Category Archives: watercolor

San Pedro Cactus 2

The San Pedro Cactus is a gorgeous plant. They grow tall and wide and have straight regular columns or can be quite gnarly and contorted, depending on the growing environment and genetic mutations. The one I’ve painted is of the gnarly type. It grows at altitudes of 2-3,000 ft and is a known hallucinogen. What’sContinue reading “San Pedro Cactus 2”

Eastern Bracken Fern

The Eastern Bracken Fern is found in the Adirondacks of New York State. It’s a deciduous rhizome that appears in spring, lives and spreads in the summer, looses its fronds in the fall, winters underground and then starts it all again when the earth thaws. This painting shows the fern in early spring.

Large Mouth Bass

This large mouth bass is painted at a scale of 1.5:1 which means the live one was bigger by half. They can grow really big and don’t like to be caught, putting up a strong fight. The husband caught him, I photoed him and he was released back into the Upstate New York Lake fromContinue reading “Large Mouth Bass”

Small Mouth Bass

Small Mouth Bass are found in waters of the US, north to south East to west. The fish shown here was caught in the Adirondack Park in New York. It’s a little unusual in that it was a yellow ocher color. Most are in the green grey range. Perhaps the anomaly can be explained byContinue reading “Small Mouth Bass”

Chain Pickerel

This fish is found in the New York Adirondacks as well as a lot of other waters throughout the US. The one I painted is represented full size although it’s a small example. Ted caught it, I took its picture and then he returned to the cold water to swim again, hopefully a wiser fishContinue reading “Chain Pickerel”

Water Plants

I painted a masonite board with QOR watercolor ground which allows me to paint on a surface that, untreated, will not absorb the watercolor pigments. After an under painting of watercolor, I filled in shading and detail with casein, a more durable water media.  Usually I use 140 or 300# watercolor paper. Comparing the hardboard groundContinue reading “Water Plants”

Muddler Minnow – Traditional

The Muddler Minnow was first tied in 1936 by a guy from Minnisota, Don Gapen by name. It imitates a sculpin and is of the ‘streamer’ body type. It’s a very popular pattern, tied by many with a lot of variations. The one shown here is basic and traditional. My husband says the nose coneContinue reading “Muddler Minnow – Traditional”

Sea Holly – Aryngium planar

A couple months ago, I got a bunch of Sea Holly from Trader Joe’s with the intention of painting the whole thing. Time went by, the flowers dried, wilted and I threw them out, saving this one blossom to paint. Here it is, still thistley blue, green and grey. I planted these in the yardContinue reading “Sea Holly – Aryngium planar”

Largemouth Bass

Caught in Arizona, this bass bass looks a lot different in color than those we’ve taken in New York. Other features such as the dorsal fins are atypical of what is found in Largemouth Bass. Perhaps this is a hybrid. At any rate, it was caught in Lake Pleasant, AZ. We’ll have to see ifContinue reading “Largemouth Bass”