Thumb Nail sketches

A Thumb Nail sketch is a technique of catching an idea or image or a visual shorthand to work out which composition will work best for a scene.  Above is a Thumb Nail sketch of a simple adobe church in New Mexico.  I liked the simplicity of it and the color notes I took which I did not scan capture the turquoise sky opposite the dry pale yellow of the adobe with white wash wearing off.  The eaves are unpainted but the window and doorway are warm little blue.  It should make a ggod painting when I get a round to it.

Acoma Pottery

This is a sketch of an Acoma Pueblo Indian style pottery jar.  I liked the design and the colors, so I sketched it and used markers to get the colors.  Since the artist used earth tones it was easy to use the markers and get the colors right.  I intend to go back to New Mexico and do paintings of the four seasons in the Land of Enchantment as the state is known by.  If you have never been there I would say drop everything and start planning now.  It is the most unique of the 50 states in the U.S. 

Autumn Moon Aspens

This is part of what I worked on today.  This is the first lay-in of color on an oil painting based on a scene I captured back in 2010 in Colorado near South Park.  (Yes, there actually is a South Park in Colorado).  The full moon was rising over the Aspen Grooves near Kenosha Pass on Route 285. 

My cousin, Troy Willis - RIP

One of my earliest memories of my cousin Troy Willis, was of him and me reading Richard Scarry books and Troy rolling out his patented laugh and unabashed giggles at the pantaloons of Hilda Hippo.  We were probably 4 or 5 years old so "pantaloons" were the height of funny.  I will miss that laugh.  He passed away on June 12th.  This memorial service will be tomorrow.

Bears - part 2

Earlier, I blogged some Bears I had sketched on colored paper and with colored pencils and white chalk.  So I found these this evening looking around the studio and I figured they would be good for the post.  I could fill a sketchbook with bears and still not be bored with them.  I definitely want to see all of the bear species in the wild.  Right now I have just seen the Black Bear from North America three times and a Grizzly once. 

Cat sketch

This is a pencil sketch of a our cat.  She is hard to catch still and awake.

Snowy Engine with markers

This is another experiment and learning exercise with markers.  The steam engine is a Hiesler used by logging companies years ago.   The use of markers was an interesting experiment but, I think I would use a different blue for the shadow and the iron frame.