Pelican Watercolor

Hummingbird Watercolor

Three Crows at Sunset

21x9 on Arches 300

 This is an experiment with watercolor and india ink. I've never used india ink before and it is thicker than I imagined. It can be quite gummy, in fact. Or at least, the old bottle I found and used needed to be thinned.

Mockingbird on Fence

8x6 on Arches 300

Heron in Pines

18 x 10 on Arches 300

I really like the zen of this painting but for those with more traditional tastes it lacks something. Namely the empty space should not be empty. Frankly, it's not really empty. There is sky and clouds. But I get their point even if I disagree.

I wonder how much of that is a conditioned perception. Coming from a graphic design background, I like the white space. I think it helps balance. It gives the heron a route to escape into the open. Everybody needs an exit, don't they?

This was one of my early favorites. It was exhibited in a small juried group show, "Color of the Coast", at Cathedral Square Gallery. I was quite pleased as it was one of my first attempts to get in a juried show. And I happily hanged next to my husband's photograph. 

Alligator in Pencil

Egret in Pencil

Completed Watercolor Hibiscus

Eventually I will scan it. This is a snap from my blackberry

Hibiscus: Work In Progress

Eventually I will back track to my progress since April, and catch myself up to the present.

But for now I'm just going to post my work of this evening - a hibiscus I'm painting from a photo I took in my yard.

Introduction

I hate the term "Artist". Skill and talent land on such a spectrum. It seems an insult to Raphael to categorize myself by the same term.

Be that as it may, I have no better self-descriptive than to say I'm a self-taught artist.

This blog is just what the title implies: A place to post my drawings and watercolors.

I've been drawing all my life, sporadically. April of 2010 I decided to say Bullshit to the notion that I had to be in the mood. Or I needed inspiration. What I needed was to make a commitment to actually putting hand to paper everyday.

I knew that, although I'd spent years away from my sketch pad, the skill would return. Using my Doodle of the Day discipline was a springboard to get myself in to watercolors, a medium that I've always wanted to try.

Now that I've got myself into this adventure, I feel a need to complete the process and show and share my work, for better or worse.

Comments and feedback are welcome.