Cloudy Valley - Franklin Booth style

Franklin Booth is an illustrator/artist from about 100 years ago.  He did these amazing ink drawings which are almost like engravings.  He did them free hand because he did not realize most were made on metal plates or were done craved into wood.  Since he was self-taught on his initial techniques he became very well known for this style.  This was my attempt at capturing the things he would do with a pen and ink.  I did this a few years back and I have improved but still I am not up to the Master, yet.

Rocky Mountain Pine Trees

This is another of cool Pen and Inks to capture the view of the Rocky Mountains.  It matches the past few days of posts and is still a great way to uniquely capturing a scene.  It makes up for crap regular work.

Mountain View in Pen and Ink

I am continuing to post some experiments in capturing the high mountains of the Rocky Mountains.  I am not sure the artist but I liked the style and put it into my sketchbook for future reference.

Rocky Mountains

This is another example of a sketch with pen and ink of mountains.  It is always useful to be able to analyse a scene into lights and darks.  This is not my original but is a style I liked and it is similar to what the well known artist and teacher Kevin MacPherson recommends as a pre-painting sketch to plan out your painting prior to starting out.  

Sunset and backlit Oak

I started this oil painting today and blocked in the basic tree shape over a subtle sunset sky.  I will further refine the "sky holes" where the sky and the light peek through the foliage.  I plan to also add some subtle toned blue, green, and darks as a way to add depth to the foliage of the tree and to its trunk.    This is a good start after about an hours work.

Nandi Warrior, part 2 - Ray Nestor style

This is another Kenyan Nandi Warrior done in the style of the artist - Ray Nestor.  I was very intrigued with his line work on the face.  He used the width, curves and angles to give the face structure while still representing the dark pigmentation.  I have never seen any one else do this and have done this version of it to help me remember it.  I have my own pictures of Maasai tribesmen and will use this technique to draw them.

Nandi Warrior - Ray Nestor Style

This is an ink drawing of a Nandi warrior.  Ray Nestor did this style of art of the Nandi people of Kenya about 100 years ago in Kenya.  Ray was a soldier in the First World War and then he went back to farming in Kenya.  He did a fair amount of art while in Kenya.  I think his handling of his ink drawings of the Nadi are among his best and I have tried to emulate it here.  Some Kenyans still will dress this way on the special occasions in life.