Fiesta - a Garden Party

This is an acrylic painting of blanket flowers in my garden. This painting seemed to go on and on forever. Layer afer layer of transparent washes to get the intense colours. But in the end - I am glad that I stayed with it. It reminds me of a garden party.


I originally saw these flowers while at a painting plein air art event in Hampton, NB -I searched garden centers until I found some to purchase.

Queen Cecropia

One night while watching tv, this rather large moth kept flying into our window -. At first I thought it was a bird gone wrong - but at closer inspection I realized it was a really big moth. I took many photos - and this is the result.

This is the first of a few painting I will do of this moth - I could not believe a moth could be so large and so beautiful. I plan to complete a few more - only much larger soon.

I have so many large work so close to completion - I neded a diversion - so I took a few hours to paint this.  Then I buckled down to face the larger peices - really good painting day.

Summer Wine Shades - Tree Peony

My husband and I make wine - and every year we make a summer wine, usually a blush. One of the most appealing characteristics of summer wines are in it's beautiful colours. Soft yet distinct shades of raspberry, pinks and soft wines shades.


This lovely bloom is a tree peony that grows in the corner of our garden off our pergola. It is beautifully custom framed, double matteted with a wine coloured inner mat. This is the second full sheet watercolour that I have painted. Truly a labour of love. Framed size is 28 x 38".

January Blues - Renforth Warf

I just finished this painting.  Funny, when I was working on it - I could still feel the coldness from that day. The perspective on this was tricky - I had to draw it out twice.  I attempted it on clay bord first but the surface was way too slick for the washes in the sky.  I will be exhibiting this at the St.David's Art Show this month.

Feeding Time Yet?

This painting was an experiment with some of the new tools available for watercolors. I admit I am a watercolor purist - and so this was also an exercise in bravery. I purchased a number of clayboard panels while visiting my daughter in Vancouver last year.
It has taken me exactly a year to decide to experiment with them.
The texture of the clayboard is quite different from paper - at first I was unsure if I liked it or not. After painting for a few minute - i started to get the feel for the material - bottom line. If you have time to play, this is a fun product. I sealed the finished painting with three coats of Krylon spray varnish. I have not decided yet if I am going to apply Golden Polymer Varnish over top or not. I know it will owrk well as I used it on teh Eastern Tiger Swallowtail in my last blog.
These goldfish and Koi are family pets - they summer in our pond and winter in a large aquarium in our basement.

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail

This beauty was a frequent visitor to our Siberian Pea Shrub earlier this summer. I could not resist painting it - after chasing it around with my long lens to "capture" an image. I completed this work to experiment with sealing and varnishing a watercolor on paper in order to frame without using glass. I have to admit, I purchased the recommended products and am nervous to use them.