Seahorse Charlie

$60 - 5x7"original watercolour painting with 8x10"mat

Seahorse Charlie: Shy but intelligent, Charlie likes long swims in the sea, root beer floats and shimmering blue coral. He is hand painted and original, a real one-of-a-kind, who hopes to brighten up your days for a lifetime. Charlie is looking for a long term relationship with a serious art lover... like yourself. ; )

companion

$60 - 5x7"original watercolour painting with 8x10"mat

I really enjoyed painting this patient little companion, with all his warm browns and oranges contrasting some cool blues. What a little honey bun!

tortoise shell glasses and a grey cat

$100 - 8x10"original watercolour painting

I love the way this portrait, or should I say portraits, asks the viewer to move their eyes back and forth from the woman to the cat, to the woman, to the cat, to the woman... well you get the idea. ; )

afternoon outing

$60 - original 8x10"watercolour painting with 8x10"mat

Well, here's my second piece from the day at the beach. I looooove painting boats (even little ones!) and plan to paint more of them this summer. They are colourful wonderful shapes. Here's a pic of my paintbox. You can see people standing by the boats but I added the little knapsack. : )

big blue umbrella

SOLD

$60 - 5x7"original watercolour painting with 8x10"mat

A day at the beach! I went plein-air painting with the Don Valley Art Club over the weekend. They've got lots of outdoor painting excursions planned so, I hope to attend many of them since painting with pals is such a treat. I added a little pen line to this piece to make sense of all the wonderful blues. : )

Payne's Gray

Drawing with a charcoal pencil then adding Payne's Gray was a new approach for me yesterday. I was at my weekly life drawing session and thought I would give this combination a try. I love Payne's Gray however artists stay away from it because it doesn't blend well. But it's such a lovely gray! So, I decided, the heck with it, and I purchased Winsor Newton Artist quality Payne's Gray. 

Well... it doesn't blend nicely. It's sticky and doesn't want to cooperate. I'm happy with my results but it was a real struggle. 

Also, after spending money on the artist quality stuff, it turns out I much prefer the Cotman student brand of Payne's Gray. It's a lot less of a "pains gray". 

; )

living amongst the trees

$60 - 5x7"original watercolour with 8x10"painting

I spent the day at the wonderful High Park here in Toronto, plein-air painting with a friend. We had a great day amongst all the green (!). Can you spot the little duck swimming by. There were lots of them keeping up company. : )

Making progress and trying to keep the greens interesting and true. The house is there... it's just 'amongst the trees', hence my title. : ) 

My little paintbox has served me well over the years. Placed on my lap as I work, it includes my palette, brushes, pencils, water container, a compact mirror (to look at the painting in reverse) and a rag clipped to the right side. It's just great!

all these years

$80 - 8x10"original watercolour painting

Well, here's my first contribution to the #30x30DirectWatercolor2018 Challenge set my Marc Taro Holmes. 30 paintings for the month of June. I thought this sweet couple that I drew at an outdoor cafe would be a nice place to start. 

We'll see how I do with this very challenging challenge.