Epilogue

After reviewing my effort over the past year, I have concluded this blog. I always intended it to be a project with a beginning and an end. I learned a great deal and appreciate the comments and input from those who visited with me along this journey.

I found that posting daily was virtually impossible. I give a great deal of credit to those who can do it. I enjoyed having a goal that encouraged me to produce work, but found my day-to-day to be too hectic for consistency.

I became a part of the IllustrationFriday community. I will continue that in my new blog--http://olddognewtricksillustration.blogspot.com--along with regular postings from my work.

I continue to be confused about my direction. I hoped to clarify that in this exercise, but I still am uncertain about what I want to do with my art.

I hope you will join me in my new blogventure and hopefully this old dog will learn some new tricks.

Peace.

Drawings Continued

Full Circle--IF Equipment (49-1)

Here I am, one day from the end of my 365 days. Unfortunately, I've been very distracted from posting and have missed all of April and half of May. I have been working, just not posting.

For the sake of Illustration Friday, these pictures are of lacrosse players and show their equipment--sticks, goggles, ball, uniforms, and cleats. You can't play this game without equipment!

For the sake of my team, these are my seniors. As I did last year, I created a pencil drawing of each of them which they will receive tonight at the school's awards ceremony. I've done this for several kids that play on teams that I coach, and they really enjoy them. In some cases their parents won't let them have them because the parents want to keep them.

As for this blog...well I've tried to keep it all in perspective. I've probably done more artwork becuase of it, even though my most recent posting absence would indicate otherwise. So tomorrow, I'll wrap it up as I mark my 50th birthday.

IF: Rescue (50-56)

I was in the U.S. Air Force from 1985 until 1992 where I worked as a Munitions and Aircraft Maintenance Officer and Maintenance Staff Officer. Because I was responsible for munitions storage I came in contact with most of the operational units on the bases where I was stationed.

The Air Force has two remarkable missions (that I had frequent contact with) aside from the standard fly and fight: Explosive Ordinance Disposal (EOD) and Rescue/Recovery. This illustration is of a PJ (pararescue specialist) securing an injured pilot awaiting transportation. The PJs are really remarkable people. Like EOD, they are often the kind of people going toward trouble when others are running away from it. They are remarkably fit because they have to be prepared to go in and rescue stranded or injured people in every environment, usually under fire, and often without regard to their own safety. They are skilled marksmen and highly trained.



I had a friend that I went to munitions officer school with, who then went on to become an EOD officer. He was an amazingly regular guy, not prone to bravado. Anyway, here's to all of those remarkable people going in harms way to save others.

Moo (57-59)

Did these cows this morning for some packaging. Photoshop

IF: Expired (60-94)

I've been absent from my blog for about a month. Anything I did in that time wasn't worth posting. It was a tough month ending with the passing of my little beagle Sadie. Sadie was my very special friend and companion for 13 1/2 years. She raised our daughters with lots of snuggles. She is missed.

Anyway, here is my entry in IF for the topic Expired.

Another Layer (95-106)

I have an abstract painting that has seen at least two version so far. I watched videos on Basquiat and Pollack this week and thought I would take a crack at that canvass again. So here it is. I'm going to let it dry on my art cabinet for a while to see if I still like it or if I want to add more.

The yellows and greens seem to get lost in the photo, but the general picture still survives. 18 x 22 oil

IF: Focused (107-111)

In order to be successful as a guitar player, you must be focused. This is for Illustration Friday--Focused topic.

State of the Union (112-113)

Thought I would take a shot at the CIC.

I think it is amazing that those that run the gubment are so smug about trying to help regular people have a decent living, go to college, have opportunities, etc. It's as if they think that governing is arguing with the other side. Let's see them consider real problems and provide solutions.




Same as it ever was. Same as it ever was.

I wish the scan were better.

drawing break -- Mark Twain (114-117)

Needed to take a drawing break. It's amazingly hot outside--from freezing to spring in one day. Thought I would do one for my friend Dwayne. He's big on Mark Twain.

Loose sketching style here. Very fast.

IF: Clumsy (118-120)

This is an illustration that I finished today for a set of posters for work. When Splinter does something CLUMSY, she quickly rights herself and looks at you as if to say, "what..."

She rarely acknowledges any clumsiness such as misjudging the distance or substance of a landing spot. Sometimes she will slide across the table and come to a stop on the edge, gather herself and then make some gesture like licking herself or looking at you.

Ok, it's probably a stretch. But I liked the result of the poster art and didn't want to waste the category while I had such a nice rendering.

I did the original sketch in pencil on paper, then scanned it into photoshop where I painted it. The original is 11 x 17.

IF: Wilderness--Solitude (121-125)

As promised, I wanted to do something current for Illustration Friday's theme. I already posted to the theme, so this is just for fun. One of my most pleasurable memories in recent time is of going to Lake Placid for their summer lacrosse tournament. I haven't been in years, but those few times I went with my friends, really stand out.

My friend Steve introduced me to fly fishing on one of those trips. The cool waters of the Sarnac River were both calming and curing. After several games, these old legs were revived by standing for a couple of hours in the cold river. Fishing is not so much about catching fish as it is about trying to catch fish and leaping whole-body out of the hubub of the day. If you just catch one now and then to justify the time, you are satisfied.

I don't often get the opportunity, but it is definitely a moment in the wilderness and a happy place.

IF: Wilderness--The Lion Sleeps (126-127)

I may do something later in the week to create something new for the theme, but I like this painting which I did last year as a commission. Two ladies that I know went on safari and one wanted to have a photo done into a painting.

It was great fun to do. Splinter regularly poked her paw under the easle to help (which she loves to do when I paint in the house).

Acrylic 18 x 22

The Baseball Hall of Shame (128)

There are probably enough members now to have a National Baseball Hall of Shame.

Cats (129-132)

I have a poster that I will be working on in the next few days, so I was doing some thumbnails to get in the mood. I don't seem to have any problem capturing the basics in these scribbles since my point of reference is often walking across my paper or keyboard.

Just for fun, some scribbles.

IF: Confined (133-141)

The harder I work at posting--the longer it takes. This is a graphite drawing that has been painted in PhotoShop. We have been watching the "Tudors" recently which inspired this illustration. It is amazing how cruel man can be to man over ideals. Maybe one day, people will be able to allow others to think as they wish without feeling the need to harm each other.

This is somewhat of a departure from my recent illustrations, but I think I need to push things a bit more. Let me know what you think.

IF: Pioneer (142-143)

Pioneer...Last night on the Kennedy Center Awards, Carl Reiner referred to Mel Brooks as a pioneer. He also referred to his "genius mind and unsensorable mouth." I have a tough time deciding whether I like Blazing Saddles or Young Frankenstein more, but for this Illustration Friday theme, it seemed that the Western was more pioneerlike. "Work, work, work, hello boys, I miss you."

I try to make light of this theme because every subject that I could think of as a pioneer was really not true. Although we credit the pioneers for their western surge in this country, they were closely observed by the people who were already living there. There were other examples where the history book that we read as children called people pioneers in this or that when in fact they were following in some other person's footprints. So Mel Brooks as a pioneer seems to work for me.

Latest Painting--Swan (144-156)

A very hectic week and a half trying to move two daughters in and out and out and in; getting ready for the holidays; and trying to be somewhat creative. This is my latest painting, which seems to have lost something in the photograph. It is from a picture of a swan that I took about a month ago.

Oil 18 x 22

House Portrait Done at Last (157-158)

I have been working on this drawing on and off for about two weeks. Typically, it takes me about 8 hours to complete a house portrait. This one took longer for a couple of reasons. First it is much larger than my usual 8 x 10 image (17 x 22). Second, it is a fairly complicated image with lots of shifts in tone. It is a white stone and white clapboard surface, which can be difficult to get in light and shade. Finally, I wanted this to be special because it is a gift for some people who have lots of great artwork in their home and I didn't want to pale by comparison.

I am pleased with the result, although it probably isn't the best photo here. I hope they enjoy it. Click on the picture to see more detail.

IF: Hatch (159-165)

This is General Edward Hatch. For the sake of this drawing, I used a great deal of crossHATCHING.

"Edward Hatch (December 22, 1832 – April 11, 1889) was a career American soldier who served as a general in the Union Army during the American Civil War. After the war he became the first commander of the 9th Cavalry Regiment, a Buffalo soldier regiment with African-American troops commanded by white officers." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Hatch)

His biography on that site continued, "Hatch was born in Bangor, Maine, and educated at the Norwich Military Academy in Vermont. He volunteered for service as a private in the Union Army at the outbreak of the Civil War. He assisted in raising the 2nd Iowa Cavalry, of which he became colonel in June, 1862. He served under General Ulysses S. Grant in the South. After commanding the entire cavalry division in the Army of the Tennessee, he was made brigadier general in early 1864. His gallantry in the field caused his further promotion to the rank of brevet Major General (1864)

After the war, he transferred from the volunteer to the Regular Army as colonel of the 9th Cavalry Regiment (1866). He succeeded General Gordon Granger as commander of the Department of Arizona (which included New Mexico Territory) in 1876, negotiated a treaty with the Ute Indians in 1880, and became widely known as an Indian fighter.
He died in Fort Robinson, Nebraska April 11, 1889 and is buried in Fort Leavenworth National Cemetery Fort Leavenworth Kansas. "