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Category Archives: Postcard Art

Great Falls of the Yellowstone

01-Feb-08

Second to Old Faithful, The Great Falls of The Yellowstone is the most visited place in the park. There are a couple of vantage points and I believe you can get up close via a trail. Unfortunately we didn’t have the time for the hike.

When one takes a look at these falls from a distance, you can still hear them and see the mist rising from the roiling pool below. There is an enormous amount of energy in all that moving water. The resulting canyon is beautiful and textured with randomly undulating cliffs and washes dotted with Ponderosa pines. As with the Grand Prismatic Spring, you enter that unhindered place in the mind where you just observe and wonder…and pause. No cares, no worries, just beauty.

This piece is up for auction on eBay if you are interested.

Also filed in Landscapes, National Parks, Nature, Travel Sketches | | Comments (4) »

Colle Alta, Tuscany, Italy

15-Aug-07

Painting scenes from Italy is altogether fun. Not only is Italy full of intact, ancient buildings, it is that very aspect that makes it scenic. The thing I like most is the variations in the blocks, forms and angles of the buildings and roof lines. Everything seems to simply follow the existing terrain. A novel idea, eh?

This scene is of a place called Colle Alta. At this early point in my journey into sketching and painting scenes from Italy, I’m not going to pretend to be in tune with Italy, or that I’m some hip, seasoned traveler, in the know about all things Italian. Heck, I’ve never been there. I do eat a lot of pizza though. And I grew up happily listening to Dean Martin on the record player. So I’m just going to learn about the places I paint, and enjoy painting them, and imagine what it would be like to be there. One day I’ll go, and then I’ll be hip, and justifiably travel snobby if I so choose.

So dear reader, let’s have a tiny geography lesson shall we?

Colle Alta is the well preserved medieval center of a town of 20,000+ called Colle di Val d’Elsa. This means “Hills of Elsa Valley”, Elsa being the river that passes through the valley. The town is located in Tuscany, in the province of Siena. Perhaps one of the most beautiful parts of Italy. Certainly from the viewpoint of an artist.

Colle Alta is in the upper part of the town and is the oldest part. Have you ever heard the phrase “so and so is as old as dirt”? Well dating from the 9th century AD, this town qualifies. When I hear that phrase, my mind always conjures up an ancient scene like this.

Most people agree it is a real treat to tromp around such a place and experience the ancient-ness of it. I would certainly be one of those people. One day I will likely do that. In the mean time though, I simply look at the skyline of the Blue Ridge Mountains when I’m tooling around in North Georgia and remember that Mother Earth Herself is so dang old it isn’t funny. I marvel at the ancient geology right here at home and try to make sense of it…much like I marvel at the idea that this man made town in Italy is still intact after so very, very long.

It’s a wonderful thing that which is ancient…all of it…here or there.

If you get a wild hair to own some Idle Minutes art…
This painting is being auctioned on eBay

Also filed in Building details, Landmarks, Landscapes, Sketching and Drawing, Stories, Travel Sketches | | Comments (0) »

We Need The Fair Tax

16-Apr-07

Need I say More?
Click Here to learn about it. Then start buggin’ your Congressman.

This plan will work. It’s getting great support.

If we don’t push, NOTHING will happen. Think Martin Luther King! The status quo for our Congressional politicians is to do NOTHING for the good of this country unless WE PUSH.

Let’s get this one thing done folks. The rest will fall into place afterwards.

Go and learn!

Also filed in Cartoons, Quick Sketches | | Comments (0) »

Get Twiggy Wid It

15-Apr-07

About two hours north of Atlanta, in the mountains, is a nice resort called the Brasstown Valley Resort. It’s a beautiful place for conferences, golf, company meetings…or just to get away for a long weeknd.

We go there for special occasions, usually for one reason…the Friday night seafood buffet.

Ever since I first visited the place, I loved the decor. It’s elegantly rustic. It reminds me of the upscale lodges the really wealthy people of the early 20th century used to retire to in the summers.

Throughout the lobby and grand dining room, they have wonderful rustic furniture made by Old Hickory Furniture. They also have a lot of unique, one-of-a-kind furniture pieces and picture frames.

I set about to document these picture frames. I try to get one down on paper each time I visit. I even made one a couple of years ago. I’ll write it up soon with some instructions on making it.

They are really beautiful in the right setting. The thing I like is that they are made by hand.

I purchased a 75 year old steelprint out of an old book on eBay. It’s an image of a family of beavers busily chewing twigs, downing trees, and building their lodge. That’s the image that resides in the twig frame I made. It hangs in my studio.

I couldn’t think of a more appropriate scene for framing with a twig frame.

Also filed in Building details, Design, Furniture, Hotels, Nature, Restaurants and Such, Style | | Comments (4) »

John Singer Sargent

14-Apr-07

John Singer Sargent is by far my favorite artist. He passed away back in 1925. He made a good living painting high society portraits, many well known (Teddy Roosevelt and others), but he also did a ton of drawings and watercolors too. He’s best known for the portrait works and rightfully so.

However, in the last few decades, it’s those watercolors and drawings that are becoming widely recognized likewise, as truly remarkable work.

I first saw one of his portraits at the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina. George Vanderbilt, the owner of the estate, commissioned Sargent several times. I was totally amazed when I got up close to one of the paintings. They were oils, very large. Up close, you see how a few strokes make up the whole…amazing.

Go there. You’ll be amazed too at both Sargent and at the Estate. I’ve been a bunch of times. In my opinion, it’s one of those places you want to visit before you go to the great beyond. Spend the night there or at the Grove Park Inn. Then take the tours, all of ‘em. Make it a mini vacation. You won’t regret it.

I’m tellin’ ya it’s an amazing place. And no, I’m not getting paid to say any of that.

But I digress…

Sargent. It’s time I studied his work more. I’ve got a book on him. I read it. I’m going to read it again. Why? Well, you learn from others. Turns out there is a wonderful resource of Sargent drawings at Harvard and they are all online.

Man, I love the Internet!

This little sketch is from one of the sketches in the database. I sketched it and added color just for fun. The objective in drawing others’ drawings is to obtain tactile, first hand familiarity with the lines the original artist laid down.

You don’t necessarily worry with getting anything “exactly” as they did it. Instead you pay attention to what technique they used and you learn how to introduce it into your own sketches and drawings.

By drawing their drawings, you really pay attention to what they did. That makes the ol’ synapses in your own head lay down a memory of how to do the same thing but “your way”.

If you put your mind and pen to it, you’ll get better and better.

Also filed in Building details, Quick Sketches, Sketching and Drawing, Stories | | Comments (2) »

Keeping Up With The Jones’s Rooflines

13-Apr-07

I went and rode my scooter for a while today and came upon another new neighborhood of homes “Starting in the $900’s”.

Seems when one reaches the $700’s or so, it becomes a game of how many rooflines one can put on a house. Of course it escalates on up as the “00’s” get added.

I suppose this is because there isn’t much else to measure one’s self esteem by when you reach this level of housing.

I mean three $70,000 cars is enough cars to get bored with.
10,000 Square feet is enough space to forget you are married.
More than four different textures on the facade is getting into the realm of tacky so you can’t get showy there…
Three kids, two in private school, one at Harvard…ho-hum…”more kids dear? NO! get back on your side of the house!”

So what else is there to compete with the Jones’s over?

ROOFLINES!

Pause…On The Golf Course…

“How many rooflines do you have on your house George?”
“Last time I counted Paul, it was eleven.”
“I thought it looked a little sparse over there. I’ve got fourteen rooflines on my house George.”
“Hmmmm…well we’re about to add on a couple of rooms-the kids are coming back-you know. I plan to have sixteen rooflines then Marvin.”
“That’s impressive George! That will make you the neighborhood roofline king I believe.”
“Yeah, well I hate that we have to add those rooms…but the kids are coming back-you know…”

Back to Sketching…

I stopped sketching on this one and it’s really sloppy because:

I ran out of room.
I got disgusted with drawing all the dang rooflines!

Trust me, there are about twice this many I didn’t draw because this is only about 2/3’s of the house…on the front!
The back has a bunch more, different rooflines! (I can only assume the one’s on the back count in the competition.)

I’d like to see John Singer Sargent whip this one out in speedy fashion…I bet he’d be cussin’ up a storm at all the dang rooflines just like I was.

I Know What You’re Thinkin’

So Don, How many rooflines do you have on your hoity-toity house?
Three.
Stop it! Stop that laughing!

Also filed in Building details, Design, Quick Sketches, Sketching and Drawing, Stories | | Comments (0) »

April 13th Baby

13-Apr-07

Today is my birthday.

When your birthday is on Friday the 13th you take precautions.

So, on Thursday the 12th, around 10:00 pm, I had my birthday treat. You’re looking at it. It’s a Haagen-Dazs Chocolate & Dark Chocolate Ice Cream Bar.

I didn’t want to chance that the local Walgreen’s would be out of them today, being that it was Friday the 13th and all.

Or…or what if I ran out of gas today, Friday the 13th, and wasn’t able to get to the Walgreen’s! What about that?

Or…or…um…or what about if I had an awful fit of healthy thinking today, Friday 13th, and didn’t feel right about going to Walgreens and getting a Haagen-Dazs Chocolate & Dark Chocolate Ice Cream Bar…I’d miss my birthday treat! What about that?!

See? We Friday the 13th-er’s have to take precautions.

Yeah right! Excuses! Nothing but excuses! That’s what my wife said.

However, I might point out, at this crucial moment in this post, that any excuse to have one of these is a good excuse.

In fact, I even have an excuse prepared for her so that I can have one today, Friday the 13th…IT’S MY BIRTHDAY! hah!

You may Be Wondering…

So Don, what’s it like to have a birthday on Friday the 13th?

So far, in 49 years, pleasant. Let us hope today follows that same pattern and I sneak another one in.

So Don, is anything special about your little hoity-toity, April 13th birthday, other than it falling on Friday occasionally?

Sure there’s somethin’ special about it!
Thomas Jefferson was born on April 13th, 1743.

Thanks to Thomas Jefferson’s most famous document, The Declaration of Independence, I have certain inalienable rights!
Such as eating a Haagen-Dazs Chocolate & Dark Chocolate Ice Cream Bar. (Falls under that “Right to pursue happiness” part.)

And my fellow Americans, you do too! Now that’s pretty dang special ain’t it?

Also filed in Foods, Stories | | Comments (4) »