This site is rich in graphics and java... 
Check out the live webcam page.  It will refresh every 58 seconds while I am painting.

[home]  [more paintings] [slideshows]  [about watercolors]  [about the artist]  [music to go]
[guestbook] [history of color] [watercolor demos]  [palette]  [get a painting] [other artists links]
[check out ebay for artist's auctions]  [buy supplies, books and help fund this website]
[recommended books to further help you in your quest for knowledge]

All Watercolors by Margaret Crowley-Kiggins, FWS
 Click on the image to enlarge it.  Information about each painting is provided below- click on the title of the painting to jump to it.

This site is updated occasionally;  the last update was Monday, September 19, 2005.

Free counters provided by
  Honesty Communications.

Information about the paintings:

 

 

Self Portrait:

  This painting was done in 1995.  I wanted to paint a nice self-portrait for use in promotional materials.  I thought of it after the article in American Artist/ Watercolor (Fall 1995) came out.  They used a photo that I took of myself; and I thought, "...Gee, too bad I don't have a nice self-portrait to submit..."   Well, here is my "nice" self-portrait.  It is painted on a half-sheet of Arches 140 lb. cold pressed paper.  Framed, it measures 21" by 28".  It received a "Special Mention" award in one of Palm Beach Watercolor Society's Annual Shows.

[Back to the top?]

Christopher's Day Off:

This painting was also done in 1995.  I did this of my son using a photograph I took of him, posing; at the time I was thinking I would get him into the "child modeling"  thing that is so hot right now.  Well, my friends are all into it, but after seeing how much they have to drive around and how the kids don't really like it that much, I decided that I will stick to my painting and let Chris enjoy soccer instead.  This painting is also done on a half-sheet of Arches 140 lb. cold-pressed paper.  It measures 28" x 21" framed.  This painting won a Judge's Recognition Award at one of Palm Beach Watercolor Society's Annual Shows.

 

[Back to the top?]

 

Still Life II:

This painting is very big and it took atleast three months to complete.  I originally did three of these large still lifes to submit for consideration in my application for exhibition status in the Museum Artists Guild.  I was accepted.   (The first time I applied I was rejected- but you should have seen what I had submitted- yuck!)  This is a very carefully painted still life.  It is on a full sheet of Arches 300 lb. cold-pressed paper.  It is about 30" by 38" framed.   This is the only one of the three that has not received an award.   Oh well.

[Back to the top?]

 

A Good Place:

This painting has been accepted into numerous shows and will be in the Florida Watercolor Society's 27th Annual Exhibition.  This painting was in consideration for an award during one show but the judge confided in one woman who is my friend, that he wanted to give it an award but felt it was controversial.  I wonder why.  It is a couple of generations of actual descendants of slaves who annually put on a music and art festival in the Georgia Sea Islands reviving some of the ancestorial traditions.   I took many photographs and like to paint from them when I don't have something else brewing.  This painting was created on a half-sheet of Arches 140 lb. cold-pressed watercolor paper and it is 28" by 21" framed. 

[Back to the top?]

 

The Art of Reproduction:

This painting was painted from a photograph that I took when I visited the Louvre, in Paris, France.  I went around this magnificent museum and I set my shutter speed to a couple of seconds and placed my camera on benches, pedastals, etc.- I took a whole roll of film like that and I got all these wonderful pictures of great paintings, sculpture, architecture, etc. with these eerie ghost images of people walking by.  This is a painting of an artist copying a Flandrin painting.  I have won numerous awards with this painting.  In fact, one show I had planned on entering was being exhibited in a public building where there was a rule against nudes.  In my concern, I fashioned a pair of watercolor BVD's (underwear) and stuck it on the outside of the painting- fashionable censorship?  Well, apparently the jurors were amused and slapped the third place ribbon on it.  This was created on Lanaquarelle 140 lb. cold-pressed paper.  It is an odd square-size of approximately 30" by 30" framed.

[Back to the top?]

Sarah:

This painting is of a neighborhood girl who was playing in one of her trees when I caught her on film.  Sarah is a very sweet and shy little girl who likes Cinderella and Barbie and climbing trees and getting muddy!  This painting has been featured in two magazine articles and was chosen along with several other paintings to grace the front of blank greeting cards by the now defunct Garden Gate Press.  the painting was created in 1994 and is one of my favorites.  It is done on a quarter sheet of Arches 140 lb. cold-pressed paper and is only a mere 16" by 20" framed.

[Back to the top?]

 

Retro Self Portrait:

I recently finished this one.  Originally, I wanted to make a painting of my grandmother, mother, myself and daughter as children (my daughter is still quite young) around the age of 10 to 12 years old- of course, Grace, my daughter is only four but I was happily going to make an exception...  I have photos of my mother and grandmother as young girls and I though it would be kind of interesting to have us in the same garden playing.  The problem I faced was one of even vs. odd.  I prefer an odd number in my composition and I just couldn't make something I was happy with.  So I did a single portrait of myself at age 10 and in the background, on the wall, I wrote an entire years worth of diary entries- complete with mispellings and 70's lingo.  This painting won first place in the museum artists guild show last April.  It is done on a full sheet of Arches 140 lb. cold pressed paper.  It has some acrylic paint on it- but it works as a whole.  It is very large- 38" by 30" framed.

[Back to the top?]

 

Grace in the Garden:

This is the painting that was going to have four generations all playing together.   The garden was inspired by couple of pictures in a book on Monet's gardens.  I kept Grace there, alone, with her favorite umbrella and her favorite turquoise suede clogs and a lovely dress that I made for her.  Hopefully this painting will serve to remind her of some of her childhood things.  After I painted it and Grace was judging it, she became surprisingly angry.  I asked what was wrong? She replied, "That girl is wearing my shoes and has my umbrella."  Well, I was glad that atleast she thought those were realistic enough.  I want my paintings to breathe because they look so real.  This is done on a full sheet of Lanaquarelle 140 lb. cold pressed paper and is 30" by 38" framed.

[Back to the top?]

Dan Flying Man:

People always used to ask me why I hadn't painted a portrait of my husband.  I felt I had because I drew in pen and ink almost every plane that he had ever flown in.  I remembered how attractive he was to me in his uniform so I thought that I should do a portrait of him that way.  Also, he is not a vain human being so I would have been wasting my time if I had painted a mug shot without any meaning (because he would just stick in his closet- out of sight).  This turned out beautifully- it is full of symbolism and yet very realistic.  He loves it.  I am happy.  It is done on a half sheet of Arches 140 lb. cold pressed paper and is 28" by 21" framed.

[Back to the top?]

Beauty:

This painting was an award winner.  It is of a woman that was thoroughly enjoying the Georgia Sea Island Music Festival and was captured forever in the background of a photograph I took of this silly Boston Terrier trying to scratch his hind-end on the ground while all these teenagers were laughing and pointing at it.  This woman was oblivious to the craziness that was occurring behind her and fully focused on the show in front of her.  In this painting, I placed her in front of a nice stained glass window and she now looks as if she is pleasantly waiting.  It is done on a half sheet of Arches 140 lb. cold pressed paper and is 21" by 28" framed.

[Back to the top?]

 

The Best Summer Vacation:

This painting was a commission that I never had the opportunity to show.  I feel certain that had I the opportunity to enter it into a show it would have taken a prize.   It is done from a photograph sent of two girls that I had never seen and I am told that the painting truly caught the girl's likenesses.  I loved painting this because the photograph was of a  nice and un-posed  moment; two sisters running out of the ocean, laughing and enjoying a perfect day.   It is done on a full sheet of Arches 140 lb. cold pressed paper and is about 30" by 38" framed.

 

[Back to the top?]

 

 

 

 

Papa Loo's American Dream:

This painting was an award winner.  It is of Papa Loo, my old boss (from about 15 years ago!) busy at work in front of his wok making chinese lunch specials for all the hungry, hurried business men and women.  He and his family left Taiwan to come to America and fulfill their dreams.  They would talk about Taiwan frequently and I remember wondering if having a nice home (that they only slept in) and a couple of cars was worth the time spent chained to a wok.   It is done on a half sheet of Arches 140 lb. cold pressed paper and is 28" by 21" framed.

 

[Back to the top?]

Search for Watercolor Books- or Any Topic for that matter - 
Anything you buy using this link will generate $ for the maintenance of this site.  The typical return is 4% on whatever you purchase.  Everything helps!!! Thank you! Thank you!  Thank you!!!!!