Peircon must be a Colts fan. He loved his new jacket. This is part of a small sketchbook I have been keeping lately. Takes me longer to draw the subject than it does to paint them. I try to stay loose but just can’t quite make the switch. My drawing realism affects the painting. I like it but wish I could loosen up a bit more…

If you can get them to sit still long enough that is…

She was so thrilled to be wearing a dress. Farm girls prefer jeans and old tshirts don’t you know?

A friend of my daughter’s spent the weekend with us last weekend. Her parents had reunions to go to and we had a Halloween party at our barn for the kids. Anyway, I was painting and snapped a few quick portraits of her that I converted into this sketch. I think it turned out pretty good. It looks like her at least.

Thanks for letting me paint you Flannery…

More portraits to come…

I started a safari series not too long ago. A favorite aunt requested a painting of a koala bear so that is what I started with in the series. Everyone loves koala bears right?

Okay, let me clarify a bit… these are the grand kids but I’m not the grandparent. The two older kids are mine and the younger is a cousin. This painting is for my parents.

I put this together as a Christmas present.

Okay, so I haven’t been keeping this site as up to date as I would have liked. I was busy most of November with design projects. However, I did get a few paintings accomplished. One of which is this painting of a father and son for a new friend I met over the Internet. She is a photographer in Northern Indiana and this is her husband and son.

This is a portrait of a friend’s boxer that I took while camping with them this fall. This dog is the friendliest boxer and is extremely playful. He also has a wonderful smile too.

I used a small cell phone photo to capture his likeness and then drew him out on Arches 140lb Cold Press watercolor block. From there I chose a few basic Winsor Newton watercolors and began painting him from light to dark. This took about 4 hours to complete. Letting layers dry between applications.

I would like to start doing more of these because this one was so much fun.

I sprained my ankle real bad a few months ago now. Makes it hard to climb stairs or get around. I won’t be able to get to my studio to paint in oils for awhile it looks like. Not to worry though, I have a project that I have been wanting to get to for some time now. Over the years I have taken and gathered many photos of my beautiful wife. I need to brush up on my figure drawing and portrait drawing skills as well as painting in watercolor. These photos extend from present to the mid 80′s when we met as Freshman in high school. So, here are a few 30-60 minute drawings and paintings that I did while being laid up for awhile…

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I have a few watercolor artists that I really admire for their technique and observations. One in particular does a lot of landscapes and considers himself a “representational landscape artist”. Now, I’ve read a lot of different opinions on what a representational painter is and I guess, to a degree, I have always been led that was as well. To me I enjoy taking an observation (life or photo) and “colorizing” it. Watercolor is the coolest at this. Basically using cool colors like purples, greens and even certain blues in the shadows and warmer colors like reds and yellows in highlights. There’s more to it than that but essentially you are giving life back to your shadow areas and letting colors mix and give new life to a painting. In this series I am also searching for my way of painting without the use of masking fluid too. Things like trees, rocks, foilage being painted without the use of masking to save the lights or define edges. It is harder than it seems but has a more natural look to it when done properly. Here are a few small paintings from my watercolor blocks…

Click on an image above for a larger view in another window…