Tree Sketch - Part two

I revisited the tree sketch from a couple of months ago.  I was unhappy with the clouds and the foreground.  I made some tweaks to both and made some small adjustments on the tree foliage.  I will continue to mess with it.

Springtime Dreaming

It has not been too spring like yet, but one can hope.  Today, I worked on a small study of the Cherry Blossoms Festival here in Washington, DC.  This is the Washington Monument reflected in the Tidal Basin.  This is a small 5x7 study to quickly work out problems and determine how I will paint this in a larger size.

Work space - the Studio

I have a studio in the spare bedroom.  I mounted two rails on the wall to mount the drafts of paintings.  I have the easel and drying racks.  No matter how good you get at painting, you always want to get better.  No painting is ever finished, they are just abandoned.  I will post new work tomorrow.

Friday meeting day

I keep a small notebook in my backpack which serves as my briefcase.  It was a freebee I got second hand.  It was originally from Turkish Airlines.  I use it when I have long boring meetings.  Today, I had a two hour meeting and I sketched this woman on a stand-up surf board.  I did not complete it but I liked the texture in her hair and the anatomy of her body.  I may redo this bigger or not, but I used this to keep awake in the meeting.

Monkey cartoons

Tonight's post is some brush practice monkeys.  Not an original design but a nice relaxing practice Pentel Brush pen practice.

Shrieking Demons

Something different, but part of my practice with ink.  These are my rendition of Japanese Shrieking Demons from the 1200s.  I did these with Pentel Brush pen and colored marker.  I liked these as very unique and good practice for brush technique.

River Sunset

I have been working on sunsets and other sky scenes to improve my painting skills.  This is a block-in of a sunset with water reflection.  I will tweak this later since I am generally happy but I can see somethings I want to adjust.

Sunset reflection

This is an oil sketch of sunset reflection on water.  This is the basic block-in of the colors.  Wet on wet paint can be a challenge, plus I don't always immediately see problems, so I let the paintings sit of a bit and then make adjustments.

Pheasant - Part two

I was unhappy with the pheasant so I added brown ink outline to define the pheasant and the tree branches.  I also added the Scott Chop design of interlocked Ss and an A which covers my initials of SAS.  This is a decent sketch which I will probably convert to an ol painting later.

Pheasant

This is a watercolor pencil sketch of a Ring-necked Pheasant.  Not an original design but it was something I did to try something in a different medium.  I have been working a lot in oil paint and decided to try something different.

Bar Antics

I work a full time job with overtime requirements so Art time is precious and so is Bar time.  I will occasionally get motivated during a going away Happy Hour for a co-worker and I will modify a coaster.  Sometimes I leave them behind, sometimes they are more fun than the original marketing.

Sunset Study - part two

I added the trees to this study and a little bit of detail to the foreground.  I will leave this alone and see what I think about it after it rests for a day.  I know of another artist (can't remember his name) but, he calls his problem paintings naughty children and turns them towards the wall to be looked at later.  I would need a lot of wall space.

Misty Sunrise

As promised, the top is the initial block-in and below is the added dead Fir trees and mist.  I think it needs a few more tweaks but it will be good for tonight.

Painting progress - slow but sure

I have written before about the author's Malcolm Gladwell's concept of 10,000 hours needed to reach mastery.  Another well-known artist, Kevin MacPherson recommends painting 50 canvases to improve.  Here are 32 of the small canvases I have been working on over the last six months.  These are all smalls, mostly 5x7 and 6x8.  Not all are finished and not all will be I have seen some improve,went but, every improvement leads to greater expectations.  I will post tweaks I make of these and some of the larger practice pieces.

Wild Things Monster

This is a pen drawing of a monster from the children's book "Where the Wild Things Are."  This book was my middle daughter's favorite childhood book.  This is not an original sketch but I reproduced it for a birthday card fro her birthday on Sunday.  I have done this themed card before so she will love it.

Plains cloud study

I worked on this plains cloud study block-in.  It is easy to work on these mall studies after returning from the day job.  I will probably work on adjustments on over the weekend to these small studies to make adjustment in colors, values, and details.

Moonlight Winter tree

This is a small study I worked on this evening.  I thinly blocked in the night sky and then worked on calligraphy-ing the tree trunk and branches.  I will add some more branches and a little depth into the trunk to add some roundness to it.

Bufflehead Duck study

I have been practicing some different oil subjects and this is one, not a original design but I liked it as a challenge. It will need some work on the water and some of the feather design but it is a decent start for an interesting winter duck in Maryland.

Smoky Sunrise

Today's post is the start of a smoky sunset, like the ones you would see at Yellowstone National Park. This is the block-in details to follow.

Sunset study

This is the first stages of the block-in of a sunset scene.  I will smooth out the transition in the sky and I will add fir trees against the sky.  These are part of a series of practice studies I have decided to do to help with the improvement and the move to the level I want to reach in painting.

Horse - Dawn study

This is the block-in of a study in morning light with horses in the foreground.  I plan to work some more lights into the sky, refine the tree line, and add detail to the foreground.  These little studies are all part of the practice needed to get my paintings up to the standard I want to achieve.

Snowy Nocturne - Part two

Snow Day today, I worked on a few little things besides snow stuff.  This is the most interesting, I did  a second pass of the Snowy Nocturne (night scene).  I refined the night sky and began to work some of the details on the house.  I will continue to work on tis and refine it.

Cat Pen brush sketches

Tonight's post is more of the cat sketches for practice.  I did these with a Pentel brush pen.  Enjoy!