Sometime in the past month, I completed my 63rd trip around the sun. While these journeys have started to feel more routine and uneventful, they’ve also taken on a deeper meaning. I’m increasingly aware of how fortunate I’ve been to have 63 of them—and I find myself thinking more often about the limited number left … Read more
For the last 6 months or so I have been studying with Steve Huston, a favorite artist of mine, at his “Draws From Life” course. I have grown a great deal already in my confidence and my ability, (at least in my mind), to make a little better sense of gesture and structure. As well … Read more
We were blessed with a new granddaughter a few weeks ago. Here is a page from a small sketch book I had with me on a recent visit. Not great for sure, there is always the struggle with proportions of children and babys. Here I am trying to work out the structures with quick ink … Read more
What started as a sketch recently in a sketchbook became something a little more ambitious. This is using charcoal and some Carbothello pencil. The sketch paper turned out not to be the best for the charcoal rendering, seems a little blotchy in places, but overall I think it turned out OK. I realize I avoided … Read more
Pebbles and Time is a small painting I recently completed, measuring about 14 inches wide by 10.5 inches high. I’ve been focusing on smaller projects like this one lately, aiming to complete more pieces and, in doing so, accelerate my learning and development as an artist. Working on large-scale projects can sometimes feel like a … Read more
One thing I try to do every morning is spend some time drawing or sketching or painting something. Doesn’t really matter what. Sometimes it might be 40 minutes sometimes only 5 minutes, but the main thing is, now matter what happens the rest of the day, I have at least done a little bit of … Read more
I manged to get to a life drawing session this week at Old Town Artists in St. Paul. A very nice quiet setting there and a good model. I have known about the Old Town sessions for may years and have always managed to find an excuse not to go, but since we don’t have … Read more
I have a couple oil paintings on display at the Hopkins Center For The Arts in their spring members show. They will be on display there through may 12th. It is a big show so a lot of art work to look through but it’s a nice place to spend an afternoon and have lunch … Read more
Back to working with basic values and lines, I recently created this small drawing that I will put in my “finished works” gallery. For this piece, I went back to just the pencil and lines creating the values I needed. Keeping it small, (roughly 8″x10″), it didn’t take the many hours that some of my … Read more
“Playing around with smaller canvases lately – it feels like a shortcut to more projects and quicker learning. Swapped out my daily sketches for a week to dive into this 8.5″x11” oil painting, a solid 6-8 hours of work. It’s one of those ‘not completely happy, but done’ situations. Smooth Bristol Board, limited palette with … Read more