Cold November Rain

I had very little going on in June.  Would have been a great time for painting.  Instead, this challenge comes along now when I have more books, games and traveling to do than I have all year.

Today's dreary weather help get me in the artistic mood though.  Several of these have been in progress since the last post, but I wanted to start off with today's new piece from my backyard.  Last two pieces are Master studies of The Oxbow and Among the Sierra Nevada Mountains.  The latter being originally painted by a long-time inspiration of mine, Albert Bierstadt.  His work is gigantic, detailed, romantic, and helped shape America's view of the West before photographs. I'm pleased it turned out so well.

They can't all be like Day 1

Had a tougher time today.  Not sure what the issue was but I'm not competely pleased with any of these or the other few that aren't even blog-worthy.  Oh well, I have a good start.  My expectations are for my paintings to improve as the month goes on and I get more into a groove.  Fingers crossed.

National Novel Writing Month

...is not for me.  I haven't done creative writing since my last English class so I don't feel comfortable trying to participate in NaNoWriMo, a writing exercise with the goal of a 50,000 word novel completed entirely within the month of November.

But a picture is worth a thousand words, so I'm aiming for 50 paintings this month.  I've only allowed myself some notes and hand drawn thumbnails before today.  Really I'm just hoping I can have some fun with this and push myself a little more.  The main point is quantity so these won't be ultra refined...yet.  The good part of digital paintings is that they are never really done.

Here's my first batch.  Today was pretty fun.  I didn't expect much out of my first few days, but I'm pleased with the start. Hoping to have some themes over the course of the month.

Stayin' alive

It's been a while but that that only means that I haven't been posting.  Doing loads of art; most of it is for projects that aren't ready to show yet so they sit, awaiting their turn in the spotlight.

These are some sketches I did about a month ago to break in a new booklet.  The bottom teaser image was a quick thumbnailing session that I drew, photographed, then threw in the recycling bin.  I've already scanned them in and done a vast amount of work on them and that result will be up soon...

Discovery

Heard a great piece of advice on finishing paintings this week and thought it was time to sit down and do just that instead of warping through another page of thumbnails.

 

This one started out as one of those thumbnails several months ago.  This was a good experience in taking a piece from a tiny composition to a full blown painting and it's rewarding to bring it to fruition.  Makes me hopeful for the hundreds of other paintings of mine that are still at the thumbnail stage.

Just plane yogurt

Final field trip week.  Hit a childhood favorite this time, the Omniplex.  Unfortunately, I went there to draw aircraft and most of their aviation collection has been put into storage during their renovation of that portion of the facility.  There was not much left that lent itself to simple sketching.  Made the best of it though and got a chance to draw some trains and spacecraft as well.  It was amazing to stand next to (and touch, shhhh) an engine from the Saturn V.  Still the largest and most powerful rocket ever built by humanity.

Beyond relieved that I get to spend my halfday doing what *I* want this week.  No field trips, no errands, no appointments.  Just me and the dog and likely a nap...

 

 

This is the end for weekly updates.  While I'm thrilled to be close to doing my work again, I know that my posting rate will ebb from the pace I set in school.  There will still be entries, just more sporadic.



On this day we give tanks...

Military vehicles this week.  Another great local museum that I probably wouldn't have gone to otherwise.  The 45th Infantry Museum has a large collection of vehicles indoors as well as a large "park" outside with dozens more. 

This week is a perfect example of why I took these courses.  I never would have drawn these with this much effort without having to turn them in.  After next week's planes, I'll basically be done with the full courses that I'm taking this year.  Going to do some specific workshops and then get back to my personal projects, complete with all the knowledge I've gained over the past 7 months.  Looking forward to that. 

Wheels on cars?  Stressful since you have to nail two of them really well.  Wheels on tanks?  There's so many that as long as I get most of them right then I can goof a couple and still come out okay.