houseplant

fish tank

Brush pen and photoshop.

yard art

Left; an old clinky clonky bamboo windchime. I love these things. Right; an old purple martin bird house. The wood is rotting, so I doubt it's been inhabited in in quite some time.

Large moleskine with Faber-Castell PITT pens.

the birdfeeder and the hopeful cat

Throughout the winter I have had many birds feeding and living very close by. They are so much fun to observe. Clarence, my cat co-exists nicely with them for the most part. Only once, I found cardinal feathers on the ground. They are either the least suspecting, or the bravest of the birds.

houses on a hill

This is quick pencil sketches, inked later without photo references. I had to invent the small details.

rural location sketching

A montage of houses in the hills on the edge of town.

Having lived, traveled and sketched extensively in large cities, rural sketching is a different challenge. There are very limited public places, most land is privately owned. I see many places where I would like to get a closer look for sketching, but the "keep out" and "private property" postings are serious business.

Although I sometimes take chances with trespassing, it makes me very uncomfortable. (I had a shotgun pointed at me once while sketching in a cattle pasture, that was not good at all. Ranchers have no mercy). In these cases, I sneak in, sketch very quickly and take snapshots. Using a camera is a dilemma in the sense of being a "purist" in the location sketching crowd, but I would be very limited otherwise. Besides, I have always loved photography almost as much as drawing, sketching and painting.

sketching stools

A couple of months ago I bought two of these wooden stools at a community yard sale. I keep them in my truck for on-location sketching. The original owner is a man from Denmark who bought these at a Dude Ranch in Montana. Dimensions; 18" x 14" x 3".

palms on the beach

Way back in art school I painted quite a bit with gouache. I really enjoyed it then, so I have been experimenting with it again. I love the chalky look and blending qualities of gouache. Sometimes I feel a great urge to go back to art school.

April showers

A late afternoon thunderstorm.