This watercolor painting was commissioned by my brother Joe. It is a beautiful Great Dane. He provided the photograph and I began this piece by drawing the design in pencil first. The main purpose of the portrait was to capture her inquisitive and playful expression. The background uses a wet-in-wet method, to keep it simple and […] more »
This was inspired by our playful and ornery goats. And because the year 2015 is the Chinese Year of the Sheep/Goat, this was perfect! In the past I have done some Chinese zodiac animals in ink and decided it was time to try them using collage papers. Working from my sketch and some of my […] more »
Cats play a huge part in my life and are perfect models, although it is impossible to get them to sit still for a photograph. This painting is of Siobhan, who has a lovely pattern of spots on her back. I happened to catch a good pose of her and decided that working in a […] more »
I have made lots of bird drawings in my sketchbook, and used one of these that I did a few years ago. That’s the bonus of drawing constantly — you always have material to fall back on. I took the liberty of changing the owl’s color. I thought purple would be nice against the indigo sky […] more »
Inspired by the Sumi-e paintings I made many years ago, I wanted to experiment with this technique using my collage papers. When working this small, in approximately 5 x 7 sizes, it’s best to limit shapes and not get involved in the details. Sketching from some of the birds outdoors at our feeders, I began […] more »
The inspiration for this piece came about while we were on vacation in San Diego last summer. The color of these birds attracted my attention, it was so vivid. Everything about them inspired many sketches. I focused on the head of one bird. Its head and neck are very graceful. No background was planned, but I […] more »
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 »
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 »
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 »
My favorite subject matter with collage materials is animals. I was inspired by our new pet, Verne, who is a pygmy goat. He’s not good at standing still and posing for me. He does all kinds of antics instead. I have to take a lot of shots while he gets too close to the camera lens. […] more »