Ram!

The spider painting crashed and burned, thanks in part to my cat Tron. He is an evil little man.

I did, however, manage to keep him from destroying this little 4x6 of a ram. I was trying to use primaries to make neutrals, a' la Peggy Macnamara, but it didn't quite work out that way! I'm still happy with the results, though.

I'm going to attempt to do a painting per day. In the meantime, I'm experiencing a career change since it's become apparent that wedding photography in the super-saturated Seattle market is a really precarious place to be during crappy economic times. So I've been applying for internships in zookeeping throughout the country. I love caring for animals, and in my volunteer work at the local zoo I've learned that there is a big shift in the culture of zoos going on...focus is less on entertainment and much more on education, outreach, and conservation, with all the good zoos in the world putting a significant chunk of their funding toward breeding and repatriating endangered species, as well as aggressive and creative programs to preserve and expand habitat. That's what I want to do with my life! Help care for the endangered species and habitats of the world, help educate others about these issues, and feed animals and clean up their poo at the same time.

So as I search for internships, I find myself thinking about the exciting possibilities of getting to paint new landscapes and new creatures! Wahoo! This is good news all around. The only bad thing about it is that I'll miss my husband and the rest of my family...including my paining-destroying cat.

Anyway...I hope you like the ram! A painting a day from now on...hopefully.

A spider watercolor in progress

I've continued to draw and sketch since the last time I posted. I've gone through some rough times and it's been hard to stay focused. Today, though, I got inspired to just get out and make some art, so I took my drawing supplies and a few tubes of watercolor (alizarine, ultramarine, cad yellow med, and viridian) to the zoo. It was cold, so I stayed in the heated buildings, sketching critters.

A beautiful golden orb weaver spider in her web caught my eye and I sketched her in watercolor. It was quite a challenge to use only four colors, but I think it turned out fairly well for what it is. This is only my fourth attempt at watercolors, and I think every time I use them I gain more understanding of the medium. I'm really beginning to love watercolors. My mom told me that my dad was the youngest person (at the time) to be admitted into the American Watercolor Society, so maybe watercolors are in my genes. :)

I really wish my dad was still around to see me progress as an artist. I know he'd be so proud. I don't believe in any kind of afterlife, but I admit it is fun to imagine what he would say if he could see how hard I'm trying to become a good artist. It's nice to think back on how encouraging he was in all my interests and to feel the warmth of his pride in my accomplishments.

As I begin to work on the real painting of this spider, I'll keep Dad in mind.