A Rare Winter Drawing

Everybody who knows me knows that I am not a fan of winter.  Short days and inclement weather keep me indoors.  Not that I mind being indoors, just not this much, I need some outdoor time too and during the winter I get very little.  I'll admit, I have a very low tolerance for cold, freezing especially so it doesn't have to be dark or snowing or even windy to keep me indoors, just cold. It's probably for those reasons that winter makes a rare appearance in my art, this is one of those rare occurrences.

"Snowbound GMC"

6" X 6", charcoal on paper

I discovered this little scene with the old snow covered GMC grain truck in the small, rural town of Eden, Utah a couple years ago.  The background was actually cluttered with modern vehicles in a parking lot, I changed it to a simple natural background.  The dimensions on this one are 6" X 6", a small a square, I might make a series of drawings in this format.

More Palette Knife Fun

I couldn't resist getting out the palette knives again tonight.  As a challenge to myself I took it even further. First, I painting a more complex subject, an old, abandoned truck.  Second, I did more of the painting with the knife this time, besides the truck I also did the grass primarily with a palette knife, though some of the grass was done with a rubber tipped color shaper to add some variety.  Altogether I think I used brushes to complete this painting less than any other acrylic painting I've ever done.  The brushes were mainly used to tidy of some of the lines on the truck and to add some details.  I found this poor old GMC flatbed truck in a salvage yard in Nephi, Utah.  My many thanks to the owner for letting me wander around to take photos, I'm sure you'll see more paintings from me based on those photos in the future.

"Ol' Blue"

11" X 14", Acrylic on panel
Original - $160

I do however have a confession to make.  I actually started this painting some time ago, back during my first palette knife craze, I got frustrated with it and put it away.  I got it back out tonight and couldn't for the life of me remember why I was frustrated with it, I really had no problem finishing it.  Were my expectations just a few months ago different?  Have my skills grown that much since then?  Or was my general mental state that much different? I don't know why but finishing the painting that not so long ago caused me great frustration presented no problems tonight and was a fun and exciting experience.