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a small water colour sketch this morning

This carpenter bee was done from a photo I took at the Tucson Botanical gardens. These giant bees are docile, and really hard to photograph! Even the photo I was using wasn’t entirely in focus, so this more of a conglomerate of about 4 photos. Some the painting steps are seen below:

A small humming bird with parry penstemon   based on a yesterdays visit to the Tucson Botanical garden. 

Got my helper today hanging out in the kitchen with me while painting. It has been a long time since I have  used oils and it definitely was a little rough at first. But it time to get back in practice ^_^

 

 

Practicing this morning with a basic still life. Really enjoyed this batch of daffodils from Sprouts ^_^

small practice sketch of a bearded iris today, noting too ambitious, turned out a little heavy handed

 

While I don’t consider this a complete failure, this is a good example of overworking a painting. The concept was based off  the greenhouse at the Tucson Botanical Gardens which has a great collection of airplants and butterflies. I started the painting last week, but didn’t have enough time to finish.  Then my hand got a deep scratch by a cat at work that needed to heal.  Looking at half finished butterfly was too much, and I decided to go for it despite my hand. Sometimes by impatience really gets the best of me!  Obviously I should have just waited until I was in a more patient mindset >.< The flowers especially ended up fairly blotchy.   New personal rules for painting:

1. don’t paint details when you are tired.

2. don’t paint if your hand hurts, things will be shaky!

3. be patient!

 

Just working on some small sketches this morning, nothing too serious ^_^ Two different styles here, the boxer on the left is a lot looser with the brushwork than the shiba.

Very different dogs, struggled a little with coat color of the toy poodle below, but I actually like how the fur turned out.  The top portrait was for a silent auction to support great group called “Leaps for lives” . They are  a dance company that raises money for shelter pets here in Southern Arizona.

The little poodle below was a really special patient, that I am going to miss dearly.

The sketch was inspired by recent visit to the Tucson Botanical Gardens where they have an orchid mantis on display. It was my first time getting to see one, and it is tiny!  It is also white, and  my photos did not turn out. As a result I took a LOT of artistic liberty with this. You can see in the original plan there was no leaf, just flowers and mantis. However when I was done, I did just didn’t feel like I could really see the mantis. I could have added a color to the background, overall, but I liked the white and flowers. So the leaf was added., with mixed feelings. Thoughts?