Summer Time Sketches

This summer I have made it a goal to take my sketchbook with me on all my outdoor adventures in an effort to improve my sketching skills. Its much more challenging to draw and paint in Plein air (working on location) than it is from a photograph you must work quickly and deal with the elements and since I use a pen there is no erasing. The following are a few of my sketches done on location this summer and later watercolored at home.

Clackamas River from Lazy Bend Campground

Unfortunately this was the location of a large forest fire that has been burning for the last 2 weeks so much of the forest in this scene is burned to a crisp.

Ocean Side Beach, OR

this was a challenging sketch because it was crazy windy that day at the beach hence all the kites and windsurfers

Backpacking Trip to Jefferson Park, OR

Fly fishing Scout lake

Mt. Jefferson from campsite

Russell Lake from campsite

Bays lake

Here is a picture of me in on top of Park Ridge action!

Now that it Fall and the weather is starting to turn,  I hopefully will be doing more painting at home. My plan is to use some of these sketches as a basis for a new series of landscape paintings. 

thanks for looking

Art Show at the Distillery

Its been a long time since I have last posted anything, for 2 main reasons 1. its been a super busy summer especially August so there has not been a lot of painting going on and 2. our computer took a fall that busted the hard drive so there was no way to post even if I had been painting, the computer is fixed now so I thought I ought to give an update. The month of August I had the privilege to be the featured artist at the Rolling River Distillery in Portland, a small family run operation that makes an excellent vodka, I got to show my paintings in their tasting room. Here is a link to there site: Rolling River Spirits
 I sold 3 paintings 2 to the owners who are really cool people and one to a couple visiting from DC. here is a shot with me and the Spirits maker himself notice his awesome facial hair

one reason I have been so busy in August is that I have been training for my first 100 mile bike ride so I have been trying to log as many miles as possible with an already full schedule I rode around 500 -600 miles in august (including the 100 century ride), here is a painting I did inspired from one of my favorite rides in Portland's west hills of a old barn on Skyline Blvd.

here is one more painting from earlier this summer, I must disclose I copied this from a very accomplished watercolor artist but I feel its good to do this every once in awhile to try to learn the ways of the masters. While no where near as good as the original I really like how it came out the atmosphere reminds me a lot of a Portland winter.