Rocco Globbo School for Women

One of the great lines from the movie, "A FEW GOOD MEN", Lieutenant Kaffe says, "After falsely accusing a highly decorated Marine officer of conspiracy and perjury, Lieutenant Kaffee will have a long and prosperous career teaching...typewriter maintenance at the Rocco Globbo School for Women!  Thank you for playing, 'Should we or should we not follow the advice of the galactically stupid!'"  I always wondered what it would look like in the Rocco Globbo School, so I created this sort of comicbook-style, scene.  I used colored-penicils and then enhanced the color of the photo.  It is very silly.

Sandpipers

Sandpipers are one of my wife's favorite birds.  Sometimes we even see birds in our front yard that look like Sandpipers.  For a model, I used a beautiful painting by Nova Scotia artist, Karen Morrison.  I liked this painting because I used a wet paper and painted fast and loose... something I want to incorporate into more of my work.

Added note:  Karen Morrison was kind enough to add my painting to her website.  I encourage you to visit her website and see all her beautiful artwork.  
nsmorrart.com

Tonto

As a kid, I always enjoyed watching the Lone Ranger on TV.  His faithful companion was Tonto, played by Jay Silverheels.  It was good to see a Native American in the role of one of the good guys.  I liked the way Johnny Depp played Tonto in the Lone Ranger movie.  This watercolor was fun to do because of all the textures in it.
For someone else who loves the Lone Ranger go to: 
 http://biggeekdad.com/2016/04/william-tell-overture-glen-campbell/ 

Big Sur

I think that Big Sur is one of the most beautiful places on earth.  This watercolor is inspired by the artwork on the Spring 2016 L.L. Bean catalog, by artist John Bowdren.  Below are some photos of the painting in progress.

Early Spring Morning

While my wife and I were visiting the Rancho Santa Ana Botanical Gardens in Claremont, California, we viewed the Millard Sheets exhibit in their gallery.  Millard Sheets is famous in California for the mosaics he did for the fronts of Home Savings buildings and for his mosaic of Jesus on the library on the campus of Notre Dame University (aka:  "Touchdown Jesus").  I was inspired by one of his works called "Dairy Farm".  On my painting, I left out the cows but included some farm equipment.

Cowboy - 2

My first Cowboy was done with the Microsoft Paint program.  This is a second version of the subject in watercolor.  It is pretty simple.  I tried to use vibrant colors.  It is sort of like the coloring books that have recently become popular with grown-ups.  On this one, I like the way the boots, holster, and belt turned out.

Swallow-Tailed Kite

This is a watercolor painting of a Swallow-Tailed Kite.  The Swallow-Tailed Kit is an elanid kite which breeds from the southeastern United States to eastern Peru and northern Argentina.  (Wikipedia)  It is also the favorite bird of my daughter-in-law, Marisa.  I tried to leave the white parts of the bird as negative space (areas I did not paint) with the black markings of the bird defining its shape.

Walnut Fish Carving

This is a fish carving out of dark walnut.  As mentioned in my Orca post, my father used to carve whales and dolphins out of walnut.  My inspiration for this one was actually a fish sculpture by Sam Maloof.  We visited his historic house in Alta Loma, California a few weeks ago.  I actually bought some scrap walnut they were selling from his workshop.  The fish and the base are both from Sam Maloof's wood.  Small photo is a fish carving by Sam Maloof.

Mission Indian Cemetery

This watercolor is inspired by the trips my wife and I take to visit the California Missions.  On our visits, many times the local Native Americans were buried in simple graves with only a cross to mark them.  I used Lorenzo Chavez's pastel, "Church At Canoncito" as a model but embellished the church.

Orca

This is an Orca painted on pine in a northwest Native American-style.  My father used to carve whales out of walnut like the one below.