Thursday, October 28, 2010

Sleeping

This was 15 minutes.  I used the long axis of a piece of Conte Crayon
again moving my arm from the shoulder to keep a free expressive
drawing.

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

The Essence.

These drawings are from a life drawing drop in session this past week.
I enjoy longer poses but I truly enjoy the warm up gesture drawings.
Detail is not important.  It's a freeing exercise using a full arm swing
to capture the energy of the pose.  A quick look at where the weight
is and the curve of the models pose is what it's about for me.
Take a look and tell me what you think.







 Apologizes for the quality of the photos.

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Proof!















Go to the previous post. That painting went back to the
studio and lost a great deal of it's freshness. The piece above
is the painting from the plein air site. For me it's proof
that I need to do more thinking, plan what I'm going to
do, allow enough time to either improve it or leave it alone.
In this case, leaving it alone would have been the prudent
thing to do.

Monday, August 2, 2010

International Sketch Crawl

















Pastel City View (plein air)


















Pond at Hawk Meadows (plein air)

A group of us got together Saturday to participate in
the 28th International Sketch Crawl. People all over
the world take part in small groups. It's fun to be around
other sketchers and view each others work. These are
the two pieces from my Saturday morning.

Friday, July 23, 2010

White Water


















Well, anything goes. I had an inkling of this
before I started painting. I wish I could remember the
name of the artist it seems I've copied here. I think I like the
bright colors and bold brush strokes. Maybe I should
re-visit evolution and see if it feels like going further.

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Au Sable

















Waiting on
evolution so painted
this ... I lost track of the
diva ... or maybe there
never was a diva. Fickle
divas.

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Sunday, July 18, 2010

From the Top

















No preliminary drawing
for this one. Just brush work
from one color to another.
Some blend together leaving
some hard and some soft
edges. Again this is a process
with quick brush work.

River Entrance


















I'm trying to work
quickly to avoid getting
hung up on tedious
details. Certain parts
could have been softer
but overall OK.

Before the Flood

















Finally back in the studio after
7 months. Need to refresh and
search for a new direction.
It may take a while to get
back. Here is a rough beginning.

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Riders of the Purple Sage













Going through the flat files
again and found this piece that
was done near Tucson AZ.
I always wish I could remember
how certain things happened.
My problem is not painting enough
and then each time I start is like going
back to the beginning each time.
I like this piece even though it's mostly
two values. Needed some connected
highlights and a dark to pull it together.
Anyway, what do you think.

Monday, April 5, 2010

Sedona Revisited













Nothing new yet!
I did find this one in the flat file.
Umm, I need to do something with this!

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Ding Dong the Sling is Gone!

Thanks for the title B!
Everything that was left ... is now right,
and I mean really right. Back to blogging
with both hands. Hopefully some paintings
soon. Thanks to all that sent well wishes
and words of support ... I needed every last
word and every last letter to get through
this mess.

Thanks again everyone!

Sunday, February 21, 2010

SUNFLOWER!


I'm sure you are as tired of looking at
the sling as I am wearing it. So for a change 0f
pace here is another old piece. Flowers in
a bucket at the end of a photo shoot.

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

SLING!


HERE'S WHY NO ONE HAS SEEN OR HEARD FROM ME.
the gray thing on my shoulder is the webbing that
cold ice water is pumped through. no beer just a nice ice
chest. keeps the swelling down. the sling keeps my arm
very close to my side. if i don't then i,ll have to start over.

typing this is like sending a message in morris code. peck peck.

ROTATOR CUFF

Saturday, January 30, 2010

If you come to a fork in the road...



This follows my previous post which was the beginning of
some grapevines and foliage. In the beginning it had already
turned to a more interpretive approach to the unknown at that
point. Now here it is at it's current stage. Finished? I don't know,
but definitely done for now.

Time out for medical leave. I'll be back in late February to determine
if I took the right fork in the road, so you've got plenty of time to
leave your honest opinions. In a few weeks I'll catch up with you and
see the footprints you've left behind. So for now ...Shaka
(means "hang loose" in Hawaii)

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Watercolor in Progress














This is slightly larger than the last post.
It's progressing with more thought but still
with left and right hands. My goal is to emphasize
watercolors effects along with techniques.

The finished piece will come along in a couple of days.

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Beginning















I'm not going to jumble this up
with my thoughts and reasons for things.
It may have something, maybe a future.
You tell me!

5 x 7 watercolor on cold press.
broad strokes were left handed and
a few details were done with the right.

Sorry this is such a funky reproduction.
The little bubble's are actually dark spots.
Unfortunately they were still shiny when I
copied it. Hence the crappy little bubbles
and poor quality.

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Cropped!

A small portion of a large not so hot painting.
I'm posting this only to stay in touch.
A few days ago as I sprawled with a "what just
happened look" between two cars I new I wouldn't
be painting for a while except maybe left handed.
Tore up my bicep muscle and the right arm is
currently painful and useless. Could've been worse
as they say.
Anyway, didn't want you all to think I've just walked
away from the blog world. Nope, right here ...
and if I can get my wife to type for me, I'll be responding.
Until later friends.
Bummed out!

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Hawk Meadows Revisited















9 x 12 plein air watercolor on cold press arches.
Plain and simple traditional approach. I'll always
revisit this style along the way. Searching for
new vitality, enthusiasm and passion.

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Hawk Meadows



Things weren't happening in the studio today, so I escaped.
Drove down the road aways to Hawk Meadows, a local walking
and hiking park. There I can park and paint in the car.
I noticed something right away ... I was using a small palette
with small pans of color. The colors weren't as strong as
fresh paint in the studio palette. Kind of soft and
transparent. Hopefully I can take that back to the studio
and put it to work. I think I'm going to do plein air more
often. No time to think and let intuition take it's course.
The photo's are blurry because I didn't want to drag out the
tripod. Later maybe. Let me know what you think.

Sunday, January 3, 2010

From Real to Fiction






Frustrated by the mud strewn larger painting, I chose to
crop out 5 tiny abstracts. You say, "well that's cheating"
and I say "first you have to have enough sense to decide to
crop. Then you have to choose where to crop. Of course this
takes up to 45 years of experience. If you believe all that then
I've got 5 little abstracts that I'll sell cheap. It was a fun conclusion
to a very sad painting.