Skittles

I sketched this while waiting for a blood test.  Added color later.

Summer Landscapes

A stream and boardwalk near a Milwaukee beer garden we biked to about a week ago.  I think it may have been the Estabrook Park Beer Garden.

Taliesin in Wisconsin

A view of one of the buildings at Taliesin, Frank Lloyd Wright's home and studio and architecture school in Wisconsin.  "Taliesin" is the Welsh word for "shining brow" because it is on the brow of a hill.  We went on a terrific tour there in July.  It is a beautiful spot with organic farming around it.  Restoration work is ongoing, trying to make it stabile and back to how it looked in 1959 when he last lived there. 

Bayonne Waterfront

Bayonne, the capital of French Basque Country. I wish I had done this there, but no, I am using photos.  It is too hot to stay outside in Austin.

Lemons, Limes and Orange

Mug with Brushes

I'm working on defining a white object using shadow.

Carton of Strawberries

Inspired by Charles Reid, my favorite watercolor teacher and author.

Watercolor Bowl of Fruit

Paper makes a difference!  I did this on Strathmore 500 Series (their highest quality) Gemini Watercolor Rough, 140 lb.  I did a similar still life on a student grade watercolor paper made by Strathmore, and the paper buckled and the paint pooled.

Watercolor Bistro Chair

The chair on my sunny front porch this morning.

Yoga Gesture Paintings

I've been reading some of Charles Reid's book on rendering the figure in watercolor, The Natural Way to Paint. Today I had a short time to try out his exercise in painting figures in action without sketching first in pencil. The skin tone is made by mixing (either on the palette or on the paper) raw sienna, cadmium red, and either cerulean blue or cobalt blue.

I took out a couple of yoga and pilates books to find figures in action, and quickly did some gesture paintings while Eamonn had "quiet time" (not actually all that quiet, ahem).

Happy Birthday

I sent this cupcake painting to my mother as a birthday card. Her birthday was yesterday.

Red Chair in the Kitchen

Today was a busy day. Cleaning, grocery shopping, had some friends and their two kids over for dinner, which was a lot of fun. Their son is a good buddy of Eamonn's from preschool and the two were rowdy and had an altogether fabulous time.

So I am cheating today and posting a watercolor I did back in 2004. I guess it is appropriate because we did a lot of socializing tonight in the dining area of the kitchen, which is the area in this painting.

Eamonn With Train

My son Eamonn loves trains. This is a block train his grandparents have in Cleveland.

I don't know why I sketched this in my sketchbook rather than on watercolor paper. I will probably need to redo it so the paper isn't so wrinkly.

Driving Towards a Rainstorm

Hallelujah! It finally rained today. I was driving back home from the dentist's office on the northwest side of town, dark clouds pouring down rain, and I could see a line of white sky on the horizon. I prayed that the rain had made it all the way east to my house. The rain got lighter and lighter the further east I went. When I got home, as I sat parked in the driveway doing a little sketch of the inside of my car, the rain finally made it east. Not as heavy as west, but at least we got some. The most we've had in 6 weeks.

Rock Garden

I planted this garden in my back yard a couple of years ago when the ground had cracked and left gaping holes because of how dry the soil had gotten. I put in plants that need little water, such as Aloe Vera and Yucca. The Plumbago has blue flowers and looks great even in this deadly heat.

I did the one on the bottom first in my sketchbook. The one on the top is on watercolor paper.

Window Fern

This little plant is sitting in my living room window. I started it last night, then worked on it today while my son was having some "quiet time", and finished it while he built a castle out of wooden Russian blocks.