Paintings Since My Early Posts

The painting on this post are of paintings done mostly since 2016. By updating my blog with more recent works, some progress may be seen. A number of the paintings shown on this post are sold. Others are not for sale but are in the collection of the artist. May you find them enjoyable and see some progress. 

This one is a scene from France done from a photograph my daughter took during a trip there with her husband. It is owned by her mother-in-law.

This painting is of a barn with an old gas pump near Gonzales, Texas and is owned by the Bob Vackar of McAllen, Texas.

This is of a bridge in rural England and was done from a photo sent to me by a fellow artist who lived south of Gonzales, Texas when I was a pastor there. Sold.

This small fawn painting was a lot of fun to do. I think it is 8x8 and is sold.

This 8x10 oil painting is of some oyster fisherman unloading near Fulton Beach, Texas. Sold.

These are my daughter's two cats painted from a photo she gave me to use. Fun to do. Sold.

This is another painting in oil of my daughter's cat. I feel I got the eyes pretty good.

Small oils of one of the light houses near Portland, Maine from photos taken by me while on a trip there with my wife. They are both sold.

These trees in a swamp are from a photo I took on a trip along the southeast U.S. coast. Small oil painting. Owned by my youngest daughter and her family.

This is probably one of my favorite paintings I've done. I call it the Maine Man. It is from a photo I took with permission of a man sitting in front of a Dairy Queen at a mall in Maine. It is looser in style and more as I want to paint. Look closely though and you will see reflections of the mall shops in his sun glasses. My own collection

Another small oil painting done from a photo taken on our trip to Maine. It is of The Corner Room where we ate one evening. In my own collection.

This watercolor is called "So That's How It's Done" It is one of only two or three watercolors I have done. I really enjoyed this and did each of the spots individually rather than mask to retain the white parts of its coat. I am keeping this one in my own collection.

Another oil painting done from a photo of a barn near Gonzales, Texas. I played here with pushing the intensity of the colors and limiting my palate. It is sold.

On a trip to California, I took the reference photo of this small oil painting from a pier near the Golden Gate Bridge. It is sold.

This small oil painting of a cypress tree is from a photo I took while on a trip to Jefferson, Texas and the surrounding area. It is sold.

This small 8x8 oil painting is from a photo I took south of Fort Worth, Texas. It is sold.

Another small oil from a photo taken on our trip to Maine. Sold.

A field of poppies in an 8x10 oil from a reference photo my daughter took in France.

A small oil painting, 6x8, from a photo taken on our trip to Maine.

This 8x10 is from a photo my daughter took while on a trip to France.

An 8x10 oil painting of a swampy area along the coast of Southeast U.S. From a photo taken while on a trip through the area. Colors and values pushed to get more vibrancy. Sold

This 16x20 acrylic painting of a lion from the Fort Worth, Texas zoo from a photo taken there. My own collection. Not for sale.

This small oil painting of an iris is 6x8 and is sold. I liked the more loose approach I took. Sold

Another 8x10 oil from a photo taken on a trip. I think this is Savannah, Georgia. Sold.

An 8x10 oil of the San Antonio River Walk from a photo taken while there. Sold.

An 8X8 oil painting. Sold.

A 6x8 oil. Sold.

An 8x10 oil from a photo taken by me at the Fort Worth, Texas zoo. The fur and his posture were a lot of fun. My collection.

Well, that should catch me up a bit. I'll post more as I study and as I paint. Thanks for looking. I hope you enjoy. Feel free to comment.

Well, the best-laid plans...

This blog began in 2009. Chasing technology and providing services related to that discipline provided a good livelihood for over 34 years. However, it is a younger person's field and wearisome keeping up to provide the best services possible.

Cleaning up, throwing out, recycling, re-purposing, and organizing for a new job: "To occupy until He comes." Some goals and structures to guide "retirement" have been set. The journey of learning is exciting. So much of the planning is toward that end. After reorganizing office space and clearing up some other home spaces the game will be afoot.

Monday through Thursday will start with coffee with my wife. Following this will be one hour of bible study making observations, interpretation, and applications of as many books of the bible as possible starting with Paul's letter to the Ephesians and following with similar letters to the believers Colosse and at Philippi before moving to an Old Testament book or two.

The next hour will be spent drawing or sketching. The only way to get better is to practice, practice, practice. However, practice must be done properly. If a pianist doesn't practice scales and arpeggios then she will never get better. However, if the practice is not correctly done then progress will not be made and skills will not be acquired. Work will be done in pen and ink, pencil, carbon pencil, and lampblack watercolor using photos or still life objects for reference. I have never spent much time practicing drawing or sketching so learning a proper approach is underway. To this end, reading and applying the guidelines (no pun intended) and instruction in Carl Purcell's fine book, Your Artist's Brain (ISBN-10: 1-4403-0844-6; ISBN-13: 978-1-4403-0844-4), is where the focus is being placed. Its big idea is to develop better skills of observation of relationships between shapes, spaces, subjects, backgrounds, angles, sizes, values, and more. This is basic to producing good art of the type I like to do.

The next hour will be used to start and complete a 6" X 6" or 6" X 8" oil painting either from a still life setup or a photograph. The goal here will be to develop more looseness and speed to prepare for doing Plein air outdoor painting. It is a fairly common practice of many painters to do a daily painting (see Daily Paintworks site).

Following painting, one hour will be spent writing. Initially, the goal is to write small sketches of personal memories or just describe a setting, person, smell, emotion, or experience.

The fifth hour will be spent reading on theology, philosophy, bible and creative tasks perhaps choosing to read into a different one each of the four days of the week.

The sixth hour will be spent studying other humanities subjects. The list will include history, philosophy, literature, and critical thinking. The current reading is about the life of John Calvin along with two multi-volume histories by Winston Churchill: Marlborough: His Life and Times (a descendant of the duke) and The History of the English Speaking People. Included will be two surveys of history by Susan Rice Bauer--one Medieval and the other Reformation.

Five days a week thirty minutes of exercise: fifteen minutes walking on the treadmill and fifteen minutes of weight training on Precor stationary equipment and free weights. Thirty minutes a day will be used for training Chase, a Bichon Frise dog who needs attitude adjustments. Friday and Saturday will be household chores such as yard, cleaning, and organizing. Sunday will be church activities and rest.

Evenings will be spent watching some favorite shows via our Amazon Prime subscription such as The Closer, Doc Martin, and Hercule Poirot. While watching TV some knitting projects started some while ago such as a sweater for my wife will be continued. Knitting was learned while in the Naval Hospital in San Diego recovering from pneumonia.

Sounds ambitious but changing from busy life of support and development in computer technology to vegging out is not an option. The structure will help keep the mind alert learning new things and continuing personal development.