Another of sweet little Gavin

Here is another I did recently of Gavin.  I think she was maybe four years old here.  I had a lot of trouble with her hair and finally resorted to scrubbing most of it out and trying the technique that Jan Kunz uses.  My wonderful husband is great at googling and finding stuff for me.  That was the case when I was ruining her hair!  Anyway, I'm mostly pleased with this one but I do plan to do another painting of this same pose.  Mostly this is the method that I learned in Ted Nuttall's workshop in March.  http://www.tednuttall.com/  That is the method I generally use but I am beginning to experiment with other techniques and combine some of them to see what the outcome is.  Practice, practice!!

Some great instructors!

I have had the great good fortune to study with some great artists.  The two I want to bring to your attention today are Soon Warren and Linda Lucas Hardy.  I studied watercolor with Soon back in 2002 and 2003.  Her watercolor work is really breathtaking.  The scull painting is a piece that I did in her class as a gift for my son.  (I must appologize for the photo quality.  This painting is professionally framed and I had to take the photo through the glass.  That is why there is a shadow of me snapping the pic.)  It was the first of several pieces I have done for him.  Later, I studied colored pencil with Linda.  If you ever see any of her colored pencil work, you will not believe it could be colored pencil.  Amazing!!!  The boots are in colored pencil and completed as a gift for my son again.  The boots are his first childhood boots.  I'm surprised that they still have soles!  He almost never took them off his little feet!

A couple of cowboy WIP's

Back in May I had the opportunity to visit the Fort Worth Stockyard area and snap some photos of some folks in character at an old fort exhibit.  There were some great subjects and they were all so willing to pose for me.  The first is "Maverick".  The second is "Brazos".  As I say, neither of these are finished.  They are posted on the bulletin board in my studio for further evaluation.  Takes me a while sometimes to see what else needs to be done.

Farmer Gavin

This is a work in progress of our granddaughter, Gavin, when she was about three years old, I think.  I have always loved this snapshot of her.  In the photo she is in a pasture with cattle in the near background.  She looks so self assured, as though she is just making the rounds in her own pasture. I still have work to do and I hope it will be a success.

Slowly!

I'm working on a new painting of our granddaughter, Gavin.  I'll post my progress tomorrow.  It seems that I need to work more on being spontaneous with my painting.  I always want it to be perfect immediately and we all know how that turns out!!!  I think I have been too caught up in the details lately and not relaxing into the process.  Charles Reid says that "looseness is a state of mind and not a state of brush."  I need to work on remembering that and getting my mind in the right state! I actually have a few things in the works that I will post in the next few days.  Stay cool!  It's a scorcher here!

Graphite portrait

I also love doing work in charcoal and graphite.  Here is one of my son, Freddie, when he was two years old.  Thanks for reading!

Freddie's Book

I have done several pieces of art for my son as gifts over the years.  For Christmas 2010, I decided to make a handmade journal for him.  Here are a few of the pieces of art in that journal.  Thanks for reading!

Granddaughter, Gavin

I'm sharing a painting I did back in May of one of my granddaughters, Gavin.  Gavin is now a gorgeous 13 year old, and this was when she was about 18 months.  Gorgeous then too, as you can see.  I attended a Ted Nuttall workshop in March and have been using his techniques exclusively since then.  I am really loving it and feel that my painting has taken a huge leap forward since the workshop.  If you like Ted's work, you can't go wrong by spending a week under his instruction!  Thanks for reading!

Inaugural!

This is the first post in my new blog following my experiences as an artist.  I started drawing and painting about nine years ago.  Had a few stops and starts due to the time spent running my own business.  I sold my company in March 2010 and I am thoroughly enjoying the time I spend now exploring and creating.  Over the next few days I will post some of my work so that you can follow along with my progress.  I still have alot to learn, as you will see but the main thing is how much fun I am having. Thank you so much for reading!