FEEDING TIME

11 1/2" x 8 1/2" Uniball pen and Faber-Castell Pitt big brush pens in Moleskine A3 sketchbook. From an old advertising poster. It shows the many uses for a cowboy hat.

RED CLOUD

11 1/2" x 8 1/2" Uniball pen and Faber-Castell Pitt big brush pens in Moleskine A3 sketchbook. The Plains Indians, led by Oglala Lakota leader Red Cloud, were victorious in what has gone down in history as Red Cloud’s War (1866-1868). The Army had built three forts—Stephen Kearny, Reno, C.F. Smith—on the Bozeman Trail that ran from near Fort Laramie to the gold fields of Montana Territory. The Treaty of Fort Laramie in 1868 gave the Indians control of the Powder River Country, at least temporarily, and they burned down the three abandoned forts in late July. Red Cloud finally signed the treaty in November after the forts were no more.

STEVE McQUEEN and GERONIMO

Steve McQueen 11 1/2"  x 8 1/2" and Geronimo  11 1/2" x 8 1/2" Uniball pen, Faber-Castell Pitt big brush pens and China Marker in Moleskine A3 sketchbook.  Inspired by one of my favorite movies (Tom Horn 1980).  I especially like one of the first scenes where the future heavyweight champion picks a fight with Horn because Horn declares that “Geronimo's a man so great, that Corbett there would have to stand on his mothers shoulders to kiss his ass…”.

KURT VONNEGUT

KURT VONNEGUT - 11 1/2" x 8 1/2" Uniball pen, Fude brush and Faber-Castell Pitt big brush pens in Moleskine A3 sketchbook. "The arts are not a way to make a living. They are a very human way to make life more bearable. Practicing an art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow, for heaven's sake."

DAVE

11 1/2" x 8 1/2" Uniball pen, Fude brush and Faber-Castell Pitt big brush pens in Moleskine A3 sketchbook. Dave is our computer genius nephew who lives in California. This may be the first portrait I've done of him and I hope he likes it. Time for a visit Dave!

LANDSCAPE

11 1/2" x 8 1/2" Uniball pen and Faber-Castell Pitt big brush pens in Moleskine A3 sketchbook

SITTING BULL 1831 - 1890

11 1/2" x 8 1/2" Uniball pen and watercolor in Moleskine A4 sketchbook

PRELIMINARY SKETCH

 11 1/2" x 8 1/2" Uniball pen and Faber-Castell Pitt big brush pens in Moleskine A3 sketchbook. Once I get it corrected and sussed out I'll do a large painting with acrylics.

STUDY FOR BUFFALO

 11 1/2" x 8 1/2" Fude brush and acrylic in Moleskine A3 sketchbook.  This from work by Larry Pirnie an amazing artist whose work I study because it really loosens me up color wise.

REMINGTON SKETCH

 8 /12" x 5 1/2" Uniball pen and ink in Stillman and Birn Beta sketchbook. We were off to the Oregon coast to beat the heat last week and do some gambling. I wasn't going to sketch but found a pen and pencil with this sketchbook in my bag along with a Remington book and a True West magazine. Might as well try to learn from a master like Frederick Remington so sketched this.

PRELIMINARY SKETCH 7 HORSES

8 1/2" x 11 1/2" Uniball pen, Watercolor, Acrylic and ink in Moleskine A4 sketchbook. I'm planning a big colorful painting of these seven horses and that requires some sketchbook work.

TOM MIX MOVIE POSTER

11 1/2" x 8 1/2" Uniball pen, Fude brush and watercolor in Moleskine A4 sketchbook.  Our Rio is a cowgirl and recently asked me to start painting horses again so I'm getting back into the swing of it.

IN A MEDICI VILLA

11 1/2" x 8 1/2" Uniball pen and watercolor in Moleskine A4 sketchbook. (From a painting by Sargent). I've been reading about John Singer Sargent and I'm completely fascinated by his watercolors. I decided to play fast and loose with the colors and texture to loosen up and have some fun while getting back into watercolor.

DAVID McCULLOUGH AT WORK

8 1/2" x 11 1/2" Uniball pen, watercolor and china marker in Moleskine A4 sketchbook (from photo)

DAVID McCULLOUGH WORLD HEADQUARTERS

11 1/2" x 8 1/2" Uniball pen and watercolor in Moleskine A4 sketchbook. One of my favorite writers is David McCullough. He works in this little building on his property and insists that it is not a shed, it's his office or "world headquarters". He has received 2 Pulitzer prizes and has written all of his books on a beautiful second hand manual Royal typewriter. No telephone, computer or distractions in this HQ. Adults not welcome but small children are allowed. His latest book is The Wright Brothers. If you like great stories I highly recommend all of his work. His watercolors are great too!

SANDMAN

SANDMAN  11 1/2" x 8 1/2" Speedball super black India ink and Winsor Newton Series 7 #2 brush in Canson sketchbook

OUT IN THE WARD

PATIENT ON THE WARD

NURSE ON THE WARD

CUCKOO'S NEST

Rereading some favorite books and trying out some illustration ideas. This from the Sketches Introduction to the 40th anniversary edition of One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest: "Eight o'clock every morning I showed up at the vets' hospital in Menlo PRereading some favorite books and trying outark ready to roll. The doctor deposited me in a little room on his ward, dealt me a couple of pills or a shot or a little glass of bitter juice, then locked the door. He checked back every forty minutes to see if I was still alive, took some tests, asked some questions, left again. The rest of the time I spent studying the inside of my forehead, or looking out the one little window in the door. It was six inches wide and eight inches high, and it had heavy chicken wire inside the glass. You get your visions through whatever gate you're granted. Patients straggled by in the hall outside, their faces all ghastly confessions. Sometimes I looked at them and sometimes they looked at me, but rarely did we look at one another. It was too naked and painful. More was revealed in a human face than a human being can bear, face to face.Sometimes the nurse came by and checked on me. Her face was different. It was painful business, but not naked. This was not a person you could allow yourself to be naked in front of."