Seagull -002

Watercolor on paper. Sketching time about 20 min.

Sketch of a Seagull

Graphite on paper - maybe 2 min. - very quick. In a few days I'll be going to the Oregon Coast for a vacation. I'm trying to get into the mood for some ocean. :-)

Sketch of Michael Cera

This isn't exagerated enough to be called a caricature but it is more exagerated than a good portrait would be. I drew this with a burnt umber prismacolor pencil and it took about 15 min. The thing about prismacolor pencils is that they do not erase easily so I usually get stuck with lines I don't really want if I'm not careful.

Caricature of Michael Cera

This was a sketch I made today for the caricaturama showdown contest group on facebook. It is watercolor washes on paper. It took about 55 min.

A Ship Without A Snail

Tanks For The Manta Rays

An Old Fish in a Herringbone Suite

Studies of Pal -002

About 20 min. Watercolor on paper.

Quick Studies of "Pal" Running

This is a very quick series of studies from memory of a dog my family owned when I was a small child. Pal was a big rough collie who looked remarkably like lassie on T.V. He came from a breeder who told us that Pal was related to several of the Lassies who starred in the movies. This dog was was the smartest and friendliest dog our family ever owned. Even after fifty years, I miss him. I joke sometimes that I was raised by a collie. Pal treated my brother and sister and myself like his puppies sometime. When I look at these sketches, I feel a kind of ... joy. Pal was always moving and he loved to run more than anything in the world.

Running with Pal: a memory of pure energetic happiness

I'm trying something different. I would like to do a painting or finished piece of something I feel really passionate about. This is a first stab at it. From my memory: 51 years ago 1958. I was six years old. Every day coming home from school, when I got to the vacant lot near our home I would just start running like a bat outta hell. I felt like superman! I don't remember my feet touching the ground I had so much energy after sitting in a classroom that I wanted to explode like a rocket. When I started running towards home, our family dog would start barking and come tearing across the field like an interceptor missle, then he would pull up along side of me really close and we would race the last 100 yards or so. Those days were some of the happiest & best memories of my life. My dog's name was Pal. He was a rough collie and was bigger than shown in this drawing. I drew this from memory but tomorrow I'm going to do a little research so I can get a more accurate figure grouping. Back in those days, I had a buzz cut, wore old faded stripped t-shirts that belonged to my uncles back in the 40's and I wore baggy cordoroy pants that were rolled up at the ends because nobody bought kids pants that fit them perfectly. Back then you were expected to 'grow into" your clothes before you wore them out. I had a nifty Roy Rogers metal lunch pale too. I call this 'Running with Pal" a memory of pure energetic happiness.

Girl in a Floppy Hat-001

A very quick sketch in watercolor of a girl in a floppy hat. About 10 min.

Anatomy Doodles-003 More backs of Male's arms

Today's drawing or sketch was done more from observation than yesterday's drawing. This is a more realistic rendering I think of about the same angle. I really enjoy drawing with a brush.

Anatomy Doodles-002 : back of arm

watercolor washes on paper with a little bit of pencil to get it started. 15 min. Aug.19,2010 drawing of the day.

Anatomy Doodles: Human Male Back Studies

Today's sketch was a 40 min. doodle of human male backs. I've found I enjoy drawing with the brush more than I do drawing with a pencil. This was done with a quick pencil sketch and then watercolor washes painted over that on paper.

Caricature of Jerry Seinfeld

I forgot to post this yesterday. I did this sketch for a weekly caricaturing contest group on facebook called "Caricaturama Showdown". This took about 40 min. and I used pencil and watercolor washes on paper.

Elephant Eye

I find it sometimes startling to see an eye when I look at the massive bodies of an elephant or even a whale. The creatures are so big. Today's drawing was done very quickly using a pen and ink, prismacolor pencils in burnt umber, grey, green, and orange, and a HB graphite pencil that was smudged by my thumb. I think this would make a cool concept for a more serious painting. I like the idea of an abstract field of weathered beachwood like wrinkles with a focal point of an orange/ brown eye.

A Flying Hippo

Only a quick sketch today. This was inspired by a video about swimming hippos I viewed today. 5 min. Colored pencils and felt marker on paper.

Paddle Boarder in the Columbia Gorge

This is a quick sketch of a paddle boarder at the Columbia Gorge. (Columbia River between Oregon and Washington state) 5 min. pencil on paper.

2nd stab at Sophia Loren caricature

I used the same photo and pose as I worked from in yesterday's sketch only today I was more careful and tried to think more like a caricature artist. About 10 min. with pencil and paper. In a day or so, I'll work up a final version to submit to caricaturama showdown on facebook.

preliminary sketch of Sophia Loren caricature

This week at caricaturama showdown contest the subject of the caricaturing is Sophia Loren. I want to enter this week, I've taken a few weeks off. This is my first stab or a preliminary sketch. I'm thinking I will do something that portrays her in her younger years when she was really really beautiful. I need to make many more sketches before I'll get something I want to submit to the group though. This took about 10 min. and I did it before going to bed this evening.

Gesture drawings August 11, 2010

I'm starting a new personal project of drawing figures in gestures in quick drawings each day to improve my figure drawing skills. This is my first day at it. I think for my skill level, that these one minute sketches were maybe too fast and not enough time for me. Tomorrow I'm moving to a 3 minute sketch routine or longer and will focus on making cleaner more easily understood drawings. Onward and upward.

Cute and Insipid Puppy

Today again I didn't feel much like drawing or painting. Finally near the end of the day I googled "cute puppy" and a picture of a Yorkie puppy popped up. I used it as inspiration for this pencil drawing. The drawing took less than 5 min. I'm looking for a direction I can get excited about.

The "Good" Eye

I forgot to post this yesterday. I haven't been feeling like drawing or painting recently so when I did this I finally did a google search on the web for "eyes" and a medical photo of a wall eyed man came up on the screen. For some reason, I chose to sketch the "Good" eye.
Pencil on paper/ less than 10 min.

Sketch of Gerard Depardieu - 003

I'd like to submit a caricature this week to the caricaturama showdown group on facebook but I'm running out of time to do a nice one. The deadline is looming. This was a quick sketch, maybe 15 min. or less. It is pencil on paper.

Sketch of Gerard Depardieu - 002

Today's sketch of the day was a very quick one. We had to go to a couple birthday parties today. (life is tough) There has been lots of good food and birthday cake, yum! This sketch took less than ten minutes. It is a simple graphite sketch on paper done with a 6B pencil.

Sketch of Gerard Depardieu

Today I did some quick sketches of Gerard Depardieu , the French actor to get into the mood of making a caricature for Caricaturama Showdown, on Facebook. This week all the members are caricaturing this guy. This took about 10 min. and I used a 6B pencil on strathmore tablet paper.

Sketch of a Moorish head

I forgot to post this yesterday after I painting this. I've been experimenting with acrylic paint and this was done in acrylics on a special tablet with thick canvas textured paper meant for acrylic or oil paintings. It took about 30 min. to do.

Jake's Famous Crawfish

Last night I went out with a friend to Jake's Famous Crawfish restaurant in Portland, Oregon. We had some fantastic oysters. This is sort of an impressionistic and loose painting. I did it mostly from memory. I found a picture of Jake's front signage on the internet and used that as reference for this painting.
This was a small 5x7" acrylic on art board painting that I did for my "One Painting or Drawing per Day" album on Facebook. It took about an hour to paint.

Driving At Night Abstract -004

This is the fourth in a series of night scenes that are inspired by my memories or impressions of driving at night in Portland, Oregon. But I'm trying to make these generic and abstract enough that would have an universal recognition of what it looks like when you are out at night in your car. This is a subject that I've wanted to paint for years so these images have been on my mind for a long time.

Driving At Night Abstract-003

This is the third 'driving at night' abstract I've done for my one painting or drawing per day albums on Facebook. I may shift gears again and move on to another type of painting soon.

Driving At Night Abstract - 002

This is the second in a series I'm doing on driving at night in the city. Simple abstract lights and things we barely notice or think about when driving at night. I used a wacom bamboo digital tablet in photoshop 7 and it took about 25 minutes to sketch.

Driving At Night Abstract-001

This is an idea for a series of paintings that I've had for years. I want to do a bunch of abstract or semi abstract paintings that reflect the mood and colors you see when you go out driving in the city at night. I don't want to get into details and I don't want to paint words or signs that can be read. I want to focus on the colors, lights and shawdowy shapes or mysterious suggested shapes that we all see when we drive a car at night in the city.