MARBLES AND A COWBOY

Thought I'd take a moment to show off a couple of my latest watercolors.  The cold and snow is an incentive to stay inside and work on projects in a warm place.

This is "Shiny Things Three."  It's my third effort at reproducing glass and silver in watercolor.  It surprised even me on how the surfaces appear reflective even though it is just pigment on paper.

Here is a tighter shot of the 11 inch wide and 14 inch high one-of-a-kind painting.  "Shiny Things One" is still available for purchase but "Shiny Things Two" has been sold.

The process began with a sketch on Arches 140 cold press paper.  The big challenge was keeping the marble shapes round.  I masked out the places I wanted to remain white and ran a loose wash of primary colors over the rest.

Then it was a matter of slowly reproducing something similar to my reference photos using layers of transparent washes.

This is called, "Cowboy Poet."   It is a portrait of Bill Hirschi, our friend and neighbor, who manages herds of angus cattle by profession but also can entertain with his original poetry of life in the American West.

For a sample of his work, follow this link:

Both paintings and many more can be found on my Etsy Site--

Watercolors by Leenie