Drippy Daffodils

6 x 6 in. watercolor on Aquabord

Daffodils are one of my favorite flowers and dozens of little clusters have been appearing in my yard since early March. This is a little painting that I tried to be loose and drippy with. The surface is Ampersand's Aquabord which has a wonderful texture and makes all those puddles and drips look really wonderful....as long as I leave them alone.

I just added this as an auction on Dailypaintworks which will start on Monday, April 3.

Police Car for Kids Rooms

Just finished this police car watercolor which is a new addition to the many truck and car prints I've offered for little boys' rooms on Etsy.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/508464762/police-car-boys-room-print-car-nursery?ref=shop_home_active_1

Bandit

Bandit is an active 5 month old black lab who loves people, chewing and bread left in the yard for birds. He gave me some love and then was off sniffing the ground while I gladly watched his eager puppy explorations.

This is my second painting of Bandit in watercolor on Ampersand Aquabord and it is available on dailypaintworks.com as an auction or buy it now.

http://www.dailypaintworks.com/buy/auction/666251

Little Green Dress available on Dailypaintworks

I've added this little painting that I posted earlier to my Dailypaintworks gallery as an auction. It's an original watercolor on Ampersand Aquabord and it's sealed with a gloss varnish. Ready to display in a small easel as is or can be framed (no mat or glass needed). All of the originals available on Dailypaintworks will be posted on this blog so feel free to follow.

http://www.dailypaintworks.com/buy/auction/665528

Now listing original artwork on Dailypaintworks

I'm now offering my original watercolors on the Dailypaintworks.com site.

My first listing is Apple of Her Eye which is an auction.
6 x 6 in. watercolor on Aquabord, sealed with gloss varnish
It can be displayed on a small easel or framed (without glass).

Apple of Her Eye Watercolor Portrait

Apple of Her Eye
6 x 6 Aquabord

My cousin's daughter is adorable. For this little painting I decided to not rely on my usual burnt sienna for skin tones. Instead I used Winsor & Newton raw umber warmed up with a little scarlet lake. Raw Umber is a wonderful neutral. She was wearing a very colorful top so I pulled a lot of the reflected color into her face as well as using these colors on the apple (manganese blue, scarlet lake and new gamboge). I've never used raw umber for caucasian skin tones preferring it for hair but this worked so I'm going to give it another shot in the future.

In the end, getting the values correct is the main thing and then it doesn't matter what colors you use.

I posted a progress photo of this painting Instagram.  Come follow me!

Little Green Dress

I'm flexing my portrait and figure muscles again. It feels good. I've been going back and forth between working on illustrations and then "fine art" paintings. I'm also working on Aquabord which is a favorite surface. I love the way you can layer and layer and not muddy the colors and then you can lift back layers. The other big plus is not having to stretch or mat the final art. A little glossy varnish brightens the colors and then you can just put it in a frame like an oil or acrylic painting. The best of both worlds.

Back to Watercolor Portraiture

I've spent some time this last week finishing the above portrait of Dani to enter into the Missouri Watercolor Society's International Show and then in a sudden spur I painted 3 dog portraits in two days which I posted on Instagram. It's been a fun switch between working on sketches for another children's book. They're different forms of art requiring different parts of my brain.

I can't choose just one to focus on.