110

 

 Do' 'no why

There's no cloud up in the sky,

Sunny weather.

Gonna be sweatin' together,

Wanna lay down an' die.

 

 

Sara and Anika

 

Friend and daughter.

Gettin' Old

 

 

My eldest, the one with the book, turned 41 last month, which makes me considerably older. I look in the mirror and note the effects of gravity and that my hairline has slowly crawled toward the top of my head. My skin has also gained some tree bark qualities. Yet, it's still me inside, or mostly. I've learned some things about life and gained some knowledge, but maybe not so much wiser. I don't have much left on my bucket list, I'm pretty content. So as time goes on until whenever, and the tree bark gets thicker, and faces and names continue to disconnect, I'll remind myself of all the perks associated with getting old and that I can always be immature.

Dirty Cherub

 

 

Saw this mounted on a wall in England. Much of the original paint peeled off or faded. Drew it last year just as a study in texture.

Palo Verde

The name means "green stick". These trees have olive green bark and bright yellow blossoms in the spring. I obviously haven't done it justice by my drawing, but trees always facinate me. I'm primarily interested in the way the limbs relate from a graphic point of view. I liked the way this one looked.

Still alive

For those who've visited here in the last 6 months or so, you will have noticed I haven't posted. I lost intertest in doing so but will eventually put some newer drawings up soon. More later.

Innocence

The look in this young boy's eyes grabbed me so I had to try and capture it in a drawing. It's from a National Geographic photo.

A Minor Photo







I've always been a frustrated photographer. Out of the thousands of pictures I've taken, there are only a half dozen or so that I really like. The rest don't measure up to the quality of the pro's. I took a fine arts photo class in school way back when. The guys to emulate then were Ansel Adams, Edward Weston and Minor White. I couldn't figure out what they were doing to get the quality they achieved so I dropped the class. It wasn't until years later that the light went on. (Pun intended). But by then I'd lost interest and I've never had the patience to stand around in a darkroom for long periods of time.

 

The objects d'art back then were mostly junk yards, old buildings and stuff with lots of texture. I remember seeing a photo of just grass, but the tonal depth and range made it look pretty good. So in an effort to create an artistic piece of the times of yesteryear, I found an old photo I took that I wasn't able to get up to the class standard then. I scanned and tweaked it in Photoshop to make it look similar to those I used to see. No more of this though. I'd rather draw.

 

Ah Portland

 

It's been said that the heat in Phoenix is a dry heat. Yeah, well, not in the Summer. It rains. So with a relative humidity at 60 percent and a temperature of 100 degrees, you end up feeling about 130 degrees warm. I suppose I shouldn't complain though about being in the desert. God ploppled His Chosen People in the middle of a desert climate. I should be grateful.  We're also not supposed to grumble here in Phoenix. The Israelites had to wander around for 40 years in the heat because of whining.

 

I took the photo at a fountain located at the Portland waterfront. I wish I was there. But I'm not complaining.

Anna

This didn't copy well, it's better in the real. The hat was what attracted me to this pretty girl. I asked if she'd pose and this was the best.