Ladybugs Rule!

#1 Ranunculus

Of my own art work, this is one of my favorites.

Using Painter®, by Corel.

My next-younger sister

One of my very first attempts at painting.

That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.
Painter®, chalk

Baby sister

She's 18 years younger than I am.

Painter®, emulating chalk.

Nephew

One of five nephews, Painter emulating pencil sketch.

#5 Landscape

One sister's favorite park, my only landscape to date.

Painter®, emulating oil.

Friend

Painter, emulating acrylic thick Paint.

#6 Peonies

Painter®, emulating watercolor. This first attempt at watercolor put me off the medium for awhile. I was distressed at my inability to suggest the edges of the petals.

Goddess of Gauze

This niece was a Navy Medic when I painted it, hence the gauze. Very little fazes her. She's working on her BSN now.

The look is supposed to be that of a classic Greek goddess.

Her jawline isn't actually that puffy, that fault is mine.

One of my great-nephews.

#10 Sunflowers

Painter®, emulating oils.

Another niece

This one was based on a lesson I took on cartooning.

This niece teaches high school kids, so very little fazes her either.

The context of the drawing is that it's supposed to be when she got home from work on a Friday and caught the evening news in a week full of jaw-dropping scandalous news items.

oil painting of a pink marbled poinsettia

#12 Pink marbled poinsettia

Painter®, emulating oils.

Christmas gift from baby sister; couldn't resist painting this!

#13 "Monet" type poinsettia (should be "Seurat"!)

Christmas gift from a friend; another one I couldn't resist painting.

Using PhotoShop®, by Adobe.

oil painting of a vase of Lisianthus with 2 coffee cups

#14 Lisianthus

Painter®, 'Oils'.

#15 Penta plant

Painter®, 'Watercolor'.

This is the second watercolor I took all the way to completion. Watercolor is difficult in digital painting, similar to real life. It wasn't a great experience, because you can't get caught up in the detail, which is hard for me: I love detail.

#16 Juana's Rose

Painter®, 'Watercolor'.

My third stab at watercolor; I enjoyed doing this one. This is the painting that made me laugh at myself in the mirror and say "I actually am an artist! Maybe not a good one [yet], but I am an artist."

#17 Priscilla

Painter®, Marker, Ink and Speckle.

A little more abstract than my usual endeavor, I'm 'stretching' with this one, and enjoyed it.

#18 Daffodils

Painter®, Marker and Ink.

I was reminded in April of the bank of daffodils I used to walk by on my way to work when I worked at Georgetown U,
so I had to do this one.

version 2 of white peonies on dark background

#19 Peonies version 2

Painter®

I particularly enjoyed this one, and I can see an improvement in my skills.

Sunflowers on a table in a shadowed room

Roxann

Painter®, Thick Paint and Oils.

I started this a year ago and then put it on hold because the perspective is so wonky; finally finished it. The big challenge here is the lighting: bright light from a window into a shadowed room.

#21 Glad

Painter®.

A painting I did to break my dry spell. Unlike all the others, it works better on screen than in 11x14 print.

#22 Kale Dancer

Painter®.

My friend Juana brought me a decorative Kale plant she picked up which we both thought was so interesting to look at. As I took pictures of it, this particular angle reminded me of a dancer in the opera "Carmen".

#23 Crocuses 1

Painter®.

This bad boy gave me an artist's block, which I finally broke with Kale Dancer. That inspired me to wrap up this one, while listening to Lucia di Lammermoor. Q1: Was it the famous mad scene? Q2: Did the cat catch the sparrow? You may have to zoom in to see the footprints they left behind. Answer to Q1: no, it was the famous sextet. The mad scene is usually too long and tedious for my taste. Answer to Q2 is left to your imagination; however, my primary care doc swears there's carnage outside the right edge of the picture.

#24 Crocuses 2

Painter®.

version 2. A side excursion I took while trying to work through the artist's block I encountered for version 1

#25 Christmas Amaryllises

Painter®.

The flowers and leaves are a little more abstract than I normally do. Painter® users will recognize the particle brushes.

#26 El Járdin Mágico de Barellas

Painter®

The view (more or less) I get every time I walk out of my trailer. It is, indeed, magical.

Frangipani plant of my neighbor on the other side

#27 Frangipani

An oil done in Painter®

From the garden of my neighbor on the other side.
I love this plant, it has so many different pieces to the puzzle of ‘representing’ it!

#28 Swan

Oil, Rebelle® Pro 6 by Escape Motions.

This started out to just try out a new software program; I started it much smaller than I would have if I'd known it would become a full-blown painting. C'est la vie.

2 mini-carnations, white with a red edging on the outside edge of the petals

#29 2 Mini-carnations

Oil, Rebelle® Pro 6 by Escape Motions.

Another work to try out the new software; I'm leaning heavily now to making a permanent switch to this software.

several stems of pink mini-carnations, most in a vase, some laying waiting to be placed

#30 2 Mini-carnations

Oil, Painter®

I reverted to Painter because Rebelle was not capable of doing the 'selection arithmetic' I needed for this painting; favorite flower of one of my sisters.

white rose with a thorn stem behind it, small blood drip from thorn onto petal

#31 The Thorn

Oil, Painter®

Ouch.

San Diego sunset rocky beach with palm trees and a pine tree at sunset

#32 San Diego Sunset

Oil, Painter®

Not an actual beach in San Diego, this one exists only in my imagination.

#33 Gracie

My great-nephew's dog Gracie

Oil, Painter®

#34 Stargazer

"quick and dirty" of a stargazer lily

Oil, Painter®

oil painting of red tulips which are still planted, not cut yet

#35 Red tulips

Some red tulips to remind you that spring will come

Oil, started in Rebelle® 6, finished in the brand spankin' new Rebelle® 7

Ann's Flamboyance, 4 flamingos cavorting in the pond created by the bend of a creek.

#36 Ann's Flamboyance

Painter® oils

My sister Ann has a special place in her heart for flamingos. A flock of flamingos is called a "flamboyance", and Ann has a somewhat flamboyant personality (in a good way).

Dendrobium, a spray of 10 stems of Dendrobium orchids.

#37 Dendrobium

Painter® oils

Dendrobium orchid stems aren't quite this droopy in real life, but, you know, "artist's perogative".

Cityscape of downtown San Diego as seen from the Coronado Island Ferry Landing

#38 San Diego Cityscape #1

Painter® charcoal

Downtown San Diego as seen from the Coronado Island Ferry Landing, approximately 2006 (but painted April, 2024).

Cityscape of downtown San Diego as seen from a Coronado marina

#39 San Diego Cityscape #2

Painter® ink and oils

Downtown San Diego as seen from a Coronado marina.

#40 Frosted Blue Tulips

Rebelle® oils

I committed to making the change from Painter to Rebelle. This isn't my first painting in Rebelle, but it is the first after committing to digging in and learning it's intricacies.

#41Mini Calla Lillies

Rebelle® watercolor

Watercolor is definitely harder to control than oils or dry media, but I felt like I had to explore it.

#42 Peonies 4

Rebelle® watercolor

Can you tell peonies are my favorite flower?

4 Angels Trumpets blossoms with leaves, against an abstract background

#43 Angels Trumpets

Painter® oils

A little more abstract than my usual, 4 blossoms from my neighbors beautiful large bush.

oil painting of hydrangea bush with lots of impasto

#44 Hydrangeas

Rebelle® oils with high impasto

My own take on a hydrangea bush