Quick Oil Sketch 6 X 8

Snowman

This is my second year drawing this Snowman character for an upcoming festival in Rice Lake.  I quickly accepted this job,  assuming it would be a easy project because I was using a character I had already created. "NOT SO"

 The snowman was easy but drawing the spraying snow was especially difficult.   It is really tricky to make something look random.

In the end,  I ended up spattering blue watercolor paint on paper to create a real splatter and then changed the color to white in photoshop.

Caricature from photo

This was a fun one, below is the request I received from the client.

"Flys jet airplanes, loves golf, safari hunts (maybe a mounted elephant or lion head), single malt scotch, flip flops/beach clothes, chocolate lab/dog."

It was fun to put these items together into a visual concept

Cowgirl Silhouette Oil 24 X 36

The reference photo used for this painting came from a trail riding trip in North Dakota. 

A friend of mine was riding on top of this hill and the composition just came to life. Good thing I always have a small camera packed with me for moments like this!

    The challenge of this painting was to keep the power of the silhouette while adding the primary colors she was wearing(yellow chaps, red shirt and blue saddle bag).

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.