Merlin

This is a Merlin, a small bird of prey.  This particular one was a rehab patient with the Utah Dept. of Natural Resources.  It had been injured and was being nursed back to health for release back into the wilds of Utah.  I did this sketch in colored pencils.

Quick Sketch - My niece Julia

This is a quick sketch of my niece Julia.  I did this two years ago, she is a pre-teen so I did not get a lot of time with her sitting still.  So you take what you can get.  Tomorrow, I will post some stuff from our trip to New England.

Gerald Cassidy - Motivating me to improve

This is my rendition of a charcoal sketch by southwestern artist, Gerald Cassidy.  I was blown away by his handling of the darks and lights and copied his work as a way to improve my own and to get me to think more in shades as opposed to just lines.  I don't know much about Gerald but, I plan to do more research on him.  I will see if I can find any on-line links for his work or his biography and will post it on a future blog post.

Native American woman - pencil sketch.

Art is a compilation of practice, practice, and practice.  This is a pencil sketch from a photo I picked up as an exercise in training my eye and skills on faces.  This old Native American woman has a lot of character and interest in the structure and lines of her face.

Clown Figure from Cochiti Pueblo

This another lunch hour quick sketch from the Native American Smithsonian Museum in DC.  This clay figurine is about 12 inches tall approximately.  I had to switch pens as one died and I finished the head with a ballpoint, hence the shine as compared to the matte of the other pen.

Apache Mountain God Dancer

I occasionally get to go to the Smithsonian museums on the Mall in DC.  The Native American Museum is great and I could spend a month just doing sketches of the things they have on display.  This is on permanent display and is An Apache Mountain God Dancer.  I did a quick sketch as I was doing at art lunch hour and had to run back to the office.

Fort Storey Lighthouse Virginia

This is a quick sketch of one of the lighthouses at Fort Storey, Virginia.  There are two there, one in from the days of George Washington and is one of America's first public works projects.  This is the new modern one.  We had to rush as a storm was starting to come in.  This is more of a reference sketch for a painting I plan to do in the future.  Eventually I would like to go back and do a plain air painting on site with both lighthouses.