Just finished this. It's my first painting using a photo from a site called "Paint My Photo" which I've been interested in recently.  The photo is owned by Ainslie G and I wish to credit her here as well as on that site.  What first interested me in her photo was the strong shadows and dark/light contrasts.  I printed her photo in black and white before using it as a source.  As you can see I became more interested in the background textures than contrast and shading.  I do like the result though.

Two recent paintings, the brighter one, "Tomorrow's Bouquet" was chosen for the 2015 Central Florida Watercolor Show at Lew Gardens.

This painting, "Yesterday's Bouquet"  has collage elements.  Both paintings have some experimental spraying of paint over stencil shapes.

I was so excited to have this painting chosen for the Casselberry Rotary Club Calendar for next year.  The inspiration for the painting was a photo of my brother from his fishing trip in Alaska a few months ago.  Actually sold him the original, but had a number of giclee copies made first.

I started this painting by drawing in pen and ink followed with a wash of blues and reds to establish shadowed areas in the scene.

Next I added the local color, enhanced areas of interest and developed paths of lights and darks for the eye to follow through the painting.  The photograph I used for reference was taken at the Cherry Pockets restaurant and fish camp near Lake Wales, Florida.  I had a number of giclee prints made of this painting that I can sell for less than what I charge for an original.

MBF

Here is my painting that was selected for this year's Central Florida Watercolor annual show.  I called it "MBF" with an attempt to shorten a lengthy but descriptive title.  It is of course from a photo of our lovable dog, Sherlock Holmes.  The inspiration for the color scheme was from an article I read about selecting three primaries and working only with them throughout.  I like doing that as it pretty well insures a degree of "unity" in the work.

This watercolor is on display in the gallery at Florida Hospital, Altamonte.  I used a photo taken on our Hawaii vacation last year as inspiration.  Love doing rocky lighthouse scenes.  It's called "Leaving Kauai."

Published painting on Missouri County Register

My painting on the cover of the Missouri County Register