Photo was taken near Callahan, FL, 2010. My wife named this rooster Rex as soon as she saw him. This was done with colored pencils and is a prelude to a painting.

From a photo (not available) of a barn on Eastside Hwy., Stevensville, MT with snowcapped Bitterroot Mountains backdrop.

Photo taken somewhere between Kansas and the Rocky Mountains in Montana while we were moving from Florida.

Photo from Curt Van Pelt, Wellsville, NY.

A long-time friend, Wayne Stevens, who has been in the Army longer than many other soldiers have been alive. Ten-hut!

Brenda Tracy, a friend of mine who I met for the first time in third grade. This sketch will receive further attention over the next few weeks and/or months.

Ed and Janet Vainio, Missoula, MT. Ed and Janet serve the Lord (and other people) as interim, temporary pastors of local churches which need them. They operated in this capacity at Light of the Valley, Stevensville, where I attend, and were there for about nine months. Very, very good people.

Alejandra Pina Ramirez. Daughter of friends who live in Peru. This sketch took about 1-1/2 hours to draw and I am somewhat pleased with it. Funny thing is that I see her mother every time I look at the sketch.

Kyla Morton, music teacher at Stevensville High School and a very good friend. Drawn 12/2011.

Ciera

Harold Mitchell's daughter, Ciera. By far the best sketched portrait I've done yet. Still make a lot of mistakes, but I'm making progress.

New family member portrait

This is a sketch of my sister Berty. I have spent a lot of time working and re-working this to get it where I felt comfortable enough to post it. It's still not quite right, but for now, good enough.

2010 Total Lunar Eclipse-Stevensville, MT

Pictures I took with my little point and shoot camera on the winter solstice, Dec. 21, 2010. The sky was very clear, so I had a great view, unlike much of the country which had snow or cloud cover.

I also did a running commentary of the event on my Facebook page. You can view it there. http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/profile.php?id=100001388917486 . You will have to scroll down to the correct date.

These are some pencil sketches I did on scrap paper. I have to redraw them in my sketch book and also onto my paint boards, so I'm going to get practice. My younger brother, Bob. My youngest sister, Beth. Myself. They are not perfect, but close enough so that the resemblence is evident.

It is my goal to produce a finished, painted portrait of all the members in my immediate family, including my parents. Since I have five sisters and two brothers, this will keep me busy for some time.

New, Improved Version

Completed monochrome.
Pencil Sketch
Photoshopped
Original Photo

See post below for the original portrait. This one is much, much better.

My wife, Cindy, from a portrait she took of herself while we were living in Jacksonville.

Flowers and Fur

We saw beautiful flowers all the way. These are a couple of them. The sunflowers are in Nebraska, I don't know where the purple ones are.




The burros are in the Badlands. They frequent the middle of the road, stopping traffic and begging for food. I would have laid on the horn and driven through. Cindy had to stop. Of course, they had to swarm her. One of them stuck his head through the window and tried to take a bite out of our potato chip bag.

I snapped the antelope and the bull bison in the Badlands from about 30 feet out of my truck. I really like this picture (antelope drinking) and intend to paint it someday. The bison are part of a managed herd. All the animals inside the fence are cows and calves. The handlers don't confine bulls because they get nasty and create trouble.

Along the Road

From flat land to Paradise

I've never liked flat land. I will always be a mountain man.