The Dreamer Emerald and Tarnish....day 10 of the 30 day challenge

6" x6"  oil on canvas board    $60.00

Oh she's a dreamer, a delight, a dancer and entertainer.  She will bring you to your knees with laughter and melt your heart with her raspy girly voice and flirty eyes.  Oh Sydney, we will see you in the funny papers and on stage!

Furniture Climber

11" x 14"   watercolor and colored pencil     SOLD

Furniture Climber Day 3 of the 30 day challenge
Remind me to never paint this small again as I cannot see properly to do it. Took longer than necessary for sure!
 I photographed this with indoor lighting. It is not as yellow as this. I could not resist the climbers liveliness. Everything about her said sweetness. She was back lit, so the shadows on her face were pretty dark.

Golden Opportunity

5" x 5" oil on deep canvas  floral   still life   $50.00

Every day is a golden opportunity to seek God's beauty.  Sometimes the smallest blossom, maybe a leftover from the taller stems, should not be discarded.  Their fullness, contained in a small apothecary jar, spills life and joy in a dark corner. 

Crash and Flow

5" x 7"  watercolor   $40.00

Lapping and climbing at the edge of mossy rocks, the water composes its own melody of crash and flow, whoosh and  play, hide and seek and back wash.  Steadily surprising us,we adore the game.

A Winding Stream on Colorado Highway 131

16" x 20"  oil on canvas  $600.00

While returning from a fun camping trip at Trapper's Lake, we had a blowout!  Yikes!  This beautiful scene was beside us where we stopped and the man who lived directly across the road on a 17,0000 acre ranch came over to help us.  He was really strong and sooo kind.!  He took the spare tire from our car and replaced the blow out in no time.  I do think I saw some wings on his back! 

We followed him to his football field sized "garage" to put air in the spare tire and that was another adventure.  He was one of those gentle and interesting characters that you only read about in books.  In the huge garage were stalls  for horses and cows, a huge wood workshop, several vehicles and a float.  How could we thank him?  

He did not want money.  He was just a good Samaritan and we were fortunate to meet him.

I may have to send him a painting of the ranch, eh?

Sea Path

16" x 20"  oil on canvas  $600.00

Sea Path is painted in the footsteps of Vicki McMurray.  The colors are scrumptious  and the palette knife has skipped across the pre painted brown landscape.  This was a really fun painting because it is so bright and zig zaggy.  Rich golds and deep neutral greens  play off the pinks and mauves.  Thanks Vicki for your simple instructions.  I am off and running now, mixing an awesome palette way before I lay any of it down has made all the difference!  Way fun!

"Juicy Tomatoes"

4" x 6"  watercolor  $20.00

Light plays from my kitchen window providing tangerine and rose colored reflections on the tiles from the not yet eaten tomatoes.

"Sharecropper's Wife"

12" x 24"  watercolor framed and matted  $525.00

My favorite woman. She is a good woman who works hard everyday to help her husband and family.

She is a mother, age 27. 

She is tired and could use a good back rub, and it is only  noon.  She must return to the fields after a refreshing cup of cold water from the cistern. 

"Sky Feathering"

13" x 21"  watercolor framed and matted  $400.00

Feathers have always fascinated me. Imagine how God put them together so perfectly in myriad colors and sizes and  distinct divisions that cause a bird to take flight.  Feathers cover the whole body and keeps them warm even though their bones and legs are so thin.  Wonder of wonders to me, who knows nothing about ornithology.  Imagine a world without birds!  I cannot.

Mr. Rabbit 3

8 x 10 watercolor print by Reveille Kennedy  SOLD

A fluffy bunny curiously stopped by just long enough for a sunset snapshot in Anchorage, AK.  

Samantha

w/c on 140 lb Arches

portrait commission  12/10/11   8 x 10  sold
prints available    $35.00

This little puppy with her giant doggie bone is holding on tightly.  How could anyone want to take it away from her, anyway?

Jack, the Musician unfinished

I want to teach you how to maximize the look you want

 painting inspirational, informational and impressionistic portraits in watercolor. 

 Let me show you how I do it. 

#46  "Jack the Musician"  unfinished   6/29/11    11 x 14 watercolor.  NFS

 I will work on this painting again tomorrow when I am fresh. So far it looks pretty much like Jack, my son, who is the band leader for Velvet Rut. They play popular music from almost any era all over the midwest and he will be playing at our 50th anniversary. Yay! He is such a dedicated young man and I love being his mom and live for his bear hugs and smile.

INSTRUCTION

As you can see, this painting is a little over halfway finished.  Since this photo was taken I have already lightened most of the blue shirt on the left shoulder (right bottom of the paper) with my sink sprayer.  It is just too dark.

1.To begin, I carefully drew the face, measuring with my pencil.   I lie it flat on the paper to get proportions.  this painting is twice the size of my photo.  You can use a grid or whatever suits you best or you can work from life

2.  After I get the drawing finished I add masking with a masquepen to keep the wonderful whites and pieces of light.  This masque  tint is green, but you can get other colors.

 3.   Next I proceed to put a wash of clear water over almost all the face, hat, ears and hair.  

4.  Now I added a light wash of lemon yellow over the face and letting it bleed out into some of the other areas.  It is very light, so it will not be seen much, but it adds life. 

 5.  Proceeding while the  painting is still wet, but not shiny, add any of the colors that you see in the photo or make them up, but keep them subtle at this point and tip your paper to let the colors bleed. make sure you wet any dry edges while you are on the face so that you don't have specific lines.  At this point you want it very soft.  

 6.  Please stop and evaluate now and let the painting dry or go on to the hat or background.

After the whole painting is dry, I then rewet almost all of the face except the lightest parts with clear water, and begin the same process over again trying to maintain similar colors, and heightening the shadows.  Sometimes it will look pretty garish when it is wet, but remember, it dries lighter.  

7.  The painting as you see it is finished to this point. After it was dry I removed the masking on the face.

 I am going to finish it and show you the background and finish the detail that will make it sparkle. 

‎# 46 "Jack the Musician" 6/29/11 11 x 14 watercolor.