October and November 2015

It seems I have neglected my blog for some time now. No excuses of worth here, but I have been busy at times. OK, I admit I got caught up in the Facebook group pages trying to create an art page, I'm still halfway done loading photos of artwork.

I completed a work my daughter, Kim, requested. She asked me if I would draw (something I hadn't done in a while) a picture of one of the actors from the tv show "Game of Thrones." Very popular with the young crowd apparently, but not really to my taste, I prefer documentaries, but there never seems to be enough. I think I watched all of the Time Team vids on youtube, though. Anyway, here's a photo of my work in progress, the reference used, and the finished drawing of Jon Snow from "Game of Thrones." Enjoy.

June 2015

Just a couple of florals to add so far this month. Not a lot of drawing lately, just watercolors. I really love flowers with that fresh look of spring. The top floral is my version of a painting by Janet Rogers, its the second one I've done and it's a very loose, very colorful one.

The irises are approximately 8x5" each. Top one is 9x12", on Fabriano hot press paper. The irises are on Arches cold press 140lb paper.

Current Works - May 2015

Starting some new stuff here. May brings out the sunshine and makes me want to paint! I'm starting by creating works in different mediums, starting with a watercolor of my grandson, Eddie. I'm showing the completed watercolor and the photograph (which I did not religiously copy).

This is a study in shades of gray. My grays are composed of Permanent Rose, Prussian Blue and Sepia or Burnt Sienna. A very limited palette here (four colors), just exposing the variance in grays from light to dark and warm to cool.

'Smokin' Eddie'-Watercolor-11x15" May 2015

The reference photo which I actually had to lighten somewhat to see detail.

May 2015

I went through my works and some old photos in the endeavor to organize, and came up with an old drawing done in 2004. Here's Legolas from The Lord of the Rings, done in graphite on bristol during that time. I wanted to do more characters from LOTR, but time got the better of me, and I was doing more commissions than ever during that time. Perhaps I'll get back to creating more graphite art in the near future.

Legolas-2004-Graphite

A study in white objects that aren't really white. Watercolor on Strathmore cold press. 11x14" 2014.

Bowl of Fruit with Pitchers-2014-Watercolor

The 30 Day Sketchbook Challenge.

Still not done entering the posts for the 30 day Sketchbook Challenge. Here are a few more: I haven't counted them, but I can see there is not 28 days worth at this point. I really should organize my photos better, but there's only two days left of the challenge, so let's hope they start a new one soon.

At first I was very diligent about naming them, indicating what pencils were used, methods and showing any reference photos used. You know how that goes. Gotta try and continue until the end. Wish me luck, there is a prize. See you soon.

March - April 2015

I started joining these art groups on Facebook. One for graphite, one for watercolors, one for oil paintings, and one for domestic and wild animals.

One of the good things about joining something like this is that you want to be organized. Well, at least I do. So, as I'm going through the photos of old artwork, I realize that I haven't shot all of my drawings in my drawers and paintings hanging on the wall. So, I have to photograph them, upload them to these sites and make/receive comments. All well and good.

Moving right along, I also entered a sketch a day contest lasting 30 days. Just keeping busy doing these is a lot of work. I'm getting a good feeling about this "Spring Cleaning & Organizing" thing, plus it keeps me busy communicating with friends and peers.

January - February 2015

My New Year's Resolution, to do more drawings and portraits. 

The first image is Nadia, my great granddaughter, almost 6 months old. A graphite drawing on Fabriano hot press watercolor paper using Staedtler Mars Lumograph pencils. Hailey Gardner and Amanda Gardner, family cousins and nieces, were also taken from this photo.

Nadia, Amanda, Hailey and Eva

I worked Eva from another photo that I liked better.

One of the drawbacks to working from a photo is sometimes you get one that's not clear and distinct. So, I took a different approach than I usually do. Normally I work up to a photorealistic image, but this time I decided to leave it loose and spontaneous. I used the hot press watercolor paper rather than bristol or regular drawing paper because its so smooth and works great for drawing portraits.