Alaskan Waterfall - Part Two

Today was the first day back at the day job, not bad actually, but I would rather be painting.  I came back home and dug this study out.  I am not yet the type of painter who can finish a painting in one sitting.  I have to fight struggle, rest, and try again.  I think I let this sit for at least six months if not a year and then I went at it again.  The biggest and best addition was the start of the Fir and Spruce trees on the slope near the waterfall.  I worked on the fall a little bit and I have started to change the fjord water, both need more work.  The cliff and rocks will need a lot of work before I am satisfied with them.

Bare Oak Tree study

Tonight's post is a silhouette of a bare Oak tree done in ink.

Spruce Study

A Memorial Day Spruce Evergreen Tree study in ink.  I have an entire sketchbook of trees and this is the lastest edition to that sketchbook.

Afternoon Seaside Thunderstorms

This is today's painting work or play.  I worked on this start of Thunderstorms over the seaside.  I want to work on the water and the clouds to give them extra depth and colors.  I want to work on the edges with in the clouds.

Panama Jungle - Part 2

I worked on the Panama Jungle Study from a few weeks back.  I used a grey wash (with oil paint) to push the foliage into the background.  I then added Tree trunks to the foreground and some hanging vines.  I will add leaves to the foreground to finish this up, so you will be able to see the forest/jungle through the trees.

Lighthouse Hill - block-in

I got a late start on this.  I plan to work on a lot of these little started paintings over the Memorial Day weekend.  this is an overcast sky, hill with sea grass, and it will eventually have a lighthouse on the skyline of the hill.  The sky and the sea grass will need some adjustment and detail, but it will wait till Saturday.

Beach Scene - Block-in

I started this beach scene oil sketch tonight.  I will add detail to the water and people on the beach later to complete this one.

Cottonwood Shed - block-in

Tonight I return to painting.  I feel a little rusty since I went a week+ without painting.  This is a decent start but it needs alot of work to well, "work."

Cabbage Palm sketch

Tonight's post is a pencil sketch of a Cabbage Palm.  This is part of the every day practice.  I had been unhappy with some of my paintings so I have returned to sketching.  I read recently about returning to basics when you are unhappy with a particular skill.  That is what I am trying with these sketches.

Monument Valley Sketch

I am back from a work trip and small personnel trip in connection.  I was only able to get this small sketch of Monument Valley.  I took some great pictures in Utah so hopefully I can make them into some artwork later.

Dad's Birthday Trout

Today is my Dad's Birthday, and even though I am a step son, I have never been treated as anything less than a son.  This is a rare thing in the world.  I have many memories as a little boy going fishing for trout in the mountains of Colorado.  So I have done this colorful rendition with ink and colored pencils.  Happy Birthday Dad!

a repost

Regular work has been a bear this week and I have done little to no art work.  I post this because it makes me feel better to know what sort of art I have in me when I don't have to screw with the regular work.

Palm Tree Beach pencil study

I am back from a Mother's Day weekend trip.  This is a pencil study sketch of palm trees on a beach.  I used regular pencils of various darkness.

Mountain study

Not as exciting as yesterday's post, but it is an experiment also and a different take on the Mountains aerial perspective.  This is a midday example.

Sunrise Study

This is a small study of a sunrise over mountain ridges done in oil paint.  This is an example of atmospheric perspective.  I painted in the basic ridge lines going back to the horizon.  I added more white to the blue to make them seem further away.  I then used the sky mix or yellow, orange and white to add the haze lines separating the different ridges.

Back lit Jungle

Tonight's posting is another of the jungle.  This is looking up at the sky lit foliage.  I will add additional leaves to the branch.  I bit different than my usual paintings.

Jungle Study

This is part experiment run of studies, since I have been to Panama and Belize and plan to do some paintings from the sites there.  This is a layered painting, I did the dark background with the white spaces.  I them added the blue highlights, and the leaves.  I will add a glaze to be the haze from the humidity of the jungle.