Watercolors, Inks, and White Gouache

Hot Press

Cold Press
11.5x15 inches


Just exploring different papers, I did two of each. 140 pound hot press and cold press

Watercolor

Figure Painting Class & Home Work

Another great week in figure class, the cowboy theme is always fun.The instructor, Terry Miura gave us a home work assignment and even did it himself. It was to paint a portrait with a single light source using only one color plus white. Well I cheated and use a brown surface to work the black and white onto it and that was not what he ask for, so I failed. I did two portraits and used the brown and black plus white on the second one, just went a bit over board with the first assignment. Finally got some great photos of this stuff.

Watercolors

Watercolors with Pen & Ink

11x7.5 inch watercolor & ink on
140pound arches hot press paper

Seeing these images are a pretty small, I was able to scan them into the computer instead of taking a photo. I figured it to be better than taking a snapshot, but not the case. The trees in both images are pretty close, but the back grounds have way to much saturation, which is not the case in the originals. I really like these little sketches and need to find a way to show a better reproduction. I think the bes way is in the sun, but it has been foggy and rainy so I will have to wait.

James McNeill Whistler

The Golden Screen oil on wood panel -Whistler
11x17 oil on canvas study from above painting

Well I have been wanting to try doing a copy painting from a master like Whistler. And this would be no fun if I just did the same as he did, so I used a limited pallet, Ivory Black, Earth Red, Cad. Lemon Yellow, and White. Not the best photo but I love the end result, it was easy to rely on the fact that it is already a master piece. Being an Illustrator I was trained to copy stuff, so in this painting I really tried to make it my own.

Figure Painting Class with Terry Miura

11x14 inch oil on canvas

Very happy to say I am back to taking some instruction with my figure painting in oils. Terry Miura has been one of the greatest influences on learning about painting to me in years. So I am glad to be back to the grind with homework and everything.

Arrow

8x10 inch watercolor with black and white charcoal pencil on140 pound cold press

Tag

Well another great weekend in living Northern California as I got to ski on Saturday and kayak the white water the very next day. I tagged a sign along the road at the take out, the take out is just were we get out of the river at the end of the day and meet up at the beginning of the day. For the past few months I have showed up a few minutes early and put some time in on my drawing on the back of the sign.
So now I think it is finished and wanted to share the final product. You can not really see the image this good in person because the lines are not as black as they are in the photo. I really pumped up the contrast to create darker lines for you to see. I drew this using graphite, and on the back of the silver sign it is hard to really see. Kind of hidden in a way, if you get up close you can see it really good, but as you drive past you can not see it so much.
Breaking the law a bit maybe, so I will not disclose the location. But I am sure this will not be the last sign I tag. I do wonder if I would get a ticket or in trouble, not looking for that in my life. Just thought it to be a way to kill some time and leave my mark. I did notice after taking a few pictures this week that more that one group of people did walk past and notice with delight. Saying very nice or cool as I just smiled and thought my job was complete and gave a good positive message. I mean a drew some nature, better than looking at the back of a sign, right?

Sketch Book

I made it up to the Sierra's this weekend to do some skiing. Saturday it was quite warm, like spring skiing slushy snow and all. It was still as much fun as a ski bum could ask for. I packed my lunch and thought I should eat at the top in the trees then I saw my sketch book and thought I could hump that up the hill as well. As I said it was warm, enough to draw without gloves.
It was over cast and my view down to Lake Tahoe was really great. All of Lake Tahoe was covered in a blanket of fog.
So it might have been a bit cooler than I first thought because my pen gave out after the first sketch. I was ready with pencil because I though it might be to cold for the pen. Well this was my first time taking the sketch book skiing with me, kind of fun on a non powder day. I have a season pass so I will have to try this more in the future. Maybe in the spring I could try a painting or even just bring some white paint with me to paint on my sketch, to represent snow, or chalk or color pencil maybe.

Watercolor

11x15in. Watercolor

Watercolor 11x15 inches