More Weeds

I have a lovely weed border growing in front of my home between my sidewalk and the drive. Before it succumbs to the weed whacker I thought I'd use up the last half sheet of the dark pastel paper from my prior post and sketch a small snippet. I have to say I really hate this color of pastel paper. It 'eats' light colors (mainly white) and it seems there's nothing that can be done about it. I tried white charcoal, Chinese white and white colored pencil w/o luck. It also shows every little smudge and piece of dust. Nonetheless, here is my sketch.

Another Shell Sketch

I've got a rather large conch shell I've used as my model this time. I'm not quite as happy with this as I am with the first shell sketch. I think my pastel paper may have been too dark. I'm posting it anyway. I had plans of doing a series and calling it 'Shell-f Life'. I may still follow through. Have to see where inspiration takes me.

Joseph Zbukvic ~ video demo

To anyone that works with watercolor, Mr. Zbukvic (or Mr. Z for short) is a very familiar name. He paints the most incredible urban landscapes in watercolor with poetic ease. I wanted to share this video demo with you, my visitors, so you can all enjoy seeing a master at work. I need to mention that he demos his entire process (creating the comp) and paints a piece to completion in the 20 minutes this video runs. It's really worth the time to watch.


Joseph Zbukvic gives a studio demo from web3media on Vimeo.

Back to the Drawing Board

I found myself stuck on a problem with my cat collage *sigh* so I decided to go back to my roots...drawing. I haven't sketched much of anything in quite some time. Being able to draw and sketch should be a basic skill of every artist. I realized I had grown lazy, using my computer screen as a light box to trace simple outlines for my paintings from photo references. I was always so eager to get started on the painting I was neglecting my prep work.


I have this shell that has sat on the tank lid of my toilet as decoration for years. It's a crazy looking thing. Well armored with spikes poking out at every angle. This must have been one bada** snail when it was alive and I'm sure it died of natural causes.

I sketched this shell from four different angles with ballpoint pen. I used a pen to keep myself honest. No erasing. Then I found a few sheets of sanded pastel paper. I hunted through my art supplies and found my sketch set...one sepia pencil, one sanguine, one china white and also I grabbed a medium charcoal pencil and went to work. I'm posting my current results for Operation Snail Shell.

A Dip into Digital Art

I'm not a huge fan of digital art but if it's done really well I can certainly appreciate it. The skill level and work involved in creating something visually stunning and/or unique using computer technology is a part of the future of art.

These pieces, which I just uploaded, are not one of those stunning and unique bits of artwork I speak of but I thought they were kind of cool so I'm posting them. I filled a vase with a bouquet of chive blossoms and created a still life with a cluster of grapes and a bell pepper, then photographed it. I began to play in my photo editor and voila! Art!

Truth be told, I ran into issues with my collage so that's staring at me from my studio table begging for a solution and I haven't picked up a brush in awhile. I had to create something today so this is it.