Update on the elk. He's in the snow now!

Poor elk, he went from fall to winter in a hurry. I couldn't make him stand out from his background so switched seasons on him. I bet he was surprised! lol

I'm calling him finished this time! He's 8X10" on canvas board, painted in acrylic. I'll probably put him for sale in my etsy store.

My art isn't very high priced. I'd like to think I could sell more art at a low price, then sell a few at a high price. I'd also like to price my art so ordinary people can afford it. So don't be afraid to check out my store! You might find a gift you'd like to give someone! Makes me happier to sell something than to have them piling up in the studio taking up space. After all, once I'm finished with a painting, it isn't mine any more, it's just waiting for it's new home!
Donna Ridgway

Doe in the forest. Acrylic nature painting.

I drew this deer in blue watercolor, on a gessoed mat board. Once I have the shapes and lines o f the deer's form in place, I used acyrlic paint to put color on her.

She's very alert, she's heard a noise in the forest behind her and in one second, she'll be in full flight and we'd never get this glimpse of her beautiful face and wonderful eyes.

She's 4X5" and comes in a gold antique looking frame. She's for sale on ebay today after 5:30 pm MST USA. Starting bid, $15.50, includes frame.

It is very funny to me, to be posting this blog. There are at least 10 people per day on the blog, and several people are subscribed to it. So at a conservative estimate, I'm in contact with 3650 people each year, from the posts on this blog alone.

Yet, I never hear a word from anyone! What do you think when you come here? Do you think I should pack it up? Is my work so bad you don't want to see it any longer? Is there something here you like? Perhaps you could take a moment in time and leave me a comment. Say anything that isn't spam...

Once again, I do thank you for stopping by, I know you're out there! :)

Painting Pedro

My scan went a little bit crooked. But here's the start of my painting of Pedro, our new donkey. He's a very interesting donkey. My take on his actions is this, he had a wonderful home when he was growing up, then I think he was sold to someone who maybe wasn't so nice to him. We bought him from some people who were very kind to him so he doesn't totally expect the worst from you when you want to feed him pellets, or brush him down. But he's extremely shy and wary...very afraid you'll throw a bucket at him or hit him with it. He doesn't like buckets at all.

He doesn't like gloves either. So we hand feed him his treats and we don't wear gloves around him. He also jerks away from you when you try to lead him somewhere. Only if he doesn't want to go, or if he gets scared. Rest of the time, he leads like a dream. He's 10 years old so who knows how long it will take to get him to trust us.

Pedro let me brush him down the other day, he really liked it. I walked up to him carrying the dreaded bucket full of pellets under my left arm and the curry comb was in my left hand. When I reached into the bucket for pellets with my right hand, to get the pellets, he had to come close to the curry comb. He gradually accepted the idea of what I had in my hand. I knew he'd probably seen one before and he knew what they were for. It took about 15 minutes for him to decide I could brush his dirty little hide. But then he really liked it.

We're loving Pedro, he's very much a member of the family, along with Sing Song and Scarlet, and the wild rabbits and squirrels.

In this painting, I've just drawn his shape with my paint brush, onto the canvas and blocked in some forms behind him. I added a little burnt sienna to white to create the highlights on his form. I don't usually like the color that mixture makes, but on this painting, it's right because it is the color of Pedro.

Thanks for stopping by this blog and looking at my work in progress. Come back to see more! :) Donna

Elk watercolor painting by Donna Ridgway.

Here's a little painting, 9X4". It's a watercolor, made with using two colors. French Ultramarine blue and Burnt Umber. We took pictures of this herd of cow elk near the Swift Dam trail head into the Bob Marshall Wilderness.

I call this "Girls Night Out". Just because it looks like the girls are ready to head off by themselves somewhere and have some fun! Looks like they're taking one last look behind them to make sure no one sees them leaving!

This painting is on gessoed mat board. I like this surface as I can float color across it and it doesn't sink in. This makes it easilly manipulated. You can lift color after it dries, and push it around the entire time it's wet. Makes for a fun process.

I haven't been painting much lately as Robert had his back fused and I guess I was worried about him and wanting to help him more than I needed to paint. He's doing better now and things are settling down. I'm back to painting again!
donna