I am proud to present my grandson, Samuel's, elementary school diorama which depicts the Sonoran Desert and some examples of wildlife living in it.  The Sonoran Desert is practically his backyard.  I told my son, his Dad,  Michelangelo may need to step aside!  The Saguaro cactus jumps right out at me.  I say job well done, Sam.  Very creative....

"Faces"

Lately, I lean toward exploring abstract expression.  One of my daughter's calls this creepy (in a good way).  The other really likes it. My Son thinks I'm onto something.......so do I.

Out of longing to escape the dark, flat composition for the first of these last three posts...I broke out with this one....I really, really like it!

This one came, it seemed, out of no where.  On second thought the color palette suggests that on my mind is my son, Eric; in Arizona.  He will earn a master's degree, and I'll be visiting there in June to celebrate with him and the family.

Suddenly makes sense.  He tells me that the winding pathway/waterway prevails in all of my compositions.  He's correct.  I am trying to learn to carry the viewers eye through the picture.  I obviously lack the subtlety of the masters.  It's all about brush time...

This project is one I have been struggling with over these past few months.......I am still not happy.  My son says I should post especially for this reason.  I can't seem to givr it any light and depth.  Help!?

Watercolor Pansy

This was this past weekend's project.  I tried a technique I learned about online wherein sprinkling salt over a watercolor puddle creates texture. 

I did this in the lower right hand corner of this piece, and the effect is pleasing.  I provided a cropped view of this piece to show you what I see close up.

Please leave a comment and let me know what you think.

More Flowers...this time, Wisteria

 These two are my newest brush time experiments. I'm always moving from medium to medium and still haven't figured out which is truly my favorite to work with.  I recently read that brush time is meaningful when we are working toward becoming adept at a particular technique.  I start that way, finish following where the image takes me, and end up learning something I didn't intend.  Here, I was practicing with the pencils and discovered I enjoy depicting flowers with watercolor.  Acrylic paint attempts never ceased to fail......

 This is a depiction of an actual amaryllis I had growing in my living room last winter.....rendered from a photo.

They both are rendered from watercolor pencils I bought a while back and finally decided to use.  The bouquet is a copy of an image from the box the pencils came in.

The beginnings of my latest project.  It's difficult not to notice that I move from detailed content in one landscape; to the above - loose, broad strokes w/palette knives and heavy body acrylics.

 

I'll re-post when it's finished and when I've thought of a name for it.

Rolling River and a Country Road

I am happy with the final rendition of this long-running project.  It's much different than the original sketch, and if  you check out that post (dated 11/10) you'll see what I mean.  If he likes it, this one will belong to my brother Charlie.  He saw one of the posts on Facebook, and expressed an interest.