Portfolio of Works

My decision to return to painting in acrylic paints came about from a recent charity contribution that I painted as a fundraiser for a local major canoe race marathon.  I painted a paddle with designs that covered both sides of the paddle and enjoyed the creative process and imagery so much that it lead me to create a series of paintings based upon the beauty one sees in the woods of northern Michigan.    I have also explored acrylic paintings previous to that recent activity and have always painted more 'freely and abstractedly' with acrylics than I typically do when using watercolor paint.   I will attempt to post images of that paddle (now sold in an auction that benefitted the Au Sable Canoe Marathon in Grayling, MI)   My ETSY store website does contain pricing for GICLEE reproductions printed onto canvass which are amazingly reproducing both the color and surface texture of the original paintings.  This recent series also led to being asked to join an art gallery in Grayling  (The Main Branch Art Gallery) where m artwork is now also for sale. 

This body of work should display the fun and challenges I enjoy with using watercolor as a medium.  I take pleasure in representing the realistic forms of objects yet still want to employ creative ideas with respect to colors/backgrounds/etc.  Watercolor is one of my favored artistic medium as I enjoy the broad range of effects one can create, working 'wet on wet' or letting the paint fun or be flicked, etc.   I plan on continuing to explore and do have other paintings not in this current collection that demonstrate a fuller range of my experimentations.  

Inspired by the floral paintings created by Georgia O'Keeffe I decided to create a series of my own floral creations.  I have long enjoyed gardens and flowers in particular; the challenge and fun of creating the various flower shapes that we see on the many varieties of flowers was my painting challenge.  I also enjoyed experimenting with various ideas for handling the negative space (background) behind the various flowers.  I do typically stay 'true' to recreating the actual color of each flower type but do take artistic license to experiment with the background colors as well creatively alter the stem or leaf work often in abundance around the floral displays.