Checkered Past

5x7 w/c

I have been working on this little guy forever!  I was getting really caught up in the feathers when I finally stepped back and thought about the reason I wanted to paint him.  It was the expression on his face and the pattern in his feathers so I decided to focus more on his face and incorporate pattern elsewhere.  I cropped off all of the extra parts and I'm quite happy with him.  I'm looking forward to doing more of this kind of painting where I relax a little more and don't worry so much about my painting looking like the source but rather painting what I want to see.  The title refers both to the checker board pattern and also to the fact that this guy was a rescue.  Who knows what got him there!

Bugged

11x15 w/c on board

another painting of a www.johnyatesphotos.com photo.   Thanks John!

Baby Baboon

12x12 w/c on board
Another painting of a John Yates photo www.johnyatesphotos.com

Griz swimming

30x40 watercolour on board

Thanks to John Yates the photographer who provided the original image.  www.johnyatesphotos.com

Mom's sea shell

My mom has a cabinet in her bathroom that I have painted various folk art paintings on over the years.  She just changed her theme and I painted this sea shell and beach scene on the back of an old snowman pic.  I used absorbent ground first and then did the painting in watercolour and varnished it after.  It will look good in the door of her little cabinet!  Absorbent ground is very absorbent!  There is no colour lifting at all!

See Turtle

NFS

12x12 W/C on Board

We went to Hawaii over Spring Break this year and all I wanted to do was see a turtle.  We booked excursuions to Turtle town and no one was home, we went snorkeling to a fish cleaning station and no one was there, we snorkeled around the coral at our condo (where they are always supposed to be) and not a turtle in sight.  On our last day, we booked a kayaking/snorkeling trip and crossed our fingers.  I was barely in the water and this turtle swam up from a coral 'cave'.  He swam straight to me.  I kept moving to get out of his way and no matter where I went, he followed.  I was nose to nose with a sea turtle.  It was so exciting!

Six Tulips2

9.25x15.5 W/C on Board

Six Tulips1

7.5x15 W/C on Board

All Dressed Up with no Place to go!

12x16 w/c

One Show This Year!

Please stop by and see me on Friday or Saturday.  This is the one and only show I am doing this year.  Of course, I can still be contacted by email if there is something on my blog that interests you.  Hope to see you soon!