Child Study 1

Watercolor and Graphite on paper  3.5" x 3"

1996? This is the first in a series of 5 little drawings I did quite a while ago. All 5 were done within a very short time - probably less than 1/2 hour. I was visiting at a child care center and was waiting for a while. I happened to have a sketch pad and one of those small watercolor travel kits with me. I thought I would see if I could capture a likeness of some of the kids as they interacted with each other. It was a play time so they were all running around. It was a challenge to work that quickly. Overall, I am happy with the results of this exercise. Some of them turned out better than I had expected. 

Child Study 2

Graphite drawing on paper  3" x 4"

1996? Second in the series. I may have had time to do this one in color but I am guessing she moved prior to me getting that done. I liked the way she was holding that crayon. The whole drawing just looks typical of a little kid to me.

Child Study 3

Graphite and Watercolor on paper  3.5" x 2"

1996? Number 3 in the series. This looked to me to be a painful position to sit in but it didn't seem to bother him. I had more time to get this down than the others. He sat there for quite a while like this.

Child Study 4

Graphite drawing on paper  3.5" x 2.5"

1996? Another in the series. Ever notice how kids at a certain age have big heads? My wife has explained that this is true of all toddlers. I remember thinking that his back, from the shoulders down, was as straight as the stick he was holding. Maybe his shirt was just too big.

Child Study 5

Watercolor and Graphite on paper  2.5" x 3"

1996? Another in the series. Sorta liked the expression captured here considering it was done in just a few minutes. Sometimes I think that is the secret to getting a "loose" look in my artwork. If I don't have the time to overwork it - I won't.

Runner Sled

Colored Pencil on paper  4" x 5.25"

December 1996. I was working on ideas for Christmas Card themes when this one came to be. It is the only thing I can find now that I had done in colored pencil. At one time, I was using prismacolor pencils to do a lot of stuff. Most of it was for product design concepts and packaging at a company where I was working at the time. I even did catalog and magazine lay-out concepts with colored pencil. I am not sure why I was not using art markers but there must have been a reason. All of those originals were the "property of the company" so I have none to show now. I may have a stash of some of them - will include those here if I ever find them. I do remember that they were better than this one.

Color Pattern 1

Watercolor on Strathmore Imperial 140lb. Cold Press Postcard 4" x 6"

1996?  Okay, so not exactly a good rendition of "abstract art" but that is what I was attempting at the time. I was thinking that anyone could do abstract stuff - just throw some paint down and call it art. I was very disappointed after doing this and realized that my previous conviction was not correct. There is more to it but I am still not sure what the answer is. I decided to include this on the blog more as a personal reminder. I need to do some more investigation into what makes this abstract concept work.

Ball Study

Graphite on Sulphite Paper 2" x 2"

Spring 2009. Demonstration for children on shading. I placed a ball on a white cloth and used strong light positioned from above and left. The goal was to achieve a very clear contrast from dark to light. I intended it to be a very easy exercise. It was not as easy due to the reflected light off of the white cloth. They were good sports about it and seemed to have fun. I will have to try it again but re-think the lighting.

A Knights Victory

Watercolor on Arches 140 lb. Cold Press  12" x 16"

Completed in 1996 - If I remember correctly. This one is representative of my early days in working with watercolor. I had attended a rennaisance faire in Triune, TN and had taken photo's with the idea that they would be good source material. This painting was one of several I did with those photo's. I remember being pleased with some of the details on the knight but not with the tree line in the background. That part was quickly done without alot of thought. I consider it now to be a good "learning moment" for me. Another issue I have now is that there was little thought to the composition. I think that is what bothers me most is that the painting as a whole doesn't make sense. Oh well ...

Green Pepper

Oil on Canvas board 9" x 12"

Completed 11/15/98. This was the first time I ever tried to paint anything with oil. Other than just trying to see how this stuff worked, I do remember a desire to see how green I could make the pepper look. So...lets just surround it with all that red! That red, by the way, took what seemed like a year to dry completely. It made me think that oil was not the way to go. I have since altered that original impression and now enjoy this medium. I still sometimes think it takes to long to dry but I realize that this can be an advantage.

Coffee

Pigmented ink on bristol 3" x 3"

October 2009. I was looking for possible themes that would work well when thinking about fall and cold weather. I guess coffee just came to mind. This could have possibly been inspired by the Starbucks I had that morning ( and others ) but I will not say that this was the cause. Never did do and actual painting as was the purpose of this but thought it was fun to look at anyway.

Maple leaf

Pigmented ink on bristol 3" x 3"

October 2009. One more in the series of small illustrations designed to work out ideas for a possible painting. Thought this one might be good to zoom in on even more and do a large format painting. I am sure it would turn out very abstract but yet familiar. It could work well.

Oak leaves

Pigmented ink on bristol 3" x 3"

October 2009. Another composition study for possible painting subjects. I like the illustration look to this. It was interesting to look that close at something as simple as a leaf. There was a lot of possiblilies for showing contrast, color, and texture with these.

Brown Acorn

Pigmented ink on bristol 3" x 3"

October 2009. Another in the series of small illustrations of items for fall. This also was composition to test ideas for possible paintings in the future. I was more interested in painting this one - liked the crack and slight opening at the end. I thought I could do more with this in a painting. Once again, never got that far. Maybe I will return to this at some point.

Green Acorns

Pigmented ink on bristol 3" x 3"

October 2009. Working on compositions for fall painting subjects inspired this illustration. I never did actually convert it into a painting but did like the way it looked. Thought I would include it with the rest of the stuff here just to give an idea of the process I sometimes will go through to test out an idea prior to painting. Other times I will just launch into a painting without this step. I guess it just depends on my mood at the time.

Fall Meadow

Oil pastel on smooth bristol board 4" x 4"

This was a quick study done in the fall of 2009. I had been playing around with smearing / blending the oil pastel on the smooth hard paper and found that I liked the effect. I decided to try it out with a photo that I had recently taken while out driving. I used part of the subject matter in the photo and made up the rest - including some of the wild colors. I never intended to actually do anything with this other than experiment but in re-discovering this little painting decided that it was kind of interesting.  Thought I would put it up just to show some variety of stuff that I have been working on.

Max

Acrylic on canvas 20" x 20"

This painting was completed on March 1, 2010 and is a commissioned work of an english bulldog puppy. I was sent a group of photo's and this composition was taken from a cropped version of one of these with color choices made by comparing several other photo's. I was happy with how this one turned out. It seemed to elicit smiles and laughter to those who saw it. I was kinda hoping for that effect when I chose this format. It actually turned out to be a very good likeness of Max and the owners were very pleased with the painting.  

bug

acrylic  24" x 30" on canvas

It took another child and a few more years for me to get ready to try the larger format pop art style again. I knew shortly after she was born that I would do another one of these for her. So, I waited until she was about the same age that "moo" was when I did her painting. Even after that time arrived I was reluctant to make another attempt. With the time that passed between these two paintings, I was not sure that I would remember how I arrived at the look that would still define who it was but still be the correct style. Again, there were several iterations, however, this painting seemed easier. I was no longer having the same difficulty with the color shift or in getting the tones I was looking for. Actually, the real challenge was in choosing the correct background that would work with the different skin and hair color. I ended up painting five small sketches of various combinations before the choice was made. This painting ( finished 9/27/09 ) completes my own internal promise: two girls - two paintings, both done in the same style and at the same point in their lives. Perhaps I will add more paintings to this series at different phases as they continue to grow.

moo

acrylic  24" x 30"  on canvas

Finished on October 15, 2003, this was a painting of my oldest daughter done in a pop art sort of style. The goal was to keep only the shapes that would identify the face as hers. It took many iterations of sketches to get the look I wanted and still retain the cartoonish appearance. In addition,this was the first larger painting I had ever attempted using acrylic. There was a definate learning curve with the color shift that happens as acrylics dry. I was relieved to have this one finished at the time. It seemed to be more work than I thought it would be when I started. I was and am still happy with the results.

Early Morning

Watercolor 12" x 16" on Arches 140lb cold press - November 1996

This was my first attempt to do an entire painting using only two colors. I limited the selection to french ultramarine and burnt sienna ( both from Winsor & Newton ) - then I cheated and added a small amount of cobalt violet in the background in the horizen line area. I guess I just couldn't help myself. I was, however, happy with the cooler look in the background. It makes all rest seem even warmer which is what I was after.

This painting was taken from a photo I took just at daybreak on an early summer morning. There was a light fog in the air that seemed to hide all color. I wanted to capture that feel in a painting. I was reasonably happy with the result at the time.