sketchingspirit

Tree Trunks - Inked

Tree Trunks - In Progress

These are some tree trunks I am working on at the moment. I thought I would post an "in-progress" type of shot to give an example of how I work. The trees themselves were from the Talus area at Yellowstone National Park.

Color Swatches

Color swatches created with the thirteen of the fourteen color palette in my Winsor & Newton Cotman Compact watercolor set. A great exercise for getting to know your colors and just some of the possibilities.

This was created in a large watercolor sketchbook where the pages are 9.5 by 12.5 inches. Each individual square here is .5 inches.

I drew some trees.

This grouping of trees is at the Old Faithful area in Yellowstone National Park. I loved the contrast of the old and new growth in this grouping of trees.

Do More Of What Makes You Awesome

Do More Of What Makes You Awesome.

I found this statement last spring and really connected with the message. My search for the author never produced any results. If you know who originated the phrase, I would love to know. Here is a poster design (24x24 inches) I created using a picture I took last fall in one of my favorite places.

The location is Lower Falls at the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone in Yellowstone National Park. It was a hazy September day from smoke that controlled burns were creating in the park. Some visitors there  were disappointed by the smoky haze, but not me. I thought it was neat since it created new colors to look at and I decided to sketch the scene. After all, how often do you get to sketch one of your favorite places in a new light?

If you are interested in learning to create your own pen and ink with watercolor sketches, there is still room in my class next month for the Yellowstone Association Institute. My course "Capturing the Landscape in Your Travel Sketchbook" runs July 3 through July 5, 2013. Find out more at the Yellowstone Association Institute official website, visit the course page, download a PDF or call 406-848-2400 for more information or to register.

I drew a bike.

I drew a bike. A Western Flyer to be exact.

Wubben Hall Sculpture - Final

These are some photos that were taken a couple of days ago. The final project was complete last fall and the top picture is from the angle that the concept art was drawn and developed. So far the feedback from campus has been positive and the birds are not sitting on it too much. Let me know what you think.

Wubben Hall Science Center Sculpture Installation

Two images of the panel installation on Wubben during the summer of 2012. Each panel is hooked onto a special attachment and then mounted in place with some heavy duty epoxy.

Wubben Hall Science Center Sculpture Concept Art

In 2012 I was asked to design artwork that would hide an unsightly patch on the side of a building.  The unsightly area had originally been a hallway that connected two buildings together. One of the buildings was torn down and the hole left from the hallway area was walled over. The result was an odd patched place on a very large gray stucco wall.



Inspired by the work of Paul Klee, I decided to design my own squares and pattern in a three-dimensional form. The end result was 52 large panels and one cube of powder-coated aluminum. (Each panel measures 3x3 foot or 3x6 foot and the cube measures 3x3x3.) The color scheme was established from colors within the architecture of surrounding buildings. The patched hole had obvious seams and I extended my design over these seams to make the artwork look intentional and not just a patch over a patch. 



My concept was growth. The building is on a university campus where the focus is always about helping students to learn and grow every day or in my case, to help them take their artwork to the next level. My design begins at the center of the patched area, and then "grows" out from that area extending all the way to the top of the building. One of my panels even "grew" or "popped out" from the wall and is sitting on the grass in front of the wall where it "grew" into a perfect cube.

Top Image: Concept Art overlayed onto Wubben Hall (Left) without color and (Right) with color.

Bottom Image: Concept Art without building to show color selection and overall shape.

My Ray Guns

These are my versions of a rendering assignment I give my illustration students as a means to learn some quick Copic marker and Prismacolor skills. The ray gun designs/diagrams are from the 1950s. I made mine lemon-limony and bubble gum pink!