His

 
Not a good photo but will do for now.

Transparent watercolor on 

cold press Arches watercolor paper.

14 x 18"

Not the Same

  Tints over tints, wet into wet colors,

blotting, blending, wash aways.  Lots of texture

and accidental effects.  Sometimes lost and

sometimes found.  I've had many conversations with

this painting and finally understand what it

was trying to say.

11" x 15.5"

Transparent watercolor 

Arches 140# watercolor paper

Drop in found!

A few pieces from the last three weeks.

More of dreaded locks.

I think I've gone from dreadlocks to fairy princess.  This
is going to take a while as I decide what to do next.
At this point I can only start over which isn't a bad thing.

Spring Snow

Another view of Boulder Mountain from a lower
altitude.

Pouting Dreadlocks/watercolor

Sort of a new direction for me.  Several blogger friends

suggested that I use some of the gesture drawings I have.

This is a shaky beginning.  Certainly not a subject I've 

used in watercolor before so it's an adventure.

I've got some redrawing to do because of proportion

problems I see here.  My gesture drawing was quite

small and roughly drawn.  Imagining the human figure 

is fine.  My imagination hasn't been used that way for

quite some time so the search continues.

I'll post further progress quickly or slowly depending

on how things go.

OPPS, & DOUBLE OPPS.

Mr. Clever found you all again.
Whew, that's a relief.

Opps

It appears that ole Mr. Clever has mistakenly
removed all of my followers.  I have no clue how
I did that.  No offense everyone, I loved having you.
Now I have to figure out how to get back the space that
allows followers.  Wish me luck!

Grapeland

Horizontal

Vertical check for composition.

I was going to write about the long conversation

this painting and I had along the way.  I may come

back to that at some point.  For now let me

know what you think about this painting.

I think this is the third version of this subject.

High

It's actually 10,000 ft. looking down on Boulder Mt.

In the distance is some of the Grand Staircase, Escalante.

I was really drawn to the pure white of the snow

contrasting with the dark pines and the distant

mountains and valley's.

Watercolor on 140lb arches.  @ 8 x 10

Miles and miles and not enough sleep!

Utah is a maze of national parks!

Here are a few pictures that we took over

the last 5 days.  Many long stories and 

100's of photo's for later.

Difficult to show but this is the top of the

Grand Staircase - Escalante.  It is impassable.

Settlers said the only way to cross this series of rock tops

and thousands of crevasses was an animal with wings.  

Many people have gone into this land and never returned.   

Most recently a young hiker, was not heard from after he entered

and was never found.  There really is no way to get in there

and search.  Strange and creepy place.

This is just a passing photo of Capital Reef, another

National Park.

This is a small example of Canyon Lands National Park.

There are 100's of these canyons created when the seas

withdrew and the remaining rivers started creating

these many canyons.  You really have to see it!

This is a small part of Arches National Park.

This is called double arch, probably the best example

in the park.  Pay no attention to the guy with

gray hair.  Just there for size relationship.

It's been quite a haul and we're currently in Lincoln

Nebraska.  We have one more night on the road and

then home on Friday.  Looking forward to 

seeing our family.

From the Navajo Bridge to Zion National Park

I could have posted 100's of pictures ... here are a few.

Entering Zion as the sun goes down.

Shear swirling rock in Zion.

Water wall on shear cliff in Zion

The Virgin River in Zion

Speechless.

The Navajo Bridge over the Colorado.

View from the bridge.

Time for Reflection

As the fire in the sky races to the sunset

I'm left to ponder the end of one journey

and the beginning of another.  It's been great

but it's time to move on.  There are sights

in Utah yet to see, but home beckons us

to start heading towards Michigan and

family.  It's a bunch of miles but as

with all journeys the reward at the

end is always worth while.

Thanks for hangin with me for the last two

months and if time allows I'll send off some

pic's from Utah so you can join in our

travels.  Stay well everyone and remember,

paint and draw with Passion!

Heading Home Soon

A small pastel sketch on Biggie paper.  Taking another shot

at painting this waterfall on Oak Creek.

This is attempt number 4 of Oak Creek Waterfall.  This is only a

beginning with wet into wet soft color.  I have some idea where this

is going so we'll see what happens later.

This is what I call noodling!  The word comes from using bare

hands to reach under river banks to catch huge catfish.  How that

has anything to do with this piece ... well, I started by just spraying

water onto the sheet randomly.  Then taking wet paint and dropping 

it in the water and letting it stretch.  At that point I take a liner brush

with water and draw wet crosshatch patterns that just touch the

wet paint and water already on the sheet.  You can piddle with

this for a very long time.  Not necessarily a good thing.  It was

fun to do.  No expectations.

This is the 3rd attempt at this little moutain range.  Another 

example of stopping to late!

It's been nice being here in Sedona.  We did some hiking,

sightseeing, reading, napping and enjoying the sun which 

was with us most of the time.  

My good friend, Loriann Signori has always told me that the

struggle with painting and searching for happiness while

doing it is always the worst before a significant breakthrough.

Well friends, this should be one hell of a breakthrough because

my struggle here in Sedona has been one for the books.

Practically every day I painted was frustrating either because

they didn't begin well or they didn't end well.  I mixed enough

mud to fill the Mississippi, used enough paper to fill a flat

file and turned the light out and walked away more than 

I'm used to.  I thought I would go ahead and post today's

happenings, not because I'm happy with them but just to show

I'm still drawing breath and juggling brushes.  We'll leave

in about a week to head home.  Our trip will lead us north

to Utah and Zion National Park, Arches National Park and

Canyon Lands National Park for a few days and then start

our trek east back to Michigan.  Hope it's finally spring time!

Pinion Fire

Never try to create a diva.  They're seldom good and mostly evil.
This one is evil, too showy and has muddy feet.  I'm paying
the consequences for thinking to much and or not enough or both.

Diva's should be lady like and soft spoken.  This one is screaming

at the top of her lungs and is far from dainty.    More later.
As an after thought ... I seldom if ever use opaque white, see
why?  Time for the garden hose.

Verde River Valley

This is the painting I left alone for a bit.
I was unsure of the direction plus some of the technical
problems created by this kind of contrast.  I'm still not
sure if I'm through so I thought I would go ahead and post

it and see what your thoughts might be.

Evening Pencils

I started a new painting several days ago and started to ponder, what am I doing?
So, rather than answer that question I've stayed totally away from it.  Evenings
find me doodling in the sketch book.  They are some times memories but mostly
images plucked from the air.  They're very small and take on somewhat of a graphic
look (2 dimensional).  Relates back to days of designing, logos, cartoons, basket
designs for China, ideas for plush toys, bla, bla, bla!  Just give me a soft pencil and

a pad of tracing paper ... I was in heaven.  More later.

Destination

This one moved along quite quickly.
I will probably try this again with some different
colors.  Just trying to loosen up a bit and without

much thought.  Tomorrow a little more thought.

It's a Start!

Not quite as tentative, a little brighter, a few more colors
and water acting together.  This was to be very traditional,
something I penciled down shortly after we got to Sedona.
I decided to leave traditional behind and see what happened.
I'm still pondering that but I think it's better.  We'll see what
tomorrow brings.

This is New Mexico as we sped along I-40 trying to stay ahead

of the snow.  We made it!

Part of the Process

Note the pile of abused paper.

An evening of just messing around.

Trying to get rid of Mr. Illustrator.

I don't remember taking this long before.

Maybe I'm aimed at the wrong groove.

Still have a month to find it.

Watercolors by Doug Daniels. Uh?

Yah, I know it's not watercolor.  Right now watercolor
is killing me so I left it this afternoon and dragged out some
pastels.  Don't worry, I'm no threat to all of you wonderful
painter's that use pastels.  Back in the 60's when I was studying
Fine Arts & Illustration my prof. would walk by, stop and not
say anything.   Ten minutes would pass when he made another
circuit.  He stopped again behind me, stood there for a minute
then said "Um, that's too bad ... you had a nice drawing
ten minutes ago.

Long story short, this post should have been stopped at least
ten minutes before it did.  Too bad I have such a bad memory.

Please look at this as a place saver until I get my act back together
with watercolor.  Until later, paint and draw with passion.

No Photos, ever???

I was tossing and turning this morning wondering where
this was all leading.  I thought about the statement I made
yesterday "No Photo's Ever!  It's been worrying me ever
since.  I can't remember all the of the places and things I've
seen over the years.  Photo's are the only memories I have.
I guess that's why I take so many of them, most are useless
or provide just a brief glimpse of what I was seeing and thinking.
For me they're mind reference and only for that purpose!

This is what I did wrong.  I tried to draw directly from a photo
and then paint loosely.  Yeah, that's right, I just said that.
This is what Loriann was talking about.  It's not wrong to
have photo's but it's wrong to use them as direct reference or
to copy.  Of course this is not true for everyone.  If exact
replication and detail is your style then yes, photo reference
is perfect if you can't have the subject in front of you.

I have to be careful of what I say, this is ME I'm talking about
here, not everyone else.

So, another day has dawned and it's time to put on the coffee
and see where it leads.  Wish me luck, I'll need it!

Have a wonderful day everyone!
From Sedona,
Doug

DO NOT USE PHOTO'S, EVER!!!

Well at least hardly ever for those that have success with photo's
I'm posting a photograph to prove our best friend and marvelous
painter ... Loriann Signori how true her statement is, was, will always be.

This is from someone that should know better ... ME!!!!

It was OK as a commercial illustrator when reference and speed
were key.  Now 7 years since I've retired I still get sucked into my
old habit ... PHOTOGRAPHS!!!!!!!!!

TODAY you will see the photograph that has caused this uproar.
The goal when I arrived in Sedona was loosen up and stop creating
mud.  Later I will show the unfinished attempt just prior to it's
burial.

Learn from this stupidity!

Starting Over ... Again!

Struggling start.  The brush feels odd as well as the paper.

Because of my shoulder I have to stand to paint.  This is

new to me in the studio.  More later hopefully when things

begin to roll.  In the mean time, from Sedona

 Thumbnail

 Tozigoot

Tozigoot 2

Doug

Sedona, Arizona ... January 26 - March 31

It's possible this trip may even spawn a painting or two.
Nice break after last year and total cabin fever.
Enjoy the rest of your winter.

Doug

p.s.  this was a freak snow fall from 4 years ago.  Still awesome!