floral

Japanese Honeysuckle is an introduced, somewhat invasive, climbing vine which grows on my land. The frilly white blossoms are highly fragrant and last from April to July, and I don’t mind their intrusion. The red young stems are strong and used in traditional basket weaving. As it grows, the larger woody vine will grow in a spiral around a tree branch. When the vine is removed, the branch is left with a twisted appearance, which some woodcarvers prize for creating … Read More

My love of spring wildflowers may be genetic. When my maternal grandmother was a high school senior in 1912 she wrote “We hail the approach of spring… our pulses are stirring as the odor of the arbutus and the violet is wafted on the gentle breeze….” I hope my new acrylic painting “Showy Orchis” celebrates the glory of spring visually as elegantly as young Emma Fox did verbally. My usual step-by-step progress is shown below, but I will divert for … Read More

For my newest painting I had two goals in mind: (1) to use acrylic paints in a highly transparent way, and (2) to use an odd shaped canvas I’ve had among my art supplies for too long. The canvas is three feet wide and a little over a foot tall, so I decided to use it horizontally and create a painting of a big backlit red poppy from my garden. To begin, I reviewed many poppy reference photos in my … Read More

  I have many passions; my newest painting combines two: watercolor and wildflowers. It’s of one of my favorite springtime woodland flowers, Bloodroot. The  3″ flowers are among the earliest bloomers in March in my Tennessee woods, unfurling their pure white petals in striking contrast with the dark, wintry forest floor. Bloodroot was traditionally used as a medicinal plant by Native Americans, as well as a natural dye. The red roots and the stems release a blood-color sap when cut, … Read More

I’ve done many paintings in watercolor using a “limited palette” – basically mixing all the colors from the primary colors of red, blue, and yellow. One of the first times I tried this was for “Americana”. More recent examples include “Grandpa’s Fiddle Break,”  “Jerry Van, Music Man,” and “Jesus Saves.” For some reason, I never thought about doing the same thing with my acrylic paints until recently. I was exhibiting at an outdoor show and I wanted to set up … Read More

  I finished this painting just in time to have it debut at my upcoming gallery open house (Sunday 1/18/15 at Tellico Art Center, Tellico Plains TN, 1-4pm). The painting is a square, turned 45° so it hangs as a diamond – just for an added bit of distinction. I paint on canvas with Golden Fluid Acrylics, and I paint fairly thin. The fluid acrylics are about the consistency of heavy cream, and made my transition from a watercolor painter … Read More