Warm Light Cold Air

It always amazes me that it could be so cold out yet have warm sunlight. This was the case yesterday. I drove around literally for 2 hours looking for something to paint with intentions of painting inside my truck. With that restriction, subject matter becomes much narrower since often I have to park and walk to a scene I want to paint. I gave up, came home, ate lunch and then decided to setup my easel in front of the 3rd floor window and paint. 20x16, oil.

"Shallow Water"

This is a recent drawing I did, "Shallow Water" (9.5x9.5). It is off to be framed and I wish I would've been able to take a better photo of it before it's behind glass. I think I might try scanning my drawings instead of photographing them. This is graphite on clayboard. I picked up a couple clayboards a few years ago but never got around to trying them. I believe my intention was to try silverpoint on them but that never came to fruition so I tried graphite. I found some pros and cons in working with it. First, I enjoyed having a rigid board to work on rather than paper clipped down or taped to a board. I usually don't like the movement of paper when working up a finished drawing. I enjoyed the smooth texture as well. Now for the cons, it seemed that the surface was easily scratched by a hard pencil and also, real fine circular sanding marks became evident from the manufacturing process. I do think I will try the surface again, however.

Happy New Year

A new year and hopefully an abundance of art making. I'm anxious to see what's in store and hopeful in achieving the goals I'm setting for this year. First painting of the year. "The Veil." 30x24, oil.