Marybeth Heikes

Paintings in Watercolor & Mixed Media

Stunning Still Lifes

Sunflower

Sunflower

July 28, 2015

This piece was inspired by our garden sunflowers. I worked in a smaller design format than usual because I have been doing the Daily Paintings that are usually done in smaller sizes. It is easier to complete a piece this size in one day, as opposed to the larger pieces that can take up to […] more »

Bottlemania

Bottlemania

July 7, 2015

This painting was inspired by the large collection of antique bottles my mother sent me. As I sketched each bottle, I turned my paper in all directions and overlapped the bottles, which made a more interesting arrangement than just standing next to each other on a shelf. more »

Valentine Wishes

Valentine Wishes

March 17, 2015

This piece was inspired by some antique bottles my mother sent me. I love the shapes and colors of the bottles, but I did not use the original colors. I completed numerous drawings of the bottles first, then edited and designed the composition without adhering to the sketches. I allowed for changes while working on […] more »

Balloon Flowers

Balloon Flowers

February 24, 2015

This piece was done from my original sketchbook drawing. I worked from the actual flowers, paying close attention to the floral forms and stems. These flowers are a beautiful soft blue or periwinkle color. My design is a little abstract and I was nearing completion, I added a butterfly shape which is partially hidden. It was […] more »

Paradise

Paradise

February 11, 2015

I have always loved the Bird of Paradise flower and wanted to paint it for a long time. It is a bold, tropical blossom and I tried to capture the saturated warm colors of it. I worked from my vacation photograph and challenged myself to use a different format, the square. The background was not […] more »

Pollen Swirl

Pollen Swirl

February 9, 2015

Sunflowers provide a never ending inspiration; I absolutely love these flowers with their huge heads and bold, bright yellow shapes. My challenge for this piece was the size. Larger paintings are my forte. This is scaled down to 5.25 by 7.5 — very minuscule for me. I edited the seed-head and just added a spiral […] more »

Confetti Tulips

Confetti Tulips

February 6, 2015

Flowers are one of my favorite subjects. For this collage, I used one of my sketches done in 2005. I love the shapes of tulips and the curved leaf patterns. I did not have a background planned, but improvised one using paper scraps to keep it fresh and exciting. The tiny triangle pieces were nipped from […] more »

Lotus Buds

Lotus Buds

February 2, 2015

This is another in a series of the beautiful lotus plant. I usually work from my photo and do a preliminary sketch and simplify shapes. The leaf shapes were edited, as there were too many to add anything extra to the design. The main focus are the buds of these flowers. This collage is done on […] more »

Breezy Spring

Breezy Spring

January 28, 2015

Looking through my sketchbooks, I decided to work from a sketch done around 2005 of my garden tulips. I used an archival matboard for the support, instead of watercolor paper. No background was planned initially; I worked with various paper scraps and color shapes to achieve an unusual background. Leaves are at the edges and […] more »

Lotus 2

Lotus 2

January 20, 2015

This is a collage design of a lotus plant, from my photograph of the plant at Balboa Park. Pieces of rice paper were used to add depth and dimension with my usual acrylic papers. It was edited throughout the process, focusing on bold, simple shapes. I posted this previously as a “Daily Painting,” although it […] more »