Ribera's Saint Paul

I sketched this copy of a painting of Saint Paul by the master Spanish painter Jusepe de Ribero.  The original painting does an amazing job at capturing the intelligence and wisdom of Saint Paul.

Mother and Child In A Boat

I admired this painting by Mary Cassatt titled a Mother and Child In A Boat because it captured the beauty of a sublime and tender moment between a parent and their child.  These are the kinds of moments parents cherish forever but are all too easy to forget.  Below is my attempt at a copy in watercolor.

Just in time for Halloween

About a month ago I was inspired to do a still life with a Fall theme when I was looking through the produce at the grocery store.  So I purchased a pumpkin and a couple of gourds.  That same evening I was flipping through a book of Dutch paintings and found a still life with a skull painted by Peter Claesz in 1630.  As I was arranging my composition for the still life I thought it would be cool to include the skull from the Peter Claesz painting to give it a bit of a Halloween theme.  So I could capture the cast shadows of the skull on the gourds I used a head of lettuce where I was going to add the skull.  Here is a photo of the arrangement, a sketch of the composition, and the final oil painting.

Overlooking the South Bay from Edgewood Park

I was hiking on Saturday at Edgewood Park and decided to sketch some oak trees while taking a break to look out over the Bay.  I also took a picture for reference which I used to do this watercolor painting.  I focused on the oak trees off center and to the right as my subject.

Charcoal portrait sketch

I like working with charcoal because I can easily blend it and correct errors in form and value.  Here is a copy of a portrait by Hans Holbein the Younger of a member of the Wedigh Family.

Emilie Seriziat

Jacques-Louis David painted an exquisite portrait of Emilie Seriziat and her son in 1795.  And here is a copy rendered with charcoal of this masterful painting.

Water Dog Lake

I find landscapes to be the most difficult to compose because it is not always clear where to focus.  There is a small lake in our neighborhood that one day inspired me to sketch the surrounding hillside as the sun rose behind me.  Below is an attempt at rendering this scene in oils.  I struggled a bit with the subject but found it a good exercise to experiment with colors.