Bridal Falls

I thought I'd experiment with the palette knife again.  Difficult but fascinating!

From a photo I took at Bridal Falls in British Columbia.  I've never met a waterfall I wasn't willing to stop for.

Acrylic, 8x9".

Sketchcrawl - Old Train Interior

Our September Sketchcrawl actually happened a week early so that we could visit the Alberta Railway Museum before it closed down for the fall. It was a lovely day for it and the train cars were very interesting, but my trip was plagued by disaster.  I had wandered around some of the cars and settled down to sketching this antique smoking car when I realized that my water bottle had come undone and was leaking into my bag.  Unfortunately my bag is water resistant and my camera was swimming in a small pool of water contained by the bag.  I had to take immediate action.

I removed the camera and my soggy wallet and dumped the rest of the water outside.  Then I had to slog back to my car, damp things in hand.  I left my drawing stool and water bottle behind.  I spread out all the wet things in my trunk to dry out, switched all the non-wet things to my backpack, and then went to the washroom to collect some paper towels so I could clean up the spill.

Then I lost the train I had been drawing in.  I spent half an hour wandering in and out of all the cars trying to find my folding stool.  There are four different sets of cars and I had not taken any special pains to remember which one I had exited because I assumed I would find my things when I got back.

So... the last train in the row of trains is longer than all the others and it runs behind a little warehouse.  The end of it is some ways down the road.  In my preoccupation I hadn't noted that I was passing the warehouse, so I was searching all the short trains, convinced that someone had taken my things.

Eventually I decided to backtrack more systematically and I discovered my mistake.  Everything was exactly where I had left it, except the puddle of water which people had tracked all over the room.  Sigh.

After that I didn't have a lot of time to sketch and my inks were shaky anyway.  I gave up a bit early and after our group dispersed I went back on the rural roads, parked by a little church and had a calm couple of hours painting beside a duck pond.

Sunflowers

Today I finished this painting I started last week, out in a field not far south of my house.

I ended up on this three-foot-tall dirt hummock in the middle of an enormous weed patch.  I liked the way that the weeds rose up around me and framed the field.  Sadly I muffed up the composition.  If I had the chance to re-do this, I'd use a bigger board so I could include the plants on the left, and I'd pull the sunflower above the horizon.  Next time I'll take more reference photos and do some composition sketches to start with.

Acrylic on hardboard, 9x12".

Contortionist

I'm still enjoying these odd little sketches.

Climber

Blackfoot Beaver

 

I thought it was a bit shameful that I didn't make it out to paint very often this year, what with the cycling and all, so I decided to remedy that by going out to Cooking Lake-Blackfoot Provincial Park.  It didn't look like it was going to be an auspicious trip.  I started late, and I got a bit lost on the way, second-guessing myself and then third-guessing and then getting stuck waiting for a train.  I finally made it there only to discover that I was at the wrong entrance, but it was too late to remedy that.  While walking I realized that it was very hot and humid and I didn't feel very good at all.

I started out along one of the trails looking for a lake, and then wasted time trying to find a viewpoint from which I could actually SEE any lake.  The water level was so high that it was puddling around the bottom of the heavy brush surrounding the lake and I couldn't work my way around to any area that was dry enough to sit on that didn't have trees or bushes in the way.

I eventually gave up, went down the other trail and after a bit of exploring I discovered this shallow bit of water, surrounded by reeds and thorn bushes.  There was an old wooden platform to sit on but I found a dry spot right on the edge of the water.

After I had set up and spend some time painting there, I heard a splash.  I was hoping for waterfowl but instead I got this beaver.  It swam out a few meters away from me and then spent quite a long time chewing on the stick, stripping it of bark.  It left, but came back some minutes later, dragged the stick away, then came back and dug another stick out of the muddy lake bottom.  My whole time painting was punctuated by periods of industrious beaver chewing.

It is interesting how similar beavers look to capybaras when they are in the water.

Anyway, I got everything laid in while I was there, and then finished it up over a couple days at home.  I got some really nice close-ups of the beaver with my camera.  I really like how the logs on the left turned out and the backlit grasses.  The bottom of the painting is not so successful, I may end up cropping an inch off it.

But anyway -- the first decent painting of 2013!  I believe this is my 77th painting.  Hopefully I can get closer to 100 by the end of the year.

Sketchcrawl - Mango Peelers

The last sketch from the Heritage Festival.  I believe this was behind the Guatemala Pavilion, which always has Mangos Locos -- mangos on a stick rolled in chili and lime.  This is one of the more popular items at the festival, and they have piles and piles and piles of mango boxes in the back and obviously a dedicated (if small) cadre of mango preppers.

Sketchcrawl - Dancer

I managed to catch one of the girls in ethnic dancing gear still for long enough for me to sketch her.  These were all done from life, no photos.  I believe this was one of the Croatian dancers.  They wore jingling coin vests for one of the dances.

Sketchcrawl - Heritage Festival

The August Sketchcrawl was held on the first day of the Edmonton Heritage Festival.  I always do a bit of sketching there but this time I had a couple hours to wander around and sketch random people.  Here are a couple stilt-walkers and a lady wearing a bright butterfly caftan, tidying up the dresses in one of the African tents.

The best thing about the stilt-walkers was that the stilts all had baby shoes on the bottom.  I saw them again the next day and they were wearing completely different costumes.

Strange Yarns

Bunsnake

I keep being inspired by Insanely Twisted Rabbits.

Fantasy Thumbnail

A thumbnail for a fantasy illustration.  I'm thinking of doing this one up in acrylics.

Antique Shoes

Pen and ink on paper.

I liked the antique shoe sketch I did previously so much that I decided to do a better, bigger version from reference.

Peonies

 

The last painting I finished this year before Art Walk.  Some peonies from my garden, painted plein-air.  I was trying out glazing again.  These turned out slightly better than last year's rose!

Acrylic on masonite, about 9x12".  Soon to be available in my Storenvy store!

Sketchcrawl - Garage

From the Urban Sketchers sketchcrawl at the University Farm.  I used to go by this old garage nearly every day on my way to work.  One of these days I should go out there and paint it before it falls down completely.

Sketchcrawl - Lantern

From my sketchgroup's visit to the ALES Museum at the University farm.  They have a lot of neat farm stuff.

Bear Warrior

Rock Like an Egyptian

Yeah, I don't know either.

Leap

Actioooon!  These poses are a ton of fun.  Good practice too.

Swordsman

Playing around with more dynamic poses!  Fun fun fun.

Narwhal Hat

Rabbits are so 1930s.  Narwhals are the hat animal of the future.

Alien Plant

Mucking around with some stuff from my sketchbook.

Hair Vamp

I've been preparing for the local art fair and haven't really had the time to scan or photograph stuff for the past week or so.  Art is being accomplished though.  I'm going to try to use up some of my extra evening time to scan some sketches.

Can't remember if I posted a previous version of this, but I did the initial sketch back around May or April or something.  Today I was playing around with shape & shading a bit more.

Warmup - Llama Leader

At first I thought the shape was a giant flower with a flamingo coming out of it, but clearly it was a kid in a weird hat leading a white llama.  Silly me.

Warmup - Ace of Spades

Apparently the series of animals is over for now.

I think this one turned out pretty well, even considering the stupid cropping and tangents.  An odd composition but maybe it works with this guy.

Hay Bales

Some hay bales at the University Farm.  It was a lovely fall afternoon and I had a nice painting session as random cyclists rode across the field right behind me.  After the light changed I sketched the barn in the distance and then went to look at some experimental peas.

Whitemud Duck

This was a plein-air painting I started in the fall of 2012.  Finally finished it up.  Although now that I'm looking at it I can see a few more touches I might like to add.

It was a lovely fall day out at the ravine.  I should get out to paint more often.

Warmup - Cobra

Warmup - Window

Still working on these.  This was a window from a reference photo I took in Poland of a famous house known as "Malgosia" which is the Polish name for Gretel (as in "Hansel and Gretel").  There is also a Hansel house beside it.

I have some fond memories of the town square from when I was very small, but for some reason I don't remember these houses at all.

Warmup - Kingfisher

The shape of my blotches was kingfisher-like, but it was weird how I picked the right colours for it at random.  Next time I might have to avoid diagonal branches.

Painting Warmup

I've decided to start doing these small acrylic paintings to get back into the painting groove.  I just start blobbing things about and eventually it starts looking like something and then I go get some reference.

I might sell some of these at Art Walk this year.

Karma Chameleon

Finally finished!

Miss Pea and the Bee

I quite like how Miss Pea and the bee turned out, although I may have to crop this one a bit since the rest of the pic isn't as successful as I'd hoped.

Sketchcrawl - Space Science Centre 2

I didn't have much time left after the last sketch so I threw this one together.  The perspective worked out not so badly but in hindsight I should have stuck to the B&W version.  Oh well, there's only so much one can do with crap pencil crayons.  I might neaten up the windows and the grass a bit.

Sketchcrawl - Space Science Centre

The Urban Sketchers sketchcrawl at the Space Science Centre.  This was a fun building to draw, and this sketch turned out well.

What you can't see is a faint yellow mist surrounding everything, composed of pollen from all the evergreens.  Ick.

Journal - Jasper Townsite

A sketch of a street in Jasper, Alberta, Canada.  We went for 5 days and got some nice hiking in.  I forgot how much I missed going there.  Hiking vacations are my favourite!

Jasper Mountain

A watercolour sketch of one of the mountains visible from Jasper.

Art Fundamentals

I was cleaning out my office sometime last year and dragged out my portfolio from my Art Fundamentals course.  I snapped a photo of this before it was consigned to the refuse pile.  It was something like my fourth or fifth acrylic painting ever.  I passed that course entirely on my drawing skills because goddamn, my painting skills were AWFUL.

This was the final project in the course.  It's supposed to be a mashup of Dali and Van Gogh.  It turned out so badly that I didn't touch my paints again until 11 years later.

Luckily I got better! :D

Odd Headgear

Still sketching people with strange things on their heads.

Haunted WIP

Roughed in some colour.

Haunted

Something I was working on in April.  An expansion of an earlier sketch that was rejected by an art director.  I threw some colours on but I didn't like them.  I might give 'em another try.

Zombie Head

A quick thing I did for an author that did not work out.

Too bad.  I rather like the undead.

Sketchcrawl - Steeps

Jellybird

Finally finished this guy.  The jellybird!  Pencil crayon on paper, 7.5x9.5".  Like it?  Buy it at my Storenvy shop!

Cloud Study

Catgirl WIP

Messing around.

Sketchcrawl - Government House

I only had time for one sketch on our last outing, so I tried to make it nice and detailed.  I'm going to have to visit again to see what the inside of it is like.  Maybe next weekend?

Done in orange PITT pen.

Journal - Daffodil 2

Another spring daffodil.  I rode out to campus to mail out some tearsheets and stopped to sketch the flowers.

Journal - Daffodil

The spring daffodils are finally here!  Sketched from life.

Cloud Woman

Another sketch.