Field Sketching and Gesture Drawing - Birds

Draw enough to recognize the subject.

Do a gesture drawing.

Gesture drawings are done mostly in life drawing classes.  Little did I know they come in extremely handy when you are trying to draw a flitting bird or a flighty squirrel.

Try it on your own!  You can go just about anywhere and find lots of birds and squirrels.  If you can’t get outside, try watching a nature documentary.  You can practice gesture drawing all types of animals while they are on your TV screen.  If you feel like adding more details, wait for the commercials and add them then.

If you need more information about gesture drawing and how to do it see the following links:

What is Gesture Drawing?  By Helen South, About.com Guide

Examples of Gesture Drawing curated by aed303 (class board for pre-service elementary teachers taking art) on Pinterest.

Tools for Self-Educating Artists at Figure and Gesture Drawing
This a cool website where they provide timed photos (you choose the timing) to practice a gesture drawing!  Start with the standard session and be brave!  Work down from 10 minutes to the 30 seconds time interval!

This post was modified on 9/28/2015.

Newest Completed Works

This past summer and fall, I completed one oil painting and one pencil drawing.  The pencil drawing was a commission of one of the horses at Freedom Ride named Ivan.  (When I took a snapshot of the drawing I didn't realize I'd caught some glare on his shiny nose!)

The poem says:

Ride upon the white
horse and a sense of
peace will come; for
the white horse is an
angel with wings
disguised and soon you
will ride as one.  Anon

Pencil is my favorite medium for drawing horses.

The oil painting was done via a reference photo as a starting point.  I originally thought the background was going to be very dark.  However, as happens so many times while painting, it decided it wanted to be a lighter picture.

If you happen to be interested in buying this painting it is available unframed.
 

Book Review Apples for Cheyenne

Rachel is a little girl with autism.  The story is about one of her weekly visits to the barn where Cheyenne lives.  He is one of the therapy horses.

This is a wonderful book for both able-bodied children and those with special needs.  It is a nice way to teach those who do not understand autism  about the way autistic children perceive the world.  Both the author and illustrator of this book are familiar with autism as one has a son with autism and the other has autism.

I got a free copy of this charming book from a friend of mine because he knows I love horses and that I work with/for therapy horses once a week at Freedom Ride.  It was written by Elizabeth King Gerlach and illustrated by Kim Miller.

If you would like to purchase a copy of this book I have provided links to it at both Barnes and Noble and Amazon for your convenience.  I am not associated in any way whatsoever with either company except as a fellow customer.  Happy reading!

My Friend Sy

Here's a picture of Sy Rosefelt painting at the docks behind the Cornell Museum of Art on the campus of Rollins College in Orlando, Florida.  We were there with Rudy Drapiza and Paul Peters painting en plein air.  Rudy, Sy and I stayed until dark.  I got one evening painting done.  No pic of it yet so I thought I'd post this one in the meantime.  It was taken with the camera on my old phone.  It kinda looks like an old polaroid picture, doesn't it?

As darkness enfolded us Sy and Rudy told me a story about how one time when they were painting at a dock in Sanford, the wind blew Sy's palette with all his paint into the water!  He said that "it sank like a stone."  Rudy valiantly tried to rescue it but was smart enough to test the water first with a very long pole to see if he could walk out into the water to retrieve it.  The pole kept going down and down and down and they said it must have been at least 20 feet deep right off shore.  No rescue was possible.

Once a week I've also been doing some life drawing where artists paint or draw from a live model at the Crealde School of Fine Art in Winter Park, Florida.  I'll post some *discreet* pictures of those later as the models pose nude and I wouldn't want to offend anyone!

And I'm working on a couple of commissions of horse portraits for two people at Brookmore Farms.  I just have a sketch right now that I need to send to the client's for approval.  That's one great thing about the internet and art these days that I like.  Back "in the old days" one had to either schedule and meet in person or mail photos via snail mail *or* (gasp) complete the entire portrait, meet the client with the finished product and hold your breath as it was unveiled before them for the first time!  That was very nerve wracking!  Now it is less so as I know the pose, leg and head positions are already approved.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Pet Portraits

I was contacted recently via email to do a portrait of three pets, a dog and two cats, all on one sheet. It was specified to do the portrait in watercolor so I got right down to work! Below are two pictures. One is of the work in progress about half-way done and the next one is completed!

Lookin Good!

What is the most significant thing I did since my last post? How about saving a little bird? I found him behind the building where I work near the loading dock. It was lunchtime and I was on my way to the library. I don't know what made me look down but I'm glad I did! There was this cute little bird staring straight up at me. He didn't try to get away or anything. He just kept looking at me. So I got a friend who is a birder to help me. He told me it was an Oven bird which is a type of Warbler. I went to find a small box. Then he found a local bird rescue lady and took him there on his way home from work. She told him the prognosis was good. At least now he is comfortable instead of trapped on a hot sidewalk with no shade, food or water. And he now has shelter from the afternoon storm

The painting is the second in a series of three 24x48 works. Actually, I painted this one simultaneously with the third which I will post later. While painting the first one (Hello, There!) I had worked out a lot of the colors (palette), methods and design issues. Then I went to one of Elin Pendleton's official "Color Bootcamp's" and learned more about using color in a painting. There are just some things you can't learn from reading a book or watching a video!

Hello, There!

And now some more paintings of horses! I have to say it. These paintings are cool. For awhile they are going to be the center point of any venues they fit into -- literally. Here's the story of how they happened.

When another horse or horses were in the show arena others are prepped for the next act in their stalls. As I was walking around looking for pictures to take I noticed how this was done. The stall doors were partially open so you could see inside while the horses peeked out. In my minds eye I immediately saw the potential for several vertical paintings. When I saw that some large 24"x48" canvas on sale at Michaels I bought three of them.

Each of these paintings is $1000 USD. They are done in acrylic and are unframed but ready to hang. When they were hanging in the main room at the University Club they looked magnificent. The one pictured here is the first one I started painting back around February 2009.

Decadent

This is the third in my newest set of paintings inspired by Herrmans Lippizans -- but just from head shots I got at some of their shows while they were at Freedom Ride. The entire set of 3 was available for $250, but Tasteful (below) sold at the opening. If anyone is interested in the last two as a set I offer them together for $200. That would be this one, Decadent, plus Delicious (below). They are each acrylic on 12x12 canvas with no frame, but ready to hang. Speaking of hanging ... I thought I might add a piece of advice I recently gave to a friend of mine.

Pop the hood of your car once-in-awhile and take a look. You don't need to be a mechanic to see a potential problem in the making. In this case, one of the battery terminals was completely corroded. It finally got so bad the car would not start. I advised my friend to pour some Coke on it. Sure enough, that's exactly what the tow truck driver did. Then he jumped the car and it started right up. My friend didn't even know how to open the hood of their car. The bottom line is this: Dare to take a peek and try to learn how thinks work under there. You never know when a little bit of knowledge will come in handy.

Watercolor Show for Members Only

The Central Florida Watercolor Society Juried show will be on Thursday, March 19, in downtown Orlando, Florida at the City Arts Factory. See details below. Hope to see you there! Thursday, March 19, the 3rd Annual Central Florida Watercolor Society members only show at City Arts Factory in downtown Orlando, Florida. Times are 6pm to 9pm. Saturday, April 4, Gardens of Winter Park South, painting en plein air at the 2009 Winter Park Historical Association’s annual garden tour. Tickets will be on sale soon. Times are 10am to 4pm. Friday, April 17, Solo show! One night only at the Urban Think Bookstore in Thornton Park in downtown Orlando, Florida. Times are 6pm to 9pm. Saturday, April 25, Sanford Gardens Plein Air event - Florida. Will post details when I get them. Saturday, May 2, Stirrups & Strides fundraiser event. Chairs for auction painted by local artists. At the Paddock Mall from 12pm to 3pm in Ocala, Florida Sunday, June 28, Solo show! One month at the University Club in Winter Park, Florida. Opening reception times are 2pm to 4pm.

Painting A Square Format

The monthly 3rd Thursday was held last night in downtown Orlando. I was asked to submit up to five pieces measuring 12 inches by 12 inches each. Last night was the first time I saw all three of my paintings together. It’s a series that came together kind of accidentally. (See previous post.) In the image they are a little out of order but it still works. I used a flash on #1 that was actually completed in 2007 and thought that picture would turn out the worst! Usually when you use a flash on a painting it is bad. But this time I wish I’d used it on all three. Nevertheless, I think you can see the final two okay in these quick shots. When I brought the paintings for hanging I was unaware (or forgot) that all pieces had to be priced at $200 US. Normally, I would price each one at $125. However, all three can be bought for $400 as a set. After I upload the high-res versions to ArtWanted next month I think I will have some coffee mugs and mouse pads made of one of these. The square format should suit those products perfectly!! I love painting in a square format. I have some more ideas for horse paintings in that format. Plus, squares always fit together so if you wanted to start a collection I would recommend them because you can fit all sorts of different sizes together, side-by-side or on top of one another on a wall and they they’ll fit like a puzzle. Events: Dec. 1-31 Steinway Piano Gallery in Altamonte Springs, Florida Dec. 18-Jan 14 AKA Lounge "12x12" in Orlando, Florida Feb. 12 HITS Ocala Equine Art Reception, Ocala, Florida

I'm Like A Ghost

The end of the year is approaching fast. I finished a series last weekend and delivered the final painting for the 12x12 show at the AKA Lounge in downtown Orlando. The series is of three paintings. They are all done in watercolor but on canvas. Each painting is $200 US or $400 for all three. They have been sprayed with a UV coating to protect the painted image from both water and sunlight. I did the first one for last year’s 12x12 show that was held at the Metro Gallery. Since then I finished #2 of 3 around May 2008. I only have a picture right now of the first painting (#1) in the series. I got the idea for the series when I needed #1 for the Freedom Ride art exhibit fundraiser that was held at the end of May 2008. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get a hold of the painting in time so had to paint a second one. I cannot paint the same thing twice (unless I have to) so I decided that from the two reference photos I could do a small series of three paintings. The first one, as you can see, it is of two horses staring out of their horse trailer looking away from the viewer. The second one has one of the horses looking at the viewer while the other one is still looking away. The third one has both horses looking at the viewer. I haven’t seen all three together – ever! Hopefully, Chris Johnson, curator of the AKA show, was able to put them up side-by-side. I requested it but he could not guarantee their placement depending on other paintings in the show, etc. That’s okay with me. I’ll get pictures of them Thursday night to put in this blog. I took two photos on film *years* ago at a dressage workshop. I wasn’t riding so had plenty of time to walk around and take pictures. That’s what I do at horse shows and events. I’m like a ghost. That’s what someone told me one time at a local show. Events: Dec. 1-31 Steinway Piano Gallery Opening in Altamonte Springs, Florida Dec. 18 AKA Lounge "12x12" Opening in Orlando, Florida 6 to 9pm Feb. 12 HITS Ocala Equine Art Reception, Ocala, Florida

Storm and Me and Fantasy

Here I am with Storm. He is one of Herrmann's Lipizzan stallions. They were at Freedom Ride Saturday and Sunday to do two shows. Unfortunately, the Sunday show had to be cancelled due to bad weather. But they will return on Sunday, December 21 at 2:30 pm! I'll be there!

I took LOTS of pictures for new paintings and drawings. My newest idea is a series of paintings of these beautiful horses in or near their stalls. I have a commission to complete first for a returning customer (Thank you, Angie!) and then I will begin the new year with my new series. They will all be oil paintings on canvas and a minimum of 16x20 inches in size. Although, some might be a square dimension. We'll just have to wait and see!

A new exhibit just popped into my schedule last week. The Central Florida Watercolor Society is having a showing at the Steinway Piano Gallery in Altamonte Springs, Florida. (That's still considered Orlando for those of you from out of town.) http://www.steinwayorlando.com/

I did a special painting just for the show called "Fantasy". It is *big* -- from memory I think framed it is 25x30 inches. The painting itself is only 18x24. I priced it at $350.00 US for its introductory appearance. This gallery takes no commissions so I am able to offer it at this low price for this first show. Here is a list of my current and upcoming events:

Nov. 20 - Dec. 17 AKA Lounge "Unify"

Dec. 6 Back to Nature Wildlife Refuge, Orlando, Florida 1 to 8pm Plein Air Painting

Dec. 11 Steinway Piano Gallery Opening in Altamonte Springs, Florida 6 to 9pm

Dec. 18 AKA Lounge "12x12" Opening in Orlando, Florida 6 to 9pm

Feb. 12 HITS Ocala Equine Art Reception, Ocala, Florida