Guardians of the Desert

I still have saguaro cactus moving around in my head! The great thing about painting is you can travel anywhere just by painting lots of color on canvas! I've been trying to really make my brushwork and colors count and I think I achieved that in this piece!

"Guardians of the Desert" • Original acrylic on 3/4" wrap around canvas, painting continues on sides, ready to hang • 8" x 8"

If interested in purchasing this piece click HERE.

Wisteria in Bloom

I'm still working with my new purples, blues and blue greens. Wisteria is the perfect subject to paint with these colors. I tried to pay more attention to creating depth with darker values and to use a variety of harmonies such as yellow green to blue green, pink and light violet to blue and blue violet. This paper creates texture all on its own but I added some as well. There's a little iridescent paint hidden here and there.

"Wisteria in Bloom" • Original watercolor on handmade Shizen paper • 12" x 18"

If interested in purchasing this piece click HERE.

Saguaro Workshop

Today we painted saguaros in acrylic. I supplied a couple of photos as references and some folks also brought their own reference. We talked about color perspective, composition, and color application. Everyone expressed a different idea of saguaros and all the interpretations are very awesome! They are shown below.

Wisteria Paintings

Wisteria is such a FUN flower to paint in watercolor. The hanging flower clusters really lend themselves to drippy paint. It's really neat to find the shapes to develop the painting. I purchased some new purples and I've been enjoying using them and exploring the different color combinations. Below are 2 of my wisteria paintings in different color combinations with one a little less defined than the other.

"Wisteria Abandon" • Original watercolor on 100% cotton paper • 11" x 15"

If interested in purchasing this piece click HERE.

"Wisteria Mood" • Original watercolor on 100% cotton paper • 11" x 15"

If interested in purchasing this piece click HERE.

Hollyhocks in Pink

COLOR!!!! It's been raining here a LOT!!!!! My painting is becoming extra colorful to balance that!!!!!
This piece began as a class demo on painting hollyhocks. I used my brightest pinks and even left white space!!!! I finished with the darker areas at home. I think it turned out beautifully!

"Hollyhocks in Pink" • Original watercolor on 100% cotton paper • 7" x 4 7/8"

 If interested in purchasing this piece click HERE.

Snowberries & Crows

Winter colors can be hard to portray. It's kind of like we see the tones of the pure colors that are visible in the spring, summer and fall. The light is different, not so bright and a little cooler. A lot of the bushes have a reddish tint to their twigs, background trees are bluer. And the white snowberries are all different whites. The crows were flying around when I was in the park and I wanted to add them to this wintry portrayal of the dormant woods.
This piece is painted on handmade Shizen paper and I photographed it so you can see the edges.

"Snowberries & Crows" • Original watercolor • 9" x 12"

If interested in purchasing this piece click HERE.

Rich Colors of a Wintry Wood

Some of the color variations with purple are really AWESOME! This piece explores purple, green and brown. I think the colors just sing! I'm happy with the design as well.

"Rich Colors of a Wintry Wood" • Original watercolor on 100% cotton paper • 7'5" x 5'5"

If interested in purchasing this piece click HERE.