Come to the Dark Side Fluke

It's a little less than a week before my art friends arrive here in Chicago. I'm getting butterflies in my stomach and should be straightening things up around the house. But what do I do? I paint. Painting Koi is such a meditative practice. I think therapists around the world would do wonders with their patients if they just put a brush in the hands of the anxious and instructed them to paint these magic fishes!

"Double Vision" 3 x 2"
And here's another miniature. I just can't seem to stop producing these fun little pieces. This Great Egret portrait is a composite from photos that, again, I had taken in Florida. That place is bird wealthy! We have birds here in Chicagoland but they are flighty little things! There was a group of vireos flitting about my garden today. They were so sweet mixed into the redbud brances. But trying to get a photo of them is futile. Perhaps one day I'll get lucky...

This miniature "Morning in the Mangroves" is in the Seaside Show right now. The reference photos taken for this piece were shot in Florida while I was visiting the MASF show in January.

It is time I updated my blog with some new work. This piece is titled, "On Golden Pond" and is a 3/4 sheet watercolor. I had hoped to get it in the Birds in Art show this year but it didn't make it. I'll enter it in another show. I like the way the pelicans posed for me in this photo so I painted the image twice, (the other is in a miniature format). We are spoiled here with the Brookfield Zoo so close by. We get ample opportunities to photograph the wildlife.