Back from the birding trip.

   We had a great time birding even though the weather made it...., lets say challenging. Forty mile per hour winds, rain, wind, lightening, tornado warnings, wind, over night temperatures in the thirties. Did I mention the wind?
   I took lots of pictures. Some of which may actually be good enough to share. I had my sketch book along for the trip and had every intention of sketching anything that would stand still long enough. But while my rain coat kept me warm and dry it would seem that leaving ones pocket unzipped lets rain in and gets what ever is inside of that pocket very wet. If you have never tried to draw on soggy paper, don't, it doesn't turn out so well.
  I will get soom pictures up soon.

Mirgatory Bird Day

We will be heading up to Magee Marsh Wildlife area this weekend to check out all the spring migrants that are passing through. Hopefully I will have lots of sketches and photo to share when we get back.

More sketches of people

I think the gentleman in this sketch was on to me. I am pretty sure he new I was drawing him. He was people watching at the coffee shop.



This man fascinated me. I wish I had more time to get a few sketches of him instead of this quick one.

When he walked it was with a shuffling gait. All of his other movements were sure and with purpose. It was as though his legs had betrayed him one to many times. It was not that he doubted them, but more that he took them for what they were. remaining confident in the rest of himself.

New Oil Painting

Life has been kinda hectic again. But I finally found time to finish this painting. It has been bumping around the studio for about a year now. For some reason it kept getting moved aside to make room for something else. Every once in awhile I would pull it out and work on it, just to have it get pushed aside again. It has become a constant companion. Always sitting on its shelf waiting patiently. It became quite comforting to look at while I was on the phone or taking a break from some other project. Now It is finished. In a day or two when all the paint has dried I will take some finished photos of it and begin looking for a good home for it. I think it will be kind of strange around here for awhile with out it staring back at me.

Sketching

Sketching is the backbone of the visual arts. It is exercise for your creative muscles and your artistic eye. And to tell the truth I have not been doing enough of it. So little in fact that my creative muscles have become Jello ( the green kind with the little marshmallowie things floating in it ) and my artistic is kinda blurry. So I have resolved to get into shape and to post some of my sketches here to keep me honest.

I stopped in at a local bakery/eatery today and sketched up some business men having a meeting.

Portrait

I get asked a lot if I can paint other things besides animals and birds. And for some reason people are always shocked that I can. I was recently asked to do a portrait for a friend. Her husband had past away several years ago after a long illness. It was a bit of a challenge in that there were very few photos from when he was healthy. I had to combine several photos from different points in his life. Most were of a candid nature with angles that were not the best for a traditional portrait. After many sketches we settled on this pose and composite of features.

The actual painting was done in dry brush watercolors.

Finished Falcon

Well, here it is finally. It has been a crazy couple of weeks around here. I have some new

have some new projects coming in and I thought I should finish this guy up before he got lost in the shuffle. I usually don't seal or varnish the watercolors but I think I will this one. A coating of a spray varnish should bring up the richness of the warm tones in the background.