Kingfisher in the Marsh

I've been working on this piece for a few days making adjustments.
The idea for this piece came to me when I was going through my photos and came across a kingfisher photo that I really liked. So I decided to place the bird into a landscape that a kingfisher would love! Lots of water, grasses and little fish (you can't see those) for tasty snacks! I made use of adding red to my greens in the background to set them back and worked with the different blues and purples in the water to make it interesting.

"Kingfisher in the Marsh" • Original acrylic on 1.5" gallery wrap canvas, painting continues on sides, ready to hang
12" x 12"

If interested in purchasing this piece click HERE.

Warm Light—Heron Peeking Through the Grasses

This piece is painted in acrylic on canvas. The shape is challenging and really makes for interesting compositions. I've been wanting to work a lot in greens lately which I think can be a difficult color to work with. I've discovered if I add tan colors as well as yellow and peach accents it makes the greens look better. The gray of the bird really stands out against the greens. In the water I used a glaze of lighter paint to make the ripples in the water. I think this is a really strong piece.
Thanks to my brother for the photo!

Warm Light—Heron Peeking Through the Grasses • Original acrylic on 3/4" wrap around canvas, painting continues on sides, ready to hang • 24" x 12"

If interested in purchasing this piece click HERE.

A Magical Time

We've been having snow lately and I've been painting. Using a softer brush and more medium with my acrylics is creating some softer effects with the paint. This piece, A Magical Time, is based on some marsh photos that I took last spring which seemed too complicated to paint. You know, a photo looks great until you try to make it into a painting! These photos have some really great values so composing this piece worked out pretty smoothly. I added quite a bit of red to the greens in the background to set them in the distance. Glazing some lights over the water really add to the quality of the reflection and the grasses and weeds create a wonderful atmosphere.

"A Magical Time" • Original Acrylic on 3/4" wrap around canvas, painting continues on sides, ready to hang • 20" x 20"

If interested in purchasing this piece click HERE.

Musical Sunflowers

I started this piece as a class demo and I've been working on it. I added the flowers above the largest flower and worked on the leaves. My eye kept going to the orange on the right so I adjusted the saturation of that flower peeking behind the leaf. When I added the little touches of gouache with the spatter and the flat brush strokes I think it really started to sing.

"Musical Sunflowers" • Original watercolor on 100% cotton paper • 11" x 15"

If interested in purchasing this piece click HERE.

Music of the Marsh

I have been working from some marsh photos that I took last spring and trying different color combinations and switching grasses and twigs around. This is a watercolor variation. It really started to work when I added the darker twigs in the central portion of the piece. I used a little iridescent paint on the left and the spatter at the bottom is also iridescent paint. I really like the blue to purple gradation in the water and the sense of depth in the piece.

"Music of the Marsh" • Original watercolor on 100% cotton paper • 8" x 9.93"

If interested in purchasing this piece click HERE.

Sunflower Dance

Thanks to a friend I had a real sunflower in the studio. I looked at it all day while I was painting other pieces and decided that time was running out to paint this sunflower. My first version was just a round flower which looked OK but didn't say anything particularly special. So I tilted the flower and adjusted the image and changed the background color and— YAY! —it worked! I'm much happier with this piece!!! I enjoyed using warm and cool yellows and the neutral accents in the flower.

"Sunflower Dance" • Original Acrylic on 1.5" gallery wrap canvas, painting continues on sides, ready to hang • 6" x 6"

If interested in purchasing this piece click HERE.

Land & Water Music

I love marshy areas and this if from a photo that I took last Spring that it's taken me awhile to figure out how to paint. Using masking fluid to preserve the small areas of white allowed me to be free with the initial wash of acrylic ink in the water and watercolor at the top. This is the second time I've done a mixed watercolor and ink wash trying to keep the two mediums a little separate. I like the transparency of the watercolor at the top and the strong ink color at the bottom. I also used a little black ink mixed with red on the right side. Black ink is amazing to work with—it's REALLY BLACK and takes only a little to make a big impact. After the first wash was dry I added more color with watercolor and a little more ink. I've tried to paint this without putting in every detail and I think it works really well.

"Land & Water Music" • Original mixed watermedia on 100% cotton paper • 8" x 10"

If interested in purchasing this piece click HERE.