Shawna Khalily

Last weekend I went with my family to the Mighty Kindness Hootenany down by the Ohio River.  There was a huge crowd, and it was a fine day, and there were lots of tents.  One of the people set up was an acquaintance of mine, Shawna Khalily.  I first met her a few years ago and was immediately struck by her work; it's pretty engrossing.  She creates hand-colored woodcut prints.  I photographed her with the poster she made for the event we were at:

You can't see the richness of the texture, detail, and color in this photo of her work, but you can see it better in her online gallery if you click on her name in the paragraph above.

Echo Trail landscape - acrylic on panel

Last Friday I painted near Floyds Fork, just off Echo Trail.  It was a beautiful day to be out.  The landscape there is very nice; I will definitely go back for more.

This is acrylic on panel, 16 x 20 inches.  Most of it was painted on site, but then I finished it when I got home with some modifications and “polishing up.”  I cannot remember the last time I completed a painting all in one day.

My neck was sunburned by the time I went home.  It was foolish of me not to bring sun block, but fortunately I was wearing long sleeves and had a ball cap, so it could have been worse.

I joked elsewhere about seeing plenty of wildlife "...and most of it had eight legs and run up my pants."  However, apart from spiders and bumble bees and lots of birds chirping, I didn't encounter much.

in progress

completed

"You Are Allowed to Eat A Burger For Breakfast If You've Been Up All Night Fighting Crime"

 I was visiting friends last weekend when I saw this piece of art hanging in their house.  I learned that their teenage daughter, Anna, created it--a combination of hand drawn work, photography, and digital manipulation.  Besides the obvious subject matter, it is also a depiction of her and her father.  Anna kindly forwarded the digital file to me to post on my blogs.  It's not the first time I've been impressed by her work.  I am envious of her creativity.

Plein air walnut ink

This is my first time out to draw on my lunch break since the leaves were still green last year.  The busy autumn and long, cold winter had kept me in, but today it was sunny and in the upper 60s, so I decided I had to get out.

Unfortunately, it was also very windy.  After my tackle box blew over and my plastic ink tray blew away, I had to keep things closed and keep one hand on my supplies while I drew with the other.

I found a suitable group of trees as a subject over at E. P. Sawyer Park and sketched for a half hour or so using a bamboo pen and metal nib dip pen.  I think it's a decent start and I'll see how it looks after I spend a little more time filling it out at home.