I am getting into spring and painting more florals! The variety of subtle whites inspired me to paint this orchid. I used my snapshot from the Botanical Garden. I love the pale, minty greens and the fuchsia and lavender centers. My goal was to capture the gracefulness and delicacy of this plant. more »
This piece was inspired from a charming display of old school bells. I visited the Prairie Trails Museum in Corydon last year and I snapped a few photos I thought were inspiring and possible painting subjects. After designing and cropping my photograph, I decided to use a limited palette of complementary colors to emphasize the […] more »
Spring fever always hits when winter weather does not want to stop, and it makes me dream of bright, fresh flowers. I used a photo for this piece and worked much of it wet-in-wet. The tangerine colors are very saturated and lively and the butterfly is the focal point. I painted two layers for the […] more »
Between serious competition pieces, I enjoy doing some fun little collages. Humorous animals always tickle my fancy. And because pets are so loved, I chose a yellow lab for this design. I also got a chance to utilize my collage paper scraps. I added a piece of map and was surprised that there is actually […] more »
My intention for this painting was to use complementary colors to make this piece sing! The chairs were painted wet-in-wet, dropping the pigments into the the damp areas of the paper. I love the way the pigments have mingled and flowed into each other. This is the main attribute of watercolors, and I love to […] more »
This particular piece was not one I breezed through effortlessly. One of the problems was limiting colors. I have a tendency to go hog wild with colors! Every element surrounding the chairs works toward harmonizing the shapes and patterns. It gets complicated if there are too many shapes and if it gets too crowded. I always […] more »
I have decided to do a cat faces series, and this is the second piece. In this design, I have combined a black-brown, ginger, and black-and-white cat. They all have such unique faces! I’m also finally using some of my earth-colored pigments. These include sepia, umbers, ochres, black, and blues. It has been a fun project […] more »
I have been working on a series of cat paintings which I started a few years ago. The nice thing is, I have plenty of models available and a large file of reference photos of all the felines we have had over many years. In this particular study, I have combined three separate photos of […] more »
In October, I had the itch to paint some chairs again, but to add a twist to the composition. Previously, most of my designs were with jungle plants, but I decided enough of the greenery! Although I do find myself doing plant life frequently, it is good to do something totally different. In this case, I […] more »
This piece is a reinvention of one of my favorite subjects: chairs. A challenge with this composition was adding non-related elements, as well as harmonizing the colors. It all began with an elderly blue jay, who flew to our patio and just sat and sat. No movement. He perched on the water bowl for a […] more »