"Joe" has been juried into the 39th Annual Western Federation of Watercolor Societies Exhibition in Scottsdale, AZ.  This is a federation of 11 watercolor societies all west of the Mississippi.  There were approximately 1,200 entries from the 11 societies and Joe is one of 110 entries chosen to be in the show by the Juror, Cheng-Khee Chee.  I am elated, except for the fact the Joe will be gone from January through May so, sadly, I will not be able to enter him in any of the spring shows in this area.  So, I am frantically working on a couple of paintings for the spring shows.  Stay tuned...

This is my latest painting, Joe, pictured here with the model, Joe.  I first met Joe last spring through a mutual friend, Sherry.  As he was standing in the sunlight talking, I knew I had to paint him and so asked him if he would mind if I took a few photos for a painting.  Sherry and I took the painting to his shop, Man Cave, in downtown McKinney this last weekend.  Watching his reaction just made my day, as it was priceless!  He has lost some weight since I took the photo, but still has that same great look about him, so he posed with the painting in his hat du jour and sunglasses.  Many thanks, Joe, for being such a great sport!

These are the Reynolds kids.  They grew up down the street from me and were "Band kids" as were my kids.  They are great kids who have become amazing adults and I love their whole family!  They arranged for this painting as a gift for their Mom for Mother's Day. 

The Watcher is the third painting in my Pow Wow series.  This guy was waiting to dance and had a very intense look about him.  I was especially intrigued by the cast shadows on his face, but I think my favorite part of the painting are the tassels hanging from his jacket.  I'm not sure yet, but I may take a break from the Pow Wow and do some paintings from a Renaissance Festival we attended.  We'll see which part of me wins out!.

I just realized I had not added this painting to my website!  This is the second in my Native American series from photos taken at a Pow Wow last fall.  I am working on the third now and should have it on the website sometime this coming week.

So...I went to my first Pow Wow this past summer.  I say first, because I don't think it will be my last.  The Native Americans were a pleasure.  Their outfits were amazing as was their dancing.  I don't know how they danced in the hot sun with all those clothes!  I was roasting in the bleachers.  Anyway, I digress.  Dance of the Hunt is the first in a series of paintings to come from that event.  Look for the next one in about a week or so.  I am having so much fun painting these!

This is a commissioned portrait I just completed of my boss' wife, Lynn, and her horse, Spirit.  No pressure!  Fortunately, I work for really wonderful people and Lynn and Kirby were amazingly patient as it took me a long time after they gave me the photo to paint this one!  I think I was somewhat intimidated by painting a full sized, detailed horse, and of course, scenic backgrounds always intimidate me.  There are at least twelve layers of paint on some parts of Spirit's face and only one layer on other parts of her face, which gives it that velvety texture.  I especially like the way Lynn's hair and mouth turned out.  I always have some part of each painting that pleases me greatly, but I don't think I've ever been satisfied with any painting in its entirety.  This is the thing, I believe, that persuades us to strive to do better and better with each successive painting.

So, this one is another blast from the past.  Two of these guys are my sons, when they were about three and five years old (they are now grown), at one of their birthday parties.  The photo was old and tiny, but I had such fun painting this one!  I have no idea why several of them seem to be "hitching" up their shorts.  Maybe a parent told one of them to pull up their pants and it caused a chain reaction?  In the photo, they were standing in front of a heavily wooded area.  For the painting, though, I decided to leave out the background entirely and focus on the boys.  Then I put a shadow on the ground to tie them all together.