Tulips

I wasn't happy with the way the irises turned out, so I worked on another painting to fit the 7 x 14 frame. The actual size of this image is 5" x 13". I drew some tulips freehand and started putting brush to paper. I started with a variegated wash of aureolin, French ultramarine and alizarin over the whole page. My plan was to do lots of negative painting to describe the flowers and push them forward, but I went astray and just painted them in. I did add a few negative leaves at the end. Maybe I'll try this again and be looser and follow my original plan. But this version is going into the frame and off in the mail, as I have waited far too long now and must get our packages to the post office Monday morning or risk their not arriving for Christmas!

Iris

Here's another small painting-I made the mistake of buying several rather small frames on sale, thinking I'd make a few Christmas presents. It's much easier to buy a frame to fit a painting than it is to paint a picture to fit a frame! This particular iris is similar to Edith Wolford-one of my favorites. I couldn't find a photo of Edith, so I used one of a variety with the same colors.

The painting is 5" X 13".

Trout in rocky stream

This is a small (8" X 8") painting I did a few days ago for my brother Al's Christmas present. I painted a much larger version about a year and a half ago with a koi in place of the trout. Like the earlier version, this painting has so many midvalues that it doesn't translate very well on the scanner.