The Well Step 2

The Well Step 2
Originally uploaded by chuckrose1.

The goal of this session was to get all the values in. I'm pretty happy with how it came out. I have to be away tomorrow, but I am hoping I can start laying in some color on Sunday.

The Well step 1

The Well step 1
Originally uploaded by chuckrose1.

I had the day off today. An unexpected treat. I got up early, worked in the garden, did some freelance work. Then started this painting guilt free. It was a lot of fun just to push the paint around.

For Wally's poetry marathon

I made changes to this based on feedback from a lot of you to push the background back. I also wanted to use it to resond to Wally's call for entries to his poetry marathon. The poem is below...



Think Like a Tree

by Karen I. Shragg

Soak up the sun
Affirm life's magic
Be graceful in the wind
Stand tall after a storm
Feel refreshed after it rains
Grow strong without notice
Be prepared for each season
Provide shelter to strangers
Hang tough through a cold spell
Emerge renewed at the first signs of spring
Stay deeply rooted while reaching for the sky
Be still long enough to
hear your own leaves rustling.

I THINK I'm done

I THINK I'm done
Originally uploaded by chuckrose1.

I wanted to finish this tonight. So I got to work after dinner. I ended up trying to tie the high lights in the sky into the foreground. And that was about it. I thought I had more work in front of me, but this is feeling pretty resolved. Perhaps when it dries I might add a violet glaze over the left portion of the house to push it back a bit.

My father's 80th birthday is comig up in very soon. He just bought a new home in the mountains of North Carolina. My wife suggested giving this to him as a house warming/birthday present. What do you think?

Getting back to basics

IMG_7177
Originally uploaded by chuckrose1.

I was talking with a collegue of mine today about painting. And about blogging. We were looking at some beautiful lanscape paintings and it really got under my skin. Why I am I hesitating? What's holding me back? Why can't just go home tonight and paint?

I started to count this list off on my fingers. I've paid my bills for the month, I'm caught up on my freelance work, ( I could always do more when it it comes to my day job so what's one night ) There's nothing on TV I want to watch. My kids are all out doing things.

GO DOWN TO THE BASEMENT AND PAINT!

So I did.

I'm not finished with this piece, but I'm happy with it after a couple of hours of work, I wasn't sure if I should post the work in progress, but you know me... show everything.

So here's me getting back into oils after a vacatiion that has gone on way too long.

Lacrosse Sunset

Lacrosse Sunset
Originally uploaded by chuckrose1.

I was picking up my son the other day from lacrosse practice and there was this beautiful sunset in play. This is Summer.= at it''s best.

I gotta thing for clouds

Since I was a child I have loved looking up at the clouds in the sky. I can remember the day when I was about seven or eight and I looked at the sky and truly saw the sky in three dimensions. I think as small children we tend to look at the sky like its a flat backdrop on stage production. But I remember the day when I realized the clouds weren't flat objects painted in the sky, but revealed the curvature of the planet. There are layers and distance in what we see up there. If you sit quietly and watch you can trace the connection between the earth and the sky above.

It made me think of all those skeptics who said the earth was flat. If you watch the sky long enough, it's obvious the earth is round and curves in all directions.

This time of year we get wonderful clouds in the summer afternoons as cool fronts collide with warm fronts and rain is sure to come.

If you haven't done so in a while, go outside and lay down in the grass, or on your hammock, or in the city park. Look up at the sky and watch the clouds for a good twenty minutes. Really watch. And see if you discover anything new.

The Pond

This is the pond at work.

Fred and Ginger

Fred and Ginger
Originally uploaded by chuckrose1.

This week's Illustration Friday topic is dance. So I dug this out of the archives. I did this back in the 80s when I wanted to be the next Bill Nelson. He's an excellent Colored Pencil Illustrator who was at the top of his game back then. Since then I have come to realize we all just need to be the next 'us'. The piece is incolored pencil on Canson drawing paper and is 18" x 24"

Self Portrait marathon 01

Self Portrait marathon 01
Originally uploaded by chuckrose1.

Wally (crack skull bob) has laid down the gauntlet. A one month - once a week - self portrait marathon. Well this is my entry number one. Doing self portraits really makes you look at yourself in a new way. It's not the glancing image of our selves we see in the bathroom mirror every morning. It's frozen in time and it makes me realize I am getting older. There are more wrinkles on my face and bags under my eyes. Sleeples nights show up on my daily face. But I guess that's what a true self portrait is supposed to do, huh?
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Ben, a guy I work with

Ben, a guy I work with
Originally uploaded by chuckrose1.

Well, I gave a lecture at work today on blogging and Flickr and that kind of stuff. I thought it would be good to show the group (about 40 people) how one uploads an image. I thought a fresh drawing would be in order.

I was in a meeting right before my talk, where I did a quick sketch of Ben. I have worked with him off and on for over ten years. So please forgive me Ben. I know your nose is not this large. But if you had just sat still during the meeting I'm sure I would have captured a better likeness. But no, you had to talk and stuff and look at others who were talking.

Maybe this will be a lesson for all of you at work that are in meetings with me. When you come into the conference room, assume a comfortable position and keep it. Put your best side towards me. You never know when you will land on a page in my sketch book.

Color Study of Georgetown

Color Study of Georgetown
Originally uploaded by chuckrose1.

Still working on this piece. Tonight I did a little color study in my sketch book. It's funny how the more you draw a subject, the more you get to know it. I am hoping my sketches of this scene will prepare me to paint it properly. So that when I apply a brush full of oil paint to the canvas it will be like old friends saying hello.

Georgetown sketch One

sketch_02
Originally uploaded by chuckrose1.

OK, this is a really bad photo of my latest project. I am starting a 48'" x 30" urban landscape of a popular spot in Georgetown, a hot spot of Washington, DC.
I was ther last weekend for the opening of a friend's one man show at one of the better galleries in town. This was the view as I looked down the street. Keep coming back because I determined to NOT let this one sit on the shelf.

Let them eat cake

I don't usually post my illustration work, but I had a piece that fell right into this week's Illustration Friday's topic, "Cake".

I did this back in the late 90s when the McCaughey septuplets were in the news. This was an editotial piece for USA TODAY.com.

Giraffe at the National Zoo

Giraffe at the National Zoo
Originally uploaded by chuckrose1.

Jimmy, Amanda and I were looking this guy over. I believe it was Jimmy that said, "Wow, great CGI." And he was right. This animal is so strange looking you just don't expect him to be real. Giraffes look like something cooked up in a Hollywood special effects studio. What was God smoking when he decided giraffes would be really cool? I mean they are cool, and beautiful and a little rediculous all at the same time.

Lion at the National Zoo

Lion at the National Zoo
Originally uploaded by chuckrose1.

I started this WC last night and I thought it was really pretty bad. I put down my sketchbook and thought, "nice try, but that won't make the airwaves."

But tonight, I went to the opening of a good friend's show at a gallery downtown (DC). His work was wonderful. It made me take another look at this little sketch and inspired me to see what I could do to improve it.

So there you have it.

National Zoo Lion

National Zoo Lion
Originally uploaded by chuckrose1.

Well, Laura demanded lion sketches asap, so I rearranged my social calendar to comply. Had to get this in tonight instead of bingo down at the VFW.

Amanda, Jimmy and I at the Zoo today

Amanda, Jimmy and I at the Zoo today
Originally uploaded by chuckrose1.

I had the pleasure of spending the day with Amanda (craftmonkeys) and her husband Jimmy in downtown DC. We were all over town, but took time outside the National Zoo after a rainstorm to take a quick pic.

Violin solo

Violin solo
Originally uploaded by chuckrose1.

A continuation of my last post. Just starting to fill up my new WC Moleskine.

Spring Concert

Spring Concert
Originally uploaded by chuckrose1.

This is a sketch of one of the soloists from my son's orchestra concert. This kid played his heart out.