A Look Back: Manatee

I painted this back in 2003. I just did a new manatee painting and didn't like it, so I decided to post the one I did years ago instead.

Another Primitive Rock Art

9" x 12" Rock Art Watercolor

Another primitive rock art painting. Despite it's free form fun, I do get anxious when painting these as the first two I ever did are my favorites, and I fear future rock art paintings will never be able to live up to my expectations.

My concerns include:

-Having a pleasing composition with a focal point and range of values.

- The horses should look primitive without being too cartoon-like.

-I add dashes of color (purples, etc.) beyond my brown rock colors but don't want to deviate too much from the earthtone browns.

-I also fear I'll never be able to "find" any more of those horse shapes I seek after the first paint wash has dried, because these paintings are only partly planned beforehand. A lot of the imagery develops after the first paint application.

-Oh, and with all that in mind, I need not forget to have fun and enjoy the process, and hopefully the paintings will look as if they just "happened"!

Buckskin Blues

"Buckskin Blues"
11" x 14" watercolor

I don't often have good (or any) titles to my paintings, but in this case I thought of the title first and then proceeded to do a painting that lived up to it. Hmmm...this could spark a title-inspired series.

Rock Art Horses

9" x 12" watercolor

Happy Friday the 13th everyone. Don't be superstitious, it's just nonsense.

More rock art today. I can't tell you how much fun these are to do. I lightly sketch in where my main horse is going to go, then proceed to paint with a limited palette of colors. After the paint is dry, I develop the main horse focal point and then "find" more horses in the surrounding area. Some of these paintings come out better than others, but it's always fun and always surprising.

I am building up a supply of these rock art paintings then I'll put a few on ebay and etsy.

A Fine Day

watercolor 5" x 7"

It's a fine sunny day and I'm going skiing. Spring is in the air, I feel good, like this horse rolling in the grass.

Blackbird Winter

Blackbird Winter 4" x 6"

The past few weeks there has been a flock of red winged blackbirds around my neighborhood. They sit up in a giant spruce tree, singing their off-key songs. That's normal in the summer, but I have never seen blackbirds here in the Colorado high country during January and February. There are also robins, too, another unusual thing for this time of year.

Anyway, I'm not sure why they are here this time of year, but they lifted my winter weary spirits and I did this little watercolor tribute.

I also made some blackbird polymer clay beads, you can see them over at my polymer blog, beadbunny.blogspot.com. Its funny how a flock of birds can set me in motion, I've always liked red winged blackbirds and have been wanting to make blackbird beads for awhile now.