Self Portrait

This is a pencil sketch that I did of myself to send to my parents for Christmas along with the pencil sketch that I did of my sister Lynn. My parents were very pleased with the gift. Both were matted in black .

Hindu painting

This hindu godess is my own interpretation after reading the book "eat, pray, love" on top of a recent trip to Santa fe and is a combination of the art and color.

acrylics on canvas 16 x 20

His name was Steven

This is a sketch I did of a friend from high school's son Steven. Unfortunately his son took his own life a real tragedy. Bullying at school really needs to be taken more seriously and stopped. A really nice looking boy full of promise. I could not imagine the pain of loosing one of my sons in this way. My heart goes out to Mike and his wife.

I am hoping to get this converted to a painting and present it to the family. It is still a work in progress.

9 x 12 Pencil Sketch

My sister Lynn

This is my sister Lynn. She was ten years older than me and mentally challenged. She pasted away now 20 years ago now. She died suddenly and is missed to this day.

I was recently given an awesome picture of her from my sister-in-law. I never had a good picture of her. Since receiving it I have been working of first this pencil drawing of her, and then this first attempt at a watercolor of her. I really would love to have a really good painting of her to add to my collection of family portraits. I am not as pleased with the watercolor as I am the pencil sketch. I will make another try at it and will up load the another soon.

Some people can be very hard to capture their personality in a portrait especially when you have a lot of emotions attached to them. I know for me it has been both a happy and sad thing working on a painting of Lynn but really want to keep at it until I get it perfect, or at least right.

Notecards for sale in time for the holiday season

Put art in the mail

These Notecards I created from my original pen & ink of "Canadian Geese" are for sale in notecard form with or without a message. You can personalize the message at the bottom of the card. I am selling them wrapped with a ribbon 10 for $25 dollars.

They can be either sent as a christmas card or the package of 10 as a gift. You can request any of my painting on cards for the holidays for the same price.

Send an email for additional info to dbphelps@msn.com

Canada Geese

Every Canadian artist I guess at some point wants to paint or draw some Canadian Geese. So here are mine. This is a pen and ink drawing of two geese at a park near where I live in Denver, Colorado. Surprisingly we have lots of Canadian Geese here. I think they are a beautiful bird although I hear many call them a dirty bird. I am also going to be reproducing this piece on notecards to sell for the holidays wrapped in red ribbon.

"Canadian Geese"
Pen & Ink 11" 14" matted with a black matte very striking.

"It's not easy to be me"

I called this "it's not easy to be me" homeless in Toronto. I was doing a search on the net of "Toronto Streets" and stumbled on a photo of a young man with this sign. I added him sitting on the Toronto Star newspaper to show where he was and added a couple coins outside his cup. Of course I love coke so I had to make the cup look like a coca cola logo. I was also listening to the song "Superman" which a line he says "it's not easy to be me" and that seem to fit for this and so it was named. I had a friend once, he was killed May 2001. He lived on the streets of Denver growing up, he told me stories of living under a bridge in the cold of winters. It hurt my heart to hear them. When I saw this photo it made me think of him again and how I missed his friendship. Eric Scott may you rest in peace.

Watercolor 9" x 11"

Seashells & Seaweed

This is my latest watercolor. A collage of sorts. A wimpsy of items from the sea. Matisse once wrote of wanting to perserve his innocence and spoke of "looking at life with the eyes of a child." That is what I tried to capture with this piece.

"Seashells & Seaweed"
original watercolor currently unframed and unmatted 11" x 15"

Tickled Pink

I did this pink flamingo painting a couple years ago now. I love it a lot. I have never been much of a pink person for a girl but I do enjoy this painting. I found the perfect frame for this, it has a crackled finish to it. Almost like it was aged on the beach. I think it's fun. It looked great in Texas. I always wanted some of the cheap plastic flamingo for your yard, and when living down in Texas I finally got a pair. I just think they are a scream.

"Tickled Pink"
framed 16" x 20"

On the dock

Here is another one of the watercolors I have completed of children at the waters edge. I have decided that I am going to call this series "at the waters edge".

"On the dock"
watercolor
unframed unmatted 9" x 12"

Toes in the sand

This is another watercolor that I have just recently finished. I am thinking of calling this series "waterbabies". I have a few more watercolors that I have just finished of children at the waters edge. Ooo I might call it that. I have really been enjoying doing watercolors of children lately, and am quite proud of how some have turned out. I have yet to have the chance to scan them into my computer but will hopefully get to that soon. Currently I have been working on an intense watercolor of a mermaid and has been taking up all of my freetime. I will be anxious to complete that and get the mermaid scanned. I have received a lot of praise about that already and it is not even done. So keep tuned to see that.

"Toes in the sand"
watercolor
unframed, unmatted 9" x 12"

Water baby

This is a watercolor I have recently completed, I have not had the opportunity to matte it yet or frame it. But I think it is really cute. I loved the was it turned out. Again I use a large number of colors to create this piece.

"Water baby"
watercolor
unframed, unmatted 9" x 12"

At the Lake

This is the second acrylic in the series the first being "Gazing at the water". I loved the shadows the sun was casting that afternoon.

"At the Lake"
acrylic outside framed 11" x 14"

Gazing at the water

This acrylic on canvas artboard, painted from a photograph of my son Chris on the Okanagan Lake in British Columbia. I loved the shadows the mid afternoon sun has cast upon his back. I also liked that you are looking out past him at what he is gazing at, the calmness of the water.

"Gazing at the water"
acrylic outside framed 11" x 14"