This is a pen & ink done a while back. I have since made prints of it and hand-colored them. When I find some I'll post a few. I also used this composition for a couple of paintings done as my swirly abstracts.
 

This is another of my pen & ink drawings done for poetry books or other publications. This original is about 11 inches high. These do take a little time but are fun to do. I also enjoy  taking the original, making prints of them and then hand-coloring them each with a little different color scheme.

I think I need a better name for this drawing. I'm not very good at naming my work so please use the comment link below or post something on Twitter if you have a good name for this drawing. Thanks.
 

This is a pastel version of the drawings I have been creating and posting for a while now. It was first done in pencil, rough, then in felt tip, quickly, now it is done with pastel pencils. The two small images are copies from earlier posts. To see them larger as well as comments, go to, ["Lady in Lace" drawings.]

The pastel is about 11 inches high as an image but would be framed somewhat larger with the background. It was done on a gray toned pastel paper. It was done with ONLY pencils. That means no sticks and no smudging of any kind. Each color is created by the cross-hatched overlaying of small lines. I think this gives it a soft but painterly look and feel.

The final image at the bottom is obviously a close up of the face to show some of the line details.

            
 

The photos below represent the next steps in painting the oil with the working title "Nude by Tree" To see the first post with the beginning steps please either scroll down through the blogs or go to, [Beginning "Nude by Tree"]

In the image to the left you will see I did what I call the initial under-painting of the figure. The colors I use for almost all skin tones are combinations of: white, yellow ochre, cadmium red & cerulean blue. The under-painting is done very cold and pale just to establish the basic patterns of light and shadow.

The face is only brought up to the point where I can feel good about the expression but not any real detail. For me, I have to keep the facial expression to my liking before I can feel good about working on the rest of the work. I guess it is as if she were real and as I would with a real woman, I would want to know, by looking at her expression, she was feeling what she should feel as we spent time together. (or something like that)

The hair will eventually be various shades of red but for now it is just roughed in with burnt sienna. The drape is put in very light with, ultramarine blue, yellow ochre and white just to establish the general shadows and flow of the drape.

The image on the right has the background with the tree again very rough just to start to establish the values and make decisions on the warm or cool of the objects.

From the beginning I have not been sure of how warm or cool I wanted the tree or how dark do I want the background. Is the tree darker than the background or the other way around? At this stage I think I have decided but the next stage will force me to finalize this. The colors used at this stage are: burnt sienna, ultramarine blue, yellow ochre and a touch of white here and there for opacity more than value.

  
 

Here is a watercolor, 11 x 5 inches. This was done as a study for a painting I hope to start soon. I am not sure of leaving that much nudity and know I need to adjust some of the figures proportions but the idea is still what I saw in my head. I like the colors but expect the final will be more relaxed with more interesting diversity of color. When a painting is this small it is fine to have a lot of solid colors but, for me, when they are done at perhaps 36 or more inches high the actual paint needs to have more colors going on in each area to maintain the viewer's eye's interest.
 

This is a small pen & ink done some time back as an illustration for a poetry book. (No, not my poetry) This reproduction is about 8 x 10 inches. I have done a few drawings similar to this and will be posting them soon. I'm also going to offer this and others as small prints for $20.00 each. Anyone interested, please use the comment form below or the contact page to ask more questions or purchase until I get all of this actually on the sales side of my site.
 

This is a watercolor nude done with a limited palette, 14 x 24 inches. To see links to other realism paintings of mine or purchase information. [Watercolor Nude Study]

I would like to think I'm a better painter than a poet but I do enjoy writing an occasional sonnet in the Shakespearian form. So here is a sketch for today with an attempt at poetry to match.

Here is a small color sketch I did of one of my models. It is on 8 1/2 x 11 heavy stock and done with colored pencils. Light pencil drawing first and then the color added. These are fun and quick to do but also give me a good chance to experiment with colors for later paintings.

This is a sketch of a woman just "hanging out" in my studio talking while I drew and then took some new felt tips and played with them to see what would happen. Sort of like it and it is very fast.

This is a painting I call, "Alma Tadema with TV." It all started when a model of mine was lying on the modeling stand next to my easel and going on and on about TV shows she had watched the night before. I don't have cable or watch TV except movies so this was sort of a mystery to me.

I did some sketches of her in that position and some photos. Later that week I was looking at a picture book of Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema's work. I ran across the image below of "Welcome Footsteps" painted in 1883.

Since most of the TV shows my model liked were involving romance or datiing in some way it seemed fitting to use this painting as a starting point. She was always talking about waiting for the right "hunk" in her life so the muscular statue outside seemed to be in keeping with her dreams. Wasting her time in front of a TV when the beautiful real world and her dream was just outside.

The work I did on a 30 x 40 canvas was taken from this painting with the obvious changes.

Some don't see the back of the TV or the remote on the floor at first so the title can be confusing.

The couple who bought this piece were very much fans of Mr. Alma-Tadema and nudes so it was a good match.

Footnote. The work of Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema is worth studing if you are interested in Hollywood movies, Roman history, storys of Pompeii or the Victorian period in art. My own observation, if I were to cast someone to play him in a movie it would be Anthony Hopkins. [grin] I think he does look like Sir Lawrence from his photos.

    

This next image shows my studio where I have the canas on an one easel with the charcoal drawing and a pastel on drawing board beside it. The pastel was started soon after the sketch to work out color issues but as I worked I didn't like any of it and couldn't get into it so decided to stop and go straight to the canvas. Sometimes that is the best.

Below is the next stage and where it is now. The tree was a thin burnt sienna and the background is a thinned burnt sienna and untra marine blue. All done very light and thin since I don't know exactly where I'm going with the color. I also put in basic details of the face just to start to establish mood by expression and eye direction.

Below are the sketches and final painting of "Friday Night." The whole idea came from a very special Friday  night with a very special lady. The pencil sketch (9 inches high) was done weeks later and the color rough, a watercolor (16 inches high) was done long after that. The actual painting, measuring nearly life size at 60 x 24 inches wasn't finished until some time after the watercolor. The experience was still very clear in my mind and revisiting it with the execution of the painting was as if it were the night before. 

What I want to show here is how a painting progresses from:

1) experience
2) memory
3) rough visual experience
4) finalized composition with painting in mind
5) the actual painting itself.

Please visit the page with the final image of "Friday Night."

This is a preliminary sketch for the painting "Clinging Vine." I show the sketch here to show the process of taking a painting from the first idea to a completed painting. The sketch is onlt 10 x 3 inches but the final is an oil painting on canvas 36 x 18 inches. The final painting can also be seen here as it is for sale. "Clinging Vine."