Gift Caricature

Clients requests for caricatures is usually interesting and very individual, I am never drawing the same thing twice. Apparently this doctor is very fast at removing skin cancer.

Wisconsin Parade

6 X 8 oil

A quick & fun painting of the crowd at the Spooner Rodeo Parade.

October Trail Ride 9x12 oil

Caricatures for SurModics

These caricatures were done with marker &airbrush then digitally enhanced with photoshop. 

Instigating play time.

Instigating play time.

 Oil 6x8

This quick painting shows my Border Collie "Riley"  trying to move the horses by nipping at their nose, usually he gets his way. The horses don't  like him much.  In this picture a yearling is trying to strike at him, Riley is so quick they can never get him. In the end they all get some exercise so thats a good thing.

Life sketches

This summer I set up to do caricatures in downtown Hayward, next to Anglers restaurant. When I'm slow its a good opportunity to draw people from life. 

You know you are really absorbed into  life drawing when you are disappointed when a customer interrupts you to have their caricature drawn.

Caicatures-Summer 2012

Caricatures kept me busy all summer,  mostly working in Hayward WI but still drawing at a few parties and company picnics. One of the caricatures is a group of four brothers who don't look much alike but they all shared a great sense of humor, they were fun to draw!

I finished this oil  painting last week.  18" x 24" 

The models are horse trainer  Zeek Zacharias and my mare Duchess. 

We trailered  to their place for the photo shoot last fall.

The early photos in the shoot look like Duchess had a gallon of espresso, she was wound up and nervous from being some were new.

About a half an hour in she finally settled down and I got some nice shots to work from.

I enjoy the relaxed and simple feel of the painting. 

Circle of Peers

Alex Hughes, Vlad Kolenic, Peter Mengert, Van Jacksan, Lucas Chamberlain, Sara McMullin, Ben Schell, Rachel Murphy, Kathy Samek and Celestia N. Ward 

Recently I returned home from drawing caricatures at a 18 day fair in Miami Florida.

Usually I work alone so I  enjoyed the opportunity to work with this talented group of artist. 

However eleven artist living and working together for 18 days could be a reality TV show,  there is never a dull moment!

The Miami fair is an excellent combination of hard work and play.  On week days the fair opens late so we would go to South Beach in the late morning,  swim in the ocean till noon then go out to eat.   Usually we drew caricatures till about 1am then stay up  to unwind  and talk shop.  needless to say when i got home  I slept 14 hours straight. 

I believe peers play a very important roll in a artist life, these are the people you can talk shop with the people you share the same passion with.  With who else can you have an exciting hour long conversation about head shapes and facial structure. Peers seem to have a way of reappearing in your life some of these artist i first worked with in 1996. 

 

Snow man Digital Illustration

August Ride

This is the most recent painting I have finished it is a small 9 x 12 done in oil.

 For those of us who own horses there is nothing more relaxing then being back out on the trail with your horse and dogs.  I was trying to capture that feeling in this painting

Occasionally I will ride along the road and need to leave the dogs home for safety,  They are so heartbroken it is very difficult to do but it is good for the horses to get used to traffic.

Usually we are back on the trail and they are very happy dogs !  This is the first time my border collie Riley has made it into a painting.  

Digital Illustrations

Digital Caricature

Red Dun Filly

This is a 9 X 12 oil painting of a seven month old red dun filly we own. 

Plein Air

This plein-air I did last spring.  Unfortunately oil painting has become seasonal for me. 

I stay very busy with caricatures in the summer / fall and have more time to paint in the winter. 

Below is a photo taken of me in January at a paint-out in Grand Marais MN. It was COLD!

Funny Fish Illustrations

More Illustrations done with the Cintiq 12WX and Photoshop.

Digital Caricature

Cintiq 12WX

I recently purchased a Wacom Cintiq 12WX.   It's a pressure sensitive tablet that allows you to work directly on the screen so it has a very natural feel.

This is my first digital painting, it took about 20 hours but a good portion of the time was spent  learning how to work  the Cintiq.

Digital painting has some advantages  over traditional painting. It is much faster and easier to change your image which is ideal for illustration work.

It is exciting to be involved in the traditional oils that has been around for hundreds of years and a brand new style of painting. 

However I have no intention of replacing my traditional oil painting with digital.

A computer screen does not compare to my french easel, paints and brushes and being outside on a beautiful day. You cant beat that!

Photo shoot

We took about two hundred pictures yesterday some of them I will use for painting references.  

I think the light coming threw the dust is a really interesting effect.

The first photo is of my mare Duchess we are practicing a sliding stop.

The other photo is of my trainer Kate Lehman "in the cowboy hat"

This October has been excellent riding weather.

Daisy Duke

I met Daisy Duke "Catherine Bach" yesterday at Fond- du-Luth Casino

In Junior High I absolutely loved watching the Dukes of Hazzard! 

The casino hired me to pre draw these cartoon background that Daisy and Cooter would sign.

Then I would draw in the persons caricature on the left side of the paper.