Works in Progress and Completed

I thought I would use my Monday blog to let everyone know what I'm working on for the comming week and what I have finished the prior week. Not only will this assuage people's curiosity (one of the most common questions I get is what am I working on), but it will help me organize what I want to get done each week. Also, this will be a way for me to talk about individual pieces on a more personal level, rather than my "just the facts" descriptions on eBay and my web site.

Works in Progress and Planned

• Portrait of Pancake -- This is a portrait of a border collie in oil, which I'm using for a demo on my web site. Right now, I'm working on getting a good working drawing done. Once that's done and I get a few details cleared up from the owner, I'll start on the actual portrait.
• Portrait of Paca -- I had planned on working on this oil portrait of a cat, but I ran into difficulty due to the photos or an adequate model (Paca has a shortened face and none of my cats do), so the owner has agreed to take some more photos. I'm hoping that the photos will arrive soon so I can get back to work on this portrait also. (It's easier to do 2 oil portraits at once, since the brushes will only have to be cleaned once.)
• a botanical watercolor of a hybrid Phragmipedium (orchid) -- I have one sheet of 7x10 watercolor paper left on a watercolor block and I have one gorgeous photo of this orchid, so it seemed perfect to use both at once. Besides, I've been doing a series of small orchids and this will fit in nicely. I will be starting on the drawing for this painting in the next couple of days.
• an artcard of a bunny -- Once I start listing things on eBay again, I would like to list 2-3 items a week, so I'm planning on using artcards as fillers. This will be of a domestic rabbit and will be done in oil. It's sketched out and just waiting for me to get the oils out.
• a floral oil painting of an orchid -- This is just a little painting (5x7) of a red Miltonia hybrid. The main reason for this painting, other than the beauty of the flowers, is to give me some practice at working in oils before I start on a portrait. (I've haven't worked with oils since spring.)
• Irises in a Square Vase -- This will be the last of my floral boutique series.

Well, that should be enough for one week! Actually, I may get a bit more done, depending on how long it takes me to get the photos of Paca and how many distractions happen. If I run out of things to do, I'll just do a couple more small oil paintings.

Recently Completed Works

Pink Trout Lily -- This is an artcard done in watercolor. While it came out fine, I had hoped for a bit brighter look, so I may redo it in oils on a larger scale. The paper seemed to lack its sizing so the watercolor sunk into the paper more than it should have.

Calypso bulbosa -- This is one of our native orchids and a real gem to find. It's not the most spectacular orchid, but for people that collect paintings of native orchids, it should be appreciated. (It seems that the only native orchids one sees are ladyslipper orchids.) Overall, I think the leaves are too dark, but it's the way the plant looked, so I can't really get too upset. I would have liked to do a close-up of the flowers but this was painted life-sized, so the flowers are only 1.5 inches long.

Anemones in a Crock --This is one of my boutique series paintings. It was done in pastel and watercolor and came out fine. I had a terrible time trying to figure what color the background should be -- blue, yellow-green, or yellow-brown. After about a dozen small color sketches, I settled on the brown version. What was interesting was I put too much pink in one wash and that really perked the background up. My husband really likes this one, but I still prefer the sunflowers I did in this series.