Some Acrylics and my first oils in ages.. and a plein air date tomorrow.

This is a watercolor, 4X6. I wanted to paint "Five Smooth Stones" but it looked incomplete, unbalanced and needed more somehow. I found another black rock and added it. Nope, needs something. So I found the clear glass stones, nope, then the little lacquer box (it contains some myrrh) and it felt right. I have a lot to learn about design. The challenge was supposed to be painting shiny rocks.

This little dog is a Work in Progress, 8X10. I follow a blog "A Day Not Wasted" of a wonderful photographer who puts up an artist challenge once a month. This is Zoe, in oils, 8X10. I haven't done her nose yet and I want to try some feathering techniques on her fur.

This is an acrylic of El Capitan in Yosemite Valley, 12X16(?) (including the background where it was sitting). This is from a photo my watercolor teacher had for his workshops. I did it in watercolor then, and it looked very Japanese. Which isn't too surprising. But putting the yellow leaves in the foreground  seemed impossible, I hadn't masqued out enough, so I tried it again in acrylic, where you can go back and add in light things on top of dark. Way better.

 This cabin is an acrylic blast from the past. When I was a kid we lived in the American southwest. On Summer weekends after church we would through lunch in the car and head on up to Cloudcroft, NM. This was a cabin near Weed, that though looking ramshackle, had a brand new roof. I think my Mother saved this picture of it from the Sunday paper insert all those years ago. She was a painter too. She never painted it, I think she'd like it that I did. This image is a bit cropped, the picture has more at the bottom and at the right side. Not sure how I did that. (?) It's about 12X16

This is a little 6X8 acrylic I did from another picture my mom saved all those years ago. Trees are still a challenge, but practice helps. The wheel must have been there for decades, it really was bleached white.