Big Fish

 This one started as an oil painting on canvas but I ended up finishing in Procreate.

What do you think it says?

This is what the painting looked like before I put it in Procreate.

Thanks for stopping by!

September 2025

 die-cuts, oil painting, and digital

This is my favorite piece in my 2025 calendar. I don't do collages. I am easily overwhelmed, and as I've said hundreds of times, one of my weaknesses is my inability to just play. Well, here I played! I used pretty paper, my Tim Holtz die-cuts, and a small oil painting of an hour glass that I had done. I took photos and put all the different elements into Procreate. Then, I played with composition, layers of transparency, etc. I'm pretty proud of it. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Halloween from the House of the Kracken!

Digital image done in Procreate

I saw this house a couple of weeks ago when I was out for a walk.

It was so cute! I had to take a photo.

I did this small study in a watercolor sketchbook, making the tentacles larger and more threatening. 

But, that wasn't enough! I put a photo of this watercolor onto my iPad in the Procreate App and drew over the top of it, stretching the height of the roof, and making it a nighttime scene.

This was FUN!!!

 

I wish everyone a safe and Happy Halloween!

Thanks for stopping by!

Santa Claus Is Coming

"Waiting for Santa" 8x10 oil painting

I have waited a long time to share this one! The idea came to me last December,

and I finished it early in the spring. 

Novan loves coming to Grandma and Abuelo's house and watching out the front door.

I slipped that photo into Procreate and did this.

This is the bottom layer in acrylics.

This step is after getting the oil paint on there. I still had some refining to do,

including Santa and the starry night sky.

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas

and Happy Holiday Season!

Thanks for stopping by!

 

Dreamcatcher

Inktober is here! I don't really have time or patience to participate any longer. Too many irons in the fire, including time to sit and read novels! However, a few weeks ago I looked up the official prompts of the month. Here are the first five:

#1 Dream, #2 Spiders, #3 Path, #4 Dodge, #5 Map

Below is how I began brainstorming in my sketchbook.

It became a small writing exercise:

     The path is not on any map. It winds through a forest of barren trees full of cobwebs that you must dodge at every step. The spiders have grown large in this forgotten place. 

     If you have the courage to continue, you will reach a meadow, and you cannot miss it. In the center, a tree with webs so beautifully crafted that it has begun catching dreams.

Below is what happened when I began the piece in Procreate, on my iPad.

 

Added more color and mist.

Gave it a little more space around and continued with the detail.

     At this point I thought it was pretty, but that's all. It was missing a point of interest. It needed background and a "reason to be". It needed the things I had included in my writing - a barren forest, and a large spider!

     Also, some more cobwebs draped around on the ground, and some warm highlights on the right side of the tree. 

I love October!!! 

I hope to have something else for you before the month is over.

Thanks for stopping by!

Shelter

Digital piece, done in Procreate

I wanted to pick a nice, rainy, spring day to share this one, and that's what we have here in Greenville, Ohio.

Who do you identify with? The baby nestled under its mother's wing? Or the one doing the sheltering? 

I think I'm a little of both. I'd do anything to shelter my kids - to keep them safe. My son is 6'5" and we would look ridiculous in a pose like this, but I'm sure you understand the sentiment. I do like taking care of people.

I also like the idea of being taken care of by my mother, an adult who's been adulting longer than I have, but, though she loves me, my mom has made it quite clear to my husband that if he tries to return me, she doesn't want me back. That's my mama for ya! Gotta love her.

Maybe we all should be both. Look after each other when we can, seek help when we need. Weather life's storms together. Be kind.

I did this piece originally back in 2016. It was a prompt back in the good ol' Illustration Friday days.  Click here to have a peek. It's been a work in progress on my iPad for a few years now. I'm finally getting around to polishing off a few of those miscellaneous items and just callin' 'em done.

Wherever you are, whether it's raining or not. Have a wonderful day and know that, as a reward for stopping by my blog, I am cyber-sheltering you in my heart. 

Little Bunny-Girl Whatnot

I don't have a big backstory on this beautiful girl except to say that she sat on my dresser from the time I was a toddler, and she used to have a brother (I think?). I'm not sure what happened to him but I can tell you that they were both covered in a soft layer of white glitter which, over the years, became quite dingy. 

I came across her among my mom's things and asked if she could be returned to me. She is now polished to a smooth shine and stands (or sits) about three inches high, occupying a place on my shelf, as well as in my heart, doing her job, as all good whatnots do. 

This first watercolor was what I did when inspiration struck. I just felt like doing something. Anything. 

I was itchy to paint and didn't have a grand idea at the moment, so I set her up, did a quick sketch of her outline, and painted away.

 

I liked the way she turned out, but the proportions were off from the original knickknack. I started over with a bit more patience on a 5 x 7 piece of textured gesso board. Aqua-board may have been a better choice but I didn't have any. The image below is after the sketch, laying down masking fluid in highlight areas, and painting the background. 

Here's another step between. The background is lighter simply because it had dried.

Below is the finished watercolor. I applied a couple more layers of paint to the background to darken it back up. Also, I sprayed varnish on it, which made the colors bolder. 

Note: I don't think it is a common thing to spray varnish on a watercolor. They are usually framed under glass and no protection like that is even necessary. I thought if I gave the varnish a try, in order to protect her, I could just add a frame like I would to a small oil painting. It has worked so far, but if you choose to do that, I'll deny having recommended it! ;)

She was so cute! I was also, however, in the mood to play on my iPad in Procreate. I dropped the watercolor image in there and, with the "old brush" blending tool, I just worked over her surface,  carefully smoothing everything out. 

AH! Now I could play better with highlights and a few sparkles. (I love my sparkles). 

I end with the image at the top of the page.

Thanks, as always, for stopping by.

My Expensive Bottle Opener - watercolor

6"x9" watercolor

Whatnots, knick knacks, tchotchkes - whatever you call them, they have often worked their way into our hearts as well as onto our shelves. They hold memories.

This cast iron bottle opener belonged to my grandparents. It saw a lot of use in the days when it was a necessity for getting into your bottle of pop (or soda if you prefer). When I was young, it was a dark, mustard-yellow with dull, dark, red and green pops of color on its wings, etc. By the time I was in my 20s the opener wasn't seeing much use, and a lot of the paint had worn off.  Poor, ugly, neglected little thing.

I had the bright idea of giving it a facelift. I wanted it to be a Christmas surprise for my grandparents but. . .  how was I going to smuggle it out of their house? What if I was caught "stealing"? Would they believe me when I told them what I had planned? Would they act like they believed me, yet at the same time fear I was an up and coming kleptomaniac?

I enlisted my dad's help. It was his parents after all. I explained my intentions and gave him a wink as I slipped it into my purse. We then behaved nonchalantly like all good crime families do.

However, as we were leaving the house that evening, my grandma noticed its absence. She began to ask about it and look for it in earnest. My dad and I looked guiltily at each other and, as he didn't really want to see his mother in torment, he stepped back into the house, said "don't worry about the bird," and stepped back out. I've always wondered what they made of that comment.

I painted it up as you see above, and they were very happy at Christmastime.

Several years later, after they had both passed, the bottle opener ended up in a box of miscellaneous items for auction. I wanted that bird. I ended up bidding against a person who must have been a collector of some sort. It was a bidding battle. He was not going to walk away with my prize! 

Thankfully, he bowed out at $30. Who knows how far I would have gone. What would I have given? I do remember family members circling my children protectively just in case the klepto had come entirely unglued.

The parrot sits in my kitchen window to this day, and after 30 years I'm noticing that it needs another facelift. I promise to share the results here with you.

A few steps in the process:

 

Behind the Purple Door

 Watercolor - approx.  9 x 12"

My step-daughter and her husband travel. They're great at it. They love it. And they have a website where you can find her brilliant (and funny) articles on travel, along with amazing photos taken by both herself and her crazy-talented, photographer-husband. It's called Manifesting Travel. Please give it a click and check it out!

My jaw dropped when I saw this door it! (Look for it on their website. It was from their recent trip to London) I had to paint it! And write a poem! Haha! Here it is:

Behind the Purple Door 

Passing down a street unknown,

I spied a purple door

with polished brass, and marble steps

that lead to something . . . more.

But more of what? I asked myself.

Behind that hue sublime,

are all belongings dipped in gold?

To live, have they more time?

Are people here, in fancy clothes,

who sip their fancy tea,

with pinkies out, and elbows in,

much happier than me?

Their tablecloth so elegant

and made of lace so fine.

Mine’s old and from my mother,

with stains of tea and wine.

Twas handed down, like all good stuff,

and treasured all the more.

Do items have that kind of worth

behind the purple door?

Do candles here burn brighter?

Are the residents more kind?

Are they smarter, stronger, wiser?

Can they always speak their mind?

And those who live behind the door,

do all their problems cease?

They have wealth, but do they have

a deeper sense of peace?

Are their lives here that much better?

They have etiquettes and rules.

Their belongings may be shiny,

but the shine, it only fools

us into thinking we need more,

when truly we are fine.

And if I had to choose a door,

thank you, I’ll choose mine.

I like sharing my process, so here it is in a few steps:

I sketched the door, applied the masking fluid to the areas I wanted to remain white, 

and started the first layer of paint.

This is the fun part - watching the purple door pop off the page.

Getting more of the detail done.

Finished watercolor, before a bit of digital tweaking.

As always, thanks for stopping by!

Watercolor - Teacup

 I have always loved works of art in watercolor but haven't worked with it much myself. 

This year I've made up my mind to try to work more in this medium. 

It takes more patience: (Patience is something I have been greatly lacking lately in my work) It needs to be planned a bit more ahead of time - Where are the highlights going to be? Protect those areas. Where do you want the paint to flow and have its own fun? 

It takes more faith: that the drip and blobs will dry to satisfaction. 

It takes practice: Wet into wet, dry over dry. 

There are no undo buttons. I can't paint over mistakes like I can with oils. (I make a lot of mistakes)

I didn't begin this piece very carefully. I just sketched it up (with my reference photo) and dug right in. Mistakes were made. I cheated (if you want to call it that), and when it was complete, I put it into my digital app, Procreate, and fixed a couple things. Below is the process to where it ended up before I "cheated". 

     This bottom one is what the actual, physical watercolor looks like. My ellipse is skewed, and I didn't plan well for the highlights. For my own purposes, like putting my art here on my blog, or uploading the image to my yearly calendar, it works to do both the physical watercolor, and the digital fixes and enhancements.

     I'm not doing very many things anymore with the end purpose of framing and hanging on a wall. But, having said that, I'm aiming to actually have a watercolor or two, done this year, that are frame worthy. 

Scarier Version of Willow House

Happy Halloween!!!

 

The Queen

This one started with a nifty little idea I found on Pinterest: Take a deck of playing cards, and cover them individually with gesso. Each then serves as an experimental painting. It's a great way to work out a composition or play with a technique (key word being play, which I do not do enough of).

Here's the playing card.

I then started these pieces in acrylics.

I did the background and queen separately because I wasn't sure where I was going with it. (I had visions of adding things like strings of beads, or rhinestones!) It's not a large piece, just a bit larger than an 

8 1/2 x 11 sheet of paper so I felt free to try something new. However, there has been rain in my area and my basement studio is no fun to work in with small puddles of water on the floor. So, I placed both photos  in Procreate where I took it to the digital version you see in the top photo.

When I started this post a couple of days ago, I went down to the studio to take a couple photos for you, and as I placed the queen over the background, she was tipped a little.

I like the dynamic of this! It looks like she's pulling the checkerboard pattern with her movement! Once the puddles clear, I might just get back to this one and see where it can take me. You know . . . play.

Personal Space - Meditation

PERSONAL SPACE

My thoughts as I try meditating for the first time:

I am taking a bubblebath on the moon.

It is an old-fashioned, clawfoot tub.

The bubbles . . . the bubbles are flying out of the tub!

Because there’s no gravity on the moon, right?!

Heck! The water is rising out of the tub.

I am flying up out of the tub!

It’s cold here. 

What was I thinking?

I am almost 240,000 miles from home.

If I try to get back, I will burn up on re-entry into earth’s atmosphere.

I am suddenly extremely lonely.

And, Oh my God!!! People have telescopes!

Strangers have seen me naked

Flying out of a bubblebath

On the moon.

A couple of weeks after practicing meditation.

I am taking a bubblebath on the moon.

It is a deep, old-fashioned tub.

The barely-there texture of the bubbles reaches my chin as I slip a bit further

Beneath the warm water.

There is a muffled silence as after a heavy snowfall.

The only sound, the delicate pop of bubbles as they burst, 

Releasing a hint of strawberry.

My responsibilities are a million miles away.

Nothing is expected of me during this bath.

My soul and my mind recline here together

In a bubblebath

On the moon.

 To see the two older versions of this piece, click below:

 http://tracyonoz.blogspot.com/2015/11/if-whimsical.html.

Baby Fox

I almost skipped this week because I've been working in oils, and oil paintings take me a Really. Long. Time. This little guy, however, has been a work in progress on my iPad for several weeks and I thought I'd just get him touched up and share him with the world. What an angel, huh?

I have one more thing to share:

I saw this amazing tree while riding in the car with my husband. He immediately pulled over, without being asked, and circled back, so I could get a photo. Is there any world in which this tree would not grab hold of the imagination?

Happy Wednesday!!!