OK, I need feedback

Here's a painting that I'm stuck on. I got this far and don't know where to go. I have a love/hate affair with the red. The photo reference was really when we were on a boatride, and the shoreline is all (ho, hum) green and blue. I think the red is striking, but is it too much like hitting over the head red? Once I cover it up, I'll never be able to reestablish it again because of its transparence quality. What do you think?

I'VE BEEN TAGGED!

I've been tagged by R Garriott this past week. The photoshop tips are so useful and generous and I appreciate the notice my humble blog. So here goes, 7 unusual things about me:

1. I'm left handed and only use a Wacom tablet for a mouse. I don't see how anyone ever gets around with a mouse shaped like a shoebox. Definitely check it out, it is so much easier and intuitive.

2. I folded 400 origami birds for an art installation at my church (see above) - the trick was in the hanging!

3. I love to cook and have a cookbook fetish - I have over 400 cookbooks!

4. I learned to drive a stick shift in a 1953 MGTC - It made it all worth it!

5. I've zoomed down the Olympic bobsled run in Utah in a 4man bobsled - an adrenaline rush for 58 seconds.

6. I earned my private pilot's license on my 16th birthday - I could fly a plane alone before I could drive alone.

7. I'm taking all of my vacation and sick time at once for the year and packing my bags for New Zealand and Australia!!!! (So if I'm not posting for awhile, it's because I'm down under;-)

And now for my seven artists picks to tag. I've not been blogging long enough to know if you've been tagged before, if you have I apologize. So I've picked some of you who have honored me with comments on my blog, and those of you whose work I admire. Hope you will join the game and play too.
Lesley Spanos, Carmel Indiana http://www.spanosart.com/
Annie Salness, California http://anniesalness.blogspot.com/
Jessica Cook, Atlanta, Georgia http://www.jessicacook.com/
Theresa Miller, Geneva, Switzerland, http://theresamillerwatercolors.blogspot.com/
Jill Donahue, Baltimore, Maryland http://jilldonahue.blogspot.com/
Maria Kovalenko Leysens, Mars, Pennsylvania http://mklart.blogspot.com/
Laura http://lauraswatercolors.blogspot.com/

Thanks in advance for playing!

Getting ready for the big one

I'm getting ready to go on vacation again with camera in hand, so I thought I'd post a few landscapes from previous travels. I know when I get back, I'll be so inspired I won't be able to sit still. These are inspired from our trip to Scotland!

TO THE HILLS

I painted this dyptic of the hills last summer, but I have it hanging in my office and it's like having a window to the outdoors. It is transparent acrylic on 12 x 12 panels.

Victorian Abstract

I am really enjoying this challenge from Different Strokes from Different Folks. The victorian house was posted by Karin Jurick on her blog for us to use as a reference photo. I first mentally cropped the photo and painted the house, then decided that it was a much more interesting composition to zoom in on the eave line and balance the position the contrasting windows in a square format. Then I intensified the colors. I think I'm going to take this design one step farther and do a more abstract picture using these division lines, but drop out the indication of the architecture. I think I will do it in collage and use textured papers and paint. Stay tuned......

It's a Beau - tiful Dog

A friend of mine asked me to paint a picture of his son's dog, Beau. He's a very regal Chesapeake Bay Retriver. Here's the finished watercolor that he gave to his son for Christmas.

Most of my dog portraits have been on Yupo paper which lets me get a lot of serendipitous texture in the coat, but with Beau I needed to achieve a softer finish so I use transparent watercolor on illustration board.

A RETRO FIT

I haven't had much time to paint this week, but I did pull up some of the previous references photos from Karin Jurick's blog and did some quick, loose studies. They are not near as finished as the pieces submitted to her site, but I just wanted to use these as some warm up practise. I haven't really done many watercolors lately so if I do try a more finished piece, I'll start again and lay down a better drawing first. I was mostly trying to work with tone values and composition, rather than details. There's a new challenge this week, so I'll work on that, as well as on some acrylic abstracts this week.

A Second Chance

I started on the Different Strokes from Different Folks challenge again. This time I used acrylic on canvas, 12 x 12. I added the people to improve the composition and I'm pretty happy with it. This was a tough subject to approach, but the point is to push us out of our comfort zone and use our imagination as well as our paint brushes.

Thanks, Karin Jurick for creating such a great network for us.

A STAB IN THE DARK

Here's my first 3 stabs at the jefferson memorial at night. Part of the DSFDF challenge. I like the zoomed in version the best, but it needs to be more precise, but it is giving me a direction.

LOOKING FORWARD TO A PRODUCTIVE 09

I have just been facinated with all the portraits appearing daily of DSFDF..they are all great, but I am also enjoying the links to the other artist's websites and blogs. You guys are really articulate about your struggles, goals and philosophies. You are inspiring me to become a daily painter, or at least setting a goal to accomplish 2 or 3 a week, anyway. I am also going to add a few of my figuratives here. These are all older works for me, but I hope to publish new works from this point forward.