Lady with Art Deco Wallpaper

2.5 x 3.5 inches, watercolor and gouache, 2008

One of an occasional series. It's of no particular person, more of a face and character study. She is, I think, at a party and her lover has just entered the room and is caught in conversation with another person. She is watching him and waiting for him to escape and join her.

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Eleanor of Castile

ACEO, 2.5 x 3.5 inches, watercolor and gouache, 2008.

An ACEO portrait of Eleanor of Castile, the mother of Edward II. She was born in 1241, the daughter of Fernando III of Castile and his second wife Jeanne. She was married to Edward I, son of Henry III in 1254. The marriage was a happy and successful one, producing sixteen children in all, though only six survived to adulthood, the only surviving son being the future Edward II. She died in 1290 aged 49, at Harby. After her death and burial at Westminster Abbey Edward had memorial crosses placed at every stop he made on the journey from Lincoln to Westminster with her body. There were twelve in all, of which only three remain, none complete.

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Zinnias from my Garden

ACEO 2.5 x 3.5 inches. Now, today is Valentine Day and I have much to do. But as it happens from time to time, I get inspired and have to pick up pencil and brush before I go any further. That was the case this morning. Just HAD to paint these zinnias.
Lanie

Wednesday Watercolours "Say I Love You"

2.5 x 3.5 inches, watercolor with gouache, 2008

This was painted for Daily Watercolors Wednesday Watercolors. This week the theme is "Say I Love You". To know you are loved is a wonderful thing.

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Watercolor Wednesday I Love You Art By Erika

"This is How You Sign I love you" ACEO

Here is a Mom with all the love in her face, teaching her little baby the American Sign Language for "I love you".

During a lunch break in college one day, I found myself missing my next class because somebody was giving sign language lessons for Barry Manilow's "Can't Smile Without You". I still remember how to do it, but I don't remember what class I missed! I also learned to say "thank you" and "you're beautiful!" I like to pick up some conversational language tidbits when I can because I like to travel and talk to people. As a result, aside from English, I speak Spanish, Italian, French, Japanese, Hungarian, Swahili, American Sign Language, and my birth tongue Tagalog which is the national language for the Philippines.

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Adonis

8 x 9 inches, watercolour with gouache, 2008

This piece was painted for the EBSQ Nude In Art Show (my previous entry was rejected). It shows Adonis sat under a tree on a summer afternoon faling asleep. My aim with the piece was to create a painting with the feel of a pre-raphaelite painting but with a male as the subject . Adonis' mother was Myrrha, and she committed incest with her father Theias at the bidding of Aphrodite. She tricked him by slipping into his bed in darkness but when he discovered her deception he was enraged and she fled from him. Aphrodite turned her into a myrrh tree and Theias shot an arrow at it. The bark split and from it was born Adonis. Aphrodite entrusted him to Persephone's care but she refused to return him. Eventually Zeus decreed that he should spend four months of the year with Persephone, four with Aphrodite and four alone. Adonis was killed by a boar sent by Aphrodite's lover Ares. He was essentially a vegetation god - The Festival of Adonis was celebrated in midsummer and was essentially a female cult. Women would plant gardens of Adonis, such as fennel and lettuce, that grew quickly and had short lives.

Andromeda Watercolor Art By Erika

"After Sir Edward Poynter's Andromeda" OSWOA /4"x6" inches
Classic painter Sir Edward Poynter (1836-1919) painted a scene from a Greek mythology Andromeda who was chained to the rocks by Poseidon to punish her mother from bragging so much about the beauty of her a daughter.

I discovered that Poynter also did a few other pieces based on this and one of them was a beautiful sketch of Andromeda with wonderful anatomical definitions that many figurative artists love to depict (because their college teachers patted them on the head when they showed those lovely muscles he patiently taught them). As a result I was even more interested paying tribute to Poynter's Andromeda because I wanted to render mine in color but merging both his smoother very feminine colored version with his less feminine but muscle defined drawings

I did this piece as an entry for EBSQ Nude Show and for my watercolor group with "The Sea" as their theme for their Monthly Master Challenge.