I was inspired by the bright orange mini-pumpkin and the last of my magenta cosmos flowers for this painting. One of my favorite fabrics, the one with all the patterns of dots and splotches, was used under the vase of flowers and pumpkin. It is a great complementary color with the orange pumpkin — it […] more »
I decided to paint another still life with my eggplants, books and favorite turquoise goblet. It is an up-close, intimate view of these elements. Especially important is the featured book, Art & Soul, by artist Audrey Flack. The art on the cover ignited my imagination. I love the deep, purplish-blue-black of the eggplants, and their […] more »
This was a fun watercolor to paint with my glossy black eggplants and glassware. I enjoyed the process of drawing the design using my reference photo. Some of my favorite art books are included in the still life. Usually I wet the paper where I intend to drop in the pigments wet-in-wet, which is one […] more »
My idea was to set up an Autumn still life with fabrics, flowers and fruit. I chose a mini-pumpkin and decorative gourds and set them on a patterned blue-spotted fabric. Patterns galore! The lovely complementary blue color sets off the oranges, yellows and reds. I picked some of the last cosmos blossoms from my garden and set […] more »
These old structures are fascinating and almost completely disappeared from the countryside where we live. This one is gone, but I used a photo taken years ago. The gaps in the roof and uneven barn boards have interesting abstract designs which attracted me in the first place. I used artistic license with the color — […] more »
This was inspired by Annie’s chairs at the Artisan Gallery 218. In early spring I did numerous loose contour sketches of these antique chairs and they were the beginning of my collage design. The other elements evolved from my imagination: the sunny window, the magenta color I love, the zinnias and sunflowers from my garden. […] more »
This is a row of spotted Holstein dairy cows — I love the black and white patterns of them. I decided on painting the plain background first, in a neutral color so it wouldn’t conflict with the positive shapes of the cows. Pieces of an Iowa map are the foreground, sprinkled with some tulips. Lastly, […] more »
This is a whimsical design of nine Iowa hogs running through the tulips. Not something you see every day. I used pieces of an Iowa map for the sky shape and a variety of different colored hogs, plus a green-grass foreground and some happy red and pink tulips. more »
My challenge was to design more whimsical animal Christmas collages. I used sketches of our three goats and added some fun trees and stars. Their shapes describe their breeds: Pygmy, Nigerian Dwarf and a mix of regular-size goat and Dwarf with floppy ears. The colors changed a lot while I was working on this, and […] more »
This is another petite painting challenge, in a 6” x 6” format. Square designs are more difficult than the usual rectangular ones, but I prefer them. I began with a detailed drawing of my garden coneflowers from life. Working in my sketchbook daily is on my to-do list. It is good practice and your observation […] more »