Bumpass Hell

I recently took a short trip to Lassen Volcanic National Park in northern California, where I did a lot of hiking, my usual vacation activity. I hope to do some paintings inspired by the scenes seen.

One fascinating place visited was a volcanic hotspot, Bumpass Hell. Instead of hiking there the usual route, I ascended the longer path from King's Creek. I was fortunate to arrive there early enough in the morning (not that early, about 10) that I had the place entirely to myself.

Nature Note Cards

Here is a collection of my recently created note cards. These are about 4.5 x 6 inches and come with envelopes of course. They are all reproductions of paintings done with an airbrush. I hope you enjoy them!

Note Card Collection by SandraHealy

Curated By: SandraHealy

ArtFire.com

Feeding Canada Goose Chicks

After a visit to a friend in Oregon, I was inspired to a painting of her feeding the Canada Geese in her back yard, and included her cats and turtle. There's a river with dunes on the other side. A beautiful place.

It took a lot of sketches and thinking before I was ready to paint.

Small Paintings

These are some small paintings, each about 3 by 4 inches. I cut stencils of quail, raven, and heron, which I can reuse for different paintings, and then I improvise the background. They are primarily done using an airbrush, with a few additions. The airbrush gives a nice soft and dreamy look.

                                               

I am hoping to soon move these into my ArtFire studio for sale.

Previously I'd painted some art cards, the official size of which is 2.5 x 3.5 inches, which I find altogether too small for an original painting, though it's fine for a print. So these are a wee bit bigger. The painting is 3 x 4, but each is on a paper 3.5 x 4.5 so there's a 1/4 inch white border around, making them much easier to mat and frame. 

A New Carved Squirrel

old squirrel design

I'd designed a squirrel a long time ago, but decided it was time to make a new shape. This is a Douglas Squirrel. The 2 photos with the forest background show the new design.

Painting: Five Animals Hidden at Echo Lake

I mostly painted this 5 x 7 landscape with an airbrush on multimedia artboard, but also used art markers and colored pencil. In this painting of Echo Lake, you'll find a circle of 5 animals.

Echo Lake Hidden Animals Painting

My latest painting, Echo Lake in the Trinity Alps of northern Califoria. I <think> it is finished. Size: 9 x 12 inches.

Sculpture Featured on ArtFire Front Page

My Bear and Fish sculpture was featured on the Front Page of ArtFire. It's a lovely collection called "March is Pisces Time".

March is Pisces Time...what sort of fish...

Curated By: Foret

ArtFire.com

Fine Art Paintings

Artfire

I enjoy selling on ArtFire, because it's a friendly place, the seller tools are great, it aims at the whole internet of shoppers not just at people shopping that site, and there is a lot of conversation between the administrators of the site and the sellers (and buyers). They have a monthly fee (currently about $10) but no fees to list, and they don't take a percentage of your sale price. They also encourage links into and out of the site, for instance to a blog or website.

Become an ArtFire Pro with this link and get your 3rd month free!

Hidden Animals in the trees

I'm starting to work on another hidden animal painting. So far I just have a few sketches and thoughts. Can I really turn trees reflected in a mountain lake into animals?

Painted Backgrounds

My latest painting venture is to paint backgrounds for my carving photographs. It's an interesting problem, since product photos have to show off the item, while the background is, well, in the background. So the paintings have to be fairly light, and not too detailed. It's been fun! I do need to paint more habitats.

Here are 3 examples of different painted backdrops, and a Blackpoll Warbler in the forest habitat.

Hidden in the Dunes Multimedia Painting

I've finished this painting now. Well I think I have anyway. It might be fun to compare this with the previous post of the same artwork at an earlier stage. It's no longer an airbrush painting, but has to be called multimedia with the addition of marking pens and colored pencil. What fun this was!

Airbrush Painting: Hidden in the Dunes

Mad River Dunes

I may do a few more details on this, but it's mostly finished. It's inspired by the dunes where the Mad River used to run; the river changes constantly and has abandoned it's old path for a new route to the ocean, leaving behind dunes and wetlands, with a bluff above. It's a great spot for wildlife. This painting was done mostly with airbrush, also using archival markers. It's 8 by 10 inches, on multimedia artboard.

Airbrush Painting: Hidden in the Redwood Sorrel

I had a photo which I took some time ago, of redwood sorrel and bedstraw, two plants which are found on the redwood forest floor. I thought it would make a nice painting, so started to sketch and soon all the animals entered into the story. The painting is about 5 by 6 inches.