Collage of My February Paintiings

Collage of My February 2015 Paintings

Another month over, which means the time for another collage.  How do you like the collage of my February 2015 paintings?  My focus of this short month was cityscapes and landscapes.  Which painting is your favorite?

"Happy Year of the Sheep" (oil on linen; 7" x 7")

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2015 is the Year of the Sheep.  The sassy Icelandic sheep wishes you a Happy Chinese New Year!

"Kiss Me, I Am Your Prince" (watercolor and marker on paper; 6.5" x 4.5") sold

sold

"Quack Quack Ducklings" (watercolor and marker on paper; 4.5" x 6.5")
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"Ba Ba Sheep" (watercolor and marker on paper; 4.5" x 6.5")
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"Ba Ba Sheep" was my first "illustrated" painting, with lettering.  I got such a kick out of the experience that I wanted to make more.  "Kiss Me, I Am Your Prince" is the latest one.  Will you kiss the red-eyed frog?  Will he truly turn into a prince?  A question to consider carefully.  By the way, despite its flamboyant coloring, it is not poisonous.  So, will you kiss him?

"Ba Ba Sheep" (watercolor; 5" x 7")

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Creativity begets creativity.  The other day, I was painting a couple of greeting cards for my Facebook fans.  One thing led to another.  By the time I was finished, I had two charming, small watercolors that I could list on Etsy!  I am particularly proud of this sheep painting with the "Ba Ba Ba" lettering.  So adorable!  Perhaps I should start a line of greeting cards!

"Sheep Country, Yorkshire" (watercolor on paper, 10" x 6 1/2" each) sold

sold

"Sheep Country, Yorkshire" was an interesting exercise in Carolyn Gawarecki's class that I took several years ago at the Art League School in Alexandria, VA.  We were to paint a triptych, each painting with a distinct foreground, middle ground, and background.  Then we had to assign the different values (light, mid-tone, and dark) to the three parts in each panel, never repeating the same scheme.  Colors were a secondary consideration and we had to focus on values.  A big headache!

The above painting is what I came up with.  The left panel has a light foreground, mid-tone middle ground, and dark sky; the center panel has a mid-tone foreground, dark middle ground, and light sky; and the right panel has a dark foreground, mid-tone middle ground, and light sky.  As it happens, the left panel has the feeling of an early morning; the center panel, that of the mid-afternoon; and the right panel comes across as a scene at dusk.  How about that!  Good teachers exercise our mind and force us to grow.  Thank you, Carolyn.

"Miss Daisy and Lambs" (oil on linen; 11" x 14") sold

sold

Oliver H. Kelley Farm in Elk River, Minnesota is a historic working farm that grows oats, hay, sorghum, and animals.  We saw oxen, horses, Miss Daily (one-year-old heifer), chickens, lambs, three piglets, and their mom.  On this hot, hot August day, Miss Daisy and two lambs were huddled together trying to find shade, although there wasn't much.  The scene was so funny that I just had to paint it.

I have a thing for animals; my favorites are sheep and giraffes.  I have painted cows, sheep, elephants, giraffes, polar bears, zebras, pandas, ostriches, ducks, geese, etc., although I don't consider myself an animal painter.  It must be their endlessly beautiful forms.