Monsoon

Its monsoon time in Tucson. Amazing storms with high winds, lightening and precious rain. Its really my favorite season here. Everything springs back to life after the very hot and dry early summer. Here are a couple of monsoon sketches. Both casein on panel - 5x7 inches.

Black Mountain

Downtown Tucson

Still Life Paintings

One reason I love living in Tucson is that the Gem and Mineral Show comes to town every February. Amazing rock specimens from all over the world all come almost to my doorstep. I have collected a lot of interesting crystals, minerals and objects de arte over the years. Below are a few recent still life paintings with some of my quartz crystals and Zuni fetishes.

Three Amigos

Acrylic on panel, 8x10

Geode slice and Fetish

Acrylic on panel, 5x7

Jet Black Bear Fetish

Acrylic on panel, 5x7

Malachite Fetish 

Acrylic on panel 5x7

Something that has always bothered me about acrylic paint is that it is a bit translucent. Its hard to get really opaque brush strokes without getting into heavy imposto. I love painting with gauche and casein because the paint can be very opaque. This is really helpful for doing fast sketches and on-location plein-aire painting. With acrylic its hard to get the same opacity. Recently I had one of those "duh" moments and realized that I should quit fighting the translucency of acrylics and embrace it. So I started using glazing medium and soft water washes to build up layers of paint. This technique gives me complete control of luminosity, color and value in my painting. It is definitely not a spontaneous type of painting, but for for me is more like a zen meditation, allowing me to merge into the painting and fine tune it. I've found that I like casein and oils for a more spontaneous approach. You can see that style in my on-location Tumamoc sketches done in casein, and the cactus flowers done in oils.

Angels of Abundance Oracle Cards

Here are two of my latest Angel paintings. They will appear in Doreen Virtue's "Angels of Abundance Oracle Cards " which will be published in late 2016 or early 2017

Self Portrait

I got my BFA from the University of Arizona. I painted this self portrait for a college illustration class assignment in '76. I still use it on my Facebook page, even though my beard is all white now...

Sketches from Tumamoc Hill

Tumamoc Hill is one of my favorite places to paint. I've been going up to Tumamoc Hill regularly to make quick on-location paint sketches.  All are painted with Casein on 9" x 12" Strathmore paper.

In these paintings, I am paying close attention to getting the subtle colors of the "desert pallete" which I can only get from on-location painting. Even the best reference photos distort the true colors of the desert. Often, I take these sketches back to my studio and create a full blown oil painting using these as reference.

1-25-15

2-22-15

3-16-15

3-30-15

For more info on Tumamoc, visit the website: http://tumamocsketchbook.com

Centennial Park, Tucson

I created three signs for Centennial Park, just north of downtown Tucson in the El Presidio neighborhood.

I always learn a lot when I work on historic and science illustrations. I did a lot of research for this one. I talked to scientists, historians, engineers and my Tohono O'odham friends and I learned that Tucson may have the oldest irrigation canals in North America. This irrigation technology was most likely developed right here in the Santa Cruz River valley. This illustration traces the use of water here for the last 4000 years.

This a view inside the old Presidio of Tucson circa 1800. The Presidio was built as protection from hostile Apache raids in the late 1700s. This is the birthplace of the city of Tucson. Although the old adobe wall is gone, there is a recreation on location at the north east end of the old site. I painted a 50 foot mural there in 2007.

This is an illustration of some of the historic houses on Main Avenue north of downtown Tucson. My son Dan did the photos and a lot of the photoshop work on this one.

I did everything on these signs: concept, illustration, design and layout, and prep for printing. 

Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan

From 1998 through 2007, I created literally hundreds of illustrations for Pima County's Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan. I painted everything from native plants and animals to ancient pottery and entire ecosystems. Here is tiny fraction of that body of art:

Each individual item was painted with acrylic on paper. I then scanned them, opened them in Photoshop and used some of them over in multiple illustrations. For instance, the Longhorn sheep is in two of the illustrations here.