Natural Grace-Giraffe

This is another of the African Wildlife series. It's 9 x 12 on an Ampersand panel, in acrylic.It's my interpretation of a photo image by Cathy Sheeter (many thanks for the pic.)

I really like the graceful arc of the neck, and so the name.

A Little Attitude, Young Giraffe

This is a baby giraffe that has such a facial expression that I couldn't resist trying to capture that look. He certainly had "a little attitude."

 It's a 5x7 acrylic on board, already sold. Great fun to paint!

 This is a closer look at his expression:

American Bison, Acrylic

This is a 5x7 acrylic on Ampersand board. Thanks to Donna Ridgeway for the excellent reference!

This is now in a private collection, hot off the easel. Because I still work full time, my painting/drawing chances are limited, but I persist. I love the Golden Open acrylics because I can keep a palette going for weeks, using the simple 'sandwich' of styrofoam plates for a palette. One is the palette and the other is the lid, both sealed in a Ziploc bag, works great, and it's really cheap-just pitch the palette when it's too full of paint (saving the paint still usable), and the system goes on forever. Love it. I tried the stay-wet palettes, but wasn't as satisfied as I have been with my cheap and endlessly replaceable plates.

Anyway, here is the latest piece:

I'm always glad to hear any comments and questions, and thanks for looking!

Dama Gazelles

This is the second of the African animals, Dama gazelles, native to several African countries, endangered now, I understand.

This is 5x7 acrylic on board, from photos I shot at the San Antonio zoo some years ago. I always intended to paint this piece since then, but only now got it done. I am working smaller lately and the pieces go much faster, so there will be more coming soon.

I'm glad to hear any comments on this piece.

African Animals, First Piece

I'm planning a series of paintings/drawings of African animals, because I now have some excellent reference materials, copyright free to me. I have tons of pics taken in zoos, etc., but I needed authentic backgrounds along with images of wild African animals to compare condition, etc., with the zoo closeups I have taken over the years.

Anyway, this is the first piece in the planned African series, three giraffes, 6x12 acrylic on Ampersand panel.

Any comments or suggestions are welcome, and thanks for visiting my blog!

Antelope in graphite

This is a small study in graphite. It's about 7x9 or a little smaller. I might go on with an acrylic of this, but I always enjoy going back to graphite where I can control every mark. Unlike using a brush, which can be very frustrating, to say the least. Anyway, I enjoyed working on this little piece.

"Shadows and Strings" Revisited

You know, sometimes you think a painting is finished and it just doesn't quite get there. After looking at this piece for some time, and visiting with an artist friend of mine, I revisited "Shadows and Strings."

First, this is where I left off:

And this is really the final work. I added the creases and shadows in the back of the vest.

Once more, I have to remind myself about values! It became quite obvious when I looked at the graphite drawing of the same image, and saw the values in the vest. Back to basics, again.