right lower wing.  Blue and turquoise wax crayons along with black ink was put on the body.  It is a much improved painting now.
Image COPYRIGHT 2015 Kay Smith.