A-r-r-r-gh!

It has been difficult. I'm reacquainting myself with Google notebook in hopes of making it a useful tool. Things just haven't been going that technologically. First of all I have been having trouble logging on to this blog. Sometimes the log-in box appears and sometimes it doesn't Go figure. I've been having video problems as well. I have some hardware/software to convert VHS to DVD. But after considerable time in editing ,etc., I burn a disk and it won't play in my DVD player. however, a disk burned with the same software by a friend plays good. I must have the format wrong or something because I can play the disk on the computer.

New monoprint

I cannot refrain from making the monoprint made on the inkjet printer. There is something about the strong almost flat image image of the objects that I like. It does at times become difficult to introduce atmospheric perspective. In other words to have the correct value in distant objects. The titles are "#3" for the one on the left and "The Monument" for the one on the right. Each has different techniques. "The Monument" has both cut and torn paper stencils and "#3" has the addition of painted elements. You will note the use of resist on the stone monolith in "The Monument".

I'm not really sure where these techniques can lead. Except that the effects are easily reproduced in Photoshop.

New work

I've been having difficulty logging in to the blog.

I just searched for my latest art work and could not find it. I loaded an old piece that I did some time ago. The idea had been around in my sketch book for 10 or 15 years. I think that this is my first attempt at designing a poster since my sign shop days. In those days I regularly made posters for geneticists for use at seminars. This poster was done in Photo Deluxe. And I am a great procrastinatorI have been tinkering with my Logitech webcam. Time lapse photography and stop-motion has always been fun. So why not give it a go. Why not a pseudo masochistic rite performed daily?

4 2 day

While traveling along the Green River in northeastern Utah we came upon this interesting dwelling. It is a dugout house built into the side of a small hill. The timbers were scavenged from the river. The house is interesting in that it has an anteroom before the main room which consists of a bedroom and kitchen combination. There is also a chimney which vents through the roof. In winter the snow covers the entire structure. I thought it made an interesting painting with the variety of textures and earth toned colors. The painting is 8 X 10 acrylic on masonite. This is one of the images from fifty-four days on the road through twenty-three states and forty-five nights in a tent. Did I mension visiting one foreign country?

plein air painting

Recently I had the opportunity to attend a plein air workshop with a nationally know instructor. It was great fun. I had recently gone on a trip across the USA and done some plein air painting. I was taking the workshop to improve my skills. I wanted to recreate some of the scenes i had seen on the road in the plein air style. The workshop I was great in doing this. A plein air painting is nothing more than an oil painting sketch. The above paintings are from that workshop. I can't wait to work from some of the vacation photos.