Recent Photos from Around Sunset Lake - Vicksburg, Michigan

These are recent photos I've taken around Sunset Lake in Vicksburg, Michigan.
Camera: Canon PowerShot SX40 HS

Painted Sticks - Photography Project

 
 



Here's my recent photography project involving painted sticks. I'll probably revisit this project again sometime this winter.

Photos taken at Sunset Lake, Vicksburg, Michigan.

Obscure Personality Portrait Series - Lt. Joe Kenda

 
This is my drawing of Lt. Joe Kenda and is part of my ongoing "Obscure Personality Portrait Series" depicting influential and interesting people many may have never heard of.  Lt. Joe Kenda is the subject of Investigation Discovery's TV series "Homicide Hunter". What I find fascinating about Kenda is that he's solved 387 murders and that his success rate is 92%. In addition to his amazing ability to solve murders, he has a really interesting delivery style when discussing what goes through his mind while investigating. (Season 2 of Homicide Hunter is now airing Tuesdays at 9:00pm).

Obscure Personality Portrait Series - David Simon & David Chase

 
In recent years, during my lunch hours, I watched a lot of past TV shows on DVD. Two of my favorite TV shows have been Northern Exposure and The Rockford Files.  Recently I discovered an interesting connection between the two shows. David Chase has produced, written and/or directed numerous episodes for each show. (He is also the creator of HBO's The Sopranos). So that gave me an idea to begin the "Obscure Personality Portrait Series" which depicts influential people many have never heard of.


This is my drawing of David Simon, also part of my ongoing "Obscure Personality Portrait Series" depicting influential and interesting people many may have never heard of.  David Simon is the creator/writer of two of my favorite TV series, NBC's Homicide: Life on the Streets and HBO's The Wire.

Obscure Personality Portrait Series - Leland Sklar

 

Drawing Detail 


This is my drawing of bassist Leland Sklar and is part of my "Obscure Personality Portrait Series" depicting influential and interesting people many may have never heard of.

Through the years I'd seen Leland (and his unmistakable beard) appear playing bass on quite a few live performance DVDs from a wide variety of big name performers. At the time I'd always wonder who is that guy and what's his story. So after a bit of research I finally found his name and was shocked to see the list of his 2000+ albums upon which he's appeared. It's a phenomenal list of albums and performers! Here's a partial List:

America • Clint Black • Laura Branigan • Regina Belle • Stephen Bishop • Clint Black •  Suzy Bogguss • Sarah Brightman • Jackson Browne • Peabo Bryson • Jimmy Buffett •  Steve Camp • Glen Campbell • Eric Carmen • Kim Carnes • David Cassidy • Steven Curtis Chapman • Ray Charles • Joe Cocker • Leonard Cohen • Phil Collins • Rita Coolidge • Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young • Neil Diamond • Dion • Thomas Dolby • The Doors • Donovan • Chris Eaton • England Dan & JohnFord Cooley • Art Garfunkel • Vince Gill • Amy Grant • Arlo Guthrie • Sammy Hagar • Merle Haggard • Hall & Oates • Faith Hill • Don Henley • Engelbert Humperdinck • Julio Iglesias • Wynonna Judd • Carole King •  Kris Kristofferson • Lisa Loeb • Lyle Lovett • Manhattan Transfer • Ricky Martin • Richard Marx • Reba McEntire • Roger McGuinn • Bette Midler • Graham Nash • Aaron Neville • Randy Newman • Olivia Newton-John • The Oak Ridge Boys • Twila Paris • Dolly Parton • Bernadette Peters • Bonnie Raitt •  Helen Ready • LeAnn Rimes • Lee Ritenour • Linda Ronstadt • Diana Ross • David Sanborn • Leo Sayer • Neil Sedaka • Vonda Shepard • Carly Simon • Ricky Skaggs • Michael W. Smith • Rod Stewart • Stephen Stills • George Strait • Barbra Streisand • Donna Summer • James Taylor • Livingston Taylor • Terence Trent d'Arby • Tanya Tucker • Wilson Phillips • Lee Ann Womack • Trisha Yearwood • Warren Zevon 

 

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leland_Sklar

 

Art Specs: Hand-drawn portrait on marker paper using Sharpie and copic pens. Illustrator CS3 for typesetting. Photoshop for clean-up and gray fills/strokes and final composite.

Not much time to draw nowadays, but over the three day weekend I managed to get in some significant drawing time.

Each drawing was hand-drawn using Copic Pens on Bienfang 360 Marker Paper.

Recent Photos from Around the Lake

Photos from some of my photo walks around Sunset Lake in Vicksburg, Michigan.

Photos Taken During Recent Photo Walks

(Photo of a frog's "hand") 

Here are some photos from my recent photo walks.
(Photos taken with the Canon Powershot SX 40 HS. Converted to black & white in Photoshop)

George Will Textured Portrait

 
 One of my favorite Sunday morning activities is to watch the political talk shows. I follow politics in a similar way that people follow sports. Politics and democracy, for me, are spectator sports. Granted, I don't particularly like the "players" on either side but I do find it fascinating to watch. That being said, one of my favorite "democracy commentators" has been George Will. No one can take obscure, boring historical & political facts and spin them into laugh out loud punch lines. Anyway, here's a portrait of George Will that I finally found time to complete.

Hand drawn line art on marker paper using Copic Mulitliner pens. Textures added in Photoshop.

Recent Photos from Around Sunset Lake - Vicskburg, Michigan

Frog's Eye


Water Lily


Great Blue Heron


Dragonfly


Dragonfly Wings

This year I've shifted focus from drawing and painting to nature photography. These photos were taken during my frequent photo walks around Sunset Lake in Vicksburg, Michigan.

Here are a couple recent videos of my ongoing photo/video bubble project.

Bubble Project - Raw Video

 This is the raw test video of what I hope to be a series of photo and video bubble projects.

Portsmouth - United Kingdom - Free Art Event

Over Easter Weekend the Portsmouth Creative Movement in Southsea, Hants (United Kingdom) held a free art exhibit. Artwork was submitted by artists from all over the world. As with all free art events, people are encouraged to grab a work of art and take it home. For this event close to 500 people attended and all the art had found new homes within an hour and a half. Above are the recipients of a few of my paintings.

Photos courtesy of the Portsmouth Creative Movement.

Southsea - Upcoming Free Art Event

Recent paintings on canvas before they're shipped to a free art event in Southsea, U.K.

Weekend Photo Walk

Photos taken during this weekend's photo walks around the lake.

Sunset Lake, Vicksburg, Michigan