Accomac Inn and the Snow Geese

This Painting was done over several days. I first took a piece of watercolor paper and covered it in a light yellow wash. I then put my small John boat in the Susquehanna River at the Marietta Boat Club boat ramp access. I rowed upstream to an island and then drifted back and started the painting. I also took some pictures so I would have good reference materials back in the studio. I found some good pictures of the snow geese and added them to the sky. This spot is home to thousands of birds during the winter months. 

I used and airbrush to add the blue to the sky. An even thought this reproduction is dark I just loved the colors I used when doing the water.

The original is sold but reproductions are available.

The foxglove and the Bees

I started this painting last year. 

I made prints of just one stem. 

It took forever but I loved it. 

I never sold many prints and decided 

to work on the design of the painting.

After doing a lot of thumbnail drawings.

The selected design had me adding a few

more stems. Then I added little insects, the bees. 

I needed some life form in the top area and had 

considered , butterflies or hummingbirds. 

But I loved the detail of the flowers and

 did not want your eyes to be focused on 

something else. I am really happy with the outcome.

Penguin Friends

Todays picture is a copy of my pastel done last March. I just like these little animals so much. I have prints of them available for sale as well as the original.

THE HUMMINGBIRDS

HERE IS AN OLD PAINTING. IT IS A WATERCOLOR.

Bath Time

I started this painting several years ago. I had a piece of watercolor board that I wished to use since it had been hanging around my studio for years. Unfortunatelly, it had developed a film on it and resisted the paint. Today's painting is mostly gouache but there is also colored pencil. It started as a watercolor. I ended up covering the painting with gesso so it would accept the paint.I often found when I tried to darken an area it picked up all the previous colored I had laid dowm. That is one reason the wall was done with a sponge . Using the sponge to blot on color I was able to darken the wall. It was a real challage topaint. I am pleased with it many years after the rocky start.

Butterfly in Cone Flowers

This is another Butterfly painting for my collector friend.
It was done in watercolor then I went over the
flowers in colored pencil.
Finally, I painted a mask on the butterfly, then used an airbrush
and sprayed on a paynes gray watercolor over the edges to throw
the flowers more into the background.

The Life of a Butterfly

Today's picture was done for a butterfly collector. I used her photos as reference. It the painting is a caterpillar and larva also from her photo collection. I used gouache to paint the foliage as I really like the colors and large range of greens the paint give you.