A Gift Of Art

Posted on November 23, 2012 by foresterartist

I’m reblogging a post today from our blogger friend Divya. Her blog is http://divyaadusumilli.wordpress.com and I encourage you to go visit. It is a wonderful blog. Last week she contacted me and my wife, Mary, http://thebackdoorartist.com/ about drawing a picture from a photo I took of two of our golden retrievers. This is her post of our dogs. Thank you Divya, we love the picture. What a beautiful gift you have given us. Blaze and Hunter were the dogs that appeared in the original post, https://theforesterartist.com/2012/08/25/blaze/.

Divya's Art Blog

Drawing Surface: The Boutique AT Paper Mill Shop, Luxury Artist Pad a4 (Made in the English Lake District)

Some of you might recognize these innocent faces in a photo taken by The Forester Artist. This is an attempt to replicate in my drawing book the pets of the Livingstons, The Forester Artist and The Backdoor Artist, who have kindly given me the permission to sketch and post publicly. I am very inspired by how real life images are the subject matter of Tim and Mary‘s illustrations, and you can find some in FireStorm in the Forest by Red Tail Publishing. They are very helpful and I am greatly delighted to have them as blogger friends (and the first ones on WordPress).

As I gathered, on the left is Blaze and on the right is Hunter…and caught in a wonderful moment by Tim. The sketch will do half…

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The Canine Color Palette

Posted on October 24, 2012 by foresterartist

Labrador Retriever, lab, labs, pen and ink A pen and ink drawing of a Labrador Retriever isn’t a typical post for someone who lives with a bunch of Golden Retrievers. I did this picture as part of a fundraiser for our local retriever club. A raffle prize of a pen and ink of the winner’s dog.

It seems appropriate to post the picture of the lab in honor of our guests. We are taking care of three rowdy Labrador retrievers for the next two weeks. They came in black, yellow and chocolate. We mixed them with gold for a multi-color canine color palette.

Labrador Retriever, Golden Retriever, Labs, Goldens, dogs

Mixing the colors.

I have noticed that these colors blend well together. However, they do run a lot, and drool too. I think I’ll call this color palette “Retrievers.”

The race is on!

The golden streak!

I took these pictures in the low, early morning light. They aren’t very sharp, but I think the action makes up for it.

Nellie In Watercolor, Part 3

Posted on October 6, 2012 by foresterartist

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 Arrowhead

Posted on October 4, 2012 by foresterartist

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

Nellie In Watercolor, Part 2

Posted on September 23, 2012 by foresterartist

The big stick contest.

Nellie is a stick dog and so is Blitz, her daughter. They always like to compete over sticks. This particular day, last Winter, they seemed to be competing over who could find the biggest stick. Nellie taught Blitz a thing or two about picking the biggest stick.

Part 2. The base wash.

Now back to the watercolor. The next stage is the base wash.

Nellie In Watercolor, Part 1

Posted on September 17, 2012 by foresterartist

Nellie in her youth at Iron Canyon Reservoir.

She is a smart pushy redhead and her name is Nellie. She is a 12 year old golden retriever. She belongs to our oldest son although she has continued to live with my wife and me since our son grew up and moved out on his own. She is very good at dog to human communications. If she wants out, she rattles the door knob with her nose. When it is 8:00 pm she comes and reminds me that it is dinner time, even after the time change. I’m not sure how she does that, but she does it without missing a beat. When I ignore her demands she shakes her head at me and stares as if she thinks I’m very dense. If I continue to ignore her she gives me a deep “boof.” She is quite a girl.

Over eleven years ago she was running in the AKC Hunt Tests. At the time our son got Nellie we had an agreement with him. It was that he would have to earn a title with her. This was to insure that she was trained into a well mannered dog. So he ran her in the Hunt Tests. It was a little rough watching a Junior Handler running a Junior Dog. Inexperience in the case of the both accompanied by lots twitching and fiddling around sometimes made the events a little nerve racking to his parents. At one event, when the bird was thrown my son was messing with her lead and she didn’t appear to mark the falling bird. She dutifully ran across the creek, the long way around, and into the field. She looked about as if she didn’t have a clue where the bird was. Then she sat down. We could hear the gallery groan uncomfortably at the thought that this boy and his beautiful golden were about to fail this test. She looked around the grounds while she sat. The seconds slowly ticked away and we know the judges were about to tell him to “pick up” his dog. There was no point in continuing this embarrassing performance. Without warning Nellie stood up and ran straight to the fallen bird. She picked it up as if she knew where it was all along and delivered to my son. This was just one tense leg in a 4 series test, and at the end of the day they both passed the test.

The original sketch I did for the watercolor of Nellie eleven years ago.

Back at that time I started on a watercolor of Nellie. I sketched it out on a watercolor pad, but never got around to finishing it. Not long ago I came across the dusty sketch. I decided to work on it and post my progress on the blog along the way. Today I’m featuring the original eleven year old sketch. I hope not to embarrass myself with this process, but after all you know what they say, “paint like no one is watching” or something close to that.

Work Is Exhausting

Posted on September 7, 2012 by foresterartist

A soft seat after a busy day feels so good.

Blitz had a busy day at work today. Her day went like this. Arrived at the office and visited the other dogs. Made them bark….a lot! Load up, head out to the plant and then the gas pumps. Sniff around the pumps and check the pee-mail. Finally, head to the woods. Drive for an hour and a half. Arrive at the property. Meet the nice land owner. Ride in his ATV. Fetch stick forty times and chew it up. Hike around the woods. Visit the landowners house and meet his nice wife. Get to go inside the house for water and a cookie. This never happens, but it did today. Ride the ATV back to the truck. Load up and start back home. Stop at the river along the way for a swim and eat some blackberries. I didn’t know Blitz liked blackberries. Load up head back to the office. Go down to the river for another swim. Fetch the stick forty more times. Load up wait in the truck in the shade for a little while. Them head for home. Life is good.

Along For The Ride

Posted on August 31, 2012 by foresterartist

Nellie and Blitz

It was a happy morning when I left the house today. I opened the door and said, “Ok girls left go,” and two golden retrievers raced each other out the door and to the truck. I usually take two dogs with me when I go to the woods and they ride in the back of the truck. According to my dogs, all of that empty truck bed is being wasted with out a dog. Today we traveled to the coast. It was a hot day inland but cool on the coast. It was good day to take my furry buddies along. I loaded up the mother-daughter duo of Nellie and Blitz. Once secured we headed west.

Taking the dogs to work has its own special requirements. The summers here are hot, very hot, 115 degrees hot, so the dogs can’t go every day. Today it was in the low 90s inland, but only in the 60s on the coast. It was a good day to ride along. This is the time of year when the road department is doing all kinds of road construction. When traffic is stopped by the flaggers, I try to stop my truck so the dogs are in the shade. I can’t always do it, but I do it when I can. The dogs have taught me that they need a break every couple of hours to air out.

Time for a pit stop

When it’s hot they need a swim too, and the stops are more frequent. A soaking wet dog is the best air conditioning on those hot days. When we stop for a break, I like to pick out a remote spot away from the highway where they can safely get out and run loose.

Blitz steals a stick from her mom

I like to pick a spot with water, preferably swimming water, because as every golden knows a drink of water taste best while you swimming in it.

Refreshing

After a drink, we have to fetch a hundred or so sticks and then eat grass along the riverbank. Then it’s time to load up and hit the road. Down the road we go with a couple of brand new sticks to go with the other forty already in the back of the truck. I travel through many of the same areas frequently enough to learn all the good places to stop. I will use those places over and over again. That way I know what to watch for. When picking a spot to stop I also look for what to avoid. Around here, poison oak is near the top of the list. The dogs don’t care about it, but they aren’t the ones that get it. It’s miserable when they give it to me and even more miserable when we bring home for my wife. Not good, because then we are all in the doghouse.

Poison Oak

Other things to avoid are rattlesnake areas and foxtails. For those of you unfamiliar with foxtails they are a nasty sticker that will bore into the dog’s noses, ears and between their toes requiring a trip to the veterinarian. Often an inspection of the site is in order before the dogs unload. Taking them along definitely takes a little more time and care, but nonetheless it is a joy to have them ride along. When we get home, I have two very tired and satisfied golden retrievers. They crash out on the rug after a long day on the road. Over the years, I’ve had my share of canine emergencies that I had to deal with. So, just remember when taking your dogs to work that sometime things happen and you have to be ready. When the dogs are so well traveled and so active they have more opportunities to get into trouble so be careful out there, but have fun.

Blaze

Posted on August 25, 2012 by foresterartist

Blaze impatiently waits for her driver.

Blaze rode with me for years. She loved to go to work and hated to be left at home. When I would go into my office in the morning she would find the highest point on the truck and intently watch the backdoor impatiently. She would wait for me to come out so I could take her to the woods. If she could have driven the truck herself she would have, and I would have been left behind.

She was a tremendous AKC Hunt Test competitor and loved to work. I painted this of her when she was actively running events. She would sit in the yard and stare at me refusing to come in until I would come out and train her. In this watercolor I was trying to capture her intensity and joy of the hunt.

A happy girl.

We logged a lot of miles together a chased a lot of squirrels. Well, she chased the squirrels. She was amazing companion and I miss her dearly.

A Forester’s Traveling Companions

Posted on August 22, 2012 by foresterartist

Blitz & Nellie taking a break for a swim at Lake Prairie

One of great things about being a forester is taking your dogs to work. They want to go and I have an empty truck bed. It works out for all of us. It is a joy to take them along and bears run away from them. They are pretty handy to have around. When they find a yellowjacket nest they love to run to me so I can knot the bees off of them. If they find something dead or smelly they love to roll in it so they can find me and share their awesome prefume. However, we do have to watch out for rattlesnakes and Nellie could tell you a story, but we will save that one for later. Perks of the job. It seemed like a good time to bring up my traveling companions. They bring a smile to my face and with all the chaos going on around here I hope they do the same for you. More about them later.

Bo was our first Golden Retriever. He traveled with me for many years throughout the Sierra Nevada. He had visited more of the Sierras then most people will ever see.