Snowman Holiday Card

Here is one of the cards I am sending out for the holidays this year.  A Snowman!!!  I really think he looks great.

Last year I did Christmas tree bulbs and I thought they turned out pretty good.  This years card I think is so much better.   I make a conscious effort not to try to make him look "perfect".  What I wanted was that layering that you can only get  with watercolors.

I started with one layer of cobalt tea to se the background color of the snowman.  A second layer darkened him up just a bit.  The third layer is Pthalo Blue, and then the 4th is Pthalo also.   added this many layer, painting just a bit less with each successive layer, in order to add texture and shadow to the snowman.

Finally, a bit of turquoise for the background and a mix of ultramarine and cerulean for the base.  All in all, I think it looks fantastic.

The real test, I suppose will be in the comments I get from the people who receive one of these cards.  Thats really all I have for this update.  Thanks for the quick read.

As always, or usual, if you would like to see how I painted this, check out the video below.  Thank you.

Delicious Watermelon slices

Who doesn't like watermelon?  I don't think there is anyone who doesn't.  Probably no other food encapsulates summer as much as a watermelon.

Hers is my take on the simple watermelon.  Delicious slices.  I've painted these two pieces of watermelon with just a little bit of a shadow underneath.  I wanted to give some dimension to these slices, not just make them pink slabs with a green end and some black dots.

What I did was to make the hard edge of the slice the lightest part of the painting.  normally, I like the foreground to be the darkest part of my paintings, but here I had to make an exception.  The white on the corners is supposed to, along with the drawing, make this really look three dimensional.  I think I've accomplished that somewhat.  Tell me what you think.

Hope you enjoy this little painting I did.  If you would like to see a video of it, check it out below.  Thanks for the quick read.  Stop back again for the next update.

Sketching Gus's Grocery

Gus's Grocery is one of the best Sandwich shops in San Luis Obispo.  To call it a Grocery really is a misjustice.  Yes, you can go in and shop for a few things: chips, soda, and beer, but in reality it just a sandwich shop.  Well, not just a sandwich shop, probably the best sandwich shop in around.

Step up the the order window and give them your order.  Your sandwich will be fresh made right in front of you.  Most of the time they will slice the cheese and meat at the time they make the sandwich.  I'm partial to the Italiano.  Oh and by the way, make it a Bomber.

Well, thats it, enjoy the painting.  I had a great time painting it, and really do hope you like it.

Zion National Park, Utah

 A few pictures of Zion National Park.  I've been there many times and am always in awe of the beauty of the Park.  There are so many trails you can take, and even on a hot day you can find a canyon that is nice and cool.

I've been on the edge of cliffs with sheer dropoffs of probably a thousand feet.  I've hiked up creeks and river, under waterfalls and through small ponds.  I've also trod across trails that are so hot and dusty it seemed like I would burn up.

Here are a few sketches of Zion.  The Narrows.  The Watchman.  Angels Landing.

I can't wait until I can go back again.  it is such and amazing place.

If you are interested, I've got some videos too:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4wMGGgQ85E

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJhk51mCFL4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdiWcqOLMQc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTYS2o5zbnw

American Avocet

I found a picture of this bird while surfing the web nearly a year ago.  I printed it out and then it got lost in a drawer somewhere.  I found the picture the other day and realized that I needed to paint it.  I was thinking what could I do to this picture.  There really isn't a lot going on with it.  Just a bird standing there.

So much like the beach here where i live, when you look, the beach just kind of disappears in the distance and the sky starts.  There is no real line of demarcation. I tried to make this painting resemble that.  A nice gentle transition from sand to sky.

As for the bird, i really like everything except its head.  I just don't understand what happended there.  Love the wing, love the underbelly, like the legs.  Head.... meh.   Oh, well,  I guess thats why they call it practice.  Thanks for taking the time to read, and check out the picture.  Hope you enjoyed it.

Student Structures

Students on our campus usually play an active role in shaping the physical landscape of campus.  These first two pictures are houses build by students.  They reside out in the canyon and have not been lived in in quite some time but with a little work could be brought up to date and made live-able.

The final picture is a horse statue that is now it the library.  It is called the living library mustang.  I'm not sure how living it is.  It seems to only have a couple of plants stuck on it after the fact, but..... oh well.  The students build the entire statue from recycled materials.

It's all gone to the birds (seagulls)

I've been invaded by seagulls!!!  Living near the ocean, it's hard not to see seagulls every day.  Usually I try to pay them as little mind as possible.  For some strange reason, I got a hankering for painting them.  Here is what I came up with.  One I did on my lunch hour, and one I did in the studio.

There are bits of both that I really like, and bits on both that I wish I could do over again.   I'll not go into what things are which, but let you all take a guess at it.

On both of these, I started drawing from the head, and, as it turned out, should have either made the head smaller or started higher up on the page.  The bird kind of ran off the bottom of the paper. For me its not a big deal since I don't like painting feet anyway, but it would have made a bit nicer picture if the bird was planted on something.

As in the past, I did make a video of myself painting this seagull.  If you have an interest, please check out the video below.

Thanks for the quick read, and I hope you enjoy the paintings.