Spiral Sky Cactus

I'm on a roll here. Like the last one, this is an 8x10 watercolor and ink with metallic acrylic accents. I was experimenting with watercolor washes. I used some salt to give a crystallized effect in the sky but I didn't like it so mostly painted over it.

I ordered some new watercolors and will be experimenting with blocking - where you block out an area which is already painted so it doesn't absorb more paint. When I was painting this one, I wished I had some of that to paint over the cactus so I could have done more of a wash effect in the sky. I had wanted it to be in dawn colors and I had gotten an effect I liked but because I was constrained painting around the cactus it got messed up and I just went ahead and did a lot of purple spirals.

A lot of times when I mess things up I paint spiral patterns over it! But don't tell anyone.

Sleepy Stars Kitty

This is an 8x10 watercolor and ink with acrylic accents on watercolor paper. The stars are metallic silver acrylic. It's going to be sold as a fundraiser for a cat shelter.

Pink Roses painting

Pink Roses painting, originally uploaded by Melsky.

Another new painting! I'm doing a group of spring themed paintings right now. I was inspired by two things, I got a new bed comforter that has pink roses and light green leaves on it, and also there's pink roses blooming right outside my studio windows!

Spring Snake Cactus

Spring Snake Cactus, originally uploaded by Melsky.

I've been busy with work lately but I have found some time to do painting. I'm doing a batch of paintings in spring colors. This is the first one. It's 9x12 Acrylic on Canvas.

From the Past to the Future

This is a painting I did while living in San Franciso sometime in the early 90s. It's watercolor and ink. I'm going to do a new version of this painting.

Rose Cat

Rose Cat, originally uploaded by Melsky.

New painting! This is 8x10 inches, watercolor and ink on watercolor paper.

For Sale in Abstract Floral and Cat Art by Melsky

I'm pretty busy at work but finding a small amount of time to paint. I'm going to take some time off this weekend, maybe take a 4 day weekend.

Raw Roses

This is the raw scan of the roses painting. I left the border up! I'm working on another modification of this image. I'd like to make a set of greeting cards with my floral paintings and another with my cat paintings, another with desert paintings and a some holiday cards too. I'm looking at the best online places to order cards. Then I will sell them on Etsy. I think it might be nice to do a series of thank you cards too.

Yesterday I spent all day painting ! Six hours. I was painting a house though, one of the rental properties we manage. I like painting houses though, and the money is good. I like to see how much better the places look after they are painted.

The way I got started painting houses is that I am a rental agent for a property management company. I would go to places that were newly painted and there would be paint on the floor, in the carpet, they would get paint on the woodwork. Switch plates and light covers would be either taken off and they wouldn't bother to put them back on, or they would be covered with paint blocking the outlet holes! The paint jobs don't have to be fancy or perfect, we are dealing with places on a very low budget usually. But it doesn't take much more effort to do a decent job, wiping up paint spills, using drop cloths etc.

Having a good paint job also helps me as a rental agent, it just makes the place look better.

Yesterday was a lovely spring day. Not to say that we probably wont get another snowstorm or too but it's nice to be out. Anymore snow we get will be heavy wet spring snow that pretty much disappears quickly.