New Book...finally!

This morning I sent a completed file off to the printers and expect a proof back in a few days.  After the inevitable corrections it will be printed again and be ready for distribution by July 12th.

If you have been waiting, thank you for your patience.  There are now over 150 illustrations on around sixty pages....I say 'around' because I'm thinking of throwing in a couple more  before final printing.

You can get a copy by contacting me....see my profile....    I'm not biased or anything, but I think it came out well with it's new layout and additions.

Now maybe I can get some painting done...

Portrait, gouache

Whenever I paint in gouache I seriously wonder why I don't do it more often as it is such a pleasurable experience.  Intimate, simple materials, forgiving....what else could I ask for?  Perhaps it's the need to frame it under glass, because of both the extra expense and a barrrier that then exists between the viewer and the artwork.

I'm still traveling so this is not a current piece....can't wait to get home and swing that brush again.

Plein Air Study, three colors

I'm on the road so this is one from a year ago or so.

Inspired by a friend I did a series of seven or eight paintings in either oil or acrylic using a limited palette.  Burnt Sienna, Thalo Blue, and Cad Yellow Light were the only hues I used in this one, the first of the series.  Later I added Ultramarine Blue to get more vibration in the blues, especially where there was more sky showing.  I'm always impressed at how much you can say using fewer colors.

Summer is here.  The outdoors is calling...

Near Tucks', 10x12

Last week out by Monroe the weather couldn't decide between rain and sun.....but it made for some dynamic skies.  Once again, since I'm working off my laptop, I can't tell how accurate the color is.  I remember the trees as having a less intense green.

This was a simple quick sketch just to capture the sky, particularly those light struck clouds that silhouette the trees.

William F. Reese Memorial

A fierce wind must have howled in off the plains the day Bill left us, trying in vain to fill the huge artistic vacuum he left behind.  Oil painter, watercolorist, pastelist, etcher, sculptor......outstanding in all, Bill approached his craft with an intense dedication.

This pochade and painting, his own, sat on a stool at one end of a simple pine box.  At the other end a charcoal portrait of him done by Scott Burdick.

A dozen years ago Bill told me, "Darrell, my advice for you is when you sit down play your guitar, and when you stand up, paint."  I wish I had followed his advice more closely....

Thanks Bill.
And thank you Fran for sharing him.

Tugs, 11 x 14

Two weeks ago, knowing I had a plein air workshop the next day, I wandered down to where we were going to paint so I could get a sense of the area and the color.  Sitting on the beach  I mushed my way through this one before the tide began lapping at my feet.  It was a good way to get warmed up for teaching.  This begged for a larger canvas....like at least a 20 x 24.  That would have made it even more fun.

Spring Runoff

This was the day before the international kayak competition on the Wild Mile of the Swan River, Bigfork, MT.  I puzzled how to move the focus away from the white operations building down to the turbulent water and finally settled on subduing everything in the background....about what I'd do in a painting.  If I had darkened the trees next to the house it would have made it more of a bulls eye than it already is.

'V' just wrote me that she thinks there is a comedic component to my marker drawings.  Perhaps she meant 'cartoon' and I'd agree with her.  Marker drawing pulls you to simplify and express the essential caricature of a place, finding more (less and less?) of what is necessary to show the feeling and design.  It's what I'm always working on.  Robin Weiss is constantly aware of this also and it shows in his paintings and drawings.  Check out the drawing and painting of his called 'Flatbed Truck' for a great example.

This drawing will end up in the new edition of my book which I expect to be out in early July in time for my next workshop.   (Yes, I know.  It was due out the end of April...what can I say?)

Grasslands, 8 x 14

 

Another field sketch from the Bison Reserve in Montana.  Sit by a stream and move paint around....sounds like heaven.  I simplified the detail in the distant hills to get the eye forward in the piece.  I've recently added Quinacrodone Red and Indigo to my palette for obscure reasons.  Like Turkey Umber, Indigo is just weird enough to make me interested.  

I like the water in this one.