"Goldfinch on Coneflower" (oil on linen; 7" x 7") sold

sold

My summer garden of wildflowers is often visited by a goldfinch or two.  The tiny yellow bird looks even more exquisite on a purple coneflower!

"Goldfinch in Summer Garden" (oil on linen; 8" x 10")

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I am what you call a lazy gardener.  I don't have the patience or time to trim all the deadheads. As it turns out, that is what good environmentally-minded gardeners do.  Look at the goldfinch in the reference photo below.  It is eating the seeds of the spent coneflower in my tired summer garden!

In case you are wondering why the colors are so different between the picture above and the step-by-step photos below, here is the answer.  I took the final image of the finished painting in natural light and Photoshopped it, whereas the step-by-step photos were taken with my smart phone in my studio under artificial lighting.  The painting looks very close to what you see above.

Reference photo

I just laid down the transparent underpainting.  No opaque colors or whites are used at this stage.

The second step is done.

I edited out the coneflower right below the bird.  It looks better.

I like the circular movement of the flowers.  Time to firm up stems, some flowers, and the goldfinch.  Then I will be done!

"Monarchs on Coneflower" (watercolor on paper; 4.5" x 6.5")

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"Hanging Out" (watercolor on paper; 6" x 6")
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Collage of My Animal World in Watercolor

This is it.  The collage shows my summer watercolor series of animal paintings.  I have been away from watercolors several years, because I was bored and felt I hit the wall.  I thought I couldn't achieve the rich, luxurious, textural, and painterly feel with the medium.  And I was quite right.  Switching to oils freed me.  I no longer worry about careful underdrawing and am wild with laying down thick paints.  

I also realized that I could be spontaneous with watercolors, perhaps a side benefit of having worked in oils that are more forgiving and "carefree".  My watercolor paintings are not tight. They are fresh, watercolory, and effortless-looking.  I like puddles, blooms, and paints beyond pencil lines.  I adore granulating paints that leave granular residues, such as cobalts and other mineral colors.  I don't use making fluid, because it leaves obvious, tell-tale marks.  In other words, I use watercolors to do things that can be done only with this transparent, fickle medium.  I let watercolor paints and water work their own magic!

"Coneflowers and Daisies" (oil on linen; 8" x 12") sold

sold

A few years ago, I bought a packet of wildflower seeds and spread it in a small sunny garden patch right next to the sidewalk.  Who knew that coneflowers, daisies, and black-eyed susans, etc. will come back year after year?  My husband thought they were too tall, wild, and out of control.  So I tried to get rid of them.  A word of advice.  Be careful with wildflowers.  They are HARD to get rid of.

I kind of like the cottage-garden look of my "warm-palette" wildflower patch.  It doesn't look as pretty as the painting now, with lots of spent flower heads that need to be trimmed.  But who has the time!