I have a few new paintings.  My abstracted realism experiment has let to more experimenting and fun.  I am loving the new look of these, and enjoying creating them as well.  The word I love that someone used was energy, there is so much energy in these pieces it really can make someone look at them for a while!   

I asked someone I know who raised bucking bulls if he would mind sharing a photo because that energy on top of the background energy seemed to be a great match, and this is what I did:

He really loved it and asked me to offer it to him first, which I did and he bought it right away.  I sent it to another bucking bull breeder that I know (both of them are collectors also btw) and she said it was bad ass and she wants one of hers done as well.  I think the combination is dynamic!  I will still be doing the more traditional works, but am happy to add this to my available work.  What do you think?

So I've been watching a lot of youtube videos lately that revolve around charcoal. One that interested me used charcoal powder, and I happen to have a bottle of this that I had bought a while back, but never quite knew what I would do with it.   This led to my giving a mixture of charcoal powder and acetone a try, really loosened up the look of my work just with that.

My first experiment I won't be showing you, it is the one I worked out everything on, so I didn't care a lot what 

it ended up looking like, as long as the process worked.  What I ended with was the sworls, drips and so forth were

done first with the charcoal/acetone combination, after that dried I used bone black and titanium white acrylic, allowing some of

the inder coat to show through, and put a more realistic painting on top, one that does more exemplify my work.  The result I find interesting, because of that mix of styles.  When asked why he sometimes paints tightly and other times does loose studies a well known

artist replied "Art is a visual language and some artists are multilingual. Sometimes we speak with emotions and sometimes with logic. Sometimes both. These more “impressionistic” paintings fall somewhere within that spectrum."  I so enjoyed what he had to say about that, and in my case these paintings are for me, a mix of both.  Where will it take me?  That remains to be seen, I hope you will stay tuned and find out.  

I have always been drawn to charcoal as an art medium.  Some refer to it's use as " painting "with charcoal, and I do paint.  So the two go hand in hand.  It is the oldest known medium that humans used to make artwork as can be seen in ancient cave drawings.  Although what we call charcoal for art today is refined from that time.

I have also recently learned about a product called PanPastel that can be erased and has properties that blend well with charcoal, I will be exploring where I can use that as well, in conjunction.

My first such piece is of a white horse that I photographed several years ago at a friend's house.

This is on an 18 x 24 inch mixed media paper, and is the first work I have made available that is like it, there will be more.

Whether painted with oils or drawn with charcoal, art is the best way to bring a smile out, both for me as the artist and depending on who views the work, sometimes the viewer.  I recently heard from someone who bought a painting from me in 2013, they have moved and the painting went along for the ride, she said she smiles every time she sees it. That makes me happy!

I was commissioned to draw a lovely horse, named Three Martinis Later, aka RubyJean by e sa collector on Instagram.  Her name is Mimi, 

and she sent me photo reference to work from of RubyJean, below is the first draught:

It has come to my attention, since someone walked into the studio the other day saying he did drawings, that a lot of people don't understand the basics of drawing materials, so briefly, what you see above was done with an hb pencil, a 2b pencil and a Palomino Blackwing which is probably the equivalent of a 6b or so.  Pencils for art and drafting come in a variety of harness, ranging from h pencils, which are hard, increasingly hard and light the higher the number, and b pencils which are increasingly soft and darker the higher the number.  In the middle is hb, which is the equivalent of a number 2 pencil which is most common and what you likely used in school.  As I work I use softer, and therefore darker pencils, giving me a much wider range of values than just an hb is capable of.

Like this:

Three Martinis Later, aka RubyJean 8 x 10 drawing

As you can see in the finished piece, there are values from light to dark, making the image look as her owner said, "like she could jump

off of the page" .  This is the goal with realism, be it a drawing or painting.  If you have an image you believe might make a good drawing or painting please do send it to me, let's talk.