Happy Days!
May 9, 2017
Feeling like a witness to a post-broken-wrist miracle: I am holding a pencil and brush again and making some art! The lines have a good bit more wiggle than they used to, and paint strokes are not as strong.- but I am holding implements of creation in my right hand! Hallelujah!
broken wrist blues
April 17, 2017
Just about 2 weeks ago I took a tumble in a parking lot and smashed my wrist. It was an impressive crashing and smashing. After some surgeries I now have a bionic wrist, a wrist brace, a fair amount of pain and swelling, and an outright impatience to get back to painting.. But […]
It Must be Spring
March 19, 2017
It’s just gotta be spring. Better weather and longer afternoons/evenings. I am spending my days out of doors gardening and walking, instead of painting and posting to the web. Here’s the painting that should have gone up a few days back for #Caturday and #CloverGreen #colour_collective
Cats and Roses
March 11, 2017
Happy #Caturday. This week it’s cats and roses. Gouache on paper 10″ x 12″
Reflections
March 8, 2017
I spent most of the last month in Thailand, which means wandering through beautiful Buddhist temples. I have fallen in love with pattern and color. This painting was a reflection of what I saw and reveled in. Ah, Chiang Mai!
Circus Cat #4
March 3, 2017
Another in the continuing circus cat series. This one is done in watercolor and ink. The cat itself, was inspired by a photo of a cat who is, sadly, in the local animal shelter. Adopt. Don’t buy. There are so many beautiful animals seeking homes.
Not Happy About This
December 30, 2016
Holidays are over. The family has all gone home. Tomorrow is the last Caturday of the year. Mr Prince is not happy about his party hat.
What’s That?
December 9, 2016
Last week, my darling daughter reflected on the passive nature of my cat paintings. Well, cats do sleep something like 22 hours a day. But that might not be a good enough defense. Poking through Pinterest, I was inspired by the Blockheads series by ceramicist Jennifer Bernhard Hatfield. This is what happens when a Blockhead […]
Crookshanks – a Portrait
November 25, 2016
While I am off at the movies, Crookshanks is keeping an eye out for Fantastic Beasts. Crookshanks’ portrait was this week’s #colour_collective challenge, with sea blue wallpaper.
Blue-Eyed Baby (Circus Cat #6)
November 22, 2016
As I’m working on this cat series, I’ve been viewing cat photos from the local animal shelters, which is a dangerous pastime. There are so many beautiful cats out there, needing good homes. But I am resisting visiting them and adopting them Painting only!
Golden Circus Cat
November 17, 2016
It’s Caturday just a little early, and I’m continuing my circus cat series. Here’s #5. The background was selected for this week’s #colour_collective challenge, in brilliant gold; gouache and watercolor. The gold watercolor from a jar of old, now discontinued, watercolor pigment that was made by Daniel Smith. Sadly, they appear to no longer sell the […]
What Happened??
November 11, 2016
Taking a break from my ongoing circus theme, just to ponder the last few days and what happened in this election. Days like this definitely make you think.
Circus Cat # 3
November 10, 2016
With a background color chosen for the #colour_collective challenge, using #moroccanblue, this is my third in the circus cat series. The cat is watercolor. I was asked on the previous cat painting how I got the fur strokes. Those are done with a rigger (or liner) brush. There’s a bit of ink around the eyes and the nice flat […]
Spike the Circus Cat
November 8, 2016
Nope, Spike is not happy at all about being forced into a clown hat and then forced to pose. What a cat has to do for his dinner… This foray into circus cat painting began with watercolor, with acrylic paint used for the opaque background and highlights.
Circus Cat
November 5, 2016
Working on more circus animals, this time: cats! Background color determined by the week’s color for the colour_collective challenge. They named it #maygreen . Most of the work is done in a mixture of water media: watercolor, watercolor pencils and acrylic. I like the idea of acrylic, but the final patina is never what I hoped.
Circus Dogs
November 4, 2016
Since I am still struggling with Papier-mâché, but in love with circus performing dogs, I decided to just paint some of my dogs-in-mind. The problems with paper mache is both the tools – Papier-mâché is inherently lumpy and the artist – I was working too small, so the lumps look like craters and mountains (see […]
Jumping Jack Russell
November 2, 2016
Fall is here. The weather is gorgeous and it is a great time to get outside with the dogs. Below is a quick pen and watercolor sketch of a jack russell terrier.
Meadowlark Drawing
October 25, 2016
For the final day of the bird drawing class, we were lucky enough to have access to mounted birds from the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences.
Bird Feet
October 21, 2016
Another from my class series in obsessive bird drawing. This time – how to draw bird feet. Learned many things: The number of toes per foot are not constant from species to species The scales on the feet, particularly those of raptors, help to hold the prey There skin on the bottom and the top […]
Armatures for Papier-mâché circus dogs
October 21, 2016
Building tiny armatures of wire, tin foil and masking tape for papier-mâché circus dogs. This new found passion began a few weeks back when I discovered myself without power during Hurricane Matthew, but recalling directions on how to cover plastic and styrofoam Dollar Store pumpkins with papier-mâché, I started wrapping some old pumpkins and cats’ heads in papier-mâché. That […]
New Found Humility
October 20, 2016
For the past few weeks, I have been taking a bird drawing class at our local botanical Gardens. I have never taken a botanical class before. Back when I got my degree in art ed, the focus was on abstract. Being figurative was regarded as a sure sign of repressed creativity. I recall one painting professor who […]
Giddyup, Kitty!
October 6, 2016
It’s a late start to #inktober this year. I did a bit of playing with vectorizing the image, which lets me play with the line quality on the computer! It’s also the only time that I’ve used Adobe Illustrator and not wanted to slap the computer.
Morning wakeup with cat
September 23, 2016
Why so daily? Even on Friday! This is my first run at this year’s #inktober (a bit early. I’m excited).