Tom Dehass - Open Container

This poor soul is Tom. He was arrested for 'Open Container'. One can only assume he was in public and not of his right mind, open container or not. His face has quite a tale to tell.

Strange new project

This is going to sound weird, but I have become interested in a new project inspired by a Tweet from my associate, Juan Thomassie. He sent me the URL of a creepy little website from mugshots.tampabay.com. They keep an archive of mug shots of those unfortunate enough to have been recently arrested. The archive is sortable by a number of ways. But one of the most interesting is by age. What I felt was so compelling was how the faces of people changed over time. The older the arrested became, the more their lifestyles seem to have physical effects on their faces.

Their features seem to become twisted. Over sized eyes, twisted noses and faces that seem to be contorted from top to bottom. For some reason I feel compelled to record these anomalies. I think it begs the question, "Do our choices and actions have a bearing on our physical appearance?"

This first entry is a portrait based on the mug shot of Daniel. Booked on May 13, 2009 for a sexual predator violation.

iPhone beach sketch from memory

iPhone beach sketch from memory, originally uploaded by chuckrose.

I have been working on a 48 x 36 canvas of this (see small underpainting below), but I did this on my iPhone tonight, from memory, while watching TV.

Beach Storm 03

Beach Storm 03, originally uploaded by chuckrose.

Starting a new painting. This time with real paint! You may have seen my earlier post of the iPhone version of this image. It worked well as a color study, but there is nothing like the smell of oil paints and mineral spirits.

This color study is 9.5 x 6" on masonite. The final will be 48 x 30" on canvas.

Another view of The Little Patuxent

Another view of The Little Patuxent, originally uploaded by chuckrose.

This is another iPhone painting of the river near my neighborhood. This was don at around 5:30 in the afternoon.

Tree by our little river

Tree by our little river, originally uploaded by chuckrose.

I walk my dog in the morning and I pass this beautiful sight. This is the Little Patuxent River. It's behind our neighborhood and never fails to fill me with joy every time I look at it. This is my third iPhone painting with the application 'Brushes".

bridge_01

bridge_01, originally uploaded by chuckrose.

There is this little bridge near my house that runs over the Little Patuxent River. It's on one of those roads that use to be important. Now it's next to a four lane highway and is seldom used. That's OK. I think I like it that way.

BTW, I am diggin' this iPhone paint application.

beach_02

beach_02, originally uploaded by chuckrose.

Worked on the clouds a bit more. Time to move on to the next one....

Duck, NC on my iPhone

Duck, NC, originally uploaded by chuckrose.

This is the second painting I have do on my iPhone since I bought the app "Brushes". Best 99 cents I ever spent. The clouds are still a bit too solid, but I'm still getting use to this. More to come.

lonely_cloud

lonely_cloud, originally uploaded by chuckrose.

This is so cool. You can now paint on your iPhone using an app called "Brushes". Thanks to Steve Sprang for his work on this. I did this one with my fingers, but I ordered an iPhone stylus this morning which should really make this a useful sketching tool.

You can find the stylus here:
http://www.cosia.com/pm-4804-757-stylus-pen-for-apple-iphone-ipoditouch.html?
affiliateid=10053

Monkey Girl

Most kids would hate it if you posted a picture like this of them on the internet. But not my daughter. She's the best. On Father's Day she came into the kitchen and gave me her best "Monkey Face". What you don't see in this drawing are her hands pulling her ears out, and she puffs up her cheeks and crosses her eyes. In real life she is so beautiful. (ya, I know I'm her dad, but she is.) The proof is the first pic.

But what I love about my daughter is that when she looked at the silly cartoon she inspired, she didn't think it was horrible. She wasn't concerned that she didn't look pretty enough. She thought it was cool.

She is awesome.

Boy am I rusty

I haven't painted in months. And boy does it show.

It's Saturday. I completed some freelance work, walked the dog, checked office e-mail, paid some bills. What the Hell, why not pull out the water colors and slap some paint around. I used a photo I took driving on Skyline Drive a few months ago as reference. I was reluctant to paint a sunset because it can look so trite. (and I am not sure I escaped it here) but I really loved this scene.

So, I just have to say to myself, "self! you haven't picked up a brush since July. What do you expect?" I need to practice, practice, practice.

Snoop Dog

A friend I work with has this great dog named Snoop. He's a bit old and crabby, but has a face you have to love. We do a secret Santa at work every Christmas where we draw names and give a present we are encouraged to make. This year I got Snoop's owner. I thought a sketch of his faithful hound would make a nice present. I framed it. He tells me it is in a place of honor in the family room.

Up for bidding!

Yes, yes. I know you just saw this painting recently. But I got curious about the whole EBAY thing. So I decided to put it up for auction. Call me a sell out, but I just wanted to see if I'd get a nibble.

You can bid on this painting here.

Creek near the house

There is a spot I drive by almost everyday coming home from work. It's one of those roads that, in it's day, was the major route of transportation. These days it has been replaced by a four lane divided highway that runs parallel to it. But I prefer to take the old road. It takes you down to a very old bridge that is only wide enough for one car. My neighbors and I wave each other across when we approach it.

Under this bridge is a beautiful little creek. I having been driving by it for the last seven years. As you can see (if I have done my job right) it is a wonderful little place. I wanted to capture it to share with all of you.

I learned a lot about landscape painting from doing this painting. It was like painting a room with four walls. I was trying to capture the three dimensional space within it.

More to come!

The Rock

Rocks seem to be a theme here, huh? Unlike the one from two posts ago, this rock is only bout fifty feet long from left to right. This is a farm near my house that has been a subject many times. I just love this place. The owner is wealthy enough not to have to sell his land to developers to raise more McMansions. It is pristine with barns, stables and a plantation style home. I hope to paint that sometime soon as well.

Oil on canvas 5" x 7"

On the South Rim Trail

Along the South Rim of the Grand Canyon are these beautiful wind swept trees. Their bent shapes give away the number of years they have yielded to the constant pressure. This sketch doesn't do them justice.

On the way to the Grand Canyon

We were rolling up some back road from Phoenix to the Grand Canyon in our thirty foot RV. Being from the East coast, the landscape was alien, but beautiful. We must have driven 200 miles with this large looming rock to our left. There was nothing but open space and fence between us and the mountains. I looked out at the vastness of it all and wondered who came out here and put up a fence? It seemed kind of silly. But I guess not if you're a rancher.

A little more light

Here's the next step.

Step 5 - first highlights