Maybe the little painting Trolls will come

out from under the bridge and post something

soon ... I hope.

Post Something?

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.

Sedona Revisited

Nothing new yet!

I did find this one in the flat file.

Umm, I need to do something with this!

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!

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.

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

Keep smiling everyone. I'll be back in @ 3 weeks

Fading into the mist.

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)

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

East Tawas Explosion #2

I've got to keep shooting until I hit something!

This one is closer to the target than yesterdays version,

although I just noticed that the grasses along the front

are static ... equal spaces, lines the same width, that will

be fixed by tomorrow. Also, I could've warmed up one of

the blue background trees. Still not comfortable with the

style of painting. It seems so far from what I'm used to.

I'll experiment with it for a while and see where it goes.

It needs refinement and some outward confidence by the

arteeest.

Today, the wash brush didn't have total control. It took a coffee

break and I didn't, so took over until it tapped on my shoulder

and said "I'm Back".

Again no mercy! Have at it so I can learn something, huh?

I'm an old dog, so I can't learn new tricks, ooooh sorry Sam.

Hey did you all notice that we have a multiple award winner

on the blogs with us. Check out Loriann Signori and A painting a day.

She's an inspiration for a lot of us.

Till later everyone, and have a great and properous, peaceful

2010. Happy New Year Blog Friends!

Hey, who's in charge here?

Yes I know this does not resemble the value study done

for this subject. Let's put it this way, it took me about 3 hours

to take back control. (not sure who was in charge)

By the time that happened the only thing that might save it

would be to hose it off.

So I was sitting there pondering the rest of the day ... I looked

down and saw I was holding my 1" flat wash brush. Hmmm.

Well that's when things went crazy again. I sat quietly and watched

as my hand holding the brush went chunking and stroking away.

I thought, well if you think you can do better than me then go for it.

It was fun to watch (I never gave it much hope with the brush in charge).

After trashing my palette and mudding up the water containers, it jumped

out of my hand and landed back in the brush jar.

Mary walked in about then and said, hey this one is coming together!

I looked at her with a puzzled look on my face and said, "really?"

Well if like it ... Let the record show I went ahead a signed it.

Still puzzled ... whatcha all think ... show no mercy!

signed: the guy with a brush that runs his life.

Sunflower Farm

Value study! Hopefully something in color before

2010.

The Huron Side

I'm following the example set by my good friend B.

She has been practicing these value studies and sharing

with everyone at her blog loriannsignori.blogspot.com

Take a look at her wonderful work.

I'm taking this to heart. I will faithfully ??? pursue

one each for every painting I attempt. I've been struggling of

late with colors, mud and lack of punch. Seems like doing

a value study will be a good exercise for me. I've done others

but I feel good about this one. Charcoal pencil on good

quality news print. Feel free to share what your process is,

rather value studies are important to painting or you follow

another process.

Remember this is a watercolor blog so we'll see how this drawing

interprets with watercolor. Thanks everyone, have

a great Christmas!

One Minute of Thought

One minute to capture the

movement, mood, line of the

hips, the shoulders and rough

proportions. Certainly a

crude start but gives a strong

basis to continue.

Just filling in.

And what you say is this? Little scrap of blotter

paper I use for testing colors while painting. The

reason it's here is because it's a stand in for the piece

I'm working on.

I guess you could call it meaningless blog fodder.

Hey, maybe I'll change the name of my blog to

Blog Fodder Supreme with onion rings.

On one knee

Life session. Conte on newsprint.

Sketch it!

Saturday Sketches

Not Another Day

Fear not, a pastelist I'll never be. Just couldn't

stand another day of watercolor so I pulled out some

old cheap pastels. Took the shot before I knocked the

dust off. Watercolor tomorrow.

Scrap paper

When I'm painting, I like to keep a piece of scrap

watercolor paper next to the paper so I can test colors

before painting with them. I should have framed the

scrap, since the painting failed. Isn't it amazing how free

and easy we can be when not shackled by a preconceived

idea. I know that's how it works for me. I need to remember

that. Do others feel that way?

No Post

System failure...

Small but Effective

OK, here it is. In the first photo is of course some guy

in the studio acting like he's retired. The next photo is

the closet storage area. Large metal rack to store matt board

and backer board plus portfolio cases, easels, photo reference,

and anything else I can cram in there.

The next photo shows what I always dreamed of having.

Flat files, 4 five drawer units. Creates a work surface

and stores piles of paintings, some matted, some not.

Different types of watercolor paper, extra palettes, sketch books

and again, whatever I can cram in there.

Shot from the door of the dining room. Most of the time

the door is closed and I have music playing to cover other

disturbing noises. My wife and I are both retired and we

have two kids and 8 grandkids living within 7 miles of our house.

Hence the closed door. Actually, it's a lost cause when the cookie

crumblers show up. I love em anyway. Most days are quiet, especially

in the winter time.

Reflections of Frustration

I think I still hear someone!

Next time Listen

This haunted me for 5 days. Laughing at me from the flat

file. It didn't deserve the amount of time I gave it. While I

was working on it, even today. I could here someone hollering

STOP, STOP, STOP! Then I realized it was me. Instincts didn't

pay off this time.

Up in the Beech

Plein Air, 5 x 7 watercolor on cold press.

Failing realism last week I went with the 1" flat.

No one said plein air was about realism. As a painting

it was short and sweet.