Nothing Today

Jar of mineral spirits that I use to wash my brushes.

Vashti

I kept trying to draw this tiger from the Toronto Zoo at a reasonable size, like 8x10 or something, but I couldn't get it started. After a while, I realized that this tiger deserved to be drawn at life size. Most of the picture was drawn in charcoal, with highlights in white pastel and white acrylic paint. I initially tried to sketch in pen, before I realized that it was a waste of time, so scribbles in pen are visible here and there.

Vashti, 22x30 inches, mixed media on heavy paper.

Vashti, detail, 22x30 inches, mixed media on paper.

Much thanks to MoonsongStock on DeviantART for the reference photo!

Vashti, out on the porch to show the size.

Nothing Today

Not really feeling too artsy lately, so here's a few pics of my OMS Jar, showing a few days worth of brush cleaning.

 Wish I had taken notes on what painting I was working on during these, have to remember to do that from now on.

OMS Jar

Not much going on lately, so here's a picture of the jar of mineral spirits I use to wash my brushes.

Feo

Feo is a mixed media drawing, made from a few different pictures combined. The majority of the drawing is done with charcoal, sharp dark marks were put in with pen and highlights were done with white acrylic paint. The paper is a soft, heavy light grey paper with deckled edges, sorry I don't have a good picture of the edges at the moment. I really wanted to draw the appaloosa horse (whose name is Feo), so I made up a background to finish out the composition.

Feo, mixed media, 8x15 inches, finished.

Feo, detail of clouds.

Feo, detail of horse.

I really like this picture, so it is currently hanging on the wall in my room. Maybe someday I'll sell it, but for now I like it too much. 

Calliope

 This is a painting I finished a few years ago. It was done with oil paint and galkyd medium, which is good for doing paintings with lots of layers, because it dries quickly and is mostly transparent. If the galkyd layer is extra thick it sometimes dries with interesting textures, called alligatoring, like on the left side of the painting.

Calliope, oil on canvas, 11x14 inches.

Calliope, detail.

Calliope, detail of galkyd layers and alligatoring.

Enchanted Rock

I was lucky to spend the last weekend camping at Enchanted Rock. E rock is a huge, pink, granite mountain in central Texas. The outer layers of the rock slowly exfoliate and slide off, leaving giant boulders everywhere, and they're really fun to climb on. The environment is pretty brutal for most of the year, scorching heat and drought every summer, especially last year. Wildflowers here only have a few weeks of the year to get their business done, and this was the middle of the wet season, so the flowers were incredible.

Blue Bonnets on the Loop Trail. Enchanted Rock, Texas, March 2012.

 Exfoliation on Enchanted Rock, with people on top.

 Enchanted Rock, Texas, March 2012.

 Green as it ever gets. Enchanted Rock, Texas, March 2012.

False day flower, Commelineaceae family.

 Strawberry cactus flowers.

Lupinus texensis, Blue Bonnet, State flower of Texas.

Mystery flower.

Argemone mexicana, Prickly Poppy. 

Argemone mexicana, Prickly Poppy.