I leave next Friday to head to Arkansas for my Artist in Residence Program at Hot Soeings National Park! I'll be there from August 20-September 4. Ivan hardly believe it's almost here! I've been busy cleaning and inventorying all my art supplies. My oil palette hasn't been this semi clean in three years!
Cleanish.
Ten year old oil painting mediums, still good!
Back in June I did a little plein air sketch of a pine tree while I was on my lunch break. I am lucky enough to have a lot of inspiration here in Forest Park so I am never scratching my head with the dreaded "what should I paint?" problem. Anyways, after a few of these lunch time sketches I realized that my paintings look a lot better with some pen drawing in them. So two months later (today) I went back to the same spot and added some detail in pen. The results just look a lot more "me". I will look out for more pine trees to paint because the needles are pretty fun.
New and improved as of 8/10/16!
Before, as it looked in June.
I did this commissioned portrait of Ned the Cairn Terrier last night. My dog is also named Ned so it helped me to love this Ned even more.
Sometimes I do a pet portrait and it comes together really quickly. Angus the golden retriever was one of those. Ned was equally hairy and expressive and his reference photo was perfect, but he was trickier for me. I spent about three hours on him. Every time I thought I was finished, I would snap a picture and then look at it with disappointment and go back and fix something else. I am not sure why some paintings give me more trouble than others. Painting pets on a steady basis has given me a lot of challenges and problem solving opportunities that really help refine my paintings skills when I am out in the field plein air painting. It's been very good for me.
I swear the best part of doing commissions as a part time job is getting emails with pictures of people's pets in them. I loved Ned's little raccoon face and his hairy tail. I basically have the cutest job in the world.
Just a few days ago I saw a Gold Finch having a snack in a bunch of purple cone flowers. It's always a special treat to see these little guys. I have added this little painting to the group of Missouri native animals here.
Recently I received a gift of cacti. I will be making a lot of drawings of it. Here's a quick one in my sketchbook.
I choose which animals I paint based on the animals I see while I'm hiking and plein air painting. Most people don't realize that gray foxes are native to Missouri and lots of other places. I saw one while hiking at Little Dixie Conservation Area outside of Columbia, MO, around ten years ago. He was just chillin' in the shade. I also saw a TON of them at Channel Islands National Park earlier this year. They are the largest land animal on the island and they act like squirrels or raccoon without fear of humans. They are funny little creatures. I added this guy to my zoo of paintings of wild animals located here.
It turns out I love painting asphalt.
In 2014, my dog Sydney passed away at the ripe old age of 14. I'm really glad I took the time to do some sketches of him while he was still with me.
A few weekends ago I did a little sketch at the Lake of the Ozarks. It was too rainy to go boating or swimming so I did this sketch while sitting under a pavilion.
I always love the shadows of the leaves over the path in Kennedy Forest. So I tried to paint a picture of it.
Some leaves on 6/22/16
I didn't have enough time to get these as dark as they should have been, but I'm still learning a lot with this exercise.
Day 5 of plein air painting (sketching, really!) in Forest Park. I have about 35-40 minutes for each painting.
6/20/16
A little bridge around the Grand Basin in Forest Park. I sat myself down in the grass for this and angered a colony of ants and have hundreds of itchy ant bites on my thigh to prove it.
6/10/16
6/8/16
My second try in plein air painting in Forest Park.
June 7, 2016
I've decided to start plein air painting on my lunch breaks. I have about 40 minutes to sketch in Forest Park, which has a lot to offer. The purpose is to quicken my decision making and practice good habits.
June 6, 2016
Last week I returned from a plein are painting trip to Channel Islands National Park, in California. It was my 30th park! It was a beautiful place to paint. A little windy, so I didn't even bring out my easel. I got some good paintings out of the trip which I will be posting soon!
For more info about Channel Islands National Park, visit:
I am extremely proud to announce that I have been selected as an official Artist in Residence at Hot Springs National Park for 2016! I am so incredibly honored to selected in the year of the National Park Service's centennial. This will combine my two biggest passions in life: painting and National Parks. I'll be staying at working in Hot Springs National Park for the last two weeks of August, so if you visit at that time, keep an eye out for my public programs!
To read more about the Artist in Residence programs that the National Park Service offers, please visit: