Skin Deep Beauty

We have just come home from a marvelous, adventurous trip to Yellowstone! And what do I decide to render? Not bears, wolves, geysers or waterfalls. A Marine Iguana. I couldn't help it. I saw this guy last month at the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago and fell in love with his complex, textured skin and wry grin. I love reptiles...especially lizards. Perhaps it's because they seem to thrive in the simplicity of their lifestyle. Sleep, eat, bask...sleep, eat, bask...they are content creatures indeed!
This portrait is 2.5 x 3.75" Pencil.
It will be entered in one of two fall miniature shows this year.

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.

I just received a wonderful letter in the mail from MASF (Miniature Art Society of Florida). They have awarded me with the "Excellence in All Entries" prize along with first place in botanicals/florals. I'm so tickled for there are truly so many fine and skilled artists that participate in this show! (I'd hate to be the judge.) I am still giddy with excitement and keep running into walls and speaking gibberish. What a great week!

Yesterday I decided it was a great day to ditch the house work, the shopping and the laundry and go to the zoo. I'm so glad I did for here at our Brookfield Zoo we have White Pelicans rescued from the Gulf goo. It was late afternoon so the ligthting was simply magical! I've got several paintings in mind with these...and miniatures too!