ERH visual arts

Recently finished this portrait of our kitty Parma, who is gently sweet and curious,and is my husband's constant shadow. This watercolor and white gouache painting is 8"x8", mounted on a wood panel by and recently entered in the "Beginner" category of their pet portrait contest.

May the best pets win! 🧡🎨

This Very Good Boy is Moose, whose human parents and grandparents adored him, and whose life was far shorter than any of them would have wished.

Moose's grandhuman, Kathy, commissioned this piece for her son, who lives in NC, and whom she surprised by arriving in time to join him for the ceremonial ringing of the bell to celebrate the end of his time as an oncology patient.

Some endings elicit sad tears, and others elicit celebratory tears. Both are a valuable reminder to live life well, and hug those who are dear to you. 🧡

Shalom, Moose. ✡️

Some "making of" views behind the process of making the donut themed paintings for the Hermiston Donut Shop! Prints of the final pieces will be available soon in Rae Galloway's Art booth in Hermiston.

1 - 4 of the 5 finished paintings, only the puffin is missing from the shot. These will soon be mounted on birch cradled board with UV and waterproofing protection, thanks to Rae!
2 - the hungry puffin before cutting the painting to accommodate the eating of the donut
3 - I had so much fun painting inside the goose's mouth that it almost seems a shame to hide it with the donut, but this goose was HUNGRY!
4 - the drooling kitty sans the maple bacon bar
5 - hungry pup before cutting out his tongue to accommodate the 3D donut
6 - the stork before cutting into its beak so it could balance a stack of donuts. This was my first donut series painting!
7 - painting the stork's 3 donuts on a 4"x10" block before cutting them out
8 & 9 - testing some alternate composition options. The members of the art group created by Rae pretty unanimously voted for the off-kilter stack of 3 that ended up in my final version.

What donut-eating animals should I paint next, and what kinds of donuts?

I haven't posted for a while, but I've been busy! I started a new job earlier this month, and also have my first painting exhibit!

These five donut paintings were created specifically for display in the Hermiston Donut Shop, in Hermiston, OR. Each painting is 8.5"x11", and each animal was painted on a full sheet of paper, then the donuts - which were painted on sparate pages - were cut out and added to the animal paintings. The donuts in the dog and puffin paintings have 3D sprinkles added to them.

Except for the cat, every painting involved some precise cutting to allow the animal to "eat" the donut. I'll share some photos of the paintings without the donuts, in the comments.

Except the dog, every painting has a metallic background. The purple in the dog is an amethyst paint, where finely ground amethyst crystals give the paint a shimmering effect.

These paintings will soon be mounted on birch cradled boards with waterproof and UV-protective coatings, thanks to the expertise of artist Rae Galloway who has made this whole venture possible, and each original will be for sale for $170. Archival prints will also be available soon in Rae's booth in Hermiston, stay tuned!

Also, because the donut shop is requesting more and bigger paintings, these are just the start of a new line of donut paintings!

More news is coming, this is simply the beginning, so stay tuned... 🧡🎨🙌

Our late tabby Daya and her little sister Annie cuddling in the sunshine.

Introducing Oreo!

Reference photo provided by

Recently finished - a Puggle named Hermine!

Finished on the final day of month, here's Gomez the Sphynx cat. 🏳️‍🌈

Meet an Irish dog named Odd, whose whiskers are exuberantly curly!

Catching up on a glut of paintings after a medical scare had me hospitalized at the end of May - but thankfully I brought along my travel paint kit, so once I was stabilized I was able to spend a little bit of time creating a small garden in the room I shared with an elderly retired HR woman named Janice, to whom I gifted the purple iris.

On my last day, Janice was discharged and a very frightened young newlywed was my new roommate for a few hours - the house painting was a gift to her, along with a few reassuring words about the kindness of the staff in that hospital unit.

Just finished!

Sometimes I need a reminder that a quick painting can be a good painting. I would like to strive to make more of my paintings quick ones!

Here's Sam, rendered in only 3 colors of paint, absent his green eye.

Feeling inspired to capture more interplay of lights and shadows...

When one needs to offer incentive for a contest in a group like Northwest Repertory Singers one may paint a very funny (and very musical) lady named Sharon whose awesome ornament selfie makes a great reference photo!

This unusual painting, dubbed the "Sharornament" was awarded to Kathy for enticing the most people to register for the choir's fundraiser auction before the auction began! Photo of Kathy with the painting in the comments.

The NWRS fundraiser auction is still open! If you are located in the Puget Sound area of Washington state, please consider supporting the group's mission, "To lift voices in song: creating art and fostering community through choral music." If you are not local, there is also a monetary donation option on the auction's home page, and all monetary donations are tax deductible. Thank you!

www.charityauction.bid/NWRS2024

Current work in progress, I'm in love with this sweet, slumbering kitty face. 🧡 It's been a busy week, so it was nice to get away to the painting table, if only for a couple of hours.

Me in my other life!

Check out my two paintings listed in the NWRS fundraiser auction: www.charityauction.bid/NWRS2024

Signs of the season... CONCERT season!

Choir members know that when our view flips, and we start singing in the front of our practice space out toward the pews, our concerts must be near! Indeed, they are THIS WEEKEND in Tacoma's Stadium District, and we can't wait to share our ambitious program with you for our upcoming "To Life! To Love!" performances on Saturday, May 4 at 7:30 PM and Sunday, May 5 at 3 PM. Both concerts will be held at Christ Episcopal Church Tacoma in Tacoma's Stadium District.

The centerpiece of our program is the beloved first set of Liebeslieder waltzes by Johannes Brahms for choir and piano duo. For this masterwork we are delighted to feature the talents of NWRS collaborative pianist Marjorie Skreen and guest artist (and NWRS tenor) Duane Hulbert at the Steinway.

Our songs for this program:
* Measure Me, Sky!
* Love's Philosophy
* Three Madrigals
* Liebeslieder waltzes
* Set Me as a Seal
* I Would Be True
* This Little Light of Mine
* My Flame the Song

To purchase "To Life! To Love!" tickets, click here:
https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/ticketing/88d40dad-8cf9-48b2-a349-dff59b8224ef

* Bonus photo - Board member and watercolor artist ERH visual arts presents her painting of the "Sharornament" to Board member Kathy Weymiller for having the most people registered for our online fundraiser auction before bidding began last Friday! Check out the auction, which closes at 8 pm on May 8th, and which currently has dozens of high-value items listed at 50% of their fair market value with no bids yet! www.charityauction.bid/NWRS2024

My first two paintings are officially for sale! Check out the online auction, now live, to fundraise money for Northwest Repertory Singers, in Tacoma, WA!
www.charityauction.bid/NWRS2024

If you're local, also check out our CONCERTS this weekend in Tacoma - details are on NWRS.org.

Thank you for supporting the arts! 🧡

While I seem to have a bit of a knack at painting animals, I aspire to being able to paint all manner of subjects! Here's a bit of my foray into painting buildings.

The framed one in the bottom right is NOW FOR SALE on the fundraiser auction, which went live tonight!

Www.charityauction.bid/NWRS2024

Occasionally, a painting begins with some promise, but goes astray at some point along the way. This hare was looking ok at this early point in the process... But it definitely went sideways thereafter! At some point, I simply had to walk away and call it a flop. 🤷 It's all part of the learning process!

Just for fun, I did a quick "Cat Chorale" painting using the poses in these three adorable reference photos by Val Em Chiffrevast.

This painting of .buckley_knives fishing at sunset was my first attempt at painting a person, cloth, a sunset, or water. Painted in early June last year, at that point I had just over 4 months of experience with painting. This is one I'd like to try again at some point, to see my progress.

If you aren't familiar with Jordan's knives, go check them out! He's a young man on a path to becoming a very young MASTER knife maker, and the son of two of my childhood friends. Our kitchen has some of his incredible creations, and his knives are quickly becoming even more sophisticated with time and experience!

While my strongest skills thus far lie in painting animals, I still have aspirations to paint flowers, landscapes, and whatever else strikes my fancy. Here's a babbling brook in Scotland...

Throwback to this swampy frog and his mayfly buddy.

Sennelier watercolors on Baohong hot press paper, 9"x12".

- meet Miss Mable, an English bulldog on her first day home with her forever family, gazing up at her rescuer.

Sennelier watercolors in a limited palette - I had so much fun with this squishy face that I painted her in two quick sittings.

- a watercolor work in progress of my husband and our kitty Parma, with whom he shares a special bond. The original photo of my husband mimicking Parma's yawn had one knee propped up and Parma facing away, so with one year of painting experience this was my first time piecing together multiple reference photos. Also, when Parma's head went horribly wrong, this was my first time using watercolor ground to recover a painting in progress!

I enjoyed embellishing both heads with golden halos, both to highlight their shared bond, and to hearken to classical paintings of the Madonna with the infant Christ.

I have some small detail work still to do on Parma's head, and some additional design work on the halos, plus small touches elsewhere.

All paints and paper used on this painting were purchased from Jackson's, who had the best deals on a complete set of Sennelier watercolor tubes, and Schminke Horadem granulating colors, plus Daniel Smith paints.