Marybeth Heikes

Paintings in Watercolor & Mixed Media

Post Archives

Ladybugs

Ladybugs

January 9, 2015

My second piece of artwork this year! This is another petite size of artwork using a drawing from one of my old sketchbooks. I have been trying to keep in the habit of sketching daily. It was a difficult design, since the ladybugs and dimensions were tiny. The shapes are simplified as best I could do […] more »

Swimmy

Swimmy

January 6, 2015

This is my first piece of the new year. I decided to do a few pieces similar to the Daily Painters’ group. They create a petite artwork every day, usually in the 6” x 6” format. I find it difficult to work so small and prefer the larger sizes. For this piece, I chose a […] more »

Zooey & Verne

Zooey & Verne

December 15, 2014

My goal for this piece was to create a bright and colorful collage of our two fun-loving goats. I was not pleased with the first design, so I changed the barn image and the support for this piece. I began with the red barn and concentrated on the big, bold shapes first. The goats shapes […] more »

Raymond’s #3

Raymond’s #3

November 20, 2014

This is my third watercolor of one of the most popular eating places in Centerville — Raymond’s Dairy Creme. Since it changed ownership and there is a new sign in place, I thought it would be nice to do an updated version. I always begin with a photograph for reference to work from, so I […] more »

Pumpkin Patch Sally

Pumpkin Patch Sally

November 18, 2014

This design of the pumpkins and black cat was inspired by the autumn season. I bought a few pumpkins and photographed our newest orphan kitten among them. She didn’t co-operate much. I took many reference photos to work from and worked in the traditional watercolor method on a medium weight paper. I usually wet the […] more »

Indian Corn

Indian Corn

November 7, 2014

This artwork came about by way of request, but I have been thinking of doing one of the indian corn for a long time. I worked from my original pencil drawing done in 1980, which is very detailed and took me many months to complete. In the collage design my drawing is simplified — just […] more »

Violin

Violin

November 4, 2014

This piece was inspired by the interesting shape of the violin, and it was something that has been on the back burner for a while. When a friend asked me if I had any collages of this particular subject, I jumped right in and designed a piece. My favorite part of designing a piece is choosing […] 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 »

Centerville Bandshell

Centerville Bandshell

October 21, 2014

This is a realistic watercolor painting of the newly-renovated bandshell in Centerville, Iowa. Many people have asked me to paint this structure because of the good memories it holds for them. I worked from my photograph, which includes the historic courthouse behind it. more »

Autumn Leaves

Autumn Leaves

October 14, 2014

This watercolor motif was requested by a client, but I have been thinking of doing some autumn leaves for a long time. In the past, I have completed realistic drawings of oak leaves on a branch and my goal was to try this in watercolor. I wanted to do a piece a little smaller than […] more »