Sheriff car in Mayberry

First time to try drawing a car, was much harder than I thought!

Gomer Pyle

Really am enjoying drawing the cast of the Mayberry gang.  Gomer was a favorite of mine and he played the role so well.

Opie Taylor

Since I did Andy and Barney , had to do Opie too!

Indiana Jones

Loved working on this portrait from one of my favorite movies and movie characters!

Barney Fife

Since I drew Andy I just had to draw Barney too!  They go together.  Will hang them on the wall side by side!

Christmas Present

Did a surprise Christmas gift for a friend of her son.  Very smart little boy!

Andy Griffith

Loved this show as a kid growing up and all it represented to me.   Would love to have those kind of days back again.

Horse and Rider commission

Got a commission to draw one of our leaders at the company I work for competing with her horse.  11x14 charcoal and pencil.

JFK in color pencil

First time to try color pencils and really found more difficult than I thought.  Very little erasing ability and also take many layers to build up color.  Found that I have to start light and darken instead of going dark first.

Tribute to a dear friend

Lost a dear friend that I had breakfast with for over 10 years.  Decided to memorialize him with what skills I have.

Horse of course

First time drawing a horse, came out pretty good I think.  Lots of nice comments from http://wetcanvas.com in the Wildlife and Animals forums.

Einstein

Love reading about this guy, so smart,  I wonder if he was one of us.

Steve Jobs

Had fun drawing Steve Jobs tonight.  Odds are you are probably viewing his picture on a device he is responsible for.

Neil Armstrong

One of my heroes growing up, Neil Armstrong was my subject this time. I often wondered what it must have been like just knowing that of all humans who have ever lived on this earth to be the first human to step onto another round ball in the sky that countless millions of people have stared up at in wonder. First of only a dozen humans ever to experience that. I hated to see his passing so I thought I'd honor him in picture. This was one of the harder ones I've done because of the nature of the suit. His expression can be seen as pure fear or just utter amazement. I like to think amazement.

Dog portrait

Did a dog portrait for someone that won a raffle.  Had fun doing this,  the dog has such a calm look on his face.

Daniel Craig

Love the Bond movies and what Daniel has brought to the character.  Enjoyed this quick study of him.

Paul Newman

Enjoyed Paul's work in film and racing.

President Reagan in profile

Love doing the profile type portraits, less to keep up with!   This was a very dark reference so I had to push around the values and contrast.

George Bailey

Favorite character of mine!

President Franklin D Roosevelt

Took on FDR today!

President Eisenhower

I did not know that he was the president that started NASA and DARPA.  I had always thought Kennedy.

President Roosevelt (Teddy)

Love drawing these presidents,  this one before my time, but cool mustache.

President George W Bush

Chose a picture that reflected the stress and hard times of his time as president.

President Johnson LBJ

Enjoy this time period in American history!

Fred Smith founder of FedEx

Did portrait of the founder of FedEx where I have worked for 31 years.

President Reagan pencil portrait

Tried to find a pose that was not so common of him.

President Nixon pencil portrait

Captured Nixon before his Watergate scandal.  Seems much happier.

Bill Clinton pencil portrait

Continuing my presidential theme.

President Kennedy in profile

Another president.  Just on a roll.  I enjoy doing these quick pencil sketches.

Abraham Lincoln pencil portrait

With all the election madness I decided to do a portrait of a real president!

Cloudscape

Got back into painting with oil after self portrait.  This is a work in progress but it's pretty close now.

Self Portrait

Decided to try another self portrait in oil this time.   16x20 on canvas.  Used my facebook profile as reference pic!

Pencil portrait of President Reagan!  My favorite President.

Commission in Pencil

Commission portrait in time for Christmas!

JFK pencil

Used to love this era and all the excitement of the new space program and the new age.  Decided to do a pencil of Kennedy.

The Selfie

Decided to try a self portrait, first time in a long time.

Another layer on "Partly Cloudy with Chance of Showers"

Oil 16x20:  Original painting had some drip marks from some linseed oil I was using in medium and decided to paint over them and enhance the painting.  Added the rain under the cloud and some other thunderheads in the background.   Haven't painted anything in about 9 months.  Felt good to have paintbrush in hand again.  Someday!

Is There Anybody Out There?

I was browsing some pictures from the #Hubble and saw some interesting pictures that looked like they would be a challenge and fun to paint.  Makes me stand in awe of our God who is as endless as we consider the universe to be.   I read recently where the known universe is 94 billion light years across!   That is 94 billion times 6 trillion miles!   Incredible!

Oil on canvas 48x24

Day at the Beach

Painted over my last post of the "Partly Cloudy with a Chance of Showers" with this one.  Just never liked the way the clouds came out.   Oil on canvas 16x20.  This canvas now has three paintings on it,  first was a Grand Tetons type scene, then the clouds and now the beach!

Partly Cloudy with Chance of Showers

Snapped a picture of the sky yesterday and put to canvas today.  Quick study oil on canvas 16x20.

Another Sky Painting

I love painting these sunsets, sunrises, whatever you see in there!

Evening Sky

Had a fun day outside on the patio painting this sky picture.

Deer head

Saw a painting by Justin Gaffrey of this deer head and decided to give it a go.  He uses very thick acrylic paint to build up a 3D effect.  I added texture for the antlers.

First Abstract

Trying something new today, first abstract.  Was fun working with color but the process can be never ending.  You must have an idea in mind before you start, otherwise you can just go and go.  Had color too thick at first and starting wiping down, as I did I liked the effect and then layers on pure color.  My thought process was to show movement from left to right ending with focal point at the red spot that is in the edge of blue area.  I also wanted the contrast do red and green as complimentary colors to add excitement and vibration.  I liked the ethereal cloud like effect and went on to paint a similar painting below of a Hubble inspired nebula in the LCM area of the Milky Way.

Self portrait for contest

Started on this self portrait for an contest that Jerry's Artarama is having this month.   Used a small mirror hanging off the side of my easel.  Not turned it in yet because I have much more to do in the next few days.  Have not had much time to work on it and I work in my garage trying to use natural sunlight but it's been so cold and dreary lately that I've had not had the time I'd like to work on it.  Done in Unison pastels and NuPastels on Canson paper.

Sunflowers Oil Painting + Butterfly

So I decided to go ahead and work on that sunflower painting today!  Got a good start this morning and will start again tomorrow.  My wife and oldest daughter stopped by a field close to a place called the Agricenter here in Memphis and snapped some photos of these beautiful sunflowers when they were in full bloom.  They do this every year and each year I stop by and take a look and some photos.  Just happened to catch a nice butterfly leaving a flower.  Thought it would make a nice painting, so this morning I got to work and knocked it out.  Was fun to paint and have some more to do to it but putting paintings on my blog always makes me want to go back and do some more!  This is a 16x20 oil on canvas.                                                                          
         

Motivation to Paint (Lack of)

I am in one of those non-creative times in my life where I don't feel like starting a painting because I don't think it will be up to my standards, so I just don't start!  Life has been so busy with work and daughters starting to college and driving that I just don't have energy to paint right now.   My dream job would be to have a small art studio/gallery in some resort town and just paint all day and meet like minded people who enjoy art for art.   Who knows, maybe after posting this I will go home and paint tonight!  I have a oil painting started of some sunflowers that my wife and I took photos of a few weeks ago.  I got the background all blocked in but just can't seem to get started on the flowers.