Sisters On A Mission

I went to my hometown to see family and also attend an annual community event which I was fortunate enough to photograph. Immediately after snapping this photo, I knew I had to paint the image. Most who follow me on Instagram have seen the sketches. This is the first of about four paintings in this series.

At The Party

This is number three in the portrait series. This person was checking his phone at my sister's birthday party. He didn't know that I was taking his picture of course. I liked how he had isolated himself in a room full of people.

Struttin It

Years ago I would walk around downtown Austin taking random photos of people. This lady stood out because of her outfit and confidence. She also reminded me of both my mom and grandmother. Her image has appeared in many of my paintings. I was cleaning out my upstairs spare bedroom and came across her photo. Here she comes again.

Fresh Sea Air

The jumping off point for this painting was a photo taken over the labor day holiday. This young man was part of a church group from Sacramento, California. I took photos of him on his skate board from the hotel balcony. They occupied a large percentage of the rooms. They were easy to spot as they all wore yellow hoodies. They had adult supervisors too and lots of activities for the young adults. This young man would hang out on the deck while I painted from it in the mornings. Uart paper and a variety of pastels.

Queen Playing Yahtzee

Last weekend I celebrated my friend Maurice's birthday with his partner and mom. After watching a horror flick and dinner, they settled in for a game of yahtzee. I drew them while they were playing. I used St. Armand's blue canal paper. The surface is like painting on fabric and the texture actually adds to the image. His mom's name is Queen.

Morning Medicine

Pam was gassing up her car for an early trip out to Tracey, California and I saw this guy sitting on a curb at the station. He had something in his brown paper bag and he had just lit up his cigarette. I liked his grey hair and how it contrasted with his skin. I took a few photos from weird angles in the car. A Facebook friend recently posted a photo of his recent purchase of St Armand Canal Paper. I had read about the paper years ago on a blog. I bought a few sheets. Its a very nice handmade paper. It doesn't take a lot of pastel layers and has a unique texture that peeks thru if you let it.

He Likes Hats

This is my youngest nephew from my siblings. He is now getting taller than me and the voice is changing. I would call this stage the contemplative stage that I assume we all go through. I was sitting around my sister's home after Christmas dinner and Casey sat down. The initial sketch was in ink on Canson paper. I covered that sketch in pastel while on vacation in California. I took liberties with colors because I can.

Street Hustle

A corner in the city of New York. Years ago my cousin took a bunch of photos for me to paint from. He has always had an interesting perspective. The sketch was done a few years back. I applied the pastel last week after I found the drawing.

This is a sketch from my sketchbook. I am going for a larger pastel and graphite image. These are two members of our family. I gave my nephew Cortez one of my cameras to take photos of our celebration. His perspective intrigues me.

Sharp

This is a family friend that I have painted before. The earlier painting sold to a collector from South Carolina. I saw him recently and of course photographed him. He always dresses well. The first painting of him also included my oldest nephew.

Soaking Friends

During a visit to McKinney Fall State Park I saw this group of people soaking in the water. I took a quick photo and this is the first painting. I liked the way the water distorted the shapes of their bodies.

Thick And Beautiful

I saw these young ladies in front of Whole Foods downtown. It was during South By Southwest so I assume they were associated with that crowd. I was sitting at the light and snapped a photo. I used Wallis paper and started out with a watercolor underpainting utilizing complementary colors. I'm going to explore this image more in watercolor. 8 by 8 inches 125.00 unframed

This is a small study for a larger watercolor painting that I have in mind. I used 4 by 4 inch Stathmore Artist Tiles and a large brush. I just let the color do what it does. 4 by 4 inches 25.00 unframed

Joy By The Water II

I posted the study for this larger version last week. The setting was a new beach (to me) on the Point Reyes National Seashore. The beach was filled with people enjoying the water. This little fellow was being watched closely by his father. This version is 20 by 20 inches. The water in this one seems more ominous that the original study which is posted below.

Maternal Consult

This painting is very special to me. One night my Mom and I were up listening to music and I started to draw her. Once she noticed what I was doing she insisted on adding her own hand to the drawing. She loved dancing in front of the mirror and that is what we drew together that night. I spent most of the day working on my trial that starts tomorrow. I thought of Mothers day when my mom was alive. She loved doing her yard up (yard work) and sitting out with her visitors on her day.

Bench Conference

This painting was inspired by a photo that I took of my Aunt Mary Lou and Cousin Brenda during a family reunion weekend. It was a weekend long celebration of food, music, games, dancing and even church for those who wanted to attend. I have always been a photog at these events. My cameras are better now and the subject matter is even richer as we age. I did an underpainting in watercolor utilizing the color complements of the eventual top layer in pastel.

Yesterday Pam and I went over to visit the Austin Botanical Gardens like everyone else in the city. We had to do remote parking because the parking lot was full. Once inside it was beautiful with the first good blooms of spring. I enjoyed the poppies and the different greens. While there a wedding happened on the grounds. I had a medium sized piece of watercolor paper with me and made a quick sketch of the wedding with a water soluble graphite pencil. I laid down some dark greens while on site and finished it up at home. I'm thinking of adding pastel to the images of the bride and groom to make them stand out.

Photogenic Friend

I used a photo from the nineties for this one. This is a family friend and distant cousin. She has always had striking features.

Pastel Eye Twinkle

I am still working on this painting. The eyes have to look at me before I consider a figurative complete. I will finish and frame it this weekend. It's a relative who is a very colorful person and fun to hang out with.

Pastel Profile Study

This is the pastel installment of a family member with a great beard. Plus he has the family skin which can be dark and smooth. I used one of my prepared surfaces as a ground to add a little texture.

The Beard

A drawing study for a future pastel painting. This is a family cousin with a distinct beard.

That Smile

Another painting of one of my many nephews. I worked on a surface that had both fine and coarse pumice gel. The surface ate up the pastel in places. Pastel pencils were used for most of the rendering. I still want to tinker with the eyes and ears a bit more before I call it done.

Blowing Bubbles

The current drawing maybe done.