These glorious blooms were painted from my garden. I worked from my reference photo and sad to say I no longer have tulips in my garden, as the deer have destroyed them. Tulips are one of my favorite flowers and a sure sign that spring has arrived. These graceful blooms were wonderful to paint. The […] more »
In the back of my mind, I have always wanted to do another bicycle design in collage. When I received an invitation for an upcoming show with a bicycle theme, I got to work right away! I took a few photos of an antique bicycle, which was my reference for this composition. The main objective […] more »
I’m painting my way around Albia’s square. This pale yellow building on the corner is a landmark and on the historic register. It is interesting sandwiched between the other businesses. The other points of interest are the global lights and parked vehicles along the curb. The building colors are a primary triad of yellow, gray-blue and brick […] more »
What could be more simple than a design of brushes? I chose a variety of sizes and drew the shapes directly on the paper. Leaving the background for last, I discovered the interesting triangular patterns between the brushes and used different pigments for each one: naples yellow, violet and sap green. The triangles emphasize the angular pattern […] more »
It’s difficult to paint a huge engine on a tiny piece of watercolor paper! I chose hot press paper, so the pigments squooshed around a lot — juicy orange! I had to edit the shapes, like the big bold numerals. This engine was idling on the tracks in Albia. I also mixed in some gouache […] more »
This watercolor is part of my series of the Union Pacific engines. The abstract shapes and bold colors captured my attention! I used my camera to compose the designs and it’s not until I start the actual painting process that I notice more details. I edited this quite a bit and just focused on the […] more »
You don’t see many of these classic cars anymore! It’s as big as a boat and probably twice as heavy. I’d hate to think of parallel parking this baby! This was done as a pencil commission years ago and I had taken many camera shots of this gentleman’s car. I like the lemonade color he painted […] more »
This is one of my many humorous birds in a series, along with the Love Birds, Cockatoo, Bad Hair Day, Flamingo and Ostrich. This old guy is sitting on an orange rock in the middle of a stream. For the accent color, I used a bright red in the feathers and the top of his […] more »