And still no camera cord

and by the way, in case you beaut's were wondering, the recent posts do not indicate that I found the camera cord... Jer was just nice enough to take some digital shots of my recent paintings and put them on our computer. Thanks Jer!

My latest, and perhaps greatest... or not quite. :)

So this is my latest "Final" painting. It is a 16x20 oil monocrome on linen entitled, "Patient Playmate"

Silent Quakie

Jer didn't have to go to work one day, and it was nice and overcast--so we went painting up the canyon. The light was pretty even throughout the painting, although the naughty sun peeked out a couple times... I was happy with this one because I felt it was one of the first times that I actually got my color mixtures correct from life--as Ben said, you just have to let it "click". It has clicked with me-- and now, painting from life is my main joy.

Some recent studies and paintings

I felt that before mom's get well roses withered and died, I should preserve them forever is oil paint. It was a fun little painting from life, though quite a bit longer than I would have rathered.... I have a terrible tendency to get a little too tedious. It is 13x19 oil on linen.

So I was feeling sorry for myself one day as I was home alone, and felt an uncontrollable urge to do a portrait from life with my newfound plein air ability with color... so I called a friend, and she modeled for me. It was so fulfilling. In all, excluding model breaks, it was a 2 1/2 hour painting. This is a 11x14 oil on linen sketch.

Hogle Zoo gave me a wealth of material

Jer had the great idea to to sketches in oil paint. He came over and instead of doing our regular charcoal and graphite drawings, we busted out the good ol' grumbacher... It was quite fun. We set up the images on the laptop which makes it roughly equivalent to painting from life and set to sketching. This monkey got out of hand, and was about 2 or maybe 3 hours.

This little guy was only about 30 minutes... Which was nice, because I didn't have to sacrifice accuracy for speed... I got to have my cake and eat it too on this one.

I am alive

For those of you that may be concerned or wondering-- I'm still alive. I haven't posted anything new for lack of a camera cord to post pictures. I personally find my exploits more interesting than my musings--so am waiting on a camera cord to make further posts. I have new paintings and sketches that I would love to show you all, but... So you'll have to wait until later.... and so will I.

Rodeo!!

though it's hard to compare the weekend's events, I must say, I thought the Rodeo was danged awesome! Other than that, there is not that much to say... it's one of those things where you just had to be there. although, there were some severely stupid animal activists protesting that the event was "abusive" to the bulls and such. True, some animals get hurt, but its all part of rodeo--the second I got their flier in my hand I ripped it and crumpled it right in front of them... and went in to enjoy the show. It was really cool, and the horses were really great this year. once again, I'll post pictures when I get the camera cord found... I'm sure it wasn't my fault.

Hogle Zoo

We also went to Hogle Zoo over the weekend. It was really fun and I got some good sketching in. I was uncharacteristically free form because of the time constraints of the moving animals, but I think I ended up with some doable sketches at least. Dad even sketched with me! I am so proud of him--he's finally starting to make baby steps at getting back into art. Dad and I kind of did our own thing, as we wanted to spend more time at different animals than the others. If you ever go out sketching... the Giraffes are really great models. the are so stoic and hold very still. the elephants are somewhat good, but they have a tendency to shift their weight a lot. anyway, when the camera cord is found I'll post some pictures of the day, and maybe some of my sketches. It was a flight kying day.. :)

Take Me Out To The Ball Game!

first of all, the family went to Salt Lake for a wonderful family get together, and we did a lot of stuff. One of which was going to the Salt Lake Bee's game. I must be honest, this was my first ever experience watching baseball live, or otherwise. I kept leaning over to dad and asking, "Why did they do that?" or "Was that a good thing?" to put it mildly I am quite inept at the whole sporting thing, but it was incredibly fun to just get out and be with the family. I think everyone had a great time and the whole weekend was marvelous. I'm sorry, but for the meantime, no pictures because we have misplaced our camera cord....

Smell The Roses

This painting is one that I just recently finished but never got proper digital shots for. I decided that while I had a couple of free minutes, to make a post and show you my most recent work in traditional media--my foremost favorite. This is a 20x16 oil painting on linen, entitled Smell The Roses. (Thanks Jami) This painting, like most of my work is about enjoying the small moments, which is why I thought Jami's title idea was incredibly poigent. At the end of a day, month, year, our lives even, all we have is a memory. I hope to use my art as a means of "saving time in a bottle," like my mom is fond of saying, and allowing people to enjoy the small moments a little bit more.