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 »
I created this piece because I wanted a Christmas-themed cat. It is a close-up of Aurora, a black & white kitty. more »
This is a picture of my brother’s Great Dane, Isis. I was given the photo and worked from that. He is kind of a speckled dog, with a Christmas hat that he was dressed in, besides the velvet collar. more »
I had the idea first for this motif and played around with painting the watery background before adding the shapes. My first attempt wasn’t successful and I had to redo it. The resulting marbled effect is what I’d planned on. The yellow tabby with lavender stripes breaks up the solid coat of the cat. I […] more »