Recent Paintings

 

This page contains thumbnail links to art works completed since 2002. The list is is chronological order, with the most recent paintings at the top. To see the entire painting, click its thumbnail link below. You can scroll through the enlarged pictures using the arrows that appear at each side when you click the picture. To close the enlarged image and return to this page, click the Close icon in the upper right corner.

 

Gaia, the Earth goddess, was one of the four original deities in Greek mythology: Earth, Air, Sea, and Sky. Gaia was considered the great mother of all the heavenly gods, sea gods, and mortal creatures. In 1969 James Lovelock proposed that all of earth's living organisms and inorganic material are part of a living dynamic system necessary to maintain life on earth. Subsequently, those concerned with preserving the environment have adopted Gaia's name to represent the personification of earth. This painting depicts day, night, and the four seasons, along with a pregnant Gaia as earth's mother reclining on bountiful fields: her quilt.

Gaia’s Quilt
Watercolor
Giclee prints available

Gaia, the Earth goddess, was one of the four original deities in Greek mythology: Earth, Air, Sea, and Sky. Gaia was considered the great mother of all the heavenly gods, sea gods, and mortal creatures. In 1969 James Lovelock proposed that all of Earth’s living organisms and inorganic material are part of a living dynamic system necessary to maintain life. Subsequently, those concerned with preserving the environment  adopted Gaia’s name to represent the personification of Earth. This painting depicts day, night, and the four seasons, along with a pregnant Gaia as Earth’s mother reclining on bountiful fields: her quilt.

 

HibiscusLightwave (Sold)
Watercolor
Giclee prints available

I discovered this tropical hibiscus at an open-air market in Bothell, Washington. I was captivated by the way light glowed through the petals and was reflected by their upper surfaces in a way that suggested movement.

The tropical hibiscus belongs to the mallow family. Some types of hibiscus have been used to make dyes, and others have been used as food.

 

LIlyParty_Web

Lily Party (NFS)
Watercolor
Giclee prints available

A dazzling bouquet of stargazer lilies caught my eye on a gray December day in Safeway’s  floral section. Once home, they filled the house with fragrance and provided me with a dramatic model. As I painted, the delicately tinted buds seemed to explode into colorful, audacious blossoms threatening to burst off the paper before the watercolor was finished.

Stargazer lilies are said to signify wealth and prosperity.

 

Citrus and TulipsSmallCitrus and Tulips (Sold)
Watercolor
Giclee prints available

I used a looser style in this watercolor than in the ones that followed it. I especially enjoyed working on the background, with its variety of colors thickly applied next to one another while they were still wet. This painting appeared in the juried exhibit at the Edmonds Art Festival in Edmonds, Washington, and is now in a private collection.

 

AlmaDelToro_Boag

Spirit Bull
Watercolor
Giclee prints available

Several years ago I attended a bullfight in Spain. The last bull released into the ring was smaller than the others. He seemed confused, trotting from one side of the ring to another…and another…and still another…for several minutes, stopping and looking each time at the crowd as if to say, ‘Where am I? Who are you? What are we doing here?’ I was in the front row and could clearly see the expression in his eyes as he stood directly in front of me. My empathy for the little bull moved me to tears, and sounds from the crowd told me I was not alone. And then the horrific slaughter that is misnamed ‘bullfighting’ began. The bull never wins. This painting is my eulogy to him in watercolor. It comforts me to imagine him free now, kissed by sunlight in a lush field where no one will harm him.