Line drawing - broken glass
12 x 6 - mat board

For people learning to draw, the prospect of drawing glass, metal or water seems daunting and it is a question that I get asked over and over again.

This piece is the basis for a tutorial that I am creating for drawing glass. I love drawing glass or another other reflective surface. To me, its like a jigsaw puzzle. There are many pieces, consisting of light and shade and they only work when placed next to each other for contrast. Only then does the beauty of the surface appear as if by magic.  read more »

Spring must be close because I had the itch to paint a baseball. I have wanted to paint this baseball ( another thrift store treasure) for a few months but never felt ready for the challenge, until now.  read more »

Above is my entry for this month's Virtual Sketch Date.  read more »

Yesterday our small Plein Air group painted at the (Mount Vernon Gardens Park) in Omaha. It is a beautiful little park built in the early 1930's to replicate George Washington's home in Mount Vernon, Virginia.(only half the originals size). Though beautiful, it took a while to find something I wanted to paint. I finally decided on this large maple tree.  read more »

I am still battling the flu from an alien life-form. I swear I must have been abducted by aliens in my sleep a few weeks ago and they experimented with my immune system. I am having to repeat how sorry I am for not posting but I simply do not have the strength or stamina to paint. I did manage a trip to my new plein air friends house last week. Every Thursday Marge and John and I have decided to meet and go out plein air painting.  read more »

EDIT: I've had an epiphany and have figured out what I wasn't liking about watercolor pencils/crayons under dry but couldn't pinpoint! Its on my next post coming up! I'll link it here when I finish writing it.

First off, I did decide to cut apart my triptych, and I do like it much better this way. I will be doing the one larger, but i have to wait until I have other things to order before I get my big board to save on shipping.

I promised to give my opinions and experience of using watercolor pencils/crayons underneath dry colored pencil.  read more »

Tuesday Night I am giving a talk and Demo at the Bellevue Artists Association. The talk is about Daily Painters, blogging and selling on Ebay. THe Demo is how I do a typical daily painting practice piece. The speaking part I will work on tomorrow. I have only done this demo /talk thing once before so I need a little practice to help me organize what it is I am going to do.  read more »

Last night I thought it would be a good time, to walk to the Museums Insel to let a sky lantern go sailing into the wide blue yonder. It is a fascinating thing such a sky lantern, if you dont know them I will explain. They are based on the same principle as a hot air balloon, just smaller of course and made out of rice paper. You unfold the paper, on the bottom there is a thin metal ring attached, in the centre of which a cookie sized candle is lit, then the paper balloon is filled with the warm air the candle produces, more and more, the whole balloon seems to be filled with light, bulges and suddenly it takes off the ground, without noise without explosions, just like that, magic. On the package it says they could raise to 500 meters.... the sky was clear last night and it went higher and higher till the eye could not see it anymore. Ich fand, da gestern abend der richtige Zeitpunkt war um auf der Museumsinsel eine Himmelslaterne ins All zu schicken. Eine faszinierende Sache, diese Himmelslaternen, falls Sie sie noch nicht kennen, darf ich kurz erklren, was es mit ihnen aufsichhat. Diese Laternen basieren auf dem selben Prinzip wie ein Heiluftballon, nur natrlich viel kleiner und aus Reispapier. Man entfaltet das Papier, unten ist ein kleiner Metallring angebracht in dessen Mitte eine keksgroe Kerze entzndet wird, dann fllt sich dieser Papierballon mit der heissen Luft der Kerze, immer mehr und mehr, der ganze Ballon scheint sich mit Licht anzufllen, blst sich auf und auf einmal hebt er sich vom Boden ab, ohne Lrm, ohne Explosionen, einfach so, wie von Zauberhand. Auf der Packung stand, die Himmelslaterne kann bis zu 500 Meter hochsteigen ... der Himmel ber Berlin war klar letzte Nacht und sie stieg schnell immer hher und hher und bald konnte das Auge sie nicht mehr erfassen.  read more »

Thank God I have a studio in the basement. Nice and cool down here. It was a miserable hot and humid day today. The kind of humidity that when you walk outside you feel like you are wearing a set of damp clothes.

Another day to experiment. I purchased some Gamblin Neo Megilip medium. I think it is supposed to be a Maroger medium replacement. It looked interesting at the Blick art store so I bought a small jar and gave it a try.....(I have no idea what I am doing). I started with a toned board and grayish monotone underpainting. The medium gets very tacky very fast.  read more »

Thursday is Plein Air Painting day in Omaha. We tried Elmwood Park again this week but when we arrived it was raining and the park had no place with an overhang to take shelter under and paint. We decided to head to the coffee shop. Of course, it was a downpour just as we got out of our cars. We run in, buy a coffee sit down...... and the rain stops. John wanted to check out Hanscom Park thinking it had more to offer. So off we drove. The weather held back but the sky was dark and gray.  read more »