Red-Bellied Woodpecker

I was in Nashville this past weekend for a portrait sitting and had a little extra time one rainy afternoon.

  

"Female Red-Bellied Woodpecker"   7" x 5"   Watercolor

Watercolor Sketchbook

From my sketchbook -  Some watercolors of plants around our home.

"Jade"   8" x 5"

"Cyclamen"  7" x 5"

"Spring Blossoms"  10" x 5"

"Carnations"   8" x 10"

"Jasmine"   10" x 8"

"Tulips"   10" x 8"

"Gerbera Daisies"   12" x 9"

"Sunday Posey"   8" x 10"

Iced In

An arctic cold front blew in and covered our region with a thick coat of ice that brought things to a stand still.  This is what our neighborhood looked like for several days.

Fortunately I had brought home my "studio-in-a-box" and was able to do a little painting.

Everything fits neatly in this Pelican Case.

A Christmas decoration seemed like a good subject.

"Camel Candle Holder"   10" x 8"   Watercolor

And I also painted this watercolor of a great blue heron I had seen at the Fort Worth Botanic Garden.

"Great Blue Heron"   10" x 8"   Watercolor

But after a couple of days I decided to strap on my handy Yaktrax and walk the 1/2 mile to my studio... 

…to work on this cityscape of Fort Worth on a winter evening.

A Collection Of Sketchbooks

Over the years I've collected a number of sketchbooks...

...and filled them with sketches of daily life, ideas for paintings and copies of Old Masters artwork.

A few close-ups:

Our living room and dining room.

Architectural detail of the Flat Iron Building in Fort Worth.

Study of one of the subjects in John Singer Sargent's painting, "The Pailleron Children".

Study for a larger watercolor of a geranium pot in Portugal.

Old Sketchbook - The Beach

I recently found an old sketchbook that contained sketches from a family vacation at Padre Island National Seashore.

"Our Tent on Malaquite Beach"   8" x 10"   Watercolor

Good memories!

Sketchbook - Dogs

After posting some sketches of cats a few weeks ago, someone asked if I had any dog sketches. My feline sketches far outnumber my canine sketches (the cats hung around the studio more), but here are a few.

Not from my sketchbook, but a dog portrait commission I painted a few years back.

"Lucius"   9" x 12"   Oil

And speaking of sketchbooks...I just bought this hand made sketchbook last Saturday morning at the very first weekly Southside Urban Market in Fort Worth.  It was made by Morgan Smith of eylan arts.  

Sketchbook - Airports and Airplanes

Traveling for portrait commissions gives me a lot of sketching time in airports and in airplanes. 

When the pilot announces that due to stormy weather we will be stuck on the runway for an hour, it's time to get out the sketchbook and watercolors!

Sketchbook - Cats

I was looking through some old sketchbooks the other day and was reminded of how often I used to draw our cats (cheap and available models.)  They liked to hang around the studio and were easy targets for a quick sketch.