Got Fish?

This came out a little redder that I had originally intended, but I still think it is a really great painting.  If you have never been, you need to go. Giovanni's is an institution in Morro Bay.  Great fresh seafood, and there is alway a line for fish tacos.

Dorn's The Original Breakers Cafe

Double click this picture to enlarge.

This was done over the weekend.  I found out one really important thing.  If you have two sick kids who are pretty needy, you aren't gonna be able to paint very much at any one time.  This entire painting was drawn and painted in one to two minute segments.

Even with the challenges this turned out ok. Now, I will say that I have been past Dorn's a thousand time, and I don't think the colors are right.  As it turns out, I had to paint the entire thing from a black and white picture.  I should also say that I felt so confident when I started this, that I didn't even do it on really good watercolor paper.  I did it on a slightly lower grade paper.

Odds N Ends

This is a very quick painting of a couple of fishing  boats in the fog in Morro Bay Harbor.  

These are two quick sketches I did of the Harbor Hut tower.  Save the power plant stacks it is the highest thing around the south pier in Morro Bay Harbor.  It is obviously a south pacific themed restaurant.

Bayside Cafe

I have been thinking of painting all the landmarks in Morro Bay.  To see if I could do it I did a few quick paintings yesterday.  They turned out OK.  The problem for me is that same problem I've had all along.  DRAWING.  Having not had a drawing class since Mrs. Mudrack's class in high school.  Drawing is tough.  I have been working on it.

Yesterdays quick sketches gave me a little hope so today I decided to give a go on the Bayside Cafe.  It is located in the State Park, right on the water.

So, armed with a little confidence, resolve and dogged determination, I set out to draw, and paint.  Let me pat myself on the back for a second (pat, pat).  This was drawn in PEN.  Did you get that?  PEN, no pencil.  Once I started, I was all in, for good or bad.  It did take just a while to draw it, but the painting went great. OK, there are a few problems.  The perspective is off in a few places.  I know, I know.  But without an eraser, i was forced to forge ahead.  From a drawing perspective, this is like 5 times as difficult as most of my others.

In talking to my painting partner, Ed, (who is learning to watercolor at the same time) he suggested that it may not be quite enough to mix colors in the tray and then put a homogenous color on the paper.  These are watercolors after all, let the paint mix on the paper.  I am trying to take that advice to heart.  If you look in the painting, you can see that most of the colors change ever so slightly as they lay across the paper.  I do think it adds to the interest of the painting.  I am trying to do it even more.  Please click on the picture to enlarge it, it will look much better.

Back Door to the CM Office

So, I was painting outdoors again today.  Once again I painted building 186.  Some good and some bad.  This is the first floor.  The second and third are of course not represented here.  The very top of this painting is where the railing for the walkway would be attached.  Yes the windows are a bit goofy, the bottom pane is opaque.  There are a few plants in front of the railing that comes from the door.  The lamp post is perhaps a little too thin.  It is close to the bench that I sat at to paint.

Now the good, I've been working on not having solid colors,  I think I got some of that where not all the sections of the wall are the same color.  Not all the panes of the windows are the same, not even all the concrete is the same color.

One more thing.  All but one line and I've got the perspective lines right.  That means my drawing is actually getting better.   Hope you all enjoy.

Play Structure

So last Saturday I took the kids to the park.  If you've never been to Del Mar Park, they have this huge play structure.  The kids love to climb it and slide down the giant green slide.  Well, this Saturday there were a lot of kids there, and good ole dad didn't have to climb and play with them nearly as much, allowing me the opportunity to draw for a bit.  It really took about an hour to draw this, but I think it was worth it.

I didn't paint it until I got home.  Once at home, D got in the tub and Olivia helped me paint.  I would paint a tiny little section, and Olivia would ask, "Can I see it, dad?"  After I would show it to her she would say something like, "You're doing great, dad." or "I'ts really looking good, dad."  She really is amazing for only being 3.  Oh, and it took me a long time to paint it.

Hope you enjoy it.

John's Chicken

John is a faculty member her.  His son took a whole bunch of pictures of their chickens one day and John asked me if I wouldn't paint one.  I said sure.  This is the result of my effort.  No, its not an exact match.  I never really try to make the exact match, but I think I got a fairly good likeness.

College of Business

This is a painting of  the back side of the College of Business.  The closest building is Crandall Gym.  I've painted the front of it which you can see in a previous post.  Yes, the grey thing in the middle of the painting is a post that is really there. Could I have drawn it out of the picture, sure, but I thought it would be more interesting with it in.  I think i did a pretty good job with the HVAC system on top of the building.

Old Vines (Wisteria)

These are some old vines that are growing on a trellis on the College of Business lawn.  Looking at the painting now, I think I needed to add a little more shadow to the rear post, and though I didn't notice it while i was painting, I think I left out at least one post on the far side of the trellis.

There are two large sets of vines growing up, one on each side of the trellis, then going back across the top.  The closer vine is totally grown around an old timber.

A good effort for a 30 min draw/paintsession.  Hope you all enjoy.

Some More Sketches

Some of the sketching that I have been doing.  In order to paint better, I have to be able to draw better. I'm trying very hard to learn to draw what I see in the proper proportions.  Im kind of learning that you have to do a little drawing all over the paper and let them all come together rather than start in one area and move across the paper.    Some day i'll get it.  Until then you all have to suffer through my paintings and drawings.







This is gracie.

I like the couch in this picture.   I don't really care for the credenza.  The proportions on it don't quite seem right.  the blinds are down in the windows, which is why you can't see through them.

I sat on the front patio and did this.  You can see the step leading up to the patio.  A couple of little bushes and some sage.

Building 186

Painted with my new paints.  This is the third floor landing of building 186.  I'm trying to do a more detailed drawings of what I paint.  In this painting I did the building outline, of course, but also the windows, window louvers, and even the railing.  It was hard to draw it and get it right, but I think I did  a pretty good job.

The worst thing about this painting is the railing in the foreground.  I tried to put some shadowing on it, but it just turned out as bad lines.  I like the windows a lot.  I think i did a pretty good job with the.  Yes the bottom row is blue/green.  They are panes of glass that let a little light through, but are not windows to look through

A quick couple of birds

A quick couple of birds for today.  The top is of course a California Quail, the bottom a female robin.  I don't like the eye on the robin, but I think the rest is good.  The quail was a quick experiment.  I don't think either are my best work, but thats why they call it practice.

Broken Down and Rusting

Firstly, let me apologize for the quality of this image.  The size of the painting is larger than my scanner can hold so I had to snap a pic with my camera.  Obviously it didn't do quite as good a job as the scanner.

I've had a book of great pictures from across America for quite a while now.  One of the pictures had a truck in a field in front of a barn.  I like the truck a lot, the barn, not so much.  So here is my take on the truck.

When I drew the truck, I was thinking to myself, just dont screw it up.  When I had finished I thought I did a pretty good job, and wanted to take a picture so I could use the image again.  Then I though, if i can draw it once, I ought to be able to draw it again.  So I forged ahead with painting.  Then as I was painting the parts of the truck I kept thinking, don't screw it up its a long process to get back to where you are.  But in the end,  like the way it turned out.  I might to another one of these, but it wont be for a while.  I think I'll have more confidence in painting it knowing that I've already been able to do it once.


Painting is 11x15
For Sale - $20 - free shipping

No Fat Chicks

I've been told that all the birds I paint seem to be fat.  I just thought they were all big boned.  Today, I give you two birds that might have an actual chance of flight.  Two Western Scrub Jays.  They are fun to paint  with their blue and browns,  This one has found a perch on a dead branch and is looking back over his shoulder.





This picture is approximately 5x7.
For Sale - $10 - free shipping

This second bird did look a bit more haggard in the original, but I don't think I did him any favors in this picture.  Again he  is looking over his shoulder.  I'm told that his head doesn't look like it fits on his body properly.  I didn't really think about it when I drew it.  Its how the picture was.

Both of these birds were fun to paint, and I will be doing more birds.  I've found a website full of great pictures of just about all species of North American birds, so expect to see more in the future.


This picture is approximately 4x6.
For Sale -$8 - free shipping.

Campus Redux

This first picture is a site I see every day.  Since I split my time between two departments, i spend quite a bit of time walking between the two.  This picture was draw from the walkway between building 21, in which my office resides, and building 186, the other building I have responsibility for.  The building on the very left is part of building 21, then next to it , the brick and concrete building is building 14.  You cant really see any other buildings, just trees.  Then of course there is a courtyard in the foreground.

This picture of the student health center.  I never really knew what the building was until I helped Preston make a deliver there a couple of weeks ago.  No,  don't know why so many buildings on campus are raw concrete.  To me that look is pretty hideous.  Of course this building has the additional detractor of the brick fin, or whatever it is on the left hand side.  Go figure, its california.

Area 52 is a huge construction area in the middle of campus.  There are lots of heavy equipment machines around.  I decided to try my hand at one thinking Lindy would like to see it.  I don't know if he will like it or not, but it was definately a challenge to draw and paint it.






I hope you all are enjoying these sketches.  To me they are a lot of fun to do.  I will get back to my normal studio paintings in a little bit, but am having too much fun with these.  I also think I am learning how to draw better now that I am forcing myself to draw every day.  With a little luck, the result of these sketches will be better overall studio paintings.