The Tracker

It's been amazingly busy around here but I did actually finish another drawing.  It's 11"x15" Graphite on D'Arches 140 lb hot press watercolor paper.   Unlike the figure studies I do at the life drawing sessions this drawing is very detailed and takes many hours with a fine point pencil.

There is a studio tour coming up next week and I've been trying to get ready for that.  It's amazing how messed up a studio can become when you are busy with a million other things.  It kind of sneaks up on you!  The next couple of days will be spent fixing that situation.

There is also an oil painting on my easel and it is progressing slowly.  Hopefully it will have progressed enough to use it as a demo during the studio tour.  I will post it here when it is finished.

Along with my artwork and work in the yard of our new house, we now have Kayaks which we have only used once so far but hope to use a lot more as the summer progresses.  The one time we have had the chance to use them we went out to the Hood Canal and paddled approx. five miles and saw about twelve bald eagles that were flying around above our heads.  The day was clowdy but the  water was calm and it didn't rain.  A great day kayaking! We also found out where a couple really good scuba site were located.  
Speaking of scuba diving we went on a dive a couple of weeks ago to Ed's Fault in Discovery bay.  The Viz wasn't very good but it was a great dive non-the-less.  All the usual kritters were seen along with Ling Cod, a variety of rock fish and some wonderful tube worms.  No Giant Pacific Octopi though. 

Life Drawing

I was looking through a pile of drawing pads the other day and was noticing how my weekly life drawing sessions had changed over the years.  I have been very fortunate in that I have been around people in Montana, the Spokane area and now here on the Olympic Peninsula that get together to hire models for weekly drawing sessions.  These sessions are the highlight of my week and with the other participants helping out with the model fees, has continued to be affordable.  The drawings I do at these sessions are not what I would call my finished drawings like I do of wildlife.  They are fairly fast renderings that I do not even try to sell.  They are drawn on everything from newsprint, kraft paper to 100% rag paper. 

I have always loved drawing and painting people but for financial reasons painted mostly landscapes and wildlife because there is more of a market for those subjects.  At least that is my perseption.  The weekly drawing sessions I'm sure have added to my skill as a painter and artist in general but I go because each session feels like a gift to myself.  What could be better than good friends, good models and hours to draw!

Beach Dancer III

This is the last Beach Dancer painting I've done.  Sometime in the future I may do some more but for now this is it for this little girl dancing with such abandon on the beach.  Hanging together I hope they show some of the energy and joy she was expressing through her dance.

Bison Drawing

     Here is my finished drawing of the bison.  As usual I thought I was finished a couple of times and then after looking at it for awhile I thought it needed something changed.  That is a pretty normal process for me and I usually avoid posting anything until I have a chance to look at it for awhile.  On this piece I decided that it needed a background, more sage and some distant hills.  I'm still thinking about a name for it and several have come to mind.  "In His Prime" is one I'm thinking about.

On the Drawing Board

This is what I'm currently working on.  I've almost finished with the bison and still have the foreground and background to do.  Usually I do a very minimal background but I haven't decided on this one yet.  This is done on 1/4 sheet of D'Arches hot press watercolor paper.  For this photo I've cropped some off around the bison that is just blank paper at this point so the composition will be a little different.  I will probably take a few more days of work on it for me to finish it.   I will post the finished piece when it is done.

Lopez Island was the location of a recent paint out that I attended.  It's a beautiful island with and endless supply of beautiful scenes to paint.  This painting is of a view from Spencer's Spit.  There is a very nice park there and even though it was a little bit of a hike down the hill it was a great place to paint.  This was painted in the afternoon and I even came back the next afternoon to try to catch the shadows and reflections as I saw them when I started painting.  I've had the opportunity to see this painting hanging on my wall for awhile and I'm thinking I will tone down the very light grey logs in the middle distance.  They were almost white in the bright sunlight but it seems to me that they don't really add anything to the composition and actually become a distraction.  It will be a simple thing to darken the logs or take it out completely.  I'd be interested in other viewers opinion.

I'm looking forward to some warmer weather so that going outdoors to paint is more appealing.  I have on occasion painted in very cold and/or wet weather.  When it's really cold paint doesn't move around well and every time I've painted in anything more than a slight drizzle the painting was a disaster!  Once at a paintout in northern Idaho I tried setting up my large umbrella and started a painting even though it was just pouring rain.  Didn't work! Even with the umbrella water was soon drizzling down the front of my canvas and into my palette. 

Another time I was painting in East glacier when a camp robber (Grey Jay) came and sat on the top of my painting and then before I knew it he jumped down into my palette and took a big bite of my cad. red!  When I first saw him land on my painting I happened to have a small camera in my pocket so I took some pictures.  This all happened while I was standing there painting! I hope he survived the toxic paint!