Post your other non-phtographic art here.

[Rich]

Dave, these are some treasures for sure. I am impressed by your sketching ability. The western art is amazing! When I first glanced at your self portrait I immediately thought of a young Abe Lincoln with the high cheekbones and dark eyes. The portrait your wifes sketched is wonderful! Were you a movie Star in an earlier life?

[Dave]

Thank you Rich.

Regarding the cowboy sketches, I've always thought horses are beautiful animals. And the variety is fascinating: the long-haired Prrzwalskis, the muscular Clydesdales, the graceful Arabians, the wild Assateague horses that Natalie knows well, and more. And I'm blown away by the instant communication and teamwork between an experienced horse/rider pair. It seems that each intuits the others intent.

None of the sketches was a self portrait, but Abe Lincoln is correct.

My next artistic goal will be a gift for my photographer friend Sandy. She;s the 82 year old who works out hard 6 days a week, doing (among other things an amazing 200 crunches in her daily 45 minutes. I used to think I was a pretty strong walker until I tried to keep up with her on our first photo outing together.

Anyway, she volunteers as the nearby Long Beach Aquarium several times a week, and her favorite sea creature is the octopus. So I'll try to do a watercolor painting of one. I've looked at scores of octopus photos and have decided on the look I want, but I give myself at best a 50% chance of succeeding.

[dewarp]

Wow! Fantastic find Dave. Reminds me of the notebook I had in my first years at varsity, where I used to sketch stuff. Nothing as good as these sketches though. I, too, wonder what happened to that notebook - but long gone now.

regards - Pete

[Dave]

Thank you Pete.

The pastels I will use, the other items were simply great to rediscover.

-A couple of other things from my youth that I have no use for but would like to have are my unicycle and my old, ragged, held-together-with-tape wrestling shoes.

[Dave]

Last week I found some more old watercolor sketches and exercises. Here are two...:

1) I like this small sketch of a completely made up scene. After brushing in some yellow I did the rest of it using various twigs I picked up in the yard...

   

2) One of the early bomb tests taken from a B&W photo. It was fun choosing the colors...

More to follow.

[Dave]

A couple more from 23-24 years ago.

1) Watercolor of an imaginary volcano on Mars...

   

2) Unfinished watercolor study trying to depict the effect of aerial perspective in landscapes: how things in the distance appear paler and bluer due to the miles of atmosphere between these far away things and the eye...

   

[Dave]

And another two:

1) I enjoy complementary colors; it's amazing that a successful painting or sketch can be made with just 2 complementary colors - in this case (another imaginary land and sky scape) orange and blue...

   

2) This one was done with watercolor pencils. I was careless with my drawing: the soccer ball is clearly not round as it should be...

   

[Rich]

Dave I like the bush, good detail. The bomb blast is one I never want to see in real life! Good colors!

That could very well be a volcano on Mars, good imagination!
Good job an the perspective and lighting!

The complimentary color one is awesome!

Soccer ball is a good. Maybe not round but a good challenge.

Years ago I was teaching a watercolor classes and had the students do a one color painting. That was interesting!

[Dave]

Thank you, Rich.

I'm with you- I think the orange & blue mountains & sky turned out well.

I have around 5 more; will post some of them over the next few days.

It's a little deflating to realize that I was a better artist decades ago than I am now. But I'm motivated to practice every day. I have several different palettes of colors, more brushes than I need, and a fair amount of watercolor papers - mostly Arches 140 lb rough and cold-pressed plus a few blocks of Arches 300 lb rough and cold-pressed.

If you want to see what a truly talented watercolor artist can create, check out Jean Hines (jeanhaines.com). You may remember her wonderful paintings from way back in the WetCanvas! days.

[Dave]

Back with two more.

1) A made-up creature, done in watercolors and pen & ink in 2002 or 2003...

   


2) Watercolor and white gouache for a Christmas card way back in 2003...