Reed
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throughthereeds.bsky.social
Reed
@throughthereeds.bsky.social
320 followers 430 following 100 posts
Mostly focused on finding and creating little pockets of beauty in the world through art and ecological restoration 🌱
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throughthereeds.bsky.social
The yuccas at White Sands are so striking 🌵

#BlueskyArtShow #Bright #BotanicalArt #OilOnCanvas
An oil painting of a handful of yuccas at White Sands in New Mexico. The sand takes on the oranges and blues of the sun and the sky, and the sky is bright and cloudless.
November 15, 2025 at 10:12 PM
throughthereeds.bsky.social
#mountainmonday #landscape #oiloncanvas
An oil painting of the Colorado as it flows between cliffs. The sky is cloudy, but the cliffs and reflections on the water are vibrant autumn colors.
November 3, 2025 at 3:55 PM
throughthereeds.bsky.social
Still new enough to framing that it has a bit of rustic flair to it, but this is one of the first times I've put frames on my work and I'm so so pleased with how it elevates the pieces.
A wood burning of a cluster of berries and leaves on a wood panel, colored using watercolor. An angled shot of a wood burning of a cluster of berries and leaves on a wood panel, colored using watercolor. There's a rosemary bush in the background.
October 16, 2025 at 9:48 PM
throughthereeds.bsky.social
Companion piece to yesterday's post, inviting you to look a little closer at the way the dappled light plays across the plants and water.

Oil on canvas, 16"x12"

#traditionalart #botanicalart #nature
A painting of a close-up of the edge of a stream, where small aquatic plants and water are dappled with sunlight. The end of a reed trails into the stream, and leaves reflect dark shadows in the still water.
October 5, 2025 at 4:12 PM
throughthereeds.bsky.social
Take a minute to sit and trail your fingers through the cool water.

Oil on canvas, 16"x12"

#BlueskyArtShow #Relax #Art #OilOnCanvas
An oil painting of dappled light on leaves and aquatic plants along a stream. Cool greens and purples contrast with bright yellow where the sun filters through the brightest.
October 4, 2025 at 6:52 PM
throughthereeds.bsky.social
I love where I live, the desert Southwest and its plants are so special.

Agaves Study
Oil on canvas, 24"x12"

#BlueskyArtShow #Home #BotanicalArt #TraditionalArt #Tucson
An oil painting of a cluster of blue agaves against an orange background.
September 13, 2025 at 8:55 PM
throughthereeds.bsky.social
My partner gave me their old DSLR recently and I'm SO stoked to start experimenting with it. Sometime down the road you might see one of two of these in painting form...
A photo of dimly lit blackberry leaves trailing into a stream. Dappled sunlight makes its way through trees out of the frame to highlight them and some of the plants floating on the stream. A close-up photo of two yellow fruits (some sort of stone fruit I think) with green leaves in the background. A photo through a shallow stream of brightly colored rocks with light refracting through the water onto them. A photo of tree trunks during golden hour, with a warm glow making them seem almost as though they have an inner light.
September 5, 2025 at 2:57 PM
throughthereeds.bsky.social
Really bit a lot off with this one, now let's see if I can chew it.

#wip #traditionalart
An oil painting in progress of a huge bunch of ladybugs hanging onto some grass.
August 18, 2025 at 3:13 AM
throughthereeds.bsky.social
Old buildings become new habitats, mother nature retaking what is hers.

You wouldn't believe how much fun I had putting in those little blocks on the silos.

Reclamation
Oil on canvas, 24"x36"

#BlueSkyArtShow #Pieces #SensoryArt #CopyPaste
Five silos standing in a field of grass, in a state of disrepair and covered in vining poison ivy. The sky is blue with light puffy clouds. There are trees in the background.
August 16, 2025 at 3:24 PM
throughthereeds.bsky.social
Playing around with a more stylized approach... Won't be my go-to, but I definitely learned a lot!

Eclipsed Expectations
Oil on canvas, 18"x24x"
An oil painting of stylized prickly pear cacti in blues and purples. The pads are nestled between rocks and there is grass and small green plants in the background. The backdrop is a black circle with yellow and orange surrounding it.
August 15, 2025 at 5:11 PM
throughthereeds.bsky.social
My enduring love of green continues.

GREEN
Oil on canvas, 18"x24"

#BotanicalArt #BlueskyArtShow #Jagged
Lush green fern fronds emerge from black shadows, fading to light green, almost white, where the light on them is brightest. This is the second time I've painted from this reference, maybe I'll show how much improved over the last decade or so soon...
August 9, 2025 at 3:47 PM
throughthereeds.bsky.social
Thanks for hosting, Tisha! I'm Reed, a desert-dweller who's constantly seeking out lush things to paint.
A set of nine paintings on wood panels depicting berries of many species in vibrant colors using watercolor and a wood burning pen. An oil painting of a rainy day's hike outside of Moab. The rocks are wet and shiny and the trail is soaked and vibrantly colored. The plants look dry and crispy, thankful for the rain after a long time without.
August 1, 2025 at 3:44 PM
throughthereeds.bsky.social
Officially calling it on my (mostly) berries series! It's been so fun to explore the vastly different ways that similar structures express themselves 🫐

Morphology
Watercolor and pyrography pen on panels
5.5"x5.5" each

#art #botanicalart #traditionalart
A set of nine wooden panels showing berries of different species on each. The berries are brightly colored with watercolors and outlined with a wood burning tool.
July 31, 2025 at 9:34 PM
throughthereeds.bsky.social
Another Tucson berry! The wolfberry plant has such different morphology from the others in this series- it was a real treat to do something a little different.

#art #woodburning #watercolor #botanical
A wooden panel with a wolfberry plant burned into it with a pyrography pen. The plant is colored with watercolors, showing berries from green to yellow and red and gray bark.
July 21, 2025 at 8:54 PM
throughthereeds.bsky.social
All three (plus some other projects) are getting more attention than a single painting usually gets from me
A laughing in progress of some ferns, half with a purple underpainting and half with green tones. I might have to paint this again in purple... An oil painting nearing completion of some silos covered in vines behind a grassy field. The sky is blue with a light scattering of clouds, and there are dense trees behind the silos. A painting (style study of Anthony Hurd's work) in its beginning stages. There is a red underpainting, with a layer of black outlining the focus of the painting- prickly pears with grass behind them.
July 20, 2025 at 2:31 PM
throughthereeds.bsky.social
Closeups of the four I haven't posted yet.
I lied, this one's not an agave, it's an aloe. Viewed from above, the plant is a vibrant, bright green. It looks as though it's almost glowing. This one's actually an agave. Also viewed from above, this one is green with gold spines along its leaves and deep blue shadows. This softly blue agave has smooth edges ending in dark spines. The shading is smooth, and you can see the imprints the leaves leave on each other as the plant grows out from the center. The most stylized piece of the group, this agave has black outlines of its leaves and spines. The plant is a light blue, fading through to a pale green at its brightest points.
July 19, 2025 at 1:14 AM
throughthereeds.bsky.social
This agave series from a couple years ago was such a fun way to explore different painting styles. Their arrangement is meant to mimic the way agave pups sprout up around the mother plant 🌱

#art #oilpainting #botanical #traditionalart
July 19, 2025 at 1:14 AM
throughthereeds.bsky.social
Hey I love progress pictures so much. Half of my painting process is stitching them together and staring at it.

#art #oilpainting #landscape
July 15, 2025 at 1:13 AM
throughthereeds.bsky.social
Forbidden snack if I ever saw one.

#art #traditionalart #botanical #watercolor
A wood burning of a fruiting lords-and-ladies (Arum italicum I think?) colored in vibrant watercolors, fading from green through yellow and orange to red as the fruits ripen.
July 14, 2025 at 1:30 AM
throughthereeds.bsky.social
Google photos axed the tool I use to crop my art photos and I'm seething.

#art #watercolor #woodburning #botanical
Shiny, dark blue berries on a backdrop of lush green leaves, illustrated with a pyrography pen and watercolor.
July 11, 2025 at 1:46 AM
throughthereeds.bsky.social
Just past the halfway point on the berries series! I've got total of 12 in progress/finished panels.

#art #traditionalart #watercolor #woodburning
A wood panel burned with a pyrography pen and painted with watercolors to show bright red berries and lush green leaves.
July 9, 2025 at 8:05 PM
throughthereeds.bsky.social
Hi #PortfolioDay 🌿

I'm Reed, an artist from Tucson who (primarily) works in oil paint. I focus on botanical art and landscapes to try and capture the wonder of finding the hidden little secrets of the world.

#art #oilpainting #traditionalart
An oil painting of a trail on a rainy day, with the rain bringing out the vibrant colors of the rocks and earth. An oil painting of a bristlecone pine, with its wizened, orange bark on a rocky slope. An oil painting of a boardwalk through a vibrantly green, overgrown forest bursting with life. An oil painting of a close-up of snowberries, the white fruit contrasting with the rich green leaves behind them.
July 8, 2025 at 5:37 PM
throughthereeds.bsky.social
Gearing up to make a second batch of these guys. I'm about to have an ungodly number of coasters.
God these took forever to make. A set of seven hexagonal wood coasters with the centers cut out and filled with resin and pressed flowers. Art, functional art, botanical art
July 6, 2025 at 4:24 PM
throughthereeds.bsky.social
This one's my favorite panel yet! The first plant in the series native to the Tucson area. Manzanita fruits are botanically drupes, not berries, but I'm counting it anyways.

#art #traditionalart #sciart #watercolor
A watercolor painting of red manzanita fruit on a wood panel etched with a wood burning tool.
July 5, 2025 at 5:46 PM
throughthereeds.bsky.social
When it rains, it pours, and I've had such a flood of energy to make art 🌱 This one's a redo of one of my oil paintings.

#art #traditionalart #woodburning #watercolor
White berries burned into wood with a pyrography pen, surrounded by green leaves.
July 4, 2025 at 10:25 PM