The Mystery of the Sunfish

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I have posted very few of my pen and ink drawings, so I dug deep to and found an old sketch book from nearly 30 years ago.  Here are a couple of sunfish drawings for your consideration.

Sunfish 1

I drew these fish when I was in college.  One of my roommates was a wildlife major.  When I was half way through one of the fish I realized I made a HUGE mistake.  I finished the picture anyway.  Then I presented the picture to my roommate and asked if he could see anything wrong with it, but he thought it looked good.  Then I told him there was definitely something wrong with it.  He still couldn’t find anything wrong.  I finally had to tell him what it was.

Sunfish 2

Here is your challenge if you choose to accept it.  What is wrong with the picture?  I will give you one hint.  The mistake is in Sunfish 2.  A wildlife major couldn’t find it.  Can you?

Grasshoppers On The Loose

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Make sure the lid is tight or your bait will get away.

I just completed this illustration for the fish story I’m working on.  The large mouth bass studies were for the same project.  The media on this one is watercolor, and pen and ink.  It was an easy one to reference, since all I had to do is revisit my childhood.  I hope you like it.

Nellie In Watercolor, Part 4.

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The morning ritual, ” Hey I need some attention here!”

As I sat down to upload the latest on Nellie’s progress, she came in and laid her head across my keyboard. I scratched her ears and then got up, because she wanted out. Settling back in to finish the post, I only had to wait about 30 seconds before the “boof boof” came from the front door, so up again and let her back in. Comfy again and ready to start, then she’s back. Head in my lap, because it’s 6:02, and we are late for breakfast. Breakfast is 6:00 am sharp. Back up to feed Tom and Nellie. Tom is our 14 year old golden. Sit down again, but then Tom is done and needs out, so back up. Once more down, and then here comes Nellie and she’s done and wants out. Up again. Finally, down and ready to finish. “Boof boof”, back up to let her back in. Now we can finish. A typical morning around here. I can’t understand why I don’t get more done.

I thought I might finish this painting this weekend, but it didn’t happen. So instead I will just give you another installment. I’ve done most of her final shading, and now need to finish the pheasant and the background detail. More to come.

Nellie installment 4.

Nellie In Watercolor, Part 3

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GoldenGlen Redtail Nitro Nellie JH WC just being “Boopie”

I have to apologize for taking so long to get to this latest installment of Nellie In Watercolor.  Watercolor is supposed to be fast.  However, Nellie’s painting is a guilty pleasure for me.  As a result, I catch a few minutes here and there to move it along.

Nellie is a dog with many names.  All of our dogs get nicknames along the way, however Nellie has the more than all the others.  Her registered name is GoldenGlen Redtail Nitro Nellie JH WC.  Around here she is mostly just Nellie, Boop or Boopie.  She belongs to our oldest son, but lives with us for now.  Our son came up with Boopie because it just seems to fit her personality.  This also led to Boopster and Boopie Doo.  Then there is Nellie Bean ( rhythms with Jelly Bean), Bean, Bean Dog, Nellster, Nellienator, and Fuzzball. When she was a growing puppy she went through an awkward phase like many puppies.  Usually their feet and legs grow first and their body has to catch up later.  With Nellie, her nose grew first and it was huge.  That led to The Nose and Nozzle Nellie.  Fortunately, she grew into her nose and became the swan that she is today.  Then over the course of one year, she had multiple encounters with a skunk, which led to Stinky and Stink Face.   Lastly, an incident with a rattlesnake resulted in Snake Bit, and Snake Bite.  Hopefully, no more animal encounters she has enough nicknames.

Here is the latest on her watercolor.

More detail for Nellie

The Hot Seat

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The Hot Seat

While cruising down the road through the burn I came across this chair.  It was sitting quietly off to the side of the road in what had previously been a thicket.  It was out of place in the middle of the forest.  I don’t know for certain how it came to this place.  Probably an old hunter left it behind.  Someone who used it to sit comfortably for a long time in a place where he or she could watch for unsuspecting deer to cross the road.  Why had they left it?  Perhaps, it was simply forgotten, no longer useful, or maybe the hunter was successful and in all the excitement forgot to return for the chair.  I think it had been here a long time.  It sat there waiting for it’s hunter to return for season after disappointing season.  This year, as the anticipation of deer season grew closer, something else came.  Not the hunter.  Instead it was the conflagration.  For a few fiery minutes it became The Hot Seat.  The fire roared passed leaving exposed the transformed steel skeletal remains of what was once the chair.  Quietly, it still sits and waits.

The Arrowhead

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Water Break

During my travels today, I stopped at a spring, so Blitz and Nellie could get a drink and cool off.  They were busy running around, swimming, drinking, and eating some grass.  Then, I spotted a small shiny black object in the dirt.  Upon closer inspection, I saw that it was an obsidian arrowhead. I have no idea how long it had been there, maybe hundreds or thousands of years.  The tip was chipped.  It had probably struck a rock or bone when it had been shot at it’s prey many years ago.  I imagine that once it was chipped the hunter removed it from its shaft to replace it with a new point.  It was probably dropped, lost and forgotten, until now.  As I looked at the features and the delicate workmanship of this point I can see that the maker took great pride in his work.  It was shaped with precise care.  The joy in the workmanship of this little obsidian projectile point was evident.  It was a utilitarian object, but also a piece of art.  I took a picture of the arrowhead so that I could share it on this blog.  It is little piece of art in the forest, and history.  In California we’re not allowed to collect such artifacts.  Maybe in the future, someone else will see it and it will tell them it’s story, as it told me today.  I can only imagine, if I had met the maker of this arrowhead that he would have said to me, “hey check this one out, pretty cool isn’t it.”  I would have to agree.  Like a blog from the past, I was fortunate to take this picture so that I could share it with all of you and I hope you enjoy it.

Obsidian Arrowhead

Large Mouth Bass Study 3

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Large Mouth Bass Study

Here is the last one. It was all wet wash technique. I followed it with pen and ink for detail. I like the wet approach although this picture isn’t quite right for the project. Perhaps I need to do the pen and ink first. Any thoughts?

Large Mouth Bass Study 2

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Large Mouth Bass Study 2

With this watercolor I used strictly dry brush technique. I followed this with pen and ink. However, I don’t think this is the style I’m looking for this project.

Large Mouth Bass Study 1

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Large mouth Bass Study

I’m working on a project involving large mouth bass.  This is my first pass at a straight up watercolor.  At this point I’m getting familiar with my subject.  It is for a children’s book so this style is probably not child friendly enough.

Fire Art

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This black oak tree was transformed by the fire into an incinerated silvan sculpture.

In the aftermath of a wildfire we are confronted with profound destruction that it leaves in it’s wake.  Occasionally, afterwards there are strange and interesting forms that appear.  This black oak tree was changed into an a new form.  Once is was a beautiful green tree,  now it stands like a statue in it’s monochrome setting.

The rock formation below was there all along, but the brush obscured the view and prevented access to it.  The wildfire revealed it as if someone pulled a cover off of a sculpture.

Rock sculpture revealed by the wildfire.