~~ SOMETHING SIMPLE ~~

I thought that I would try some small still life paintings last week and this one of the attempts. It's really hard for me to 'not' put in all of the details, so I'm going to be working on keeping them simple.

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- Puerto Vallarta, 2005 -

The same sketchbook that had the jury duty sketches had some sketches of a trip that I took to Puerto Vallarta in May of 2005. I was exploring the downtown area and found a nice little park-like section, next to a creek. There was a restaurant there that looked like a scene out of "Casablanca" so I came in and ordered lunch at a table that had a view of the creek and did this sketch. There was a nice white egret in the middle of the water....I guess that he was looking for lunch too.......
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- Jury Duty, Another View -

The Van Nuys court house had a large plate glass window across from where I was sitting, and there was a nice view of some trees adjacent to the parking lot.
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- Jury Duty in Van Nuys, California -

Back in December of 2000, I was summoned for jury duty, and since there was a lot of waiting around, I began to do quick sketch impressions of those around me. I have this thing about not wanting to stare at people, so I'll look at them and then try to remember my first impression. It can actually be fun.......
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- A Glimpse Makes a Painting -

I saw this view when I was driving on a trip and the impact was strong enough for recall. I sold the painting in a two man show that I had in Palos Verdes (Malaga Cove) back in 2001?.

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- PALM SPRINGS -

Here is a painting that I started in 1998 and finished the other day. (So it actually took 10 years to paint... (grin)) I was painting with three other plein air painters, when I started it, but we lost the light and had to stop painting.

I finished it from memory, since I didn't have any photo reference. I sold it three days later so it definitely appealed to someone. I like the desert, it's expanse and dryness agrees with me. This is a small painting, 9 x 12 inches, and is oil on board.
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- Magnolia Watercolor -

I would consider this to be more of a sketch than a finished watercolor. I painted it on 100 pound hand made paper from India. Our magnolia tree is located at the top of a waterfall that we have in our side yard. This year it burst forth with lots of beautiful blossoms (all at once!) and I've been photographing it alot. The blossoms come out on bare branches before any leaves happen, and they are just about done. They have a very subtle, pleasing fragrance to them. .....(please click on the image to see a larger version)

- Down To The Sea in Ships -

Every once in awhile I stumble onto something that excites me. I've always been fascinated with museum quality boat model building and I found a webpage called "ModelShipMaster.Com". These people build astonishingly realistic ship models and have a deservedly impressive collector base. Here is a photo of a model that I particularly liked, and I hope that you enjoy the website... .....(please click on the image to see a larger version)

- I Finished The Book - Yeah!

I'm finished with the drawing book and have it online at Blurb.com. I highly recommend them for Self Publishing as their book creation software is extremely user friendly, and their book manufacturing seems to be top-rate. Here is a thumbnail layout of "A Sketchbook" for you to look at. Any and all comments would be appreciated. Thanks for your patience during this project...............(please click on image to see a larger version)

- BEEN CREATING A DRAWING BOOK -

Sorry that I've been neglecting the blog again, but I decided it was time to do a book on my drawings and I thought it would be cool if it had a few of the drawings from this blog. So, I dove into the pond of 'self publishing' and after trying a few online sources I decided to try Blurb.com. I spent a few days working on their downloaded book creation software, and then uploaded my document and sent off for a proof copy. It could take up to two weeks to get the finished product back. (can't wait!)

- PEN AND INK TREASURE -

I found this little pen and ink drawing a few years ago at an Austrian Art Gallery. It was done in Europe in the 1800's and the artist is unknown. The drawing measures 5 x 6 1/2 inches.


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- Miniature Watercolors -

I like to do miniature watercolors occasionally to loosen up. The other day I did three of these little imaginary floral sketches using 4 x 6 inch watercolor postcards. The paper is 140 lb., so it has a nice heavy feel to it. The image below is a little bit larger than actual size. I put them up on eBay this week to see what the reaction would be and If you click on the image below it will take you to the auction to see all three of them. We had another storm over the weekend and lost power for several hours. Winter is exciting around here.

- A One Line Drawing -

Somebody sent me an email with this drawing/engraving of Jesus in it. What makes it so special is that the entire drawing was done with a single line starting at the point of the nose and ending at the bottom of the drawing. Pretty amazing. The copywrite is noted as 1884.


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- Victorian Still Life -

Here is another small oil painting that I did when I was living in The Victorian Village of Ferndale, California, about four years ago.

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- The LA Art Show -

If any of you are in the Southern California area next week you should try to visit the Los Angeles Art Show in Santa Monica. It portends to be an extremely high quality art experience, on all levels. I'm having knee surgery or I'd be attending for certain. I went to one a few years back and saw some wonderful original works - everything from Wendt to Warhol, Bouguereau to Betty Boop, Rosenquistl to Rockwell. If you click on the logo below it will take you to their official website for possibly more information than you needed........

- A Foothills Painting -

Here is a small painting that I did from memory in 2004. I was living in Ferndale, California at the time and I was using oil on gessoed masonite. It was 8 x 10 inches in size. I have it listed on eBay this week at a very low starting price. It can be seen by
clicking here.


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- A Michael Jackson Memory -

In the early '80's I worked with a couple of scenic artists on a Michael Jackson Pepsi commercial. It was shot at Laird Studios in Culver City, California. We painted the ornamentation on the portal that you see in a couple of spots. We were there for several days and never even caught a glimpse of the elusive Mr. Jackson. Here is a You Tube version of the commercial:

- Another 'Perfect Storm' Sketch -

I was enjoying trying to depict candlelight within the limitations of pen and ink, and it was kind of nice drawing with a fire in the fireplace. Something about flickering light makes for a mysterious quality.


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- The Perfect Storm Drawing? -

It's amazing how much we take the convenience of electricity for granted. We've just weathered three storms here in Northern California with up to 100 mph winds, and lost our power for 30 hours. Luckily our propane fireplace worked fine and kept the house at about 68 degrees, while it was in the 30's outside. We got used to candles, and I did this sketch at the dining table, by candlelight. I felt like Ben Franklin. I did two of these using my Micron .005 tipped pen, and I'll post the next one tomorrow. Keep dry...........
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* * * * HAPPY 2008!!! * * * *

&Back from running around to family Christmas activities and am settling into 'normal', here at the Stewart household. A couple of months ago, I took a stab at doing a small painting that combines realism and completely abstract elements. I'm undecided about the results, but I wanted to post it, to get some sort of reaction. Let me know what you think.

PS I decided to offer it on ebay, at a very low price. Click Here if you'd like to take a look at it.

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- Trip to Kentucky and a Christmas Painting -

I just got back from 11 days in Berea, Kentucky, visiting a new grandbaby. It is a very quaint college town and is known for it's resident arts and crafts population, as well as being the home of Berea College. Since I was sans computer (which is a good thing) I thought I'd better quickly post some art for the Christmas Season. I selected a painting called "Madonna of the Rose Bower" which was painted by Stefan Lochner (painted in the late 1440's) It was painted in oil on a wooden panel. Happy Holidays!!!

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- Trip to Cancun #3 -

This is a small watercolor sketch that I did, poolside. I'm starting to feel like I want to go back........


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- Trip to Cancun #2 -

Here is a drawing done on the west side of the main hotel building. I did a watercolor of the same view that I'll post later.
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- Trip to Cancun -

I just got back from a much needed week in Cancun, Mexico. We stayed at an all inclusive resort, so everything was provided. It's almost unreal, the hotel personel and services were wonderful. The weather had some dramatic changes and seemed to change every 20 minutes or so. Our room was 1/2 mile from the lobby and I had a knee injury, so I relied heavily on the trams. I did this sketch at a restaurant on the beach.


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- Top of The Hutch -

Here is a small painting that I did in 2004, called "Top of The Hutch". I did two variations, but I think this is the better of the two. It is done in oil on a wood panel and it measures about 3 1/2 x 9 inches.
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- An Amazing Short Film -

This is a little off the track, but it is definitely ART.
By all means, check this one out.... It's beautiful....( I just got some information on the artist and his website: The artist's name is Gregory Colbert and the video is part of his project "Ashes and Snow". His website is at http://www.ashesandsnow.org........Thank you Daniel Octavian.)

- A 1972 Watercolor of Mine -

This watercolor was done by me in 1972. I originally called it "Lynne's Farm" (using my wife's middle name) and later changed the title to "Wagon at White Sands". It was a special painting for me, in that I was juried into the National Watercolor Society with this and two other watercolors. I'll probably never let it go.......

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- Nepal Inspiration -

I found a great photo and decided to do a derivative color sketch of it. I did it on Rate My Drawings, and here is the video of it....
Click the arrow to watch it..........

- Old Man's Face -

Here's a drawing that I did yesterday using Corel Painter IX, simply using the pencil tool on a plain white background. You can see a video of the drawing in progress at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--_FqUkQD5gf

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- Having Too Much Fun - "Metal Boy" Video -

I've been playing around with video and music the last three weeks and here's one that I came up with two weeks ago.
I shot the video part in 1994. It is pretty abstract, but has a thread of activity from this little wire sculpture figure that is constantly doing aerobics. It was filmed entirely in my kitchen and living room with a very old video camera. I did the music recently, using GarageBand with it's software sounds and drum loops. Hope you enjoy it. I promise to get back to drawing
and sketching soon...................

- A Video about Scenic Art -

This video documents some of the scenic art work that I worked on from 1975 through 2000. I worked for various film, tv, stage and miscellaneous other productions over a period of 25 years. The video was made for a lecture given at the North Valley Art League in Redding, CA, last Monday. This is Part 1 and I'll post Part 2 soon.......(Click on arrow to see the video)

- MEN IN BLACK MURAL -

And now for something completely different.   Here is a shot of a mural that three of us painted for the film "Men In Black" at Sony Studios (used to be MGM). We were on a sound stage that had an extremely high cieling.  The mural was a 100 foot half circle that was 60 or 70 feet high.  We worked on it for about 10 days.    Side note:  It was painted on a freshly plastered wall and the temperature at the top of the stage was 100 degrees, but on the stage floor it was 72 degrees.....consequently the plaster at the top of the mural started to explode off of the wall and needed repair.  

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- CREATING VIDEOS -

This is really off track, but I've been having fun putting together a video honoring our troops. I used Apple's Imovie HD and took a bunch of public domain photos that I found online and topped it off with my version of "Battle Hymn of The Republic". I sequenced the music entirely with GarageBand, using a midi-keyboard with several software instruments. Here's the finished product (if it is ever finished). (Please click on the arrow to see the video)

- Less is More? -

Here's another one done a year later and in it's simplicity, I find it appealing. Again - this one was done in pen and ink.

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- SKETCHING FROM IMAGINATION -

I do a lot of sketching when I'm in restaurants. Sometimes, especially when there's nothing that interests me, I'll do something imaginary. This is one of those. The date says 2002 and I just initialed it.

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- Lost Drawing -

Here's that drawing of the trees next door that I couldn't find early in the month. I only have a dozen or so sketchbooks and you would think I could keep track of them. These old oak trees are starting to drop their leaves. This one was done with a .005 Micron pen with black waterproof ink. Thanks for looking................(please click on image to see a larger version)

- Music Replaces Art -

Well, for a week anyway. I just got set up with my midi system on the Mac and I've been playing around with it a lot this week. So instead of a drawing, I'll have to post some music. I've been using GarageBand as a sequencer and an Edirol M80, 60 key midi keyboard. My music is mostly improvisation and I throw out more than I keep. Here is an MP3 called Guitar Waltz #1. I used a guitar sound rather than my usual piano sound, fluctuating between classical and steel guitar voicings. CLICK HERE TO HEAR IT.

HERE IS ANOTHER ONE-DONE TODAY.


Thanks for listening..................

- Sketchbook Video -

I couldn't remember whether or not I put this video on the blog or not. I don't think so.

- A Happy Coincidence -

I was looking for a drawing of the oak trees next door that I made a couple of days ago and couldn't find that sketchbook. I found another sketchbook with this drawing that was similar, but done over a year and 1/2 ago. I need a better filing system.
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- Another Brandywine Sketch -

Here's another sketch that I made on the grounds of the Brandywine Museum in Pennsylvania. Gorgeous spot.
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