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As I mentioned in my previous post I have started a new job and frankly didn’t think I was going to have much energy for painting. However a good friend invited  me over to paint and I  decided to revisit the still life. Fruit bowls are about as basic as it gets, but it has been a while since I really just did traditional watercolours. I think there are some good moments in this sketch- the reflection of the fruit, the the grapefruit slice. There are also some real problems such as the purple bleed on the left side of the bowl.

Its been a full 2022! Here are some (not all!) of what was created ^_^ Things may slow down for a bit.  I’m excited to be starting a new job at Civano Animal Hospital in the coming weeks and I expect it will take me some time to get my feet under me at a new clinic!

Hoping for all the best in 2023 <3

We don’t really have fall foliage in my yard with the exception of the pomegranate trees turning gold. But with their cheerful red fruit it does make t it seem a little like the holidays ^_^

This was meant to be more stylized (similar to my other watercolor marker sea life series). It was pretty rough though, I really struggled to build up enough color in the darker portions and paper did get overworked in parts.

 

This is a friend’s bearded dragon, playing around with pen and water color marker this morning ^_^

Tried carving yet another linoleum block print, this time of one of my favorite animals the Sonoran desert tortoise.   Some parts worked! Playing around a little with creating some color gradient with ink application. 

Inspired from our recent trip to the Denver Botanical Gardens. Its been a while since I have done a a traditional watercolor Was a little to rough to start, but got my flow back more towards the end.

And a soft pastel landscape from a hike in the Rockies.

 

Keeping things bright and loose.

Continuing the  watercolor marker series of sea life. Making for a more complete set of mugs!

 

Two more pups, this time in pastel. The pictures do darken when I spray them with fixative, but there are also some lighting changes between the work in progress and final  ^_^

The hardest thing about these is keeping them from smudging as they get to their new homes. Watercolours are definitely easier to mail!

Ok what makes horses so hard? Other than me being really out of practice drawing them.

1. They are big, and most photos end up with distortion especially if taken with a phone camera. 2. They are big, if you draw the whole horse their head and face ends up small, so where to you crop? 3. Their head is always longer than you think it is.

This was a rough morning of painting, several areas are overworked. However I like some aspects of the light, the horse’s nose, and I hope his owner will like the portrait too ^_^

So I decided to give the block print another go. This really is one of my favorite mediums, and I have a small collection of other artist’s block prints that I have bought over the years.

I had fun with the process. The flower print below I tried really hard to plan, doing a sketch, reversing the sketch to carve the block etc. The fish I just free styled ^_^  I definitely don’t this is going to my personal medium of choice to work with due to the stress on my hands carving.  But it’s always fun to try something new!