Serpent Goddess 9″ x 12″ For as tedious as the snake scales were to do, this piece is one that makes me happy. The blend of color, the realism of the red rat snake, and the female spirit/goddess all make such an impact visually. I wish every piece would turn out this good. I used photo reference of a coiled snake, a great ready-to-strike pose, and a photo of my own face. The glowing stars/orbs started to almost symbolize the mind or sould, while the colors themselves represent power.

Leopard Flies 9″ x 12″ Something gentle and sweet for the leopard gecko, because they are so docile in nature. I stuck with the normal color morph, since I once had a female leo in that same vein. I tend to prefer wild color phases to the exotic color morphs. With my female leo having died years ago, I wanted to add something special. I picked dragonflies because they are symbolic for the subconscious mind, and in a way my old memories of her. The ‘shooting star’ trait began to take hold as a trademark of my art after this piece.

Cosmic Dragon 9″ x 12″ A portrait of my bearded dragon Gimli. Getting the rows of scales was challenging, and I’m still not sure I got it completely accurate. A little darker than I’d liked because of the grayish paper, but I was quite pleased with the overall details, and I felt I should show that in my portfolio..

Florida Softshell 11″ x 14″ More than once I have found myself rescuing these turtles from roads while crossing to other ponds. They have such a unique look and I wanted to do something with this species. I barely see them in artwork. I especially love the “spying” behavior they have when investigating something at the water’s surface.

SEATURTLE SET 8″ x 10″ Both pieces were 8″ x 10″, and made as a matching pair. I really enjoyed doing these, and it’s amazing how much detail these turtles have even in smaller pieces. They really do look like they are flying when swimming. I managed to render some simple fish and corals in the background of these two. They were framed and sold to a client just in time for Christmas.

Scarlet Falls 9″ x 12″ I challenged myself to do a more detail rich background for one of these beautiful birds. I had to use several reference photos to create the scene I wanted. I struggled a bit with the rocks behind the waterfall, and the rocks in the pool were a little more smooth textured than I intended. In the end though, the composition really made the piece complete.

Eastern Bluebirds 11″ x 14″ A mated pair of bluebirds (female in back, slightly more drab) hanging out in a dogwood tree full of pink flowers. I’d been wanting to do another pair of songbirds since I did the cardinals, so bluebirds were my first choice. I also knew I wanted pink flowers of some kind to compliment the blue plumage. The background is a muted blur of foliage. The first time I ever caught sight of a bluebird, it was a flash of brilliant blue at a bird feeder from far away. the only time I saw these birds up close was from a window near a birdhouse. While watching a female bring insects to a birdhouse where her chicks were, I noticed the females of the species are just barely different in color from males. The color combination of this species is very striking in person.