New Paintings

"Elkins South Beach" - 11"x13.5" Soft Pastel on Wallis Museum

"Beached" - 11"x17" Soft Pastel on Wallis Museum

I took my 2nd workshop from my favorite artist last weekend - Desmand O'Hagan. I again learned a great deal, from the "master of lost edges and implied detail" - I just love his style, and over the past year I've incorporated much of his style in my own paintings. Granted, this style can not be used with the miniatures I do, but I love using it in larger work.

Many of you know I've recently been creating a lot of glass sculptures, and continue to refine my digital photography skills. So to kick start my soft pastel painting again, I took Desmond's workshop. I'm still tweaking "Elkins South Beach", but it will be finished soon.

Hope you like what you see!

Make sure you click on the photos to get a closer look of this "painterly" style.

A tough Capture!!

I've tried many times to capture a hummingbird in flight, especially attempting to get a shot of their speedy little wings! Well, I was finally successful getting that elusive shot while on vacation at Elkins Resort, which is located on Priest Lake in Northern Idaho.

For those that are interested - I took this shot with my Canon Rebel XT using my 75-300mm zoom lens. The ISO was set at 1600, F16 @ 1/2000 of a second. I was four feet away from a feeder.

Hummingbirds hover in mid-air by rapidly flapping their wings 15–80 times per second (depending on the species). They can fly backwards, and are the only group of birds able to do so.

Make sure you click on the images for a closer look...the detail is amazing!