Vacation

Took a little trip to Traverse City. 

We have friends that live there in the summer.

So...... we get to go out fishing in the bay.

It was twilight when I took this picture.

We troll for salmon and as you can see

we are all set waiting for a strike.

I had thought maybe I'd get some painting in but not this trip.

Thought we might bring some salmon back too.... but not this trip.

This would be my idea of a dream boat.

As you can see, the water is very calm....rather unusual.

In fact the water was calm all the time we were there

which made the swimming delicious.

That would be all for now.

Bye.

Paintings

I've been painting outside a little bit.

Still hot and humid!

This one is from Ceder Creek Park near St. Joe.

It's actually the house across the street.

This one is from the West side of Headwaters.

Don't think I've ever tried a willow before.

By the way, those are geese walking around.

This one is just off Coliseum Blvd. behind Triangle Park.

It could use some work.

That's it for now!!

Bye.

Catch up

Lots of time has passed. It's been hot and busy.
Let me see....
I guess I need to bring you up to date on the Alaska painting.
It hasn't gone as well as I had hoped.

This is from about a week ago.

This is what it looks like currently. 

 I think I need to let it sit for a while.

In the meantime.... I went to Wawasee for a Plein-air paintout.

That's a technical painting term for being outside in the heat and painting.

And in case anyone is watching, you are suppose to be having a great time. Ha!

It wasn't all that bad and we got to connect with friends from around the state and have good things to eat. There are some perks to this whole painting thing.

I didn't do anything to put in the museum but it was more "learning".

Here's one. That's a boat parked in front of the cottage.

Just thought I'd help.

And this is a sketch of the boys standing on a dock nearby.

I told you... I don't do figures but... this is a start?

I think the boat next to them was sinking and they were watching.

Kind of funny.

To get on with my story.....

The next week was a full 5 day workshop.

Like from 9 in the morning until 6 in the afternoon.

It was the hottest week I can recall.

We watched demos, painting our little hearts out 

and then bore up under critiques.

"It was the best of times and it was the worst of times."

I actually wiped off the first 3 days of my paintings. 

I never wanted to see them again.

However, I did learn A LOT!

Now all I have to do is put it into practice. 

In fact, I guess most things we do in life, 

if we want to improve, we have to practice.

Well here is an attempt at the back of a house.

It was a nice little scene and I liked the barrel.

Maybe I should have painted just the barrel?

And...

This is a piece from Fox Island. 

I traded with another painter so all I have is this picture.

I think that pretty much brings you up to date 

except for the books I have been leafing back through again.

 

These are some of my favorite standbys.

Some not very instructional but inspirational.

Seems each time I go through them I find another little nugget 

that I can incorporate into my artwork.

That would be the end of my story to date but I am surely looking forward to adding to it.

Each new day brings new adventure and surprises await for those patiently watching and looking.

Bye!

Paintings

I worked on the Alaskan Mountain picture. I find that clouds are rather illusive. They looked pretty easy but when I really got into them, well let's just say they were more complicated than I first thought. My instructor said they needed to be contoured and shaped, not just all white.

So I've been studying clouds lately. They really do have different colors in them. And oh that gray/blue stuff. It's all over the place. Well here's the first attempt. I may do some tweaking though.

You see this one has water in it too. 

Yep, I do love the water no matter where it is.

But we'll get to that later.

Have a blessed day,

Bye

Paintings

Getting back from our trip to Alaska took some time. I guess when you are a little older it takes a few days to recoup. Then I came back bringing a cold which turned into a sinus infection. I think I'm almost ready to start life again. We took lots of pictures and I hope to put some of them on canvas.

OK... I have been painting though. Finished up this copy of one of my favorite painters. We even have the same last name. It's one of G. Harvey's newer pieces that really caught my eye.

Also put some finishing touches on this one from Brookville.

Took a plein air painting class last week. Rained three days so we didn't see much plein air. This is the indoor still life I painted from. I really don't like still lifes.... maybe because I have difficulty with them, BUT I'm told they are good training. OK so I take it like medicine. It's good for me! The other two days we went outside but I was sick so I stayed home and napped. Feeling better now.

The results?

This is a start on an Alaskan landscape. 

Doesn't look like much now, but let's see how it progresses.

Be back soon.

Stay tuned....

Sketches

Unfortunately I didn't get much of a chance to do some sketching or painting.

Here is what I did find the last day or so.

This is a quick study on the lodge deck 

just before it decided to rain.

Because it was raining I went inside to see what I could find.

Not too bad a likeness.

How about the huge fire place.

Must have been 20 feet high.

We were all waiting around for our bus.

See you soon, bye.

About me

So, I've been gone awhile. 

Six of us took a vacation of a life time to Alaska.

I took lots of pictures. 

Some of the high lights are to follow.

This one in Ketchikan is self explanatory.

In Juneau at the Mendenhall  Glacier.

This is a view of our ship. Nice ya?

Here we have a Bald Eagle flying around the water front.

The curvature of the trunks of these mountain hemlocks is called snowcrook. On steep slopes, snowcrook is caused by the gradual creep of snow downhill, bending the trees as saplings and causing them to develop a down-slope curve.

Nothing comes in or out of Juneau unless by boat or plane.

Nice view. Beautiful country.

Can't go to Alaska without seeing a whale. 

This big one came up right beside the ship.

We pulled up beside a glacier that was "calving". 

That means pieces of ice were breaking off.

Actually some were rather large.

Another nice view as we head up to Denali National Park.

The clouds were particularly beautiful.

Another view with a winding stream in the foreground.

Trees and vegetation were very different here. 

These reminded me of the Bob Ross happy trees.

This is the "Big One".

Mount McKinley as some call it or

"Denali". We are still about 70 miles away.

Here we have a rather elusive wolf walking around on the snow.

This is me and my friend at the Denali Wilderness lodge.

He's rather harmless.

Wow, it's not all that hot up here,

but it sure feels good. Come on in!

That's about it.

Time to fly our way home.

What an awesome land.

It took some hardy adventurous people to settle there.

Bye now!