"Winter Sunrise" (Drawing Video)

Yesterday I created this little drawing video on my iPad. I am sending this out to wish everyone peace, love, health, and hope in 2026.

Snow on Ski Trails (Painting as of Dec. 25, 2025)

Here is my painting as it looked on December 25th.  Earlier, I had used the Painter program on my computer to try out some changes that I wanted to make to the composition.  My idea was to add more mountain shapes and a road to the foreground.  I was pleased with the changes, and at this point I was working to implement them on the canvas.  

Snow on Ski Trails (Digitally Edited Try-Out) Dec 25, 2025

During the preceding days, while working on my painting I had been considering changes to the composition,  but I wanted to do a digital "dress rehearsal" before I making big changes on the canvas.  So on December 25th, I uploaded the most recent photo of my painting, taken the day before (December 24th), and opened the image in Painter, on my computer so I could sketch in the changes I was considering.  My idea was to add some shapes to the foreground.  Because earlier, I had removed a road from the foreground of the original photo,  I decided to put a road back in, though in a very different position, one that would allow me to improve the composition . So with digital pastel, I sketched in the changes I was considering.  I was happy with the new composition, so printed this out to use as a guide as I made changes on the canvas.

Snow on Ski Trails (Painting as of Dec. 24, 2025)

Here is my painting as it looked on December 24th.  I worked on the sky, making the position of the sun more obvious.  I added detail to the mountains in the distance, and added some shadows to the ski trail in the foreground.  Although I was please with my progress at this point, I was still considering changes to the composition.  To be continued. . . . 

Snow on Ski Trails (Painting as of Dec. 23, 2025)

I finally got this painting started on December 23. I changed the plan again, deviating from my (revised) reference photo by simplifying the foreground even more. I used acrylic paint to rough in the sky and the mountains in the background, and the ski trail in the foreground.  I created the forested areas with collaged tissue paper.  This was quite rough but the main parts of the composition were in place, but with more changes to come.

Mountain Lake (Near DIllon) Painting as of December 21, 2025

Here is my painting as it looked on December 21, 2025.  I had two or three painting sessions that day. Working from my reference photo, I revised the sky and added snow to the mountains.  I added more texture to the mountains in the background, using a monoprint technique.  I also worked on the lake, adding some highlights and reflections.

Menorah on the Beach (Drawing Video)

Here is my menorah video for 2025.  I wanted to create this menorah to remember the victims of the attack at Bondi Beach and in honor of the Jewish community of Australia.   I created this on my iPad with the Procreate app.  

Snow on Ski Trails (Reference Photo Revised) as of Dec. 20, 2025

On December 19th, I had used Painter to edit my vacation photo so that I could use it as a reference photo for painting.  The next day, December 20th, I printied it out and took it into my home studio, but almost immediately decided to make changes.  I thought the foreground was too complicated.  So I revised it by drawing into the image (printed on computer paper) with conte crayon. I eliminated a ski trail on the right by drawing over it in green. I used white conte crayon to simplified the center ski trail, covering up a road and a stand of trees. I sketched in an area of green where I planned to join two areas of trees.  This is what my plan was when I began to lay out the composition on the canvas.  But there were more changes to come.

Reposting: Menorah in Window

Back in 2016, I used the Brushes app on my iPad to create this little video.  (Like the Procreate app, the Brushes app captured  a stroke-by-stroke drawing video.  I have already posted this video a couple of times but decided to repost it this year because it shows a  menorah in front of a window. Chanukah celebrates religious freedom and displaying the menorah a way of claiming that freedom. In some times and in some places, Jews can do that confidently. These days there is enough to be afraid of just about everywhere, apparently, but still you see menorahs in the window, outside the synagogue, in the town square, on the beach. . . .  

Reposting: A Quick Little Menorah

I made this on my iPad back in 2021, a year in which Chanukah came very soon after Thanksgiving and I was very pressed for time.  I wrote that I was thinking, "I don't have time to make a Chanukah video this year.  And then I thought, maybe I do.  So I opened my Procreate app on my iPad and drew this little menorah.  It's not fancy; I didn't even use a stylus.  But still it makes me happy and I am glad I did this. So if you want to see the candles light up, just press play."  And I am still glad.  So here's a menorah for times when it just doesn't seem possible (we are too busy, too discouraged, too sad) to light that menorah.  Light it anyway. . .

Snow on Ski Trails (Reference Photo for Painting as of Dec. 19, 2025)

On December 19, I opened my travel photo in Painter and started editing on the computer My goal was to turn my snapshot into a  as a reference photo for my painting.  With a combinaton of cut-and-paste and digital pastel, I eliminated road signs, concrete barriers, vehicles, and other evidence of construction in the foreground. To replace what I had removed, I sketched in some additional trees and trails, using digital pastel. Then  I cropped the photo to 8 x 10. (My paintings are 16 x 20, so printing the photo at half size helps when I am making grids on each.)  At this point, for the most part I was happy with the composition, but thought the foreground needed work.  But I printed it out so I could get to work.

Tree Line and Ski Trails (Inspiration for Painting)

I took this photo back in 2018 while we were touring in the Colorado Rockies with our old friends from Brazil.  I think we were headed to Vail when I took this picture. The title says "Inspiration for Painting", but it doesn't look that inspiring, with all the road signs, cement barriers,  and other evidence of construction.  But I liked the view of the mountains beyond so in December of 2025, I decided to use this photo for a painting, though I knew it would take a lot of digital editing to turn this into a photo reference.

Mountain Lake (Near Dillon) Painting as of Dec. 17, 2025

I started this painting on Dec. 17 2025, and here is how it looked at the end of my painting session.  This is a follow-up to my rough sketch.  To begin the painting, I used a quick coat of each color to establish a color scheme and to help set up the composition.  You can see that I was trying out some ideas for texture here. 

Reposting: Sunflower Menorah (Drawing Video)

For Chanukah Day 3 (2025), I am reposting my "Sunflower Menorah" video.  I created this several years ago in support of the people of Ukraine. Made on my iPad with the Procreate app. If you want to see these sunflowers turn into a menorah, just press play.

Reposting: Yellow Ribbon Menorah

I created this last year, using Procreate on my iPad in honor of the hostages of the October 7th attack. This is the final frame of a drawing video in which the yellow ribbon turns into a menorah. 

Mountain Lake (Near Dillon) Sketch Dec. 15, 2025

On December 15th, using my photo reference as a guide, I sketched the composition for my next painting-to-be. You can still see the rough grid, which is how I always begin.  (I also draw a rough grid over the print-out of the photo, which I use for comparison as I determine where the lines and shapes should be.

Mountain Lake (Near Dillon) (Photo reference for painting)

On December 14, it was time to start another mountain painting for my March show at Galatea Fine Art.  I decided to look through some of the videos I took during a trip to Colorado in 2018.  (We were in Colorado touring with Brazilian friends that had met in 1968 when we all lived in married student housing at the University of Colorado.)  I found a sequence showing this mountain lake, so I found a frame that I liked.  I made that frame into a still photo, and then cropped it to get this image.

Front Range Sunset (Near Widefield) Painting as of Dec. 11, 2025

Here is my painting as it looked on December 11, 2026.  At the point, I was already happy with the sky.  I added washes to modify the colors of the field in the foreground, and the mountains.  I made the colors more muted. The field was a softer green and the mountains were darker blue than before.  But all the colors are brighter than the those of the reference photo, which I was using more for the composition and cloud pattern than for the color scheme.

Front Range Summer Sunset (Near Widefield), Painting as of Dec. 9, 2025

Here is my painting as it looked on December 9th.  At this point, I was focused on the clouds in the sky,  with the sunlight breaking through.  But I also put down some colors for the mountains, hills, and prairie, so I could tell the shapes apart. This is acrylic paint.  I used some water wash-off to create texture.  The painting is 16 x 20 on aquabord. 

Front Range Summer Sunset (Near Widefield), Sketch as of Dec. 8, 2025

This is the sketch for one of my mountain landscapes, recently on display at Galatea Fine Art.I based the composition on my reference photo.  After creating a rough grid, I sketched the composition directly on the canvas, using conte crayon.

Sisters and Brothers (Portrait)

This is the final version of the painting that I finished in early December.  It wasn't easy to get a likeness of four children, but in the last few days of the project,  I was struggling with the lines of the castle.  I spent a lot of time with ruler and T-square, trying to make sure all the line were straight.  The portrait was picked up and I have heard that the parents and kids liked the painting, so I am happy.

Sunset Near Widefield (Photo for Painting Reference)

In early December, my commissioned portrait of four children at Disneyland was finally finished.  It was time to focus on painting for my solo show at Galatea, scheduled for March.  I chose this photo from my one of my trips to Colorado, and edited it in Painter so it would work as a painting reference.  I took this photo near Widefield, Colorado. 

Reposing "Sunset Celebration" (Oil Bar Painting)

This is one of my two oil bar paintings displayed in December at TAG art gallery in SOWA. I based this painting on a photo that I took (from the passenger seat) as we were returning from a wedding in Maine.