This vertical composition of sunflowers continues to fascinate me. It is my favorite flower — a showy, bright flower, in endless varieties! These blooms are from my garden last year, teamed up with a striped cloth bought at the farmers market. For the sake of design, the cloth is altered, emphasizing the flowers. The textured […] more »
This petite animal collage was a special challenge due to its size. I’ve never worked this small a format before in this media and the difficulty of cutting the shapes was something I probably won’t do again. The colors and shapes are simple and I think the result turned out well. I chose this animal as it […] more »
This structure has intrigued me because of the shapes and the gnarled tree. I have painted it a number of times and found the sun and shadow patterns interesting. The bright white fence contributed to its character and the textured field beyond. It also has numerous small window opening, probably to dry the hay stored […] more »
I was inspired by my garden poppies last year. While looking over the file photos, I decided to include more textures using oil pastels with an acrylic wash over that. This was something new, and it worked perfectly for the ruffled, crinkled petals of the flower. While adhering the rice paper, some of the soft […] more »
I am still interested in these old barn structures — their shapes and details fascinate me. And they are fast disappearing from the landscape. I feel they best describe Iowa because agriculture is the top priority here. This barn is located in Mahaska County, Iowa. Then manner in which I approach painting them is different […] more »
I decided to use on of my earlier photos of the purple goblets for this piece — I wanted to get back to the purple colors and our pears from the orchard. I was attracted to the strong sunlight patterns and the wood texture of the table. I wanted to capture the abstract patterns in […] more »
This piece is part of an ongoing pet portrait series I’ve been working on this year. This is a smaller size than I usually work on, at an affordable price for the general public and great gift. My idea was to paint all the most popular breeds, so it will take me a while for […] more »
I used one of my reference photos to compose this expressive-eyed basset hound. I liked his droopy ears, wide jowls, toenails and mournful expression. The tangerine color for his ears is a continuation of the Peppermint Pups’ bright, cheery color. Orange recently came into my palette of color for reasons I can’t explain — it […] more »
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 »
I created this because the design has been in my mind for a long time, so I went back to my sketches of tropical fish and plant life from 1995. This particular subject matter has interested me since a gal from St. Louis commissioned me to do a special piece for her. I’ve been working […] more »