Seaside sketch

Tonight is a seaside sketch.  I did a little painting today, but it is not ready for the blog.  So enjoy this little one for now.

Mountain Farm sketch

I worked on sketching skills today.  This is a building block for painting skills.  Being able to see and understand your darks and lights is part of the key to getting your paintings better.

Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas!!  These are images of some of the previous Christmas Cards I have doen over the years.  I hope every one had a great holiday and a great year.

Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas to everyone and Happy Holidays!  This is this year's christmas card.  It was drawn with pencil and marker on watercolor paper.  I hope everyone is having a great day and are enjoying themselves.

Snowy River Block-in

After a long Holiday commute, I did manage to get this start block-in started on this sketch of a snowy river out west.  I need to add a tree to the foreground, detail to the grass blobs, and detail in the middle ground pine trees.  The river will need reflection and current movement.  All things to be added tomorrow.

Back to painting

I worked on the block-in of this small sketch of a winter scene with a tree in the foreground.  It will need some work but its just the start.

Landscape Sketch

Another landscape pencil sketch for practice.  I did start a small oil sketch, but it is not ready for the blog, so maybe tomorrow.

Landscape Sketch

Well Christmas shopping is done.  No painting done this weekend but I did get some sketches in to help to develop the eye for pre-planning paintings.

Thistle Sketch

My Mother-in-Law's Birthday was at the beginning of the month.  I have not seen here yet, but I will see her tomorrow.  This is a colored pencil sketch of the Thistle flower.  No painting today, too many errands and family time.

A sheet of little Sketches

This is the finish of the practice sheet of small sketches.  This is a way of looking at different shadows, angles, and compositions.  I am going to try and do some painting tomorrow, after the weekend errands.

Building sketches for composition and persceptive

Late night, so just some small sketches to work on composition and perspective, i.e the angles which one views things as they go into the distance.  These are some small sketches from an instruction book I am working through to get my skills down.

Elm Tree Sketch

Another pencil sketch for tonight's post.  I like this style of using more of the white of the page.  I think I know how to translate this to oil paintings, but it will have to wait till this weekend for the attempt with oil.

Birch Tree Sketch

A lot of artists get the compliment a lot of how talented they are.  Most artists don't really don't like this as it ignores the hard work and practice each artist works with and struggles with daily.  I think this is part of the purpose of this blog, along with the fact life is short and you should do stuff while you still can.  I always wanted to be a better artist and this blog is a documentation of the journey.

This is a practice sketch of Birch trees as I work on improving my eye and drawing skills.

Oak Tree Sketch study

I worked on this Oak tree sketch with pencil.  It is not an original design but it is part of the practice I am working on to improve my skills.

The River Valley in January

This is a small snow study, not an original design but it definitely reminded me of time I spent in Upstate New York freezing my tail off and it reminded me of my high school time in Colorado also freezing my tail off.  This is the block-i and it will need improvement on the details of the ice, the river, and the icy butte on the right.

Paratroopers Twilight Jump

 I added the Paratroopers and their parachutes.  They have their rucksacks hanging from the lowering lines as they are ready to execute their Parachute landings.  I use to do this and I had my night jumps and twilight jumps.

Get Well Card Giraffe

My co-worker had her ankle operated on so this is her Get Well Card, a giraffe with a cast.  This is a pencil sketch on a blank card.

New Tree sketch practice - the Pines

I found a new source of practice sketches for my tree work.  I like the use of white areas mixed with the dars so it makes for a better sketch.

Alaska Fjord Waterfall painting the plan and the block-in

This is another painting from my Alaska trip.  I have included the planning sketch and the initial block-in of the oil painting.  This is a little bit of a switch for me as the background is so dark and the foreground trees are lighter, so I will have to work this one a lot to get it where I want it to be.

Alaska - Fjord Island and Ice

I have hundreds of photos from my trip a few years ago to Alaska.  Go if you can it is great and very scenic.  This is a block-in of a small island near the Sawyer Glacier.  The water has speckled ice chunks in it, which will be the last thing painted in.

Moonlight Aspens

I pulled out this painting and decided to work on it.  The top is the adjustments and a better photo.  I added to the moon halo, greyed out the background pine trees, greyed the foreground meadow and the middle ground meadow.  I adjusted the Aspen shadows and changed the aspen trunks.  I think this is a better set-up and might even be done.  We will have to see.

High Country Snowy Road study

Today, I continued working on a bunch of small studies.  This is the start of a study of a snowy road some where in the Rocky Mountains.  It is a basic block-in which need refinement to be more effective.  I will post some of the other studies over the next week.  Numerous artists have spoken of the need to start many small paintings to develop your skills and this is an example of the hundreds of paintings I have started.  I will be starting hundreds more.

Fishing Boat on the Chesapeake

Happy Black Friday!  Instead of fighting the crowds, buy something from a working artist, i.e. Small Business Saturday.  This is for sale on Barb's, my wife's ebay site.  This is a bit of an experiment to see if this is a good venue for sales.  SO check it out using the link below.



http://www.ebay.com/itm/131662598890?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanks giving!  I hope you all had a great day with friends, family, and good food.

Wintery Snowy Banks study

Tonight I worked on this study of a Wintery Snowy Banks study.  This is part of series of studies on winter scenes.  I will have to fix the reflection and I will add more branches in the background and the middle and back ground brush.  I will add some snow into the branches.

Overcast Snow Stream Study

This is an oil study of a snowy, overcast day with snow and a slow moving stream.  This is the block-in, I plan to add snow flakes and more branches and trees in the background.  This is another example of brush miles and canvas yards of practice necessary to improve.   More to come in this holiday week.

Winter Twilight study

This is part of the my work this weekend to catch up for lost time.  This is a small oil study of a winter stream near twilight.  This is not finished as I will need to improve the water reflection, the left tree branches, background foliage, and the little bit of bare branches on the right.

Decorating the Chesapeake Bay room

So not a lot of artwork done today, ran some errands and did some work work.  The wife redecorated for the holidays and hung five of my paintings in the dining room at the house, which is now the Chesapeake Bay room because the paintings are all of the Bay.

Winter Stream Twilight Study

I blocked in this oil sketch of a Winter Stream at twilight.  The sky is good the background is decent. I will need to add snow to the trees and the foreground will need the most work to get it and the reflection in the water right.

Old Tree sketch

I don't know what sort of tree this is but it is odd and not in the best of shape.  The top crown of branches is leaf-less.  Then the lower foliage is another odd touch, but I liked the different techniques for the foliage and the bark.

Another Tree Sketch

I continue the sketch series on the trees.  I have a whole sketchbook about half filled with trees.  Most I have been posted to this blog.  I took a class from the painter Scott Christenson.  He reminded my of one of the principles of mastery which is the near obsessive practice on things you want to improve on, so I have been sketching the trees.

Frozen Lake Spruce trees

I did not get as much done as I would have liked art wise this weekend, but I did do this block-in of a frozen lake with spruce trees.  I will need to make some adjustments to this color wise.  Some are too bright and in need of graying it some to push it into the background.  Future plans for things to come.

Old Oak Sketch

This is a pencil sketch of an Old Oak Tree.  It is not an original design but I really liked the design and the structure of this tree.  Tomorrow I will be painting again after a busy week.

Sycamore Sketch

More work on the tree sketch book. I have been trying different ways to represent trees.  So this is not an original design but a way to try out and experiment with techniques.  This is a sketch with a thin Pentic Marker with the trunk being light as opposed to dark which, is how you normally think of tree trunks.

Alaska Fjord Waterfall Pencil Study

I did this pencil sketch of an Alaskan Fjord Waterfall as a value study for a painting.  I wanted to do a basic layout and to try out the composition before committing to canvas and paint.

Colorado, Fall in the Foothills - Closer to the finish

I worked on the Fall in the Foothills today.  I added the start of the horses grazing in the Meadow, which is what attracted me to this scene.  It has been challenging for me to paint, as I have attempted this three times before getting to this which I am mostly happy with as a painting.  I feel like I need to adjust the cottonwood tree foliage and I will add some small detail to the horses to give them more structure and depth.

Sunset over the Bay - Finished

Tonight I finished Sunset over the Bay.  You can see the progression from Block-in to developing the atmosphere of the sky, water and the foliage.  I finished with toning down the water and adding the flying waterfowl.  The Chesapeake Bay is the major east coast of the US flyway and many ducks, geese, and swans over winter here as we are usually south of the freeze line.  The hall mark of fall is the chorus of honks and quacks of our visitors from the north.

Devil's Tower update

I worked on the Devil's Tower painting.  I had blocked in the tower wrong so I expanded it to make its proportions better and more realistic.  I changed the foreground to make it a better composition.  It will need some more work before it is finished.

Hand Sketch

A quick hand sketch with pencil.  I switched up from painting and trees for a little different work but still progress to the goal of improvement.

Happy Birthday James

Today would have been James's 30th Birthday.  This is a sketch from a photo from James' birthday in 2006 when we got him his Scuba lessons.  You are not forgotten.