Calais France May 24th- 27th

After taking the ferry from Dover to Calais, we checked into our hotel and it had a view of a 13th century watchtower called the Tour de Guet(bottom right)in the Place D'Armes.  We spent an entire day on the beach and I painted the two studies above.  It was lovely.  We wandered the town eating pastries from every patisserie we passed went to the Museé des Beaux Arts to see several Rodin pieces and also went to city hall to see the famous 6 Burghers of Calais.  The final Painting was of a fun fountain near the train station where we waited for our train to Paris.

Just for fun I added a few fun photos of the farmers market, City Hall and the beach.

London May 20-24th

Top:  At the Tower of London we had the funniest guide.  I just had to draw him while he spoke.  Both the above sketches are of the Tower of London.

Middle:  The left is Windsor Castle and above Right, The Cliffs of Dover.  Our last day in England from the boat to Calais.

Bottom:  Here's the sketches I promised.  Just as I thought I didn't get anything blogged while on my Artists Dream trip.  I loved every minute of it however and my sketchbook is my favorite souvenir.  This first grouping is of Southwick Cathedral, the birds at St. James Park and a phone booth in front of the Tate Britain Gallery.

Artists Dream

We are leaving for Europe in a week and I am so excited.  I've packed to perfection(I hope)  and have great expectations.  I'm going to try and post from Europe but let's be honest here.  I intend to occupy all my time soaking in the sights so don't know how often I'll be able to get on-line to post.  Whatever may be I'll post all my sketches when I get back in about eight weeks.

First stop LONDON...

Broken Family

So I found several little bottles and set up a great still life. Unfortunately as I sat down to paint it, I bumped the table and one fell over, rolled off the table and shattered on the floor:( So I picked up the pieces and painted it anyway.

Tangerine Tango

It's been hectic over the Holidays and once again I am behind on updating my site. I've been following http://www.dailypaintworks.com/ and am going to join. It is a fascinating site that has weekly challenges for it's members. You can post every day and auction off your art. This weeks challenge was the color of the year ...Tangerine Tango :)

I found this Kokeshi doll in my house and I was inspired to paint it for the challenge. Yes there is not much tangerine on the figure but I thought it was just enough for a great little painting. I'm hoping this will challenge me to be more on the ball and post every day...or at least once a week :)

On a side note I have not heard back from the round of submissions I sent off, but it's still early and I have no doubt I will get picked up soon.

Wish me Luck

Well I'm sending off another round of query letters. I just finished thumbnails for Sweet-Lips and will add character sketches then ship them this afternoon. The sun is finally out after four days of snow, a great day to visit the post office:)

Here's three more studies for your viewing pleasure.

back to work

I am working on a commission right now and thought I'd post some progress.

The problem I'm having is with digitizing the images. blues seem over saturated and the reds are grey. I guess I'll just have to practice with what the perfect lighting is for watercolor. I'm having the same issues with Sweet-Lips.

Thanksgiving Day Geese

My family went to Mesquite for the weekend and being on a golf course near a pond there is plenty of wild life. I did several goose quick studies here are some.

Two more studies, I love the first little finch. The second isn't too bad but I definitely need to explore more finches and other birds flying. Very fun.

Sweet-Lips

Birds...a common theme in my art. I love them and of course am inspired by them. A friend challenged me to write a new story and these are some of the character studies be I did.

This challenge has lead me to write an entire series of these books not just to entertain but also to educate about the birds featured in each story.

This first book is about Sweet-Lips, a singing Moluccan Cockatoo. Each book will be told from the viewpoint of the nearsighted spectacled lovebird above:)

Springville

For those of you who have been asking, I entered an oil triptych into the Utah Spiritual and Religious Show. and... YES! I found out today I made it in. I was so excited. Here are some images (sorry they are not the best pictures).

More Truffles

Here I go again working on these two today.

Truffles Revisited

Well I've given it a lot of thought and have had so much fun with the Art book that I'm now doing the Truffles book paper layered. I've been focusing on being bold with my colors.

Zion Project

I'm working on a project now for a book about Zion. These are not finished obviously, but thought I would show some progress on the pages. they measure 11x28 I'm really enjoying the size as well as the challenge of doing interesting compositions of a place that is so narrow that it is extremely difficult to get good reference. Enjoy.

What is Art?

I've been experimenting with a new technique of water color and paper layering. I wrote a story about my friend and art, that I'm trying to get published so using this story as inspiration I made up a few pages...I quite like it.

I love Mushrooms

These are some more character studies I did for inspiration for the Barley book.

This week I was practicing my digital art skills and using my Truffles book as inspiration I knocked out these pages and I kind of like the results...What do you think?

Cancun Sketches

These are a few of my favorite quick studies I did on the way and while in Mexico. The first is at the Atlanta Georgia airport while waiting for the plane. ( The one in the photo was not mine.) The second is of the hammocks near the pool at the Haciendas in Playa del Carmen and the third is one of the plentiful little birds that always joined us for lunch.

Stickers Stickers Stickers

So I got out my sticker designs and have more than thirty of them so i only uploaded a few for your viewing pleasure if I have more down time later I'll show you some more.