Idle Minutes

Lamar Hills - Yellowstone NP

28-Jan-08

Back in 2000 we took a trip to Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons. This little scene is a simple landscape from an area of the park called Lamar Hills. It’s a pastoral part of the park, peaceful and serene.

The rest of Yellowstone is peaceful and serene too in an other-worldly sort of way.
Steam. Steam is all around. Every geyser and spring brings it forth. It lends an air of ethereal mystery to the place.
Bubbling mud pools.
Acres of travertine terraces.
A beautiful lake with hot springs beside it.
Mountains, rivers, streams.
Waterfalls, big waterfalls.
Boiling hot springs and pools the color of Scope mouthwash, trimmed in a array of colors from white to mustard to rust, where bacteria actually thrive.
Bison strolling down the highway — big as your car.
Moose, bear, elk, deer, raccoons, yellow-bellied marmots, park workers, and a bunch of other critters all around.
And to top it all off, just about the whole thing is a volcanic caldera due to go off big time between now and the next 100,000 years.

So, here is a pastoral scene from Yellowstone. More to come.

This one is up for auction at eBay if you are interested. An inexpensive way to collect some original watercolor art. Small and collectible.

Filed in ACEO Art Cards, Landscapes, National Parks | | Comments (2) »

Girlie Talk

26-Jan-08

No I haven’t had a stroke.

This is a contour drawing. It’s done fast, almost scribbly…ok it’s scribbly.

Scribbly is good don’t you think?

Contour drawings are done while mostly looking at the subject instead of the paper, yet still drawing while you’re looking at the subject. I am a bit weak at this since I don’t do it much — especially with people as a subject.

People are really interesting and I’m determined to get good at capturing them.

On paper that is. With a pen. And watercolor.

Filed in Quick Sketches, Sketching and Drawing | | Comments (2) »

Forest Road

25-Jan-08

I live two hours from the tippy top of the North Georgia mountains — just an hour from the foothills. I go as often as I can and hike or just ride around and look. I take the ol’ sketchbook and paints with me too.

Years ago I discovered the forest service roads up there. These roads are graded dirt and gravel and are used by the forest service for fire control access and land management. Some are well maintained such that a sedan can travel them if need be. As such, the outdoorsy of us just load up the ol’ Toyota and go do a little fishing in a cool, remote stream or lake — or visit one of the more accessible waterfalls.

The young and restless go mountain biking and multi-day hiking and camping on a regular basis. There is Appalachian Trail access up in those hills too. That’s quite handy if you’re actively being badgered to join the AARP and not generally known to be, shall we say…”active”, by your advice giving exercise and wellness experts at the office.

With a little effort you can drive to the AT on a Saturday morning, hike a mile uphill and a mile downhill back to the car, then spend the rest of the day ridin’ around, eatin’ bar-b-que and banana pudding, and being generally lazy and carefree in the cool mountain air — while they go to the gym, play a set of tennis, or heaven forbid run for eight or ten miles in ninety-five degree Georgia humidity, all on a diet of fruit, veggies, yogurt, and tofu.

Then on Monday, when they brag to you about the healthy exercise and eating they did over the weekend, tell your domesticated athlete, city slicker, tofu eating peers that YOU hiked the Appalachian Trail. Hah! Take that!

But I digress…

The painting is from my memory of traveling many of these forest roads. They are calming, remote…and interestingly…they lead to places you didn’t know were there. As you drive along you wonder, “where’s this go?” And that is oddly fun.

Filed in ACEO Art Cards, Landscapes, Nature, Stories | | Comments (2) »

Lake Cliffs

24-Jan-08

No story or off the wall thinking behind this one.
Just practicing up on developing a landscape style that allows me to paint quickly, almost like a sketch.

The objective is to capture the impression of a scene, both physically and emotionally.
It’s more about shapes, color, and light than detail.
The detail is filled in by the viewers mind.

The test of success is to step away and look at the painting. If the abstract strokes and colors meld into a cohesive, believable scene from a few feet back, then all is well.

This scene is an imaginary one from our trip to Maine last year.

For the artists among you, it was done with watercolor and gouache over a very simple pencil sketch.

Filed in ACEO Art Cards, Landscapes, Quick Sketches, Sketching and Drawing | | Comments (2) »

Redneck E.D. Products

23-Jan-08

Sometimes odd things just pop into my head in the wee hours
as I’m trying to go to sleep.

Don’t know where they come from.

Don’t know why.

Must be one of those gene things.

I’ll blame it on that.

You can read the text in the sketch better if you click on the image.

Filed in Passing Time, Style | | Comments (2) »

Too Pooped to Play

20-Jan-08

Little pups and kittens, and children too I suppose, just can’t stand the notion of going to sleep. There’s too much to see and do.
It’s not unusual to find evidence they’ve fought sleep ’till the bitter end. Like this little kitty.

Play, play, play…play some more, one eye open, yawn, yawn some more, both eyes closed, one eye open…the yarn is so soft.
Hmmmmmm….both eyes closed.

It happens to me too. I fall asleep on the floor occasionally, beside my dog Rosie, after I’ve thrown The Rat, or Mr. Sheepy, or The Singing Cow for her to chase. She sleepily retrieves it one last time, lays on the carpet and looks at me. I lay down too and pat her ‘ol head and rub her thick, soft coat.

Next thing I know (or more accurately, don’t know) we’re both sound asleep on the floor — the toy just beside us.

It’s some of the best sleep I’ve had that kind of sleep.

Filed in ACEO Art Cards, Animals, Pets, Stories | | Comments (4) »

They Must Think Men are Really Stupid

17-Jan-08

I’m driving, listening to some talk show on AM radio.
Time for the break.
First up is a commercial for a hair replacement solution for bald guys.

It’s a miracle of course.
Totally new.
The only solution that truly works.
Gives a bald guy a new lease on life — women, money, promotion, ability to swim without worry, play tennis, surf — all kinds a stuff a bald guy just can’t do or have because he’s bald.

Then the announcer loudly and excitedly bellows the following phrase:

“Awesome Undetectable Results!”

Huh? C’mon now. Undetectable Results?? What’s awesome about that?
No hair before and no hair after?! Yeah right!

If I’m a bald guy — with no hope for a girlfriend, sex, money, promotions, fancy cars, or the ability to swim without worries — and I pay out the wazoo for new hair, then I dang sure better get detectable results!

Filed in Stories | | Comments (1) »