Fawn and Spring Birches

This is similar to another painting I did a month or so ago. I like painting birch trees due to their unique bark pattern. The fawn is also a favorite subject of my paintings. It's great to see them as the spring moves to summer. We have a lot of whitetail deer where I live. I never get tired of spotting them in fields.

Monarch Amongst Daisies

I've done a painting similar to this, but with a different butterfly. This one was done this morning and is a monarch butterfly. Monarch butterflies are plentiful here during the late spring and summer. I haven't seen any yet this year, but it's still quite early. They would need flowers for nectar, and the flowers are far from abundant right now. They have extensive migration and are actually quite the marvel of nature. The monarch caterpillars are strikingly unique in colors and are found near milkweed plants.

This painting is a 11x14 stretched canvas with the painting wrapping around the edges. Initially, I outlined the butterfly in black acrylic paint, let it dry, then masked it for final oil paint much later at the end. The white canvas was also prepped by painting it forest green (acrylic). This was the base to lay the oils on. A thin coat of clear medium was applied prior to the oils. For oil paint I primarily used titanium white, cerulean blue, ultramarine blue, and sap green. I also used very small amounts of burnt sienna, cadmium yellow pale, and cadmium red light. Brushes used were 2" scenery, #10 flat, filbert, mop brush, and a couple script liners.

Autumn Mountain Reflections

My painting for today was an autumn scene. I still have trouble with mountains. I'm not sure why... just some techniques are hard for me. My brain tells my hands to do one thing and my hands don't follow directions well. I'm happy with the result, but it's not what my mind was trying to convey.

This is a 12x16 stretched canvas with the painting wrapping around the edges. Most was done with brushes and a bit of knife work on the mountains, tree trunks, and water ripples. Autumn is my favorite time of year. We don't have mountains this large where I live. But I've been to Colorado with my dad and I really enjoyed the scenery out there.

Cardinal in Pine

I painted this cardinal a bit ago. My experiment was more about learning how to render the pine cones. This was a small 8x10 panel that I put in a garage-sale find wood frame.

The Pounce

Tonight's painting was a winter scene with a fox. They jump up to gain momentum to break through the snow crust to get at burrowing rodents under the snow. This is my depiction of the leap. 11x14 stretched canvas with the oil paint wrapping around the canvas sides.

Lighthouse at Dusk

I've done a couple lighthouse paintings before. This is a simple lighthouse located on a rocky shore at dusk. It's a 11x14 stretched canvas with the painting wrapping around the edges.