House Plant

I promised that I was going to get back into panting,  Maybe I won't paint every day, but I'll put out more work than once a month like I did over the summer.  This past weekend, after I was doing domestic stuff (shampoo'ed the carpets in the entire house, cleaned two bathrooms, cleaned the kitchen, scooped the cat box and made myself a sandwich), I took a few minutes to draw and paint a house plant that I have.

The kids were at a birthday party, and I figured I had about 4 to 5 hours to get everything done.  After the previously mentioned housework, I figured I had at most 30 minutes left.  A quick drawing, a splash of paint, a quick second splash and I figured I was gonna be out of time very soon.  A quick clean up, and I was done.  Shortly after the kiddo's returned.  All in all a very successful day.

I bought a book of 90 lb paper last year, always intending to use it to do some sketching on, but never getting around to it.  Well, I pulled it out and used it for this painting.  I'll admit it's not quite as nice as my 140 lb paper, but its not bad for something quick.  As you can see, the paper didn't really buckle or bubble or anything.  There is some very slight warping, but given that the page was wet for 15 minutes I think it held up really well.  There are 40 sheets of paper in this book,   I'm looking forward to filling up the remaining 39.

Hope you enjoy.

Campus Market

Can you guess what this is a picture of?  Yes, you got it, the Campus Market.  And guess what else, they have a potato bar.  Woooo Hooo.   I love the look of the metal, stone and glass on this  building.  I tried to do it justice.  In reality there are a few picnic tables in front of the building, but I tried to draw them and it got to be just a bit too much, so I left them off.  Looking back now, it really could use something in the lower right hand corner to balance the picture out a bit.

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 Continuing Assault on Campus Buildings

I thought i would try something a little different today.  Bothe pictures today were done in watercolor crayon. It is sometimes hard to find a bench to sit on and paint, let alone a bench and table in an area where you want to paint.  So I thought it would be easier to take my watercolor crayons out and draw the pictures, then return to my office, wet them and outline them.  I have to admit there are some things I like about this approach.  I lose the opportunity for any detail at all, but gain speed and the ability to do this just about anywhere.  This picture is of the entrance to Cradall Gym.  The gym itself isn't used anymore and the University is trying to find a good way to utilize the space.  It is a huge building built in the old mission style.  This is the first crayon drawing I've done.

This picture is the corder of building 38.  I believe it is one of the Mathematics buildings.  The black in the center is a bank of doors that are just set back and very dark, even in real life.  I am working with a limited selection of colors which is why the bark mulch might look a little orange, and the bricks in the road a little too pink.

Hope you enjoy them both.

Drawn By Lindy, Painted By Michael

Lindy was so proud to draw this truck for me.  I drew one for him too, and we sat down together to paint them.  As you can see, this truck has an engine in the front and one in the back.

Wednesday's Door and Window

Watercolor 6x9 SOLD

I think todays picture came out pretty good.  A nice perspective painting.  I painted this because I loved the way the wall had stucco, brick and rock exposed.  It made the surface really interesting.  I just hope i did some justice to the real place.  Hope you all enjoy the painting.

Catching up with some things

I haven't done much painting lately because work has been so busy.  I am desperately trying to  reclaim my lunch hour and painting.  I thought I would step back and do something simple to start back up, so I did the orange door.  It, of course, didn't turn out like I wanted.  But I still like it, there are some good elements there.  Then I did the little boat, and again, good and bad.  I've been wanting to do some different kinds of paintings for some time, and my friend Carrie was nice enough to volunteer for this painting.  Let me know what you think of these.