Mad Cow

10.25x9 mixed media on paper done today, another in my weird cow series. Media used: Watercolor, Staedtler Calligraph Duo 3.5mm pen, white gelly roll ink pen, black India ink, light blue Montana acrylic marker (background), and white gouache.Working from black and white photocopy all color is imaginary for this Hereford.   I tried to keep the values correct and put small bursts of colors here and there such as ultramarine blue and cadmium orange for this whimsical farm animal.
Image COPYRIGHT 2015 Kay Smith.

Woven Studio Hollyhocks

15x22 watercolor on cold press 140 lb paper, made from weaving two almost identical images together into one piece.  These red and pink hollyhocks grow at my studio.  The first painting just did not work to my liking so another was done.  Cutting one into vertical strips and the other into horizontal strips, I carefull wove them.  This work is SOLD.
Image COPYRIGHT Kay Smith.

Indian Warrior

20x16 acrylics on canvas/palette knife (no brush) of an Indian in full ceremonial dress.  I painted him in 1994 and recently saw and studied the photo and wanted to share with those studying acrylics with me.  It helps that today at work we had Native American Heritage program in their honor and got to see three dancers and learn more about their customs.  Thanks to all the VA employees who helped put it together.  I'll be painting the dancers at a later date.  I had attended a powwow prior to painting this image; note the tiny running horses within the composition.  This work is SOLD.
Image COPYRIGHT Kay Smith 2015.

Roping Horses

11x15 watercolor and India ink on Fabriano 140 lb hot press paper done this afternoon.  The photo I used was a full body view of the cowboy's horse so I cropped into it quite a bit and edited out background and foreground clutter, then added an extra horse.  Splattering was done on the main horse when paint was drying so some spots are blended while others such as the black ink, are not.
Image COPYRIGHT 2015 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.

American Brittany Spaniel Millie

5.5x7.5 watercolor on Fabriano 140 lb hot press paper done today; this is Billy's pup Millie, an American Brittany spaniel.  His dogs were featured on current WetCanvas! Weekend Drawing Event in which participants have 2 hours to choose from 16 photos and do a painting.  This one took about 25-30 minutes and I did it in a vignette format.
Image is COPYRIGHT 2015 Kay Smith.

Abandoned Barn

9x12 watercolor on Canson 140 lb cold press paper/Daniel Smith paints done this weekend from one of stack of old barn photos collected over the years.  It was painted while in the New Mexico mountains yesterday.  The day before our skies looked stormy as shown.
Image COPYRIGHT 2015 Kay Smith.