We recently moved into a new house, and so I have an office. I have dedicated part of the office to an art area, using a French cleat system to set up wall easels. I got the idea from Andrew Tischler, one of my favorite artists on YouTube.
I also made an easel that can hold panels and canvases that I don’t want to attach cleats to. The easel itself has a cleat, and hangs on the wall. In the photo, below, the hanging easel is holding a panel with a picture of my niece, Nicole, that I am painting for my sister-in-law.
These are the projects that I am actually working on. Sometimes there is a long pause on a given project, but they are in-progress, not just in the project queue. I hope to add pictures of the current state, as well as project journal entries, for each.
Ethel & Robert
This is a watercolor painting that I am making from a drawing that I did, last summer. The original photograph was taken by my wife, after lunch that we had with the family. This one is getting pretty close to complete.
My mother-in-law, Ethel, with my son, Robert. (Watercolor, 17″ x 11″)
Harvey, Ross & Trae
I started this oil painting over a year ago, and have been working on it off and on, since. Right now, I am doing some quick studies in order to better understand some changes that I want to make to this painting, so, until those are done, I will not be able to make progress on this one.
Nicole
My sister-in-law asked me to paint a picture of my niece. I started this oil painting a while ago. My intention is style it after the work of Renoir.
The photograph was taken by my wife, Tonya, back when Nicole was a small child.
Uncle Bill & Aunt Mary
This will be an oil painting of my aunt and uncle created from a photograph taken by my sister, Mary. I started doing the initial drawing of this a couple months ago, but still have quite a bit to go on this drawing, before I start painting.
My Aunt Mary and Uncle Bill Camling. (Graphite on paper, 24″ x 18″; Eventually, Oil on Linen)
Chickens
This will be a watercolor picture of chickens from the farm that we lived on a few years ago. The photograph was taken by my wife (she is a great photographer), and the chickens were also hers. I am doing an initial drawing for some small, color studies for this, right now. You can still see some construction lines in this drawing. Eventually, I will do a full-size drawing for an 17″ x 11″ watercolor painting.
Tonya’s chickens. (Eventually, watercolor, 17″ x 11″)
I don’t have much of my old art work around, anymore. It has mostly been lost as sketch books and canvases have disappeared over time, or gave it away. This is part of the reason that I am blogging about drawing and painting, so that I have a record of my work, from this point on.
I have been drawing since I was a young child. The oldest drawing I have is a dinner plate that my either my pre-school or my mother had made from one of my drawings.
A very early drawing of our house on Wood Row, in South Elgin. (Crayon?)
Regarding formal training, I took one drawing and one oil painting class at Elgin Community College, back in 1985. Recently, I have learned a lot from YouTube and blog posts from my favorite content providers.
Recent Drawings & Watercolor
Over the last couple of years, I have started drawing, and painting, again. I started with some quick watercolor sketches.
The view of a neighboring hill from my grandmother’s farm in Southwest Missouri. I gave this to my sister, Mary, since we spent summer vacations looking at this seen from the farm. (Watercolor, approximately 5″ x 7″)An old house on my grandmothers farm, across the road from her house. This one went to my sister, Mary, also. (Watercolor, approximately 5″ x 7″)A sketch of our corgi, who had recently passed. I gave this to my daughter, Mayanna. (Watercolor, approximately 8″ x 10″)
The next drawing started out as a quick watercolor sketch, but I liked it enough to continue working on it.
This was painted from a wonderful photograph on pexels.com, taken by Rivardo Maura. It was a great photo. This painting was given to my wife. (Watercolor, approximately 5″ x 7″)
After these I did a drawing and painting of my niece, Jamie, when she was a baby.
(Graphite on paper, approximately 10″ x 10″)This went to my sister, Judy, who is Jamie’s mom. (Watercolor, approximately 10″ x 10″)
I also drew a picture of my mother-in-law and son from a photo that my wife had taken. I am currently working on a watercolor version of this drawing.
Graphite drawing of my mother-in-law, Ethel, and my son, Robert. (Graphite on paper, 17″ x 11″)A watercolor painting of the graphite drawing, above
Oil Painting
Impressionistic painting of my niece for my sister-in-lawA painting of my late father, using a reference photo taken by my sister
