Headed to Roots

 Earlier this year we had the good fortune to have a small screech owl family spend some time in our trees.  They were fairly tolerant of my constant picture taking.  Charcoal and white pastel 4.5 x 6.5.

More stuff

 A couple of head studies.  The top piece is in oil and both are on view at Roots in the gallery.

Other stuff

 

A couple of drawings currently on display at Roots in the gallery.

Long pose

 Using this paper was fun but it is a texture I need spend time with.  45 minutes just wasn't enough.

The Saturday session

Too much information for me to get down on paper in about 90 minutes of drawing time.  I like some stuff, some of it I'm just not happy with.  That's the way the conté crumbles...
 

The long pose with, you guessed it...

 

...an overly rendered knee!  I really like most of this drawing.  I didn't get to work on her face much, though.

Long pose...

 ...that didn't turn out so well.  I got lost in the details and fun shadows and didn't take the time to really nail the proportions.

A bit more of a serious Santa

 Less of a fun Claus and more of a "I think you're on my Naughty List" Santa.

Just gimme that wink

 Santa being a bit sly.

Frosty

 This was a little 2x3 that I thought turned out quite fun.  Kinda have to see it in a frame to appreciate it.

Thanksgiving wiped out The Black Hand Group, so...

...I'll post a few more of the Christmas sketches that are currently up for sale at Roots.

The most fun image I did

 The show consists of 18 framed drawings, two framed oil sketches and one canvas tapestry (like the witches and ravens I did for the Fall shows).  This is the most whimsical image I did.  Mounted in a simple red, small profile table frame, this drawing gives Santa the feel that he's pressing his face against a window while checking to see if the good little boys and girls left him his fee of cookies and milk.

A "real" Santa

 I combined what I've learned from Leyendecker and Sundblom and applied it to a photo of an actor playing Santa.  Pretty happy with the result.

Another Santa

 Another favorite copy.  I say copy because, and I make no bones about it, most of my drawings are from existing illustrations of the great Joseph Christian Leyendecker and Haddon Sundblom.  I do reference photos for some but I tend to fall into giving the people what they are comfortable with, which are familiar versions of Santa.  Leyendecker and Sundblom (the Coca-Cola Santa creator) are, in my opinion, the best of those that gave us the most wonderful Santa Claus illustrations.

No life drawing last week so I'll share some of the stuff I'm doing for a holiday show at Roots

 

This is a little 5x7 in charcoal and conte.  Probably my favorite sketch this year.  This and the others I'll show on the blog this week will be available at Roots, (2147 Poly Drive, Billings, MT) starting Thursday, November 2.  I'll be there for a bit until I run off to do more figure drawing that evening.

Toned drawing

 Need to work more on this one.  Is got some potential.  However, it was just a warm up for the Sunday drawings that were to come.

My other stuff

Couple of oils and a charcoal still life on grey with white accents.
 

Olivia in grey

 This was all about the shadows.  Fun if ultimately unsuccessful.

Finally starting to get a feel for things

 I only got to spend about 30 seconds on her face in this long pose but I finally feel like I might be getting a bit of a grip on things again.  I expect that I'll still be a bit uncomfortable for another couple of weeks but at least there seems to be a light at the end of the tunnel.

  I'll start posting everything again starting Friday, good... bad... or ugly.  Sketch shaming may work for me, we'll see.

My submission to the Brinton 101 small works show

My studio is a wreck since we just finished moving to a new home.  Covid has wreaked havoc on The Black Hand Group (as well as just about everything else on the planet) so I just haven't been posting much.  I hope to get the studio up and running this weekend assuming we can track down a water leak that is preventing me from getting set up.  In the meantime, here are the three "miniatures" that I sent down to Big Horn, Wyoming to the Brinton Museum for the annual 101 show.