I just finished up a sketch for a new dry brush watercolor. It is for a very special friend and it will have a tremendous amount a meaning in it for them when it is done. And I am honored to be able to do it for them.

The finished painting will be something a little different for me. I will be adding text into the negative space on the right side of the painting. There will be quiet a bit of it and it will all be hand lettered.

Finished Chickadee Watercolor

The little chickadee is done. He has become my new favorite painting of the year. There is a quiet tranquility to him. He exists in one of those perfect moments in time where there are no cares or worries. A moment to just be.

Progress so far.

Black Capped Chickadee drybrush watercolor

Starting a new drybrush watercolor today. This little chickadee has found himself a perch atop a milkweed plant that has gone to seed.

Barn Swallow watercolor update.

The Barn Swallow painting is done. As promised though I do have a photo of the work in progress to show to you along with the finished painting.

Here you can see the sky and clouds have been filled in and I have begun to paint the swallow. I like to start with the area of interest, in this case his head, and work outward from there.
The finished painting.

Book Project

I have always liked to write poems and short stories. Over the last few years have spent many evenings coming up with short and rather silly bedtime stories for my son. Recently while at breakfast with a friend and her husband the subject of gnomes came up ( don't ask ). This spurred a series of sketches. The latest resulted in this fellow. He finally may be the inspiration for the book project I have been wanting to do for years. I will be posting some of the sketches and the progress of this project along with my regular paintings and sketches.

Barn Swallow Watercolor

If I had to pick one of my favorite birds to watch fly it would have to be the Barn Swallow. They fly swiftly and effortlessly. Often barley seeming to move at all, like an athlete at the zenith of his jump or kick. All of that kinetic energy channeled into a perfect moment of physical movement in which time seems to slow down before it cascades it into flurry of motion. I hope to capture some of that feeling in this painting.


The Swallow has just completed a dive and banked into a air current at the top of a hill along a long forgotten fence line. This rising batch of warm air will give him a tremendous burst of speed, sending him rocketing off into the distance.