Sunday moring coffee roundup

I had the weekend to myself as Noelle was in Atlanta with two of our three dogs. She was attending a dog / Terence party and Ginger our beagle is sort of a canine Weezer of Steel Magnolias fame. Her social skills are limited at best and to top it off they were having a dog cake which is as I understand it is just a load of dog food and treats piled up and stuck together which, when introduced to a largish pack of hounds, creates a festive feeding frenzy which would make the most seasoned piranha whet his pencil and take notes. When the 15 or so fights are broken up and the pups returned to the bosom of their owners, all that is left is the stripped carcass or cookie sheet and a few dazed onlookers. Quite fun I hear and I asked that Noelle shoot a video so maybe I'll post that here too. If you have had the pleasure of watching our beagle eat you will understand me when I say there is no way in hell I would allow her to attend this sort of event. Things would quickly spiral out of control and in addition to a party there would be possible vet visits and legal issues to be sorted out. It seems that this little experiment is touching on my dogs as much as my work, but hey, that's my life. Equal parts animals, wife, work, and play.

So, I had the weekend to myself as I said. I decided to try quick watercolor sketches and did around 6 all told. I've included a couple here. My work is pretty exploratory right now. By that I mean I've taken it upon myself to see as much work from other artists as I can and that always makes me want to try new things. I have in the past tried to stick to a certain style, but right now I'm just seeing where this is going. The guy that seems to be moving me the most right now is Joseph Zbukvic. If you haven't seen his work I highly recommend it.

http://jzbukvic.com/

Here are a couple of my favorites. I love a sketch. I'm trying to keep that spontaneous feeling going during the painting process. Sometimes it works and more often that not I end up having to take the lessons learned from a failed painting and try and correct it on the next go. I'm more than happy to do so. If you're not screwing something up you're not learning in my book. If you feel you don't have anything else to learn then you are a dead man.

The two images are both approximately 10" x 6".