Oct 5, 2013

IF - Underwater Oct 4, 2013




















OK, so I was feeling a little weird today and with the IF word being "underwater" I just went for it. Looks like this fellow has been underwater too long.

Sep 28, 2013

IF-Onomatopoeia - Clickety Clack



















OK. I was pretty sure I knew the word but looked it up to make sure before I committed to this. Anyway, if you have ever ridden on a train you know the clickety clack sound of the wheels running on the rails. This is caused by the shifting of the rails at the junction point of two rails meeting. Not very romantic but the whole train travel experience must be taken as a whole for it to work at all. After ridding the rails in Europe for a number of years I'm sorry to say that the system in the US is barely ride-able and needs a Major overhaul.

Sep 19, 2013

Class Room work









So here is one of my drawings from the Soft Pastel workshop I took from Tom Christopher at Eureka Springs School of the Arts (ESSA). Learned a lot. This is 400lb sanded paper (who knew it was Sand Paper, good enough to use in my wood shop :-)), started with a watercolor background and then pastel. Generally I work a little too heavy for this technique so I need to develop a softer hand. This was quite a stretch from my normal pen and ink but I'm trying to spread out into other mediums anyway and this was a very enjoyable class. Check out Tom's work at http://tomchristopherartist.com/about

Aug 16, 2013

















Well I have been lax in working on my art for Illustration Friday however I have been working at learning other expression mediums so here is my first real try at a pastel painting. These are soft pastels and not a very expensive brand but I was happy with the results and plan on continuing to work at this as I would like to get more color into my artwork. I have an upcoming class in pastel drawings in about 30 days and I am really looking forward to it. This is a little messy kind of medium but I knew this going in so found a place I can work that doesn't make a great mess in the house. I have been looking at as many of the You-Tube videos as possible dealing with pastels and Colin1940 has some amazing drawings and does a lot of step by step tutorials. Check him out when you can. I'll set up a link to his www with the others. Well enough for now, enjoy.

Jun 18, 2013

Email from Crystal Bridges this morning. They were interested in using my latest drawing of the turtle as part of the advertisements for other classes at the Museum. Holly Cow would that be great.

Jun 15, 2013


This is a new color pencil drawing for which I developed the idea during a class in "photography to drawing" held at Crystal Bridges last month. The shell is a part of the structure of the museum and has always reminded me of a turtle.  Below are the pictures which I used to develop this drawing.





















Apr 16, 2013

IF - WILD 04-12-13




















Here is just a quick cartoon for this weeks Illustration Friday word which is WILD!

Apr 9, 2013

IF - Urban 04/05/13





















Here is a little Urban sprawl!! An interesting word for this week. Went through a number of iterations on this before I settled on this configuration. Thanks for viewing.

Mar 15, 2013

IF - Eye Glasses 03-15-13




















So here is my take on this weeks Illustration Friday which is Eye Glasses. My wife calls this my dirty old man drawing. As usual comments, questions, and just chatter is always welcome. Thanks for stopping by.

Feb 11, 2013

IF - Storm 2/8/13



















This is a typical streamline analysis weather chart of a double typhoon in the Pacific. Streamline analysis is the methodology used by the forecaster to analyse the wind direction/speed/RH and temperature for areas of the tropics where observed data is very sparse. The advent of satellite data has greatly improved our ability to track storms across vast areas of the ocean. Tracking the movement of the areas of cyclonic (C) and anti-cyclonic (A) circulations and refining the analysis with satellite data the forecaster can predict the movements of these storms across the oceans continuing to refine the forecast as the storms near land areas which allow for additional data from land stations to assist in analysis and forecasting.


Feb 7, 2013

IF - Wheel 02-02-13

















Illustration Friday word for the week was wheel. My take on an old hand or pony cart.

Jan 25, 2013

IF - Wings 012513















I have a full schedule for this week and knew I would not be able to get a drawing done in time so I moved a previously done picture from my gallery photos. I hope you enjoy it. It was a lot of fun doing this one. Original size is 6" x 9".

Jan 20, 2013

IF - Myth 011813


Take a Ride on the River Styx!
Only one thin Coin.

















The River Styx supposedly separated the world of the living from the world of the dead. The deal was you had to cross the River Styx to reach life after death. The ancient Greeks did not expect souls to swim across. Instead, they believed a ferryman named Charon would give you a ride on his boat.

The ferry to the Underworld was not free. The ride cost one Greek coin. The dead person's family usually placed a coin on the corpse so that he or she would be able to pay for the trip. Sometimes they hid the coin under the person's tongue so that no one would steal it.

Jan 13, 2013

IF - Ocean 011113





















Here is my input for the Illustration Friday word "Ocean".

Jan 6, 2013

IF - Edge 010413


















Well here is a new drawing for 2013. Just a quick pencil sketch with lots of edges. Hope you enjoy it.