Dall Sheep profile study

More of the chalk sketching.  This is a male Dall Sheep.  These are the wild sheep of the Canadian Rockies and Alaskan mountain ranges.  The white fur definitely blends in with the snowy mountain sides.

Bighorn Sheep side Study

More tonight of the White and Black Chalk studies, this is a side view of a Bighorn Sheep.  Lots of these out in the western part of the United States.  I have seen these in Colorado and Utah, but they are in a lot of the Western states with mountains and deserts.  Surprising a lot are in seen near the Interstate highways, so look on the cliffs if you are not the driver.

Bighorn Sheep Study

I am continuing to work on these little studies to improve the drawing skills.  This is a black and white chalk pencil on grey paper.  Drawing on toned paper helps with figuring out lights and darks and tones for painting.

Happy Birthday Logan

It is the nephew's birthday today.  He likes the video game Halo, so I drew this for him for his card.  It is a pencil, ink and marker drawing, not an original design but a fun way to practice.

Cherry Blossom Buds - Block-in

This is a study of Cherry Blossom Buds in Oil.  Sometimes a painting comes together easily and sometimes it fights you, probably because you are thinking to much.  Anyway this is a very rough start and it is going to need a lot of massaging to get the roundness of the twig and the Buds to be convincing.  It ain't even close yet.

Cherry Blossom Close-Up Study

Today is the Sister-in-Law's Birthday.  She likes my Cherry Blossom stuff so her card is a study of a close-up of the Cherry Blossoms which are a month or two away from reappearing here in DC.  I did this with watercolor pencils.  It is first shot at something I want to paint but I am not sure how I want to approach it.  So Happy Birthday Michelle!

Elk Snout

I am considering doing another Elk painting so I have done a couple of Elk Snout studies.  They really have strange noses if you really look and if you want to paint them convincingly you need to look.