Iris Collage

An artist is always trying to figure out creative ways to do things. My problem with watercolors is what to do with the watercolors that didn't work. So, here is one solution: make a collage. This collage has elements from three failed paintings. Other solutions are to cover the painting with gesso and start over. Or, my favorite solution is to put the painting in the bathtub and then wash it. There is a ghost image, but over all the painting can be reworked to make it better.

Old Moose

I am hoping to paint more animals. Here is an old moose to go with my old hippo. This is a charcoal drawing of a moose.. have used this study in a painting, but the painting didn't work. I may try doing just a moose portrait and then try to place him into a setting for a more formal painting. We'll see how it works out. Why is this all so hard???

Old Hippo

Well, I was drawing at the Denver Zoo last week and did a quick sketch of a sleeping hippopotamus. I came home and painted this color study. What fun! This hippo is old, 52 years old, and has fathered 27 hippos. Luckily he slept just long enough for me to get a great sketch.

Snow Goose Study

As much as I love painting, I also love to draw. Many years ago, I decided that it would be great to be a bird illustrator. I took a workshop in bird anatomy and heard the instructor tell us that birds are the most difficult animals to draw and paint. Boy, was that encouraging! Because of their anatomy and they have feathers instead of fur, they have very few points where there bones appear at the surface. Bones are reference points for drawing human and animal anatomy. Plus, birds move their feathers around and can make themselves look totally different by how they puff up or slick down their feathers. Some birds change their feather patterns and colors from one season to another so this adds another variable. Here I am, many years later, attempting to draw and paint birds. Wish me luck!

Hollyhocks

Well, I was out working in the garden today for the first time this spring. It was not hot, but definitely warm enough to weed and start looking at which plants made it through the winter and which ones didn't. This is an old painting of hollyhocks. I loved growing them back east and am hoping to put some in here in Colorado. I can't wait to start filling in empty spaces in our huge back yard. I love the xeric plants that we have put in and am amazed by how many things grow out here even though the deer come and hang out in our yard.

From Chautauqua Park

This image is from Chautauqua Park looking towards the Flatirons. The time of day is evening when the mountains turn blue because the sun is getting closer to them. I love painting this little sketches. They challenge me because I have to work quickly and I learn so much about value and color.

April Snow - NCAR

Well, just when we thought that spring had come, we had another three to five inches. Lyle and I went up to NCAR, the National Center for Atmospheric Research, to paint and take pictures. It was too cold to paint outside. My paints were freezing and becoming very stiff. Also, my hands were freezing. I did a quick sketch and then came home and painted this from my sketch and photos.