Harvest Mouse

 

Working with masking fluid can be fun. I find it gives a lovely texture to animal fur, like with this harvest mouse. I wanted the husks of corn to have lovely pure white highlights too so I go to work with my masking fluid. I love watching the stages of how others create their art works so hope you enjoy seeing how I did this.

Next I started putting on several layers of watercolor.

Then I started peeling off the dried masking fluid. I really love doing that! The mouse is really starting to come to life here.

A bit more yellow in background and foreground methinks. A few details sketched in with black pen. Then let me peel off more of this delightfully stringy masking tape .... and voila!



Harvest Mouse, 12 x 18', watercolor

That's all folks! Turned out rather interesting I think.

Linking up to Crafting Along and Paint Party Friday so come check out a bunch of amazing artists!

Buy prints and cards of this adorable harvest mouse at Redbubble by clicking HERE.

Eurovision Fever

Charlie, lab/pointer mix

Hi Guys!

I have to confess that I have fallen head over heels in love with a friend's dog, Charlie. He is the cuddliest, snuggliest dog on the planet, and although he is a lab/pointer mix I think of him as the Target dog's older brother.

I really enjoyed doing Charlie's portrait. He looks very colorful and of course, very adorable too.

Portrait of Charlie, watercolor & pen and ink, 12 x 18'

I'm in a feverpitch of excitement. I have fever! Eurovision fever!!!!! Tomorrow is the Eurovision Song Contest and I am so buzzed. I will be going to a party full of Eurofanatics and we will watch the Final streaming live.

I think I am going to have to get behind Austria's entry. I am after all half Austrian - an Austrish (half British, half Austrian). Which half is Austrian you ask? Well the bottom half that has weakness for Sachertorte, Schnitzel and Bratwurst of course. Which lets me segue gently into the name of Austria's entry - Conchita Wurst. Don't you just LOVE that name?

S/he is a Kim Kardashian lookalike. Her song, Rise Like a Phoenix is pretty good too. Are you going to watch the Eurovision and who do you want to win?

Go Austria!!

Linking up to Paint Party Friday so come check out a bunch of amazing artists!

Mystic Cat

Well last week I was salivating in anticipation about the bacon festival if you recall. It turned out to be one popular event. Bacon fanatics of every description were there, and the queues for nibbles were LONG! I did manage to get my mitts on some fabulous bacon-delicacies though including bacon popcorn. We were relaxing by the habor, arteries were clogging from bacon fat, copious amounts of alcohol were flowing and the sun was shining! All was well in my world. 

Then yesterday things went haywire and we ended up having some pretty scary flash floods....will this crazy weather never end?

Through it all I was working on a cat portrait for a friend in pastel. I was feeling a bit mystical, listening to Van Morrison, and so my art started going into another direction. I feel I was channelling Van Gogh a little, as well as Van the Man. I have been crazy about Van Morrison ever since I was a teenager and was going through my hippie phase, where I would walk around barefoot in the park ..... and did all sorts of crazy things that are lost in the mists of time......

Let me know how you like my cat portrait. I'll leave you with Van Morrison .....



Linking up to Paint Party Friday so come check out a bunch of amazing artists!

Chattering Parrots

I am very excited because tomorrow I am going to the Maryland Bacon Festival. I mean, come on, who doesn't like bacon? Well okay vegetarians don't like it but apart from that? This event will feature both bacon sampling and full sized bacon cuisine, bacon confectionary delights, bacon eating contests, bacon cooking demonstrations, live music from some of the area's top bands (who also love bacon), a bacon themed children's zone, bacon cooking competitions, full service bars with beer, liquor, wine and bacon themed cocktails, a vendor village featuring various non-food bacon themed vendors and much more. Oooh can't wait to find out what a bacon themed cocktail is!

Anyway I have had a pretty tropical week and there are some new items for sale in my Etsy Shop:

Here's my colorful watercolor tiger:

And a bunch of chattering parrots:

What do you think they are saying to each other?


Linking up to Paint Party Friday so come join in the fun!

Crosstown Traffic

I used to live in London where there is a lot of traffic. But of course most of our cabs are black so this scene is about those Big Yellow Taxis you get in New York. Don't you just love all the hustle and bustle in New York? All the swagger and attitude of the taxi drivers - I just love it!! So I painted this little watercolor. Let's call it 'Crosstown Traffic' Take it away Jimi .......

You jump in front of my car when you,
You know all the time that
Ninety miles an hour, girl, is the speed I drive
You tell me it's alright, you don't mind a little pain
You say you just want me to take you for a ride

You're just like crosstown traffic
So hard to get through to you
Crosstown traffic
I don't need to run over you
Crosstown traffic
All you do is slow me down
And I'm tryin' to get on the other side of town 



I've also gotten away from the concrete jungle this week and back to nature. I did some fun Pop Art portraits I think you'll enjoy:

1. Mr Pug - available as a print here at Redbubble

2. A squirrel in my garden I call 'Cheerful Nut'

Linking up to Paint Party Friday and Illustration Friday so come join in the fun!
pugs art for sale

Leopard Love

Roaring Leopard, Watercolor

Leopard, Watercolor on Gesso

Hi Everyone!

Hope you had a fun and creative week. I had a pretty great week in that I sold my colorful giraffe painting so that was good. It snowed on Tuesday but I do NOT want to talk about it! I want spring and I want to see all the little shoots coming up in my garden.

I am still fascinated by wild cats. First I did a colorful loose watercolor of a Roaring Leopard who is full of vim and vigor and color. Then I painted another roaring leopard on paper I first coated with gesso. It certainly makes for a very intriguing effect - very textural and more muted.

I am enjoying experimenting with watercolor. I have learnt to love the way it just does its own thing - ebbing and flowing and pooling and dribbling. And sometimes I just have to rein in the temptation to remove sections of paint I have just laid down that don't seem right and instead just let it drip and dry the way it wants to because you can't tell what it is going to look like until it dries. What an infuriating yet fascinating process!

What about you? Do you like working with watercolor or does it bother you that sometimes it has a mind of its own?

Linking up with #PoCoLo:

Spring Fever in the Air

Last weekend my friend and I were gambolling around my garden. Don't you just love my mock tudor tree house? Spring had sprung and we were extremely excited about it and hoped the snow was gone forever.

I was feeling inspired so I did this watercolor of a Cat Family. I'm really pleased with how it came out. It is for sale so email me if you are interested.

Cat Family, Watercolor, 22 x 30

Then last night we zoomed back down to sub zero tempertures and the wind howled all night. This morning my recycling was strewn all over the road and I had to pull all my trash out of a hedge full of brambles. I am sick of this windy, freezing weather, aren't you?

The cartoons I am doing for the Adventures of Mr Darcy continue. In this week's installment, Mr Darcy lends his wit and humour to the Mummy Blogger blog again with this sketch around the wonders of Brazilian waxing.

Hope it makes you laugh! I am so glad I am not a man I would cut myself every day shaving!

Linking up to Paint Party Friday and #PoCoLo!