When I first began learning watercolor I made the mistake of starting with landscapes as my primary subject. That seemed a good idea at the time but it was my mistake. For me it was hard to learn a difficult medium with a complex subject like landscapes. There’s so much editing to do of a busy landscape while learning all the aspects of dealing with watercolor.

I soon realized that an easier and more interesting subject for me at the beginning was animals. I take my own reference photos or get permission from fabulous photographer friends to use their much clearer images. A local zoo, the family dog or cat or bird, your partner’s fishing successes provide the possibility of capturing clear images for painting successes .

Eventually that interest of mine created commission opportunities. I’m not above crawling on a floor to capture different angles of a dog or cat. If I must use the commissioner’s photos, I want several different views and clear images. It’s near impossible to do justice to a subject without clear reference photos and it’s rare to paint them from life, although, a sleeping dog or fish swimming In the basement laundry tub make it workable. After initially focusing on animals, I’ve since expanded to a variety of subjects, but, I still love painting animals.