September 2018-Notes

I have yet to post some pics as my camera has had some issues lately. The family has been busy putting up the harvest we've invested in lately and there hasn't been time for much else. As you know, there has been lots of smoke in the skies, making it horrible to breathe from the wildfires, even hundreds of miles away, all along the West Coast, and we've all had warnings to keep indoors.
Oregon has beautiful farms and the produce is just out of this world. There's an abundance of pick your own "berry farms" nearby and we've gotten

so much. The blueberries, Triple Crown blackberries, strawberries, raspberries, and more. The produce is from the local farmer's markets or the organic shelves in the local groceries. When the harvest comes in, there's much work to do. Also, some good eats to share.

Next...will send shots of the canning goods. Lots of jams, fruit, relishes...yum. 

Mom's China

I remembered the kind of china (dinnerware) mom had when we were living in Oregon, as I am now after 55 years or so in California (born San Diego 1947). She bought this Franciscan Ware "Apple Blossom" in the fifties piece by piece at a pricey department store in Salem, OR. It was a family fave on her side of the family as my grandmother was also a collector. Grandma had lots of treasures because Grandpa was an antique dealer.

This is my interpretational sketch of a stack of it in watercolor on cold press paper 11x15"

May 2018

Well, looks like Google has ownership of the blog now and have changed things considerably. I hope to continue to give updates in the usual manner, so here goes.

Lately, since the move to Oregon, I haven't done a lot of blogging, art, or anything else. I intend for that to change, now that I'm acclimatized to living back in the land of my childhood. Just a little cooler and wetter than I remembered. We did have fires in the Columbia River Gorge (boundary between Oregon and Washington) with serious ash in the air. Health has been wicked as well but Oregon has amazing healthcare and I have a couple of doctors. On the upside I'm feeling better and hope to get that old energy back real soon.

In the meantime, I've been painting some feathers. A little watercolor, some paper, nice brushes and we're off and running. I have more coming soon...

December 2017

It's been a long year. We moved from California to Oregon in August, so there was so much to do this year to prepare for the long move, van, new job, etc. So much planning, packing, I rarely had time for any art. Since the move there are a few new items. Hope you like them. The first abstract watercolor (11x15") is 'Fish'n'Chicks', the next are three of my Chanel watercolors and the last one is an acrylic painting with ink & trim of the Eiffel Tower (Tower is Tour in French), about 8x10" stretched cotton canvas.

March 2017

Final shot, maybe I'll work more on it later. Kinda ridiculous someone made a comment about how I should get a mat and a bigger frame before they commented on the work (I had shown it in a frame with no mat that I had laying around). Funny, when you don't ask for advice and there are rules not to give if not asked.

More graphite work. My role as artist sometimes takes on a teacher role. As I learn more about pencils, graphite and carbon, the more I like to share. I have been working on a sketch of Dame Helen Mirren using her character of Jane Tennison in Prime Suspect.

After blocking in the facial features and the tones I needed, I will start refining the features and hair. I usually work all over the subject rather than in parts as I go and it works out better for me that way. At first I did grid work in an effort to be more photo realistic, but I found that I actually would make mistakes that way, go figure, right? So back to the old way for me.

December 2016 - January 2017

Back to graphite for a while. Two commissions in the near future, all from photograph. I'm so looking forward to it because doing it for money means I have to do my very best work. Which has the side-effect of making my work better.

We're done with the Chanel decor for the moment and changing the accent colors in my studio. Just the necessities here.

To take up some spare time, meantime, doing some graphite drawings per request. I noticed when you've not done anything for weeks, getting back into it is a little frustrating (at least for me). So, something easy like Daenerys from Game of Thrones and all her blond locks. Easy, right? I think it will be completed in three phases. The first or what I like to call, the blocking out phase, working out the kinks in the placement of everything. So here is phase one:

For phase one, blocking in with Cretacolor Monolith pencil in 4B, as well as a mechanical pencil with AinStein 4B lead. A really light very hard pencil, 6H for the delicate first layer of skin. Time with this is about 1.5 hours. The paper is 11x14" Fabriano Studio 90# hot press watercolor paper. No blending at this point. 

Phase two: More detailed and darkening as well as a little blending. Working on the final phase(s). 

PHASE TWO

FINAL

November 2016

As promised, a few photos of my multi media art. In particular, the Steampunk movement has inspired me to do more than draw and paint on canvas/paper. Always a good way to use up spare nuts, bolts, old jewelry, buttons and other odds and ends laying around.

Here's what I have so far. All Chanel logos were created by hand, not copied or printed from the internet. Some old Chanel related drawings are included because I decided that Chanel inspired and Steampunk work quite well together. See if you agree.