A Girl and Her Dog

Red

Mountain Mist

Watching the morning mist rise from the top of Mt. Thielsen was an experience not soon forgotten.

Ripening Blueberries

I've never really noticed all the colors to be found in blueberries as they ripen. The morning sun brought them out in a dramatic way here.

In the Reeds

Another two-fer, painted for both World Watercolor Month and Virtual Paintout (Cambodia). I was struck by the quiet in this scene, as the old boat seems to be slowly sinking into the still water of the rice paddy.

Lesser Bird of Paradise

This painting is to kill two birds with one stone, so to speak, submitted for both Paint Colorful Birds for Fun and World Watercolor Month. (My thanks to photographer Darren Bellerby.)

Pepper

It's fun to try to paint daily for the World Watercolor Month challenge, but I can see where it could get tiring. To give myself a break, I'm planning to do simple subject matter. Here's a pepper I sliced up in a bunch of pieces, looking for the most interesting view of it. I became totally enthralled with this slice of it.

Resting Rhino

Here's another entry for World Watercolor Month of a rhino that I photographed at the wildlife safari last summer. He was fun to paint even though I squeezed him into a small 5x7 sketchbook. Lesson learned on that one!

Ostrich

I'm participating in an online challenge for a brand new national day called World Watercolor Month. Established by Charlie O'Shields (Doodlewash--check it out if you haven't already), the challenge is to paint a watercolor every day in July, or when you can, and use the hashtag #WorldWatercolorMonth when posting your entry. A facebook page has been set up for entries. Aside from being a fun challenge, this year it is a fundraiser for The Dreaming Zebra Foundation which supports underprivileged young artists around the world. For more information, see www.worldwatercolormonth.com.

So here's my first entry, from a photo I took last summer when my dad and I drove through a wildlife park.  This tall, curious, brazen fellow pecked at our windshield relieving us of smashed bugs, and then came to the open window begging for anything else we might have on hand. I have wanted to paint him and other animals we saw there so this is a great push to do it.