New places, new challenges

 Every artist I know likes to travel.  Going to a new place stirs the imagination, inspires, and presents new challenges.  such was our recent cruise along Alaska's inside passage.  The weather was mostly cloudy, but the scenery was inspiring nonetheless.  i will be painting from this trip in the future.  Here are my first four pieces.








ALASKA SAILING 8 by 6 acrylic on canvas panel

The strange juxtaposition of sailboat and mountain

FLOATING ICE 9 by 12 acrylic on canvas panel 
We saw lots of ice chunks floating around near the tidewater glaciers.

PASSAGE THROUGH THE MOUNTAINS
8 by 10 acrylic on canvas panel 
Gorgeous mountains that came all the way to the sea. 

RED BARN AND EVERGREENS  8 by 10 acrylic on canvas panel.
One of many barns we saw while in Washington state.

Cast Drawing in Graphite by Sight Size Method -Bust of Michelangelo

Here is my first cast drawing using the sight size method.  The drawing is in pencil and took me three days to complete.  Most drawing casts intended for that purpose are rather pricey, but I found some inexpensive sculptures at a company called Design Toscono http://www.designtoscano.com/ They had gray accents, but a can of matte white spray paint fixed that.  I bought three casts for less than $150.  This is a bust of Michelangelo.  I also bought one of Julius Caesar and a small bust of Venus de Milo.  I will post cast drawings as I complete them.

THE WARMTH OF THE SUN - finished painting

My studio painting for the 2011 Grand Canyon Celebration of Art is finished!  This is a view from an overlook on the West Rim drive at which I painted last year.  The Kaibab Limestone Rocks are so warm and bright, lit from behind by the late afternoon sun. I first became aware of this spot a few years ago when I saw a painting Curt Walters had done from here.  I now think of the overlook as the "Curt Walters Overlook".  If you are at the Grand Canyon, it is the second overlook past Mohave Point on the West Rim.

Snapshot of a painting in progress part 3

Here is an updated photo of my painting as of this evening.  Still have some work, but it is coming along nicely.

Snapshots of a painting in progress part 2

 Here is step two of the 50 by 22 inch painting which I am calling "The Warmth of the Sun".  This is the block-in stage.  I should not have to make any major corrections from now on, only minor ones.

Below is the 19 by 8.5 inch preliminary study.  Notice that, having been very happy with the study, I have stayed very close to it in the initial block-in.

Snapshots of a painting in progress

I have just begun work on a major piece - my studio painting for the 2011 Grand Canyon Celebration of Art.  I plan to post images as I progress.  This first image is the beginning of the block-in in acrylic with the preliminary painting leaning against the canvas .  The preliminary painting is 19 by 8.25 inches.  The canvas is 50 by 22 inches.

Painting Sunsets, part 2

Here is the painting I described in my previous entry on sunsets.  Actually, this is a sunrise over Yellowstone Lake.  As I mentioned in the first post, I had been studying paintings by JMW Turner before I painted this.  It is 20 by 16 inches, acrylic on canvas.