Sorry that it has been a few days since I last wrote! I’ve been a bit distracted by new work happening (or struggling) in the studio. I’ll start showing you what’s up in the days to come, but first I should finish this cycle of four pictures from the past. This is the last of the seasons – Winter- and it’s a scene of the Platte River bottoms out on the the eastern plains north of Denver. I remember many bitterly cold, incredibly beautiful mornings.
The toughest part of this picture was capturing the ever so subtle mist rising off the river. Here are two close ups:
This is the third of the “four seasons” illustrations I did for that book oh so long ago. Weird as it may seem, I have no memory or idea of how I managed to paint this fellow’s face so well. EVERYTHING came out just right!
CLICK THE TOP PICTURE TO REALLY SEE IT WELL!
This is the next of the four illustrations I did for that book project oh so long ago. I wish it had been published – I did such a fine job on these.
PLEASE CLICK THE TOP PICTURE TO ENLARGE IT – TRULY WORTHWHILE!
This is one of several illustrations I did for a book that sadly, was never published. That doesn’t mean it wasn’t a little masterpiece. I’m very proud of the effort I put in, and although I don’t paint like this anymore, when I look at this I do get the urge to maybe try something like it again one day!
The medium is (as always) India ink, but instead of paper I painted on clayboard – which is commercially prepared substrate (masonite coated with a layer of kaolin clay). Think of it as a very high end scratchboard. Therein lies the key to achieving such detail. I not only painted with the smallest brushes I could find, but also scratched/scrapped back into the surface.
CLICK ON THESE PICTURES TO SEE THEM LARGER – YOU’LL BE GLAD YOU DID!
Good Morning – – –
I’m back at it after a week spent writing my first ever grant proposal. Yuck, but necessary so I can keep doing what I love doing.
As a sort of re-entry into my work rhythm, I’m fooling with some picture that are awfully ragged. I think I may like these two, especially the black one, although right now they’re held together by tape, dried ink and luck. What am I going to do about all of the holes in the gray one? They’re kinda cool, and maybe kinda not? Hmmmm.
I’ll my hands full trying to get these figured out, stabilized and glued back together! It sure is fun just to fool around a bit. By the end of the week though, I’ll really be back it the swing of things – ink will be flying!
Have the finest day –
Your Buddy Bill
This is the winter in which I’m finally finding a few answers and finishing half completed Norwegian landscapes. Hope it keeps up – I need the room for new pictures that I’m sure will start stacking up this spring!
I’m especially proud of the intertwining of textures here – both real and painted. Definitely a sign of things to come.
It started as the left half of a failed 2-sheet painting, took off on it’s own and ended up twice as tall! Am I ever in the driver’s seat with these things? I might like this more than I realize – just have to give it a little space and time to convince me.
Here are closer views – there’s a whole mountainside’s worth of texture happening in there!
I showed you a quick snapshot of this a little while back, but here’s a really good scan at last. Finally, justice is done to the wonderful mark making that’s careening around in there, almost (but not quite) lost in space.
This is a BIG one too – 36″ wide. He, he, he – just wait until you see what’s coming this spring!
Here are closer looks:
Compared to the last several pictures I’ve shown you of this mountain, this one is so quiet you almost have to listen hard just to see it! I’m not used to whispering like this. Maybe I ought to start working on that.
Yep, yet again it’s that same Norwegian mountain! This is one of my very favorites of the series thus far. Everything came together so perfectly! How often does that happen?
Below are close ups so you can really see what’s going on in there. The area in the lower left is killer fine – nothing but ink and paper – – – and a pressing desire to so beat my picture up that it turns geologic!
Finished and scanned! Okay – – – a storm, the nighttime, a mountain and a black wave. Got it all in there and yeah, I’m pleased! I’ve also added two detail views for you below.
YOU MUST CLICK ON THE MAIN IMAGE TO TAKE A CLOSER LOOK!!
Just a couple of kinda cool bugs – a moth and a dragonfly. Happy weekend!
Dark on dark on DARK – am fascinated by it! I would love to one day paint a scene as potent and full as it would be if we were standing in the nighttime, in the middle of everything.
Here’s a closer look at each of the two sheets – – –
Another closer look, this time a detail view from a picture I painted in Paterson, NJ several years ago. Its just a man-made cliff face that was in truth rather ugly, dropping into quiet water. The discovery I made: there’s poetry in EVERY view! And doesn’t it also seem as if you could step into some other world from here too?
I get so wrapped up in what I can do with no more than India ink and paper (okay, and a little glue) that I rarely take time to gaze fondly at the syncopation of my surfaces. When I do look, it’s always, “How did I do that?”
Weird how once I’m done with a picture, I have so little memory of working on it. It’s as if my brain immediately dumps that info to clear space for what’s next! Is this also because I move so fast?
It has been great fun to do my own series of portraits of the fine Norwegian artist, Nikolai Astrup’s famous mountain. I feel like I’ve really, REALLY covered every possible version of the view, but must admit I’m ready to be done. Another tough 2 weeks to go? I’m closing in – – –
THESE ARE WORTH SEEING BIGGER – CLICK ‘EM!
I’ve completely lost track of whether I’ve shown you these already, but the beauty of Spring is that it keeps coming back – so, here you go! Happy day!
I can’t believe it’s been a year since I did any flower pictures – and you’ve hardly seen any of ’em! I’ll start posting some. They’re pretty cool – and often a little whacky.
After all the grim ol’ ants I’ve been doing, a little whacky might be good. Annnnnnd if I do a few, will it seem as if Spring might come a bit earlier? Worth a shot at least!
CLICK THE IMAGE TO ENLARGE – SO WORTH IT!
This quick snapshot just hints at the wonderful complexity of textures and mood in this. I’m very pleased with how it turned out! Am flattening it right now, then scanning and soon you’ll see a hi-res image and details that tell the tale better.
Here was yesterday’s surprise: two failing mountain scenes were going nowhere, so I ripped/tore and laid the dark one on top of the lighter one. The photo above is what that looked like. Hmmm, okay, maybe now it was at least worth messing with a bit more.
BUT WHEN I TURNED IT UPSIDE DOWN, IT SUDDENLY BECAME A WONDERFUL – AND COMPLETELY UNEXPECTED – SEASCAPE! WOW!!
Now I gotta figure out how to finish it this way. I better get going on that!
