Ladies in Waiting

"Lady in Waiting"--four drafts
8X10"
Pen, ink, and watercolor

My husband and I went out to a little shopping area near our town recently. It is a beautiful place that is full of inspiration for paintings and drawings. We didn't realize, however, that a huge festival taking place there during the very weekend we decided to go.

The place was packed, and there were so many people milling about that I couldn't even find a spot to sit and sketch. As we were walking around, though, a woman sitting on a bench caught my eye. She had a parasol and the way she was seated created an interesting shape in my mind. So when I got home, I drew a pen-and-ink sketch of what I could remember. Then I added a tree and added some decoration to her parasol. I wanted to add some watercolor, but I wasn't sure which colors to use.

Thank goodness for the marvels of modern technology. I made some copies of the sketch onto recycled paper, so I could experiment with some color combinations before I made the final painting. Above are the four ideas I came up with--it was so much fun! #1 was actually the last one I painted, but I think it comes from another painting idea of mine. #3 was interesting and left me with a lot of green paint, so I splashed the extra paint onto #2. I was going to come back and add more to #2, but I liked the minimalist effect of the color. #4 came from just trying something different. I have my favorites, and I think I know what I'm going to do now. But it might be interesting to see if anyone else has an opinion first.

Alligators, Crocodiles, Caimans

"Charlie"
8X10"
Watercolor

This is the time that I wish Steve Irwin, the crazy crocodile hunter guy, was still around. I know that I've heard explanations before on the difference between alligators, crocodiles, and caimans, but I can't remember a darn thing. I can tell you that I got the idea for this painting after I watched an interesting program on a particular species of cayman. The question of whether what I painted accurately depicts a caiman or not will have to be debated by reptilian experts. I just happened to like the scene of an alligator/crocodile/caiman floating along in the water with his eyes and snout just peeking out above the surface.

I decided to title the painting "Charlie" after a story that my husband told me. He had mentioned hearing about some kids that were swimming in some kind of pond or waterway in Florida. An adult saw that there was an alligator in the water and started yelling at the kids to get out. The kids seemed unconcerned with the giant reptile. Their casual response to the frantic adult? "Oh, that's Charlie. He's here all the time."

This Charlie has been with me for a few weeks now. I've been painting him slowly and carefully, letting the paint dry between the various layers. I'm usually not so patient in my painting, but Charlie helped me to see the benefits in it. Below, you can see Charlie in his early stage as a pen-and-ink sketch: