Marybeth Heikes

Paintings in Watercolor & Mixed Media

Posts Tagged “Christmas”

Tinsel Time

Tinsel Time

August 2, 2016

My challenge was to design more whimsical animal Christmas collages. I used sketches of our three goats and added some fun trees and stars. Their shapes describe their breeds: Pygmy, Nigerian Dwarf and a mix of regular-size goat and Dwarf with floppy ears. The colors changed a lot while I was working on this, and […] more »

Hollyberry Toucan

Hollyberry Toucan

June 29, 2016

I have been working on a series of Christmas themed animals and birds because I believe there is a need for something humorous and different than what the usual holiday designs offer. I love toucans because of their shape and colorful feathers. I’ve combined the winter holly with the tropical bird in a Christmas hat, […] more »

Peppermint Pups

Peppermint Pups

May 24, 2016

This is another collage I decided to rework. Most of the design was good, but needed fine tuning. Color adjustments were made and I also added details to the ears and cap. Dachshunds are adorable dogs and these cute pups are ready for Christmas! more »

Poinsettia

Poinsettia

October 23, 2014

Flowers have always inspired me, and this piece was special because I wanted to try this in collage instead of the traditional watercolor methods. I began with a loose contour drawing of this Christmas plant and experimented using colored pencils in my sketchbook with unusual colors. I decided to limit my palette and edited my contour […] more »

Gooney Bird & Giraffe

Gooney Bird & Giraffe

November 10, 2011

This is the fifth wild animal design in my series of Christmas Critters.  This is a whimsical yellow giraffe with maroon spots, a blue eye, orange ears and mane wearing a hat.  Sitting on top of his head is a teal gooney bird with an orange beak and multi-colored feathers, and also wearing a hat.  […] more »

Let it Snow!

Let it Snow!

November 4, 2011

My goal this week was to create an artwork every day, in the tradition of the Daily Painters group. With collage, that’s more difficult. Today’s is a bit smaller than the first two. It features a blotchy ochre/sienna-colored cat watching fat snowflakes drift around him. He’s sitting against a royal blue background and he had […] more »

Sweets for the Baboon

Sweets for the Baboon

November 1, 2011

For this painting, I decided to do the background first instead of starting with the center of interest, as I usually do. In this case, the baboon. I liked his silly expression! And I decided that using complementary colors would make them pop better against the dark teal green. In collage, each color-value affects each […] more »

Kris Kringle Lemur

Kris Kringle Lemur

October 30, 2011

This is an addition to my new holiday designs highlighting wild animals. Animals are very entertaining and I thought a lemur would be kind of different for Christmas. The basic color is a reddish brown with the purple-ringed tail and mask on his face, with blue nostrils. I chose the lime green background to accent […] more »

Peppermint Pups

Peppermint Pups

November 11, 2009

This is a design of two cute orange/brown dachshunds with striped Christmas hats. Lately I’ve been working on themed pets, which is unusual for me and especially difficult working with the color orange and Christmas. Doxies have been a popular seller for me, so I decided to have some fun with these and added the […] more »