Another sketch from my sketchbook. Gloria (my wife) and I were in San Pedro at the Central Park downtown sitting on a bench sketching. The temperature was about 30 to 32 degrees c. about 89 to 90 degrees f. Not too hot. Because of the humidity the sun doesn't burn. This building has 4 walls. The sketch is pen and ink with pencil crayons for color.

THE END OF DAYS - Salvation Stations

We are in the Dominican Republic this year. It is our third year working as missionaries for the Dominican people. Since Gloria and I are retired we are able, if we scrimp and  save for a couple of years, to spend 6 to 2-1/2 months in the DR depending where we live. This year we decided to stay 2-1/2 months. Instead of living in a poor neighborhood we are staying in a small inexpensive hotel downtown. Unlike the last few years this place has 24 hour electricity, water and Internet which is important if we want to keep in contact with Canada. There has been a revival going on here for sometime. New churches are being built all over San Pedro and probably the rest of the country as well. Many churches can be found in private homes, rich or poor it doesn't matter. Before our trip I spent sometime putting together a new tract for the DR. It is based on Matthew 24, Mark 13 and Luke 21. A prophecy Jesus gave to His  Apostles concerning the future of our world. It begins with the destruction of Jerusalem 
(which happened in 70 A.D.) and ends with His return at the end of this age. We have printed copies in English, for back home and the Island of St. Kitts and Dominican Spanish for the Dominican Republic. Our good friend and compatriot Luis Hernandez will be taking the English tracts to St. Kitts.

Small Not Tall Palm

A small palm tree near a small casa. Perfect for a sketch. It's 5x7" pen and ink with watercolour.

My wife and I are living in the Dominican with some friends for the next 6 months. We plan to learn Spanish and enjoy their culture. Went to a baseball game the other night, it was great fun but loud, the home team won. We also attend a local Pentecostal church when we can, its even louder. They say the Dominican is the second loudest country in the world.

Check out our new Dominican blog. It is called Mission Improbable and can be reached through Splash and Paint.

Calla's Together

Flowers for my other daughter Angela Hernandez who along with her husband Victor recently moved into their own apartment
They met and married in the Dominican 2 years ago. Victor seems like the perfect match for her, as a matter of fact they even have similar features. What's up with that!
These are Calla Lilies painted in watercolour.

Yellow Bearded Iris

A nice flower that also makes a nice painting. I added the bud from another picture and I think it compliments and makes the painting more interesting. This painting is a watercolour and is painted on Arches water colour board, a relatively new offering from Arches. It is watercolour paper with a type of matt board backing. The size is 16 by 20 and doesn't need to be stretched.

Iris: 8x 10

I've been working on changing, not so much the way I paint but what I paint.

My wife nagged me for years to paint flowers so to prove that I do listen from time to time here is an Iris on water colour paper using watercolour, acrylic gouache and gold and copper metal leaf. I'm fairly satisfied with this one.

The Richness of Nature

Something new and out of the ordinary. This watercolour is 5 x 7" and the background is gilded with metal that is made from a silver colour and a gold colour, it is not precious metal but silver-made of aluminum and a variety of gold coloured metals-although it doesn't show on this scan the metal also has blue and copper colours in it as well. It was painted on a piece 200# Fabriano watercolour paper. The metal is glued to the paper. And although I don't normally leave the pencil marks on a painting, I like the look of this one. One thing, it takes a lot of patience and care to work with this metal because it is extremely fragile.

Iris 2

Another attempt of mixed media watercolour, acrylic Gouache and Metal leaf. The drawing is somewhat exaggerated I'll probably redo it or one like it. It has possibilities.

Early Spring

A site that was crying to be painted. Painted with watercolour during a moderate winter, I thought it was a nice barn worth remembering. It's gone now, replaced by rows and rows and rows of new houses that all look the same. Most people who live there now will never know or imagine what was there before them. Well this is what you replaced but then nothing lasts forever and at some point the homes you live in will also be replaced.

All Stones Canyon, Alberta

This is a canyon in the Rockey Mountains near the Big Horn Dam. As you can see, the rock formations in this canyon are really unusual. They seem to have been twisted and pulled like toffee. Although the rock was red I did exaggerate the colour somewhat, near the base there are small veins of coal. Traveling in this area one has to be aware of and on the lookout for grizzlies. In a small box canyon, not a good place to meet one.

The medium is watercolour and pencil crayon. Watercolour was used in the sky and as a base for the pencil crayons.

Preparing for the next ride

This particular drawing is of a rodeo cowboy preparing his saddle and visualizing his next ride on a wild, red eyed bronc. This was from a photo I took at Swan River in Northern Manitoba.

Stuck on the Ice

This drawing was taken from a photograph in the Arctic near Baffin Island. The new Skidoo's were just beginning to take the place of the sled dog, however with a sled when things broke or a dog became injured or died, the owner still had at least half a dozen healthy dogs that would allow him to continue traveling.
Now if your sled has a problem you had better be able to fix it no matter what it is. Your life might depend on your ability to keep these machines running.

The House Warmer

This one is for my daughter and her husband. They just bought a new house and will be moving into it at the end of March. It's 11x15 " or 16x20 with the frame. I'll try a larger one later on, in the meantime I hope they like this one.

Bent All Out of Shape

One of the first paintings I did of a flower. I can't remember when ,I took the Picture, but I do remember it seemed to be a somewhat strange looking flower. One of my daughters liked it and took to Calgary. She's a good daughter, she likes everything I do!

Leaving Saskatchewan

An early snow and the geese are already gathering together for the flight to the southern states. One of Canada's most prolific hunting grounds, geese often cover farmers fields in Saskatchewan by the thousands sometimes destroying whole fields of grain. In Saskatchewan hunters are welcome.

Spring

Full of light and warm colours.
This is the kind of picture you want on your wall when the temperature breaks a 50 year record for the month of March in Alberta.
This year it fell to minus 32 or somewhere near minus 46 with the wind chill added.

This painting is an 8x 10 watercolour on very rare and very rough paper.

Parked for the winter

This India Ink drawing features a winter view, hard to achieve if your working with black and white. The town is nearly a ghost town. It.s called Rowley and is located in central Alberta just north of Drumheller a town that seems to be full of dinosaurs

Battle River Barn in summer

The Battle River barn in summer.
I could probably paint dozens pictures
of this barn from every angle and it
would still be a decent painting.
The old car came from Reynolds back lot -
his private collection.
Link to Reynolds Museum is found here.

Drilling for the Big Payday

Early oil field workers in the 1940s working the famous Leduc oil field in Alberta.

This piece "Drilling for the Big Payday" is a Pen and Ink composition using a technique called Stippling or Pointillism. It measures 10 inches by 10 inches.

Solitude

A few miles east of Edmonton this old farm building and wooden grain bins has been painted by many artists including myself. Based on a picture I took a few years ago the building looks pretty good, however in reality it is beginning to collapse and will probably not survive another winter.