Nancy

This is Nancy. I did her portrait for the Portrait Project 250 series. She was #119. She's married to one of my best friends from childhood. On my way down to Key West I stopped to stay with them for a couple of days. They have a beautiful home in the mountains of Western North Carolina. A few years ago they built a wood shop/studio/guest apartment so that's where I stay when I visit.  We spent the days I was there mountain biking, eating great food, playing guitar, contra dancing, and hanging out with Jack, their handsome Labrador. 

I did this portrait at the end of a long day. Carlos and I were playing guitar and Nancy appeared - beautifully dressed and wearing jewelry she had made herself. She sat down with a cup of coffee and Jack sat in front of her with his eyes fixed on the cup of coffee. So that's the way it was for an hour or so. I painted Nancy and listened to Carlos play guitar. Nancy posed for me watching Carlos sing. And Jack waited patiently for the last drops of coffee.

14x11 pencil and watercolor.

Lauren

This is Lauren. She's a co-owner of the Kelpie Gallery, a local fine art gallery in South Thomaston, Maine. This past summer her gallery invited me to participate in a wet paint auction to benefit the Georges River Land Trust. The basic idea of this wet paint auction was to set loose a large group of artists near the Weskeag River over 2 hot days and let them paint whatever they wanted and then try to sell all of the paintings the next day at auction. I was inspired to paint a whimsical piece I called "Yellow Submarine" because that's exactly what I painted. When my piece went up for auction I was honored to find that Lauren was the winner of my painting.

For this portrait, Lauren came to my house and sat across from me at our dining room table. When I started drawing her I asked if she had ever had her portrait painted before. Then she told me about the time Andrew Wyeth painted her portrait. Yeah, THE Andrew Wyeth.

Watercolor, pen, pencil and spray ink on paper in my huge Moleskine Journal (12x16).

Happy New Year

Just looked back over my January posts for the past 8 years. I love having this online sketchbook. Not too many people see it. Just the interested (and interesting) few. These days it feels like it's just Wildside and me. I like having this place and this year I hope I post more because I like seeing the journey of my artistic expression unfolding over time. Happy New Year Wildside! Hoping I explore more of mine this year.

Oh yeah, this is a work in progress actually. I took a photo of the painting I was working on and then played with it in PicsArt app for iPhone that Truth got me on to.

River

Life Drawing plus Artrage. 3.9.16

Searsmont Village

Motorcycle Diaries. Searsmont village sketches on 7/20. Watercolor and pencil in my sketchbook.

Santi

This is Santi. He's an urban sketching friend living in Barcelona, Spain.

This is another "collaborative portrait" where I drew Santi's portrait and then digitally mashed it up with one of Santi's sketches.

12x18 mixed media and epoxy with Artrage. #211

Jack

This is Jack. He's an architect that lives and works out in the sticks.

When I first moved to Maine, I worked as a draftsman in Jack's office. It was there, with Jack, that I really learned how to draw. Not the computer kind of drawing that most architects were doing but drawing by hand - pencil in hand to large sheets of vellum. We drew buildings, of course - but these buildings and houses Jack conceived of and designed were like fine furniture or sculptures that you could live in - beautifully thoughtful, inspiring and magical places. These buildings and the landscapes they were situated in demanded that they be drawn beautifully to communicate their stature and sense of place. Jack does this better than anyone I know. He taught and inspired me to put "life" into the drawings we produced and I carry that intention with me to this day. Thank you Jack.

22x15 pencil and watercolor. #202

Scott

This is Scott. I met him in the Dominican Republic at an urban sketching symposium a few years ago. We stayed in the same hotel so we got to hang out quite a bit - along with Jessie, portrait #7 He wore a fedora the whole time. He has a cool vibe.

12x16 watercolor, pencil and Artrage. #186

Darman

This is Darman. He is an urban sketching friend living in Surabaya, Indonesia. This is another "collaborative portrait" where the portrait is mine and the background is Darman's work. I like doing this because it gives me a chance to present his work also. Darman has a background in architecture and his sketches are dynamic with lots of color, looseness and energy.

16x10 pencil sketch over a photo of one of Darman's sketches. #162

Caleb

This is Caleb. In my architectural work I often specify Marvin Windows and Caleb is the representative in this area that I work with. He is great at his job and always gets the orders right - down to the last detail. 

He is also an art collector and I hope to have a piece in his collection someday.

8"x8" Pencil on watercolor paper. #118