Rufous-sided Towhee

This a colored pencil sketch of a Rufous-sided Towhee.  He is part of the backyard crew we sometimes get here in Maryland.  I have three sketchbooks for sketching all the birds I have seen and identified.  Not all have been sketched yet but I plan to sketch them all.

Snowy Maple Study

The start of a Snowy scene with I think a Maple tree.  I plan to add more branches and texture to the trunk.  Back to the day job grind tomorrow which is fun since I had to go into the grind for part of the day today.  Soon I will switch over to painting full time.  I cannot wait.

Beech Forest Study

Continuing the string of studies, this is the start of a beech forest, in spring especially since today os chilly and not too spring like.  I can see now how I need to vary the background and work on the roundness of my trunks.

Beech Hillside study

I am reading a book called, Hawthorne on Painting.  It is from 1938 and is based off of instruction provided by artist and instructor, Charles Hawthorne.  Part of the book recommends painting and doing many "starts" of paintings.  I have been doing a lot of 5 x 7 inch small paintings.  This is a "start" of a Breech tree Hillside study.

Larch - Study

Larch Trees are native to northern climes, I first saw them in Scotland.  I had not seen them before and did not know "pine-like" tree needles changed color in fall and then died or fell off.  I could not figure out why a whole forest was dead until it was explained to me.  This is a small oil study.

Fall Foliage Meadow Study

After a little break, I am back painting and I am going to do as many small studies as I can.  This a a study of a meadow with fall foliage.  This is the block-in of the basics colors and this will need better depth in the tree foliage.  More to come.

Western Grebes

I did these quick sketches of passing Western Grebes out in Utah at Jordanelle Reservoir.  We were fishing and a pair of these swam by a few times and I quickly did colored pencil sketches to capture the basics of their colors and shapes.  I would like to work this into a painting but that will have to wait.