Bear the Labrador Sketch

This is Bear the Labrador.  He was the 15 year old Retriever of my Son-in-Law's Father.  He has headed off to chase birds in Doggie Heaven.  I really liked this picture of him waiting for his next run to retriever.  Rest in Peace Buddy.

Rusty Anchor - block-in

Happy Friday, I started this study of a rusty anchor from a tall ship.  I can't remember the name but it was a steel hulled Danish sailing ship which visited Washington DC a few years back.  I liked the tonal shades of this one and will need to work on the ships side the most.  The rust and paint mix on the anchor is an interesting exercise in spot painting or pointillism.

Book Cliffs Painting

This is something I have been working on for a bit.  It is not an original but it is something I have been working on to develop my skills.  I added more brush in the foreground, I added foliage in the middle ground, and I added colors in the rock faces.  I want to add details to the cliffs, more foliage, and a fence line in the foreground.

South Plate River Pine Roots

This is a sketch of a Ponderosa Pine Tree root system from the South Platte River system in Colorado.  I started this last night but I had been fighting a headache all day and did not get much done on it. I finished this tonight.  This is a tree along the shoreline of the Platte River, it is near the banks of the South Platte River on the Rampart Range south of Denver.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!  I don't really have any resolutions as such.  I think they don't work real well.  I do have general goals and one for this year is to try and finish more things.  Part of this goal is a by-product of finishing 2016 with more painting, which has gotten me to a point were painting is coming easier and I am mixing better paint and I am seeing things more easily and I am able to fix them.  So today, after waking up late, I worked on this painting of Engine 487 on the Cumbre and Toltec Scenic Railroad.  The reflected light on the front of this engine had been vexing me and now it is coming together.  Some of the details and the background still need work but I am much happier with this one now than last year when I last worked on this.

Old Glory on a Spanker boom - block in

I started this painting of Old Glory on a wooden Spanker boom on a wooden sail boat.  I have the basics painted in.  I will need to add detail to the water and then I will add a bunch of detail to the boom, lines, folded sail, and metal work.

Copper Pan and Bottle study

A bit of a rough start on this one.  The pan is ok, not so much on the bottle or jar or whatever this is.  I lost some of the shape and will need to go back out it tomorrow in the light of day and after some sleep.  All moving towards the 10k hours needed to master something.