Dancers

What do you see when you look at this watercolor sketch? My wife saw mermaids, one of my daughters saw dancers with hair on their arms, and my son jokingly said mushrooms. I explained that this is a sketch based on a famous impressionist drawing by Degas done in pastel. I enjoy sketching dancers because of the movement, energy, and dynamics they bring to a drawing or painting. I like the interplay of warm and cool colors to create depth and texture.

Three bears

In this watercolor sketch of three bears I focused on creating a realistic brown and adding form to the animals with warm and cool colors. I avoided any detail in the foreground and background so as to focus attention on the bears.

Remember the Alamo

A couple of weeks ago I was in San Antonio on a business trip and had a few hours before my flight home so I decided to visit the Alamo and learn more about it's history. About 200 men battled 2000 Mexican soldiers to defend the Alamo in 1836. The odds were overwhelming but these brave men fought to the death in a two week battle. The Texians and Tejanos that defended the Alamo were commanded by William B. Travis along with David Crockett and James Bowie. The Texians were able to sneak out messengers to ask for help but no help arrived. This was an important battle in the Texas Revolution. Later in the year Sam Houston and his Texians surprised Santa Anna and the Mexican forces in the Battle of San Jacinto which led to the Treaty of Velasco, granting Texas independence. I sketched this picture of the front entrance to the Alamo from a brochure.