February Tulips

15x11 watercolor on 140 lb cold press Bienfang paper drawn and painted from life today.  My tulips are pink though so had to improvise and add other hues such as orange, yellow, and red.
Image COPYRIGHT 2016 Kay Smith.

Sunflower Day

22x15 watercolor on 140 lb cold press Saunders Waterford paper done today.  Since temps were in the 70s and sunshine plentiful it put me in the mood for being outside and seeing sunflowers or thinking of planting them later on in the year.  I wanted to paint a high key, loose group of them using at least two pigments seldom or never used.  So I chose thioindigo violet and vitruvius blue (combination of Lapis Lazuli and cerulean).  The violet and blue together with a bit of alizarin crimson made very nice hues.  Also I wanted to use only my 1" flat sable brush so too much detail could not be done.  Towards the end I decided to put the flowers inside a glass vase.
Image COPYRIGHT 2016 Kay Smith.

Wash Day

15x11 watercolor on Yupo synthetic paper done today.  A white farmhouse sits beside clotheslines full of drying laundry in the warm sun.  This is a crop from a larger photo that had additional buildings and other farm items, that I featured on a WetCanvas event.  Who doesn't remember the fresh smell of line dried clothing or bedding.
Image COPYRIGHT 2016 Kay Smith.

Dessert Chef

22x15 watercolor on 140 lb cold press Arches, another chef painting from a 3D figurine that isn't real but I tried to make him realistic.
I used the back of a failed painting of a window with flowers.
Image COPYRIGHT 2016 Kay Smith.

French Cafe La Lorraine

15x22 watercolor on 140 lb cold press Arches paper, the front of a French restaurant in Ruidoso New Mexico that is no longer in business.  They had wonderful French cuisine and atmosphere and am sure lots of followers of this blog will remember its ambience and decor.  I painted a demo of this place later.
Image COPYRIGHT 2016 Kay Smith.

All Ears - Donkeys

15x22 watercolor on 140 lb cold press Arches rough paper of mother and young donkey.  The background is imaginary and I used two different photos of mine to come up with the composition.  The mother is plodding along in the hot southwestern sun while her offspring, called a jenny, looks at the viewer.  My paper choice lent itself to the stucco buildings and sandy dry dirt.
Image COPYRIGHT 2016 Kay Smith.

Cocky Rooster

15x11 mixed media on 140 lb cold press Canson paper (watercolor, India ink) done last week after receiving instructions on Sketchbook Skool in the Expressing series.  Make a drawing on paper and trace that onto tracing paper.  Color in the shape on paper with watercolor and let dry.  Tape your traced line drawing on top.  Lift up and add small lines or dots of India ink, then immediately lay the tracing paper down over the image and press with your fingers to transfer ink onto the watercolor image.  A different look for sure and it was fun.  My paper had been used as a backing sheet under larger pieces, hence all the little marks of paint.  I had an old sketch so reversed it.
Image COPYRIGHT 2016 Kay Smith.