Early Autumn

A loose copy of Ch'ien Hsüan's Early Autumn, Yiian Dynasty
watercolor on rice paper, 24" x 13"

Regarding the last self-portrait...
Becky says, "You're not all that dour."



"Happy Birthday, Daddy!"

One more self portrait. An oil sketch using Cennini's Yellow Ochre, Cadmium Red Light, Van Dyke Brown, Ivory Black, Zinc and Lead White.



Oil on polyester, 8x10
 

Happy Valentine's Day!

Valentine Swans, scratchboard 8.5" x 5.5"

Some more scratch boards:

January 2009

I sat before my dime store mirror and painted. Yellow Ochre, Cadmium Red Light, Flake/Zinc White and Ivory Black - (initially sketched in with Van Dyke Brown using Studio Products' Underpainting Medium). By the way, Studio Products' Van Dyke Brown is one of my must-have tubes. Beautiful for underpainting and for mixing to create a neutral.




Self Portrait, oil on linen panel 8" x 6"

Last year's self portrait.

Last Year . . .

With a broken ankle (yes, I fractured it, crushed it, chipped the tibia-fibia — it's now a "bionic" ankle that will outlast my flesh and bones) ...well, with this ankle, I won't be able to get upstairs to my studio for awhile. So, I went through some of my old computer files of paintings and found three I really was pleased with from last year. They capture 2007 for me, a year of growing and rivers. All three were painted on RealGesso Panels, worked up from a rough lay-in using, again, Studio Products' Underpainting Medium and finishing with their Olio Verde, a truly smooth handling and elegant medium.


Onions, oil on gesso panel 11" x 14"


Garden Vegetables, oil on gesso panel 11" x 14"


Steelheads, oil on gesso panel 11" x 14"

Young Buck

Early this summer, a young spike buck came to forage in my flower garden and sleep in the pasture by our barn. Several times when I walked the long drive to get the mail or when I went out to water the garden, there he'd be...standing innocently by my rose bushes - bushes that never had a bloom past a bud.

Using a foundation base of Van Dyke Brown, I created this painting using only Studio Products' Underpainting Medium throughout. This medium dries quickly and I was able to keep painting, sometimes wet-on-wet, sometimes painting over already dried paint.


Young Buck, oil on canvas 14" x 18"