Old Brick Home

first piece I’ve done in a very long time, a commissioned piece requested by a very nice gentleman I could not refuse.  He wants the piece for his 92 year old aunt, whom, lived in the house when she was a child.  I tried to restore it to the era as closely as I could with the references I had.  It’s a beautiful home, still standing, near Garrett, Indiana.  I’m so glad his request was for a brick home, as I really love doing brick architecture. This piece is watercolor, ink and colored pencil.   hello to all who used to visit my site when I was more actively painting, hope you all are well and creating great things! Thanks for coming.

From vine to wine

Well here it is, a painting completed entirely from wine. It was quite a challenge since this media is monochromatic, forsaking my watercolors, ink and colored pencils was difficult. I used a cabernet franc from a local winery, they were kind enough to allow me behind the scenes to take photos and the gracious host, the winery manager, printed photos she had already taken for me to use as reference. I used the wine directly from the bottle as a wash and reduced it once for a medium tone and twice for a richer darker tone. However, this second process in reducing does make the wine a little tacky due to the sugars. A matte spray should keep it in check. I did use some masking fluid to help create the grapes and accents on the leaves and stems, I hope I was somewhat successful and I am looking forward to doing another one. This is a long process however, as many layers of wine are needed to create the deep contrast and even some of the light areas have several layers. Thanks for looking and I appreciate you visiting.

STAG’S LEAP WINERY

I did this from a photo I took while touring Stag’s Leap property in California. The area is beautiful and buildings like this are scattered throughout the property with their vineyards gracing the front, for what feels like miles. Through the courtesy of my sister’s position with Beringer, we were able to take full advantage of tastings and sightseeing at many wineries all through Sonoma and the foothills. What a great day. This is watercolor and colored pencil, again, I tried to avoid using ink, but I miss it! My next piece will be an unexpected surprise, if I can do it that is, please check back!

Somewhere in Europe

After a very long hiatus from my blog, almost exactly 2 years!  I have finally picked up a brush again.  This work is from a black and white photo taken by a very talented photographer, who used to host the Love Mother Earth blog, which I find is no longer online.  I was sad to see it was gone, her photos were brilliant and thought provoking.  I was lucky enough to have asked her if I could re-produce one of her photos in paint quite a long time ago and she was gracious enough to tell me yes.  So, here it is, 2 years later, an expression of my interpretation of black and white to color from that photo.

Chainsaw Massacre-SOLD

Titled so, because a friend and I thought this was the type of place where that kind of horrific tragedy might have occurred.  We were only more convinced of our sick, twisted ideas of this old northern Indiana farmhouse, when the grinding roar of a vacuum started up inside the house, at least we told ourselves it was just a vacuum!  Ha…..certainly added good memories of painting this landscape, as we laughed quite hard at our crazy story.  This was done plein style from the end of the driveway, per the permission from the old lady that dwelled within.  It is watercolor, pen and ink and colored pencil.  I love the old barn in this scene, but it has since completely fell to the ground leaving nothing but old wooden boards and debris…..Good times…..

JUDY, JUDY, JUDY

I did these two pictures of Judy Garland when I was in high school, before I spent money on too many art supplies, this is plain white poster board and a sharpie marker.  I did obviously, add some watercolor to the head portrait.  These are framed and hanging in my spare bedroom.   I have discovered as I get older, I am the only person in my circle of friends who know that she did much more than the Wizard of Oz with her career and some of my younger friends even have said, “Judy who?”  Augh.  Needless to say, I was quite an oddball, being a Judy Garland fan as a high school teenager and not banging it out to AC/DC like my student counterparts, what can I say?  I appreciate a strong, clear voice and the days of the silver screen.

Sleeping Rhino

Another result of spending a day with Leslie, she has a way of unwittingly (well, I am unwitting, she is not) luring me in a direction that makes me become more ambitious than I really am.  After painting this drawing I did over a week ago, I actually completed another larger drawing and started to paint it….something that rarely happens when I am alone.  Granted, this piece is little like the titmouse, but, normally that’s a day for me.   Nothing wrong with a little push in the right direction I suppose.  Thanks Les, and I’m still not sure about this one.

CITYSCAPE

Cityscape in watercolor and conte.  This won first place in the landscape category at an art contest for me, the reward was a certificate for art supplies, which was nice to have, since supplies are certainly not cheap.   This is one of the looser pieces I have done, I think it worked for this piece and is a good example of watercolor, when I was in college, an art professor told us that “one in every 500 watercolors is a good example of the medium”, I completely disagree, and Leslie White , is a good example as to why, almost everything she posts is a good example of what this medium is about–thanks Leslie.  My sister hounded me for this one, so I gave her a copy, but eventually, I had to give in and give her the original.

Bev’s Yard

I had forgotten all about this piece I did while sitting in my sister’s back yard in Sacramento, until I got here and saw it on the wall.  That was a fun day, it was beautiful outside, of course, and I did this lazy day ink drawing, she loved it, but I always tell her it is just a “scribble” mostly…I did most of it by just scribbling around with the pen to give the illusion of foliage, that’s what I mean by lazy…didn’t even take the time to draw leaves!  But I will say, this style was fun and moved fast creating good energy.   Good day….

Show Me Your Petals

I applied colored pencil to the final piece to add depth and character, one of the few pieces I have with no ink, actually the only one I have right now.  This was a long process with tons of layers, I am ready to move on to a new project!