Howdy! -- Lorrie #1

Hi everyone and thank you for the warm welcome! I'm glad to officially be part of the group, and have been following your works for the last week with eagerness to praise! I look forward to sharing, learning, and growing together.
If you are interested, I've put a couple of introductory posts at my new blog, Lorrie of the West Watercolor Studio (please pardon my ongoing construction of that site…. I’m learning step by step.) I see some of you have become Followers already, which is so kind of you!

By way of short intro:  I’m a biologist, writer, and watercolorist who has recently relocated back to the west coast after some 30 years in the northeastern U.S. I am giddy with delight and inspired to paint in these western lands as I reconnect with the native habitats, creatures, vistas, aromas, mild winters, and the Pacific Ocean ecosystem.
I’ve found that although I greatly admire representational paintings, I’m not inclined (usually) to make them. The precision and attention to detail it takes is similar to the focus required by the freelance writing and editing work that I sometimes do, and I don‘t want to concentrate so hard all the time! So as an artist, I roam between realism and impressionism.
With the Challenge, I intend to experiment with approaches and subjects, and to define a direction in my art that reflects who I am on a deep level.
I finished this painting on the day I was officially welcomed, so it's going to be #1. It's from a photo (which I don't do very often). I learned, among other things, that eyes make such a huge difference... the size and angle of the pupil, and the shape of the eye, can make a critter look anywhere from terrified to angry to cross-eyed to sad to gentle! I scrubbed these out a few times before I was happy enough.
Happy painting everyone!