Snowboard James - Finished - 800th post

I finished Snowboard James today.  The adjustments I made were small as I did a decent block-in.  I made tweaks to the hat, the forehead, and small adjustments to the hoodie.  This is my 800th post.  The understated point of this blog is to remind myself to do art every day and to remember James.  He is missed and is a constant reminded life is short so do something.  Many talk about Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome, but Post Traumatic growth exists also and is a better use of my time and energy.  Some times all you can do is focus on the better part of things and the time you have left.

Bonsai-like Pine sketch

More pencil work tonight.  I messed with doing a pencil sketch of a Bonsai-like Pine tree.  If you have ever been up to the timberline in any mountains you always see trees like this shaped by wind, sun and the blast of storm winds.

Lodge Pole Pine Study

Another small tree study done in pencil.  These are Lodge Pole Pines, which literally were used by the native americans to make poles for their teepee lodges.

Eastern White Pine Sketch

A simple pencil study of an Eastern White Pine.  I am trying to live by the motto from the German artist Adolph Menzel, "No Day without a line." or brush stroke.  A little bit every day.

Utah Desert Study

I worked on this Utah Desert Study.  This is not an original design, but I wanted to work on desert scenes.  I did the block-in months ago and was frustrated with it.  I dug it out tonight and worked on fixing it.  It is better now but it is still pushing me to be better at the color and values.

Summer Thundercloud study

Tonight's study is the start of a cloud study of Summer Thundercloud building over the hills.  I will need to add more color variations to the clouds to add dimension to the cloud structure.

Snowboard James

I worked on Snowboard James's hat, logo, face and googles to start getting it better refined and defined.  I still need to do some adjustments on the hoodie and hat but it has moved beyond the block-in stage.