Category — Nature
February Eno River Park Photos, Buckquarter Creek Trail
I brought my camera on the Buckquarter Creek Trail last week. My intention was to find the two trees my mom and I saw in October that she wanted a photo of. I could not find them. All I have to say is: you try going into the woods and finding the same trees twice!
February 24, 2010 No Comments
Cardinal painting for my birthday.
Yesterday was my birthday. I took the day off from work to read Discover magazine and paint. It’s funny that I’ve never painted a cardinal before considering how much I like them. This guy is peeking into the picture to say “hi”. This will not be my last cardinal I’m sure.
February 17, 2010 1 Comment
Orchids in Ink
In April of 2009 I visited Washington DC and luckily bumped into a great orchid exhibit (although I can’t remember which museum we were in). I wanted to do a few art pieces for xmas gifts and waited too long to let the oil paint dry so I decided to do some ink drawings of some of the orchid photos I have on hand.
Each received a light watercolor wash for color and the ink was applied on top. I have also included the photos that served as inspiration.
The Art
January 20, 2010 No Comments
On the Easel: A Friendly Frog
The most recent thing I’ve been working on (aside from some touch ups) is a frog. It’s actually inspired by the earlier post I had with a photo of a frog. He’s a friendly little guy. This is the current progression. I’ve been documenting the stages. I will also post the final when I’m done.
Stage One
I painted the background and did an underpainting of the frog.
November 22, 2009 1 Comment
NOLA and Audubon Park and Zoo Photos
Took a visit to New Orleans last week. Spent most of my time in the French Quarter, but also visited the Audubon Park and Audubon Zoo.
My only regret on this trip is that I noticed that there was an “endangered amphibians” exhibit at the zoo right before it closed which I wish I had seen. I love painting frogs. Ah well…there is plenty of other great reference photos for painting from this trip…including a couple neat frogs who lived in the reptile exhibit.
In the Quarter

Street Musicians
[Read more →]
October 27, 2009 No Comments
My Favorite Alaska Landscape Photo
It has been longer than I intended between the time I mentioned that I would post my favorite landscape photo, and the time I actually did! Without further ado, here it is. The Seldovia Harbor during sunset. (click the photo to view it bigger if you are on my blog)
September 26, 2009 1 Comment
Pigeon Painting: Unappreciated Beauty
I visited Washington DC in April with my dad because his old college hockey team was playing in the Frozen Four. While I was there, I snapped a lot of photos, many of the resident birds, which everybody made fun of me for. Most people come back from DC with photos of buildings (boring) and I come back with 2/3 photos of: sparrows, starlings, ducks, gulls, and of course pigeons.

Final Painting: "Unappreciated Beauty"
September 23, 2009 No Comments
Little Hummy Painting

I had thought this painting was finished a couple months ago, but I added to it again a couple days ago. Originally, the background was quite a bit lighter with more blue and green in it. I took this into my painting class and it is a good example of how the useful feedback enhances my mostly finished work. The instructor suggested I glaze the entire background with a darker color but leave some highlights above the bird. This way, there is a nice contrast because the bird is dark on top and light on the bottom, so the background looks nice being dark on the bottom and light on top. I totally agreed with him and am pleased with how it has turned out after the new enhancement. [Read more →]
September 17, 2009 No Comments





