This watercolor was painted in the “alla prima” technique, from the Italian meaning “at the first.” It describes a painting which is completed in a single session. The idea is to capture the essence of the subject in a bold, intuitive way, using vigorous, expressive brush strokes and minimal color mixing on the palette. This […] 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 »
I have challenged myself to do a series of petite collages. No easy feat when you are used to 22” x 30”. Using my sketch of a perky bantam rooster, I collaged the rooster shapes with yellow, tan, and orange feathers. Keeping the background simple and plain because of the small area to work, I […] 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 »
Earlier this year, I wrote down many ideas for subject matter to paint. I intended to do a music series after the guitars and violin. For this piece I used my reference photo taken at the Museum of Making Music in Carlsbad, California. Beginning with a very loose pencil drawing and weaving colors and shapes […] more »
I am continuing my bicycle series and loved the challenge of doing a smaller piece. I began with a simple line drawing of a bicycle close-up and started gluing some of the positive shapes. Halfway through gluing, I decided to add another smaller bike above it — a bit of a squeeze, but it adds […] more »
Bicycle shapes are wonderful, and I am continually working on this series. The design possibilities are endless. I love the geometric shapes and the challenge of working on this theme. As the others, Iowa maps are used in the background. I used an archival foamboard for the support. Gel medium and a UV Varnish is […] more »
This collage is part of my Iowa Series started way back in ’85. My first collages were a small square format of barns and farm animals. Over the years these have evolved to include other elements of farm life. I love the patterns of spots on the dairy cows and the interesting shapes of barn […] more »