First snowstorm, first snowstorm painting

This was done using a mixture of magnetite, chalk, and home-brewed linseed oil as an underpainting. It's good for that purpose because it dries quickly and has a nice feel, somewhere between charcoal and sumi ink. I was trying to primarily catch the movement of the snow and letting the static structures fall into place as the picture developed. , and a video of me in the act

My paintbox sheltered by Artistic In Tent

PCC Memories

 I've been working on this for about a month, off and on. It started with the foreground guy's eye and worked its way outwards, with no clear direction known.  I have no idea what it's supposed to be about beyond the obvious subject matter, but for some reason it has held my interest long enough to get this far. It's now at the point where I could tweak it indefinitely, but would be unlikely to improve it significantly and would probably introduce regressions. I'll let it marinate a while. I'm thinking of using it as the basis for my first larger etching.

Slideshow of its various states of development and revision.

Self Portrait at 70 with New Hat

I just turned 70, and my beloved gave me a very spiffy new hat! My old hat had rendered many years of faithful service but had clearly been through the wars and was ready for retirement. Anyone who does outdoor artwork needs a serviceable hat, weatherproof, flexible, and with a broad brim to defend against the elements and shade one's eyes against the glare.

Double mirror setup I used for the drawing,

Old hat

New hat

First test of the new etching tank

I added some lines to the same plate I used the test the press, and bit it in the new tank. It worked fine. The next step is break out a fresh plate and try one for real.

Etching tank

 Having gotten a larger etching press, I needed a larger etching tank. As far as I could tell, the official vertical etching tanks on offer were larger than I needed, expensive, and requiring a lot more ferric chloride to fill them up. My friend Chris Wirth tracked down this cereal container which is the right size, but I wanted to make a different top with a slot to hang the plate through. 

After making a couple of kludgy prototypes based on replicating the oval shape of the top, 

I ended up making a box to hold the tank with a slotted top and a little bridge to stick the end of the tape suspending the plate to. Next step is to try actually biting a plate - should accommodate plates up to about 9" x 12".

Path into the woods

The last time I visited this place it was July and hot as Hades. Today was warmish for November but the sun was already to set behind the bare trees at 2:30 PM. I just had a short time to catch the light in the foreground, the shadow in the woods, and the beckoning light farther down the path.

Abandoned Getty station

 Today I am thankful that they didn't tear down this skeevy old abandoned Getty station before I had a chance to paint it again. I did a little watercolor sketch back in April and always wanted come back and do a larger oil painting. This what I was able to do in about two hours - the drawing and overall block in.