The Next IGOR Show

"Pears and Squares"

colored pencil

13" x 26"

I just heard last week that this drawing of mine made it into next year's International Guild of Realism Show. The show will be the fifth annual juried exhibition of the International Guild and will be held next February at the J. Willott Gallery in Palm Desert, CA. I'm honored and thrilled to make it once again into a Guild show - this will be the fourth time that work of mine has been included in an IGOR show.

The International Guild of Realism was founded in 2002 with the purpose of advancing realism in fine art and promoting the careers of representational artists. You can learn more about this excellent organization by visiting their website - http://www.realismguild.com/

Smaller stuff

"The Sentinel"

colored pencil

12" x 8"

"The Guardian"

colored pencil

7" x 12"

Here's my latest two colored pencil drawings. Both of these will be in the December small works show at M. A. Doran Gallery in Tulsa later this year. I seem to have been doing a lot of these complementary color schemes in my still life setups lately. I found the little upright English pitcher in "The Sentinel" on ebay earlier this year and had been looking forward to drawing it. At first I tried putting some purple plums with it, but that big orange spot in the middle of the purple flower just kept saying, "No! More orange, please!". So, I remembered the little orange clementines in my fridge, placed them there, and threw up some blue fabric on the wall behind my setup. And voila! Here it is.

Rethinking it all

Simple Pleasures

Colored Pencil

20" x 20"

It's been five months since my last posts. For those of you who may have been following this blog and wondering what became of me - well, I've been right here all along. I simply haven't been painting and since the original idea for this blog was to follow my progression from pencil artist to painter, then there wasn't anything to blog about.

Turns out, I still love having a pencil in my hand. I've continued to grow and develop as a colored pencil artist. I continue to be amazed and inspired by what other colored pencil artists are achieving in the medium. I also have been missing my first love - graphite. I still hope to master oils, but I've realized it's going to take more hours in the studio since cloning myself is still not a viable option. I'm just not ready to give up pencil!

So, with that in mind, I've renamed my blog and plan for this to be perhaps not a daily blog, but it least a weekly blog of my efforts as an artist. Note the name "Marks and Strokes" - I'm leaving the studio door wide open. Pencils or brush, I just plan to continue to follow my vision and create.