Latest drawings and painnting

I've been a little busy: Trying to be productive - but from my perspective -Never Enough

2012 commitment to draw - paint-sketrch

This weekend I got my garden in - downsized. Mary is going to retire. My daughter got the teaching job she was hoping to get. My two boys are doing great... Nick travels frequently for work. Steve is doing fantastic with his sales position.

I started this primarily to openly commit to more drawing, sketching and painting. I am pretty sure I can double what I did last year and add a series of oils or acrylics.

I am alway impressed with Nathan Fawkes' Landsketch blog. Simply awesome stuff, what an eye he has for light and dark. Compositions and gesture paintings so freely done so creative.

March / April sketches

Drawings from March of this year. So many changes a year brings in our lives. People, events, frustrations, disappointments. Joys, pleasure, successes, happiness, confidence. hoping for a productive year as I start planning for retirement in either a year or two. Or maybe not at all if the environment improves. 

More drawings and paintings to come. UrbanSketcher

Guache painting - new series Mt. Washington

New painting - Shiloh Street near sunset Oct 17

 

 

Cityview from the Southside of Pittsburgh series

Below is newest to oldest series of painting from the southside

View from the southside on the Mon - 10th Street bridge

 Moving back up river toward the Birmingham bridge

Wide view of the city from Birmingham bridge - up river

Sitting very close to the Liberty bridge. I tried to get permission to climb aboard one of the barges. One guy wanted to let me go ahead, the other guy went by the book and did not care what or who I was, there was no way he was gonna let me on.

Cityview from Liberty Bridge

Cityview - painted August 6, 2011

First painting from the Southside near the 10th street bridge. I set my goal to complete within two hours. I am very happy with this second effort -I posted this image earlier, but wanted to stack it up with my recent projects. A painting from Chicago appears below it.

Cityview from 10th Street bridge - Southside Pittsburgh

This is from one of my favorite views of Pittsburgh. Just about any view from across the Mon is great.

Oak Brook golf course 18th hole

This opaque watercolor painting is the first one I've done since I started doing pastels and skteches. I was in Chicago for work (PNC Financial Services) and new I would have some free time before the meeting began. I decided to take my paints and gave myself two hours to do a painting. Pretty happy with the results, the reproduction here is not great, but the color reproduction is fairly accurate. The image itself is slightly soft.

Cityscape from Terminal Way

Latest painting from the south side. Found these wonderful hand rails made from bent rebar and a great site to paint the city. I'll probably head over to that spot again..

City View from 10th Street bridge

I'm very happy with this painting, it took longer than I had planned (two hours). After about an hour a policewoan tried to get me to get off my perch near the river,,, but decided not to pursue my extraction. She ended it by seeing that I was painting and said that , "Well you aren't drinking and you don't look like the type of person that would jump in the water or do something stupid., uhh ...be careful" 
I smiled as she rode off on her bicycle. Life is good and I and still inspired, maybe even more so. More inspired because of feeling a sense of my mortality - wanting to accomplish more in my life.

Pittsburgh from the 10th Street bridge

Decided to make the time to sit and paint a view of Pittsburgh I drew almost a year ago. Drove to the South Side of Pittsburgh and parked near the bridge. As I strolled toward the west I came across a set of steps that led to the Monongahela river and there was a place to sit with this view of the city.

Watercolors - I tried to go opaque, but in order to work fast I had to make some compromises. My goal was to complete the painting within 40 minutes.

Andy Warhol would be 83 today if still alive

Drawings and posts - January 14, 2011

Interesting that I have not made many entries lately and in reflection my very first entry was Pittsburgh's football team entering in the NFL playoffs and as I try to catch up to blogging they, The Steelers, are once again entered into the playoffs. Not so outstanding , simply coincidental.

I made this drawing in repsonse to a great victory game that allows the Steelers to advance to the AFC playoffs. It was Saturday and they played the Baltimore Ravens.

Final score Steelers 31 - Ravens 24

Sistine Chapel

Interactive view of the Sistine Chapel. Posted it this morning on Facebook. I like it because you can zoom in to view some of the frescoes.

There are a number of sites on the internet, by posting the particular link I am not saying that this is the best web page for the Sistine Chapel - I SumbledUpon it and liked this particular one.

The Sistine Chapel is part of the Vatican Museums. You can visit this site: http://mv.vatican.va/3_EN/pages/MV_Home.html for their interactive pages. I don't find them very clear and the interactive Flash program is not a hiRes image.

The ceiling and the Last Judgment, I believe, is the only portion done by my hero Michelangleo.

The rest of the frescoes were done by a number of different artist. The wall paintings were executed by Pietro Perugino, Sandro Botticelli, Domenico Ghirlandaio, Cosimo Rosselli, Luca Signorelli and their respective workshops, which included Pinturicchio, Piero di Cosimo and Bartolomeo della Gatta. The ceiling was originally frescoed by Piero Matteo d'Amelia with a star-spangled sky.


Michelangelo worked from roughly 1508 - 1512 painting the celing and wall.

Russian Watercolorist - phenomenal

Unable to translate his entire name "Votsmush"... I think his work is phenomenal .. this is his website and, in my opinion, his amazing portfolio.

Illustration Friday 11-5-2009 Skinny Pepper

Re-posted this image at a smaller resolution so I can submit to Illustration Friday. I've been monitoring the peppers and I am almost ready to draw more in their current whithered state. Then on to something new. Still looking for a reputable figure drawing session.

Life is so fun...thank God he invited me.

Yellow banana pepper

Banana pepper hangs off my desk lamp, drying, changing colors, whithering, drying. Probably one or two more studies left before it becomes seasoning.

Orange Pepper

Same orange pepper as below. It is a very mature Hot Banana Pepper. I think this drawing has more form.

Orange Hot Pepper

Drew this before I went to Chicago. Pencil and prismacolor with ink .

Flying to Chicago - Pencil Sketch

Flew into Chicago. Drew only two images; I usually do more drawings, but I felt like reading.

Hot Banana pepper

I've drawn 3 peppers so far as well as the small grouping I posted around September 27. I finally broke down and purchased a new back pack. Not exactly what I was looking for, but most important it is very sturdy.

 Not sure what will be next, I am thinking about letting the peppers dry and shrivel and then perhaps draw them again. I'm getting ready to go to Chicago and will probably draw people at the airport again. Love doing that - makes me feel good to look back at the drawings. Remembering the people, the things they did while I drew them, as well as their nuances while I secretly observed them.


Finished reading my spy thriller...in between interest right now. Not Sure if I want to read fiction or non-fiction.



I did buy some new colored pencils and am looking for something new. I want to be able to apply lighter colors over dark colors and not sure what medium to use.

Hot Peppers

Drawn Saturday, September 26

Prismacolor pencils and ink