Apple Blossoms

This is another painting that reminds me of Spring.

6x6 inch oil on canvas attached to board

Arabian Mare no.9

Painting a horse has been easy for me but the background can be a challenge or just make it vague.

11x7 inch Watercolor on 140 Arches. Sold

Swan

SOLD

When I took the pictures for this painting it was Spring and the swans were nesting. They ruffled their feathers when I came near. I assumed that was normal but was later told they had a nest nearby. It made for great pictures.

oil on canvas affixed to gessoed masonite. Sold

Arabian no.8

I added some colors left over from a portrait I was working on to brighten this painting.

6x6 inch oil on gessoed masonite panel. Sold

Green Glass Apple

 A glass artist friend of mine made this apple and I had it sitting near a window, when it caught my eye. The colors of green that was the glass apple and the colors that are reflections from the window and making the composition work with just one object was what I had to work out before I began.

6x7 inch watercolor. Sold.

Hanna

SOLD

This is the finished painting of Hannah. Sold

Arabian no.7

I had asked a young man who owned several Arabians if I could take pictures of them for reference. He took them out into a round pen and they just ran. It was great. I turned the camera on continuous shots and followed the stallions. I am gratefull for the opportunity to take these photos, he even gave me a copy of his photos. As a child I would draw horses and they were always in action. I loved the action in the paintings of Frederick Remington.

 6x6 inch oil on canvas affixed to a masonite panel $50  Buy 

Arabian no.6

I entered the latest daily paintworks challenge:

 Paint this image using only burnt sienna, ultramarine blue and titanium white. That's it. No other colors. With that combo you can have it look pretty darn close to a full color painting by achieving a wide array of values and temperatures.

With the paint I had left over I painted this horse.

6x6 oil on canvas affixed to masonite board. $50 Buy this painting

SOLD - LIGHTER CHALLENGE

Arabian no.5

My first drawings were of horses. Even though I have painted them all my life I go back and practice painting them like you would warm up before a painting. Drawing like anything in life you have to practice at but like riding a bicycle it comes back. This is the first of a series of four I will post.

Oil on canvas affixed to masonite panel 6x6. sold

Magnolia no. 3

This is the last magnolia painting. With this one the colors are more high key.

oil on canvas affixed to masonite panel. 6x6. $50 Buy this painting.

Magnolia no. 2

This is from a Magnolia bush. The petals are thinner and more colorful. My pallette for these Magnolias is Quinacridone red, Cadmium yellow light and Phthalo blue.

Oil on Masonite 6x6 $50 Buy this painting

Magnolia no. 1

This 6 inch x 6 inch was one of three magnolias that I had to paint from photos. This is another subject that gets me in the mood for Spring. Unfortunately the magnolia flowers around here bloom and die before the leaves come out.

Oil on Masonite. 6x6. $50 Buy this painting

Madison

I painted this in oil then painted the final for the client in watercolor with a front view. The ground was a light gray which makes the warm colors pop.

Rodeo Park Snow Shadows

What attacted me to this scene was the shadows in the snow and the way they crisscrossed. This was a quick sketch using a photo as reference.

Red Rose Challenge

This 6 inch x 6 inch oil painting was part of the http://www.dailypaintworks.com/ challenge. Artists were challenged to paint a rose which to me is a difficult subject.

 Below is my fourth painting, paintings two and three were scraped off my canvas.

SOLD

6x6 inch oil on masonite. Sold

Hannah

This is the rough sketch for a portrait of my grandaughter Hannah. Usually I work from my own reference material but my daughter took a great picture. Besides when I am with them I would prefer to just be grandma and enjoy them.



Sorrel

I could not have a blog without including one of my watercolors. Even though it is mostly transparent watercolor, in the background I used white acrylic paint when the background became too dark and muddy.  I would use masking tape around the edges and when I took it off I had a nice clean line which looked good with only one matboard. My passion for drawing horses when I was younger helped me develope my skills.

Watercolor on 140 lb. watercolor paper, image size 6x7.5 matted to 13x17 metal frame. $175 Buy this painting

This is an acrylic painting. Sold

Midwest Landscape no.4

I spent a little more time on this painting.

I used Photoshop to move the cows and the tree on the right to get the composition the way I want it.



View from Highway 61

I found this scene while driving, I often stop along the road to take photos especially on bridges where the view of the water from above is inspiring. I noticed that when a semi goes over a bridge you can feel it shake, that makes me rethink how important that picture really was. When the weather gets better I am going to drag my easel and paints and trudge down the river bank to set up for some plein air painting. Although I love to paint snow, doing it from photos just doesn't reveal the subtle color variations of nature.

Green Apples and Blue Bottle

I ate all the red apples so the green had to do for this setup.

This was more for the practic matching the circle shapes in the vase. I may have to keep at it. I think I should have started out drawing all the round shapes in the vase first on my rough sketch rather than the shape of the vase.

Taylor

This is my granddaughter who has the cutest freckles.

This pose was irresistable and I had to paint it.

Red Apples

The size on this one is 6" x 6" and it was a quick warm up before I start working on a larger piece.

10 Minute Challenge

The web site dailypaintworks featured a 10 minute painting challenge,

create a painting in 10 minutes.

Each of these 3 inch x 3 inch sections was painted in 10 minutes.

Ink Bottles Red and Blue

I painted this in watercolor. Glass is one subject that I do really like to do in watercolor. This is one that I will tape on the border leaving a nice white border around the subject.

7x5 inch watercolor 

Model

Sometimes I will do a small warm up before I begin a portrait. The final image ended up a front view.

Spring Rabbits

I love to paint snow but sometimes I miss the colors of Spring.

This is my relief from cabin fever. Sold

Crapo Park

This is another park in the area. By graying down the shadows in the background and the use of the tracks in the road I managed to give this painting depth.

Rodeo Park Tree no.5

I have painted this tree 5 times. Four of them watercolor paintings, so it is only natural that I would try it in oil. The park was closed so I had to walk to the location in the fresh snow to get photos.

This painting and several others will be auctioned off to benefit the Fort Madison Area Arts Association on April 9th. Fort Madison, Iowa, Comfort Inn and Suites.

Red Wine and Green Grapes

This is one of my favorite subjects. The reflections on the glass, the red wine and the color of the grapes make a great subject.

Brown Eyed Girl

The eyes on this young girl is what inspired me to paint her. I have done portraits in watercolor previous to this but I felt that oil would give me that intense brown for her eyes. The background is made up of a mixture of paint left on the pallette. This gives a nice neutral.