Sea Gulls

Here are a couple of Sea Gulls. First is a combo of watercolor and charcoal. Second straight up watercolor. Stand by for some more in the sea gull series.

Acrylics

Here are a couple of acrylic paintings I have been experimenting with. I guess they came out okay. This is new ground for me so I am a little insecure about the results.

Stone Steps

This is charcoal and pastel on Mi-Tients canson paper. 22" x 18". I posted it over at wetcanvas and got some good advice. This image is the revised version. I added a little more depth with darker values and got rid of the outlines around the stones.

Sketch book

Just finished off a sketch book. I think this one was five years in the making. Due to my lack of consistency in sketching and also having 5 or 6 sketch books going at the same time. Here are the last two. Both in conte crayon. The first is a tree at Candlewood lake. The second is the Hershey Golf Club.

Barn and Wall

Here is a charcoal piece with pastel highlights. I started this outside and finished at home.

Done

It's finally done. I think it came out pretty good. Now for some charcoal work.

Slow Going

Man, this piece is going slow. I'm having a difficult time getting into it. I'm only working like 10 to 15 minutes a night on this. I like what I have done so far but just am not enjoying the work on this one.

Landscapes

Had my watercolor class last night. We worked on landscapes. A lot harder than I thought. First we did cloud studies.



Then I tried to push the colors. I guess I pushed too hard.



Next we tried resist. A liquid mask. You put it down, do the sky wash then lift the resist and you have some pretty clouds.

Mine weren't very pretty. I didn't do well with the resist. I need more practice.






Next I tried to add some tress to the sky. Again, not very pretty.



But I didn't give up and tried another one. This didn't come out too bad. I was surprise how difficult this was. I've have not tried a watercolor landscape before. It's obvious I need a lot of practice. Next week I will work from a photo and do a complete picture.

Watercolor Mess

I went to Plymouth Massachusetts over the weekend with my family. Two days and one night. We took 151 pictures! My eleven year old son wanted to carry the camera. I think he took a photo of every inch of the Mayflower II. I also took a bunch of reference photos for future art pieces.

Normally on vacation I bring my sketchbook and at night when everyone has gone to sleep I do a bunch of sketches. This time I decided to try an abstract watercolor. I soon got nowhere fast. I didn't start with a plan or an idea. I was hoping one would come to me as I worked. No such luck. People may think abstract painting are easy, but I disagree. My hat is off to those who are good at abstract painting.

Here is my mess of an abstract.

Color Figure

I did the figure in color last night. I think it went well. I had the body done with an hour left in class. So my teachers said, go ahead and do the face. I jumped right in. I wasn't planning to do the face so I didn't sketch it well as you can tell. The head is a little too big for the body and the jaw line is also too big. At least the body came out well.

Quick Sketch

Here is a charcoal and fountain pen sketch I did early in the morning before anyone else was up. This is the view from my back porch.

inch by inch

inch by inch I am getting there. If I could change one thing I would have liked the green stems thinner. But because of the liquid mask I am left with stems this thick. Just a minor pick at this point. So far so good.

All Clear

I took the liquid mask off. Pretty easy too. Looks pretty cool like this. This photo didn't come out too good. When I am finished I will scan it in so it looks better.

Liquid Mask

I am using liquid mask for the first time. And I went with a bold approach. I didn't draw on the paper first, just straight into the mask.




After the mask dries I can slop down a background and not worry about the flowers. Here is the first slop.

Watercolor Class

We painted the figure last night. I remember doing this at least 20 years ago in a class and not being very good at it. I was excited to try it again. I wanted to do a wash in sepia. I didn't get to finish because time ran out, but I think it looks pretty good at this point. Next week I am going to try flesh tones.

Run Away

The fourth in a series of four. All done. Charcoal and pastel again.

The next series will be of flowers. A friend in Vermont took a bunch of pictures for me. I'll start in watercolor, but may stretch my artistic muscles into acrylic.

Chicken Birds #4

I know it doesn't look like much yet, but here is the beginning of the fourth and last of the chicken bird series.

Chicken Birds #3 -----Done

Here it is all done. I'm pretty happy with it. I ended up calling this one Why?

Rock Study

Just finished watercolor class number 2. Here is my study of rocks.

Chicken Birds #3 starts

I'm trying to push myself on this one. It is charcoal and pastel.

Egg and Eggplant

I took my first class last night. 6 of us total which is nice. I like my teacher, he has a similar approach to art as I do. A couple of times he said "your not making a police report, it doesn't have to be perfect. If it looks good, keep it".

First class we did wet on dry. My piece came out okay. I like the egg a lot. It looks better live than in the scan. I struggled with the eggplant to get those deep rich colors.

Chicken Birds #2 complete

I'm pretty happy with this one. I used white and black charcoal plus a red pastel. This is 17" x 22" on strathmore 500 series charcoal paper. I have a couple more chicken birds to do then on to the next project.

Still Working

I signed up for a class at the Silvermine Arts Center. It is drawing and watercolor combination. I can't wait. Look for images after class. A little more progress on the chicken birds. I see my previous picture was too dark. This one should be more like it.

Step 2

didn't have much time to work tonight. But I got a little more done.

Chicken Birds #2

When I finished Chicken Birds #1 I took a photo of it then I sprayed it with fixative. I spray it outside because of the fumes. After I sprayed the first coat I came in to post the picture on my blog. While typing I heard it raining. Oh no! My picture is out side. Only a few drops of damage, not too bad.

Here is the start of chicken birds #2.

Chicken Birds #1

All done. Came out pretty good. The red is pastel. I used strathmore 500 series charcoal paper. Total size is about 16" x 24".

Part 2

Time to stop again. With a fresh look tomorrow I will decide if I am happy with the progress. The white is a white charcoal stick.

The Chicken Birds have started

I finally got started on the chicken birds. I have put down the tones at this point. The background color is pastel dust I have collected at the bottom of my easel. At this point I like to step back and make sure I am happy with the composition and structure. So far I have spent 10 to 15 minutes on the piece. Phew...I need a break :-)

Finally

It's done. First we lost our power for a few days. Then my allergies kicked in. I take a medicine that knocks me out so I didn't get much work done at night. But I finally got it done. It is on 1/4 sheet of 140lbs Kilimanjaro paper. I used four colors of Winsor & Newton tube watercolors. Cadmium Lemon, Permanent Mauve, Viridian and Alizarin Crimson. The black is india ink.

Next up, some drawings of chicken birds I took at the Beardsley Zoo.

Candles Part 3

Third sitting done. The hard part about t he splats is getting them to land where I want them to. I have the board tilted so the paint runs down. So I stand over the board holding a paintbrush over the area where I want the paint to land. Then with a different brush I scoop up paint and add it to the brush I am holding and keep adding until the paint drips off. So far so good,no misses.

Candles Stage two

Here is the results of my second sitting. It's getting fun.

New candles

The previous candle watercolor left me feeling blah. So I am doing a new exciting one. This should be fun. I already had fun dripping some ink and watching it splat. Color next. Here is stage one.

Homeless

I have been sketching during lunch. I got these images from the wetcanvas site.

This one is conte crayon and charcoal.




This one is straight up charcoal.



And this one is black paint and charcoal. I wanted to use ink but I couldn't find any at work. I guess I brought it home.

"Fixed" Candles

I posted the Candles Five over at wetcanvas. They gave me some helpful hints so I fixed this piece. Enjoy the new and improved painting.

Candles Five

Finally finished. I think this took about 3 weeks, maybe more. It is hard to get back into a painting with such a big break in between. I certainly couldn't get back into this piece. But I finished it none the less. It's on a 1/4 sheet of Winsor & Newton 140lbs paper. I'm not that thrilled by it. I'm planning a little more exciting piece next.

Slow candle progress

I know it has been a while. I was getting together with the band this past friday so I was practicing guitar every night to get ready. After a week or so of hard work I still played a rotten guitar so now I am back devoting my time to art. I even finished off a sketch book over the weekend. The biggest problem was not having it out and available. Eve though it was only upstairs, it was enough for me not to go and get it. I left it out downstairs and ...wah-la...I started sketching. I'm in the middle of building a computer cabinet. When it is complete I'll have a permanent spot for my scanner so I will been scanning some pages from my sketch book.

Anyway. I started working on the candles again tonight. Here is the progress.

Candles

The still life thief is at it again. I wanted to do a few candle paintings so I went through the house gathering candles. My wife was right on to me. This morning she asked me if I knew where the candle in the kitchen was. But with out a pause she said, you're painting it aren't you?

Here is a photo of the set up and the first wash of colors.

Finished

Three weeks later and it's done. My wife saw me scanning it and immediately claimed it for the living room. This is 1/4 sheet Kilimanjaro paper with W&N tube paints.