This is Tomorrow!

A new art exhibit opens tomorrow at Evergreen Gallery in SLC. Several local artists were each given a 20" x 20" painting panel to do with what we pleased. Come see how mine turned out! (Hint: I already posted about the painting I made for the show several weeks ago.) I'm excited to see what others did with their panels! For more information, contact Evergreen Gallery, and come see the exhibit! Art always looks better in person!

Drawing a Singer

14" x 11" Charcoal on Grey Paper

Another drawing from another portrait session a couple of weeks ago. The model we had for that session is an up and coming singer named Ludovica. You can see her You Tube channel Here:

For more about portrait sessions, go to "Labels" on the side bar and click on "portrait", "sketching" or "drawing".

Backlit Blonde

14" x 11" Charcoal on Paper

Here's a quick post about my sketch from last Wednesday's portrait session. I try to arrive early enough to the session to have my choice of where to set up. Lately, however, someone new has been showing up earlier and taking "my spot", so I have to move to another spot in the studio. This drawing was made from someplace other than "my spot." Maybe I should try different spots more often.

Drawing made with charcoal pencils and "white charcoal" on grey paper. Total time: three hours, including breaks.

For more about portrait sessions, go to "Labels" on the side bar and click on "portrait", "sketching" or "drawing".

Woman with Mickey Mouse Hair Buns

14" x 11" Charcoal on Toned Paper.

I don't know if the post's title correctly names that hairstyle or not. It's just how the model had her hair at last Wednesday's portrait session. Regardless, it was a nice change from the usual single hair-bun that models often wear for these sessions. Subject of hairstyle aside, I really enjoyed drawing that face!

For this portrait, I got out a sketchbook of gray paper and used charcoal pencils and a "charcoal white" pencil. Total time: three hours, including breaks.

For more about portrait sessions, go to "Labels" on the side bar and click on "portrait", "sketching" or "drawing".

First Sketch of 2020

14" x 11" Charcoal on Grey Paper

Long time, no post anything...

Been busy with the holidays and slowed down by the winter doldrums, but Hopefully, things will begin to pick up for me. The sketch shown above is from a portrait session in Orem last Thursday. The model was great, and there was a lot of good artwork from other painters there. I enjoyed not only practicing for myself, but also, as always, seeing what others were doing and learning from it.

For more about portrait sessions, go to "Labels" on the side bar and click on "portrait", "sketching" or "drawing".

Desert Tower

9" x 12" Oil on Panel

Early this month I was back in the desert, near the Book Cliffs. There's so much to explore and paint there! Other parts of Utah get much more attention, and that makes this area all the better for exploring and painting. No noisy crowds. No national park bureaucratic regulations. Just desert canyons and cliffs, pinyon and juniper forests, and wide open views. 

This painting was made on a beautiful day early in November. The weather was one of those late autumn dichotomies where chilly air and warm sun contrast sharply with each other. After painting, I took a little time to hike a trail that led through a couple canyons and through stands of pinyon pine and juniper trees to a pleasant surprise; a waterfall in the desert! This time of year there was a lot of ice built up on the waterfall, and along the creek that tumbled over those falls.

There was much more trail to hike, but the sun was getting low and the time short, so I thought it best to return. And although I physically returned, it's as if part of my mind remained, wondering what else there was farther along the trail. Bits of my mind always seem to get stuck in wild places! I'll be back, for sure, both to paint and to hike more of this wonderful and intriguing landscape!

Backlit Redhead

12" x 9" Pastel on Sanded Paper

This pastel is from last week's portrait session at Howard Lyon's studio. Howard had placed the lighting so that a cool light illuminated the model from the front, and a strong reddish light shone on her from the opposite side. I had gone into the session intending to only do a charcoal sketch, but when I saw how colorful the subject was, I had to get out the colors!

For more about portrait sessions, go to "Labels" on the side bar and click on "portrait", "sketching" or "drawing".