Blue Country Cyclist

This was a commissioned piece that I just finished yesterday.  I'm currently working on another couple of pieces trying to get done before Christmas.  Oh, the stress of painting deadlines. This painting had 5 preliminary drawings that it went through before it became this finished piece.  I'm glad to say that Tim was very pleased with the finished painting.  He wanted something to remind him of cycling on RAGBRAI but in blues/grays with less riders.  LOL!

Photo:"Blue Country Cyclist"; watercolor on 12" x 16" paper
Commissioned Piece

You may notice in the sky of the finished piece a subtle cloud face.  That was added in the final painting and was an idea that we (Tim & myself) and thrown back and forth.  It's loosely based on Tim's face.

The last Prelim drawing for this piece.

Thanks for stopping by and I welcome any comment you may have!

A Bit of a Rorschach Version....

Here's the latest of my of the "Live, Laugh, and Ride" Bike Series.  This one has a bit of a Rorschach Ink Block effect.  I had a bit of fun in putting this one together and figured a bicycle crank as a dominate center piece to the artwork.  Then, the symmetry of the two bikes off to the side, a true cyclist will see the bicycles in this Rorschach test! LOL  Here it is... (Please forgive my lousy photographing skills.  It's darker in one corner and I couldn't quite get the lighting right.)

"Live, Laugh, and Ride 3": Watercolor on 15" x 20" paper.

I may play with using different colors on this same type of lay out.  Who knows?! :)  I welcome any feedback you may have and thanks for stopping by!

Live, Laugh, and Ride...

After getting quite a few comments on Face Book about "Enjoy the Ride" watercolor painting I did for my living room.  I thought it might be fun to do another bicycle painting with a quote/saying.  I was rather inspired by a quick photo that I took of a bike on my long road trip the year before last.  It was a bicycle that was chained up to a tree along a shopping area in Bend, OR.  I have fond memories of that day, watching paddle boarders along the river and hanging out a local pub that night listening to local musicians.  A wonderful day on the road exploring the USA.  With those fond memories, I took that photo and turned it into a warm, sunny piece of bike artwork.  I think that the quote/saying fit with my memories of that day.  I call this watercolor.."Live, Laugh, and Ride..."

"Live, Laugh, and Ride..."; Watercolor on 16" x 20" Paper.

Thanks for stopping by and I welcome any feedback you may have.

Enjoy the Ride!

About 3 months ago, I moved into a new place and I'm now finally getting to a point where I want to start hanging things on the wall.  It's not that I have a shortage of paintings to hang on my walls.  But sometimes it's nice to have a variety of things on the wall that have cute sayings or to have other unique items among the paintings on the wall.  Well, in the search for some cute quotes or sayings that I could find on-line for my wall, I found a shortage when it came to bicycles among the quotes.  Most of the quotes had a bicycle and the quote of "Enjoy the Ride!"; which was fine but I just wanted something a bit more.

And so, with drying time happening during a commissioned piece that I'm currently working on, I decided to do my own cute quote with bicycles.  The nice thing is that this way I could plan what I wanted said, choose the colors, and put as much bicycle in it as I wanted.  Little by little, it came together.  I have always enjoyed the quote that "Life is a journey", and I kind of like the "Enjoy the Ride" with the bicycle.  So with those two quotes in mind I laid in a background of a combination of flat washes and alternative methods.  I used a bit of scotch tape here and there to remove color; along with some masking fluid.  I used objects to apply the masking and just kind of played around with it.  I had fun and this is what came of it....

"Enjoy the Ride"; Watercolor on 12" x 18" paper.

I was pretty happy with this and I think it should look good in my living room decor.  Thanks for stopping by and I welcome any comments you may like to share.

On My Way Back ...

Tonight, I'm writing this as I sit in my hotel room in Cheyenne, WY.  I'm on my way back to Utah and have had a week of ups and downs.  I first left for my hometown of Cedar Rapids, Iowa; last Thursday evening.  The plan was to do a bit of visiting with family and then do RAGBRAI. 

Well, even the best laid plans seem to change.  I did some visiting and started RAGBRAI.  I managed the first three days of RAGBRAI.  The worst three days as far as heat and humidity that RAGBRAI has ever seen in its 40 years (go figure!).  All three days were 99 or above with one day climbing up to 104 degrees with 80% humidity.  Oh and did I mention there were winds that were up to 20 mph too?  These were some tough days and I really found that the humidity was getting to me. 

But I will say that those three days of RAGBRAI were amazing!  It was a sea of bicycles as far as the eye could see along the wonderful hilly landscape of Iowa's corn and soybean fields.  There were people all along the Iowa roads that were cheering you on; some were selling water, cookies, or almost everything.  Some were not selling but giving water out for free, or offering to douse you with their hose, or even others were handing out frozen pops.  Main streets in small Iowa towns were closed down just to bicycle traffic and filled up with vendors offer to sell food or wares to the cyclists that came through the town.  It was just AMAZING!  I don't know how else to describe it.

Photo: Boys-N-Cars watercolor I did of my nephews for a Father's Day present. 
The youngest one here is the one with dark hair.

My second day was the worst.  I had received a phone call from my little brother the night before that my youngest nephew had passed away due to complications after a surgery.  He was only 13 years old.  I was rather a bit of a basket case that day and only managed to ride 47 miles of the 85 miles that I should have rode.  My head and heart just were not in it.  I found I could not keep food down and when you are riding that is NEVER a good sign to have.  I ended up getting SAG'd in that day.  I did manage the next day's ride but then had to call for help when I was brain dead trying to find the host house.  The combo of riding 84 miles with 104 degree humid heat just left me STUPID.

Wednesday night I managed to get a ride back to my mom's.  I had opted not to ride on Thursday to give my body a bit of a break but I also needed to be back for a viewing(Friday) and funeral(Saturday).  That basically meant that RAGBRAI was over for me.  But I needed to be else where.



 

Mother's Day Ideas...

Are you trying to find something new and unique for that Mom that may have everything? 

Of course, there's always the fall back giftcard to her favorite restaurant

but you kind of get tired of THAT!   

You want to give her something that she would like that's new and different.  

Here's a few ideas that I've recently added or created...

If she happens to be a cyclist,
she would LOVE these wonderful high quality t-shirt featuring bike art?

Abandoned Girlie Bike on a Pink Babydoll Fitted T-shirt... CUTE!
or

A Cycle of Red, Yellow & Tyedyed on a White T-shirt with Red Trim....FUN!

or

Allgood's Amish Triangle on a Wonderful Comfortable Long Sleeve Pink Tee...YUM!

Click on the above shirts or to visit the AllgoodArt Store on Zazzle, click here. 

There are also a couple of variety of key chains available too!

OR...

Auntie's Kiss... is now available on a notecards!

There's the chose of high quality notecards that feature my artwork on the front

at my RedBubble site...

Click Here to See

You can choose from Bike Art, Porch Art, or People Art

AND

IF you purchase 8 or more notecards there's a 20% discount!

(YES!  SORRY, I am shamelessly do self marketing and promoting and am hoping to raise some funds to cover my cost of RAGBRAI this summer.)

Another Girlie Duo...

The weather cleared up last night and I had enough time to get a 22 mile bike ride in and then put the final touches on this little bicycle composition too!  Talk about having a wonderful evening!  I'm calling this one - "Another Girlie Duo".  Some of you may recognize this; yes, it is a redo of "A Girlie Duo" that I did almost a year ago.  Only the "Girlie Duo" was done with a limited color pallet.  This Girlie Duo, I just played with a bit of puddle mixing and had fun with it.

"Another Girlie Duo"; Watercolor on 6" x 8" Cold Pressed Paper.

I hope the FUN shines through!  I welcome any feed back or comments you may have and thanks for stopping by!

Coffee & Cycling...

Outside of painting and my love of cycling, a close third is coffee.  I find it rather fascinating that I've never done any paintings with a cup of joe in them.  So this last week, I opted to do a painting of a cup of coffee.  You'll see why I call it "A Cup of Lovin' "...

"A Cup of Lovin' "; Poured Watercolor on 9" x 12" Paper

Then I, of course, did another couple of cycling themed paintings.  Here they are...

"Purple Cycling Gal"; Poured Watercolor on 9" x 12" Paper

I was a bit disappointed with this one after I took off all the masking.  I wasn't as careful with the details of her face and it appears she has a pointy nose and her mouth looks like a huge snarl when in fact it was a big smile.  Well, I might try this one again and see if I can do better.  But I'm very please with how the rest of the painting turned.

"Cycling Buds"; Watercolor on 9" x 12" Paper

This painting was based on a photo of Diane and myself  while on a bike ride last summer.  Diane had taken the photo while we stood together during a break.  It was one of those beautiful days where the two of took the day and decided to take the challenge of a good climb.  A wonderful memory and I gave the painting to Diane as a present.  Though, it really seems to emphasize my pug nose.

3 More Poured Watercolors...

I started these while at watercolor painting class on Wednesday night.  I had hoped to get in a bike ride on Saturday but with wind gust of 61mph I opted out.  Winds like that and bicycling do not mix.  Thus, I found myself indoors, working on poured watercolors during a Saturday afternoon instead of the planned bike ride.  But that was okay and I still had fun.  I really do enjoy doing poured watercolors.  I used the same colors on all three of these pours-- yellow orche, meduim cadium red, and phthalo blue.  It made it easier for paint mixing and pouring.  I welcome any feedback you may have and here they are...

"Breaking Dawn"; Poured Watercolor on 9" x 12" Cold Press Paper.

"In Bloom"; Poured Watercolor on 9" x 12" Cold Press Paper.

"Garden Wall"; Poured Watercolor on 9" x 12" Cold Press Paper.

Now Showing...

Now you can see a couple of my artworks at a local bike shop!  The piece below and another can be viewed in person at Beehive Bicycles in Salt Lake City. 

"Dialed In on the Bonneville Shoreline"
Poured Watercolor on 7" x 11" Paper

I invite all of my cycling friends to go check out my artwork and this wonderful new cycling shop located in the 15th and 15th neighborhood. They feature the brands of Pivot, Surly, Spot Ajax, Ritchey and BOO.  I tell you I'm rather enamored with the BOO bike and don't be surprised if that's my next new bike!

"100 SLC Porches, No.88 & Playing With Alternative Methods"

Here's No. 88 of the 100 Salt Lake City Porches, which I finished late last night...

"100 Salt Lake City Porches, No.88"; Watercolor on 10" x 14" Paper

I spotted this porch while out driving during my lunch hour about a week before Halloween.  The porch was surrounded by orange leaves and pumpkins.  The black cat had sparkles on it and shimmered with each light breeze in the noon day light.  It seemed to tease and beckon me.  There were quite a few cutely decorated houses along this quiet street in the Sugarhouse neighborhood.  I did this painting as a series of flat washes that I slowly built up upon.  If you would like to view the progress of 100 Salt Lake City Porches, click here.

Last night in my Wednesday water coloring class (taught by Colleen) we went through alternative methods; or as Colleen likes to call it-- "painting with the kitchen sink".  I painted this scene below with some of those methods such as: cutting when wet, using rubbing alcohol, applying wax and table salt, pressing saran wrap, and sponging.  I felt like a young kid in an arts and craft class where there was no wrong or right answer to doing things.  I was having SO much FUN just experimenting.  Not too sure about the finished product but HEY! I had a good time in the process of it...

"Basketed Bright Pink Bike Along the Strip"; Watercolor on 10" x 15" Paper

 I welcome any feedback you may have and Thanks for stopping by!

SLC Gallery Roll 2011-- Bike Art Show

I'm taking a bit of a break from the 100 Salt Lake City Porches Art project.  This Friday is the opening night for the 3rd Annual Gallery Roll.  It's art with a definite bike slant.  The SLC Bicycle Company, located at 177 East 200 South in Salt Lake, is turning the bicycle store into an art show for the night and will have all the art on exhibit till June 5th. It’s a great chance for those that enjoy art and bikes to have the best of both worlds! Also, nearby on Friday night is a Bike Bonanza taking place at the Gallivan Plaza which is a short walk from the shop. I have three pieces in this show; two watercolors and an oil.  So if you happen to be in the downtown Salt Lake area on Friday night between 6-9PM swing by and say "Hi" to me.

 

This piece pictured below is one of mine that is in the show.  I call it; "Shadow Cycling Chalk Creek Canyon"- watercolor on paper. 

Points of Perspectives in Water Color Painting Class

The word for water color painting this week was "Perspective".  Right away we were at Colleen's computer station looking at examples of perspectives.  There's 1, 2, and 3 point perspectives.  We first talked about one point perspective.  Which I will be frank I have never thought of one point before.  I know it boggles the mind that at times I can be a bit obtuse!  I remember doing two point perspective in high school mostly city scenes with buildings wrapping around corners (that looked really horrible) but one point?  I never considered it or really tried to use it before.  And well, 3 point perspective... Forgit-a-boud it! But now I can see that it would be helpful to make a building see taller.  Not that I'm planning on bounding any sky scrapers on any canvas in the short future. 

Colleen showed us several examples of one point perspective (with a bit of 2 point) via paintings from Kathy Weber.  What amazing paintings this artist has!  I love her use of color-- her use of shading!  It's just wonderful!  Please check out her blog if you get the chance.

After all those wonderful examples, we were off to do a pencil drawing first of a one point perspective of a building disappearing into the one point on the horizon.  Got out those rulers and we drew lines according to Colleen's directions.  I ended up doing two different building (right next to each other-- one kind of in front of the other) working on the same one point of perspective.  Nothing too elaborate but enough to get a feel for the concept.  Next, we chose a photo that had a one point perspective to work on.  I chose a black & white photo of a horse out at pasture.  Here it is....

"Horse at Pasture"-Wet-on-wet style on cold press paper- 9"x12"



 So what do you think?  I think I did pretty well on the fence's perspective. 

Oh, and here's some other paintings that I finished this week...



"Red Fall Leaves"- wet-on-wet style on cold press-9"x12"

"Confetti'd White Stallion"- wet-on-wet style on cold press- 9"x12"

I even broke out the oils and finished this painting...

"Cycling Cache Valley's Little Red"- Oil on canvas- 16"x20"

A Bit of a Blue Direction...

This is a new direction for me. An experiment in blue with a bit of abstract. I call this " A Blue Abstract of the Moochie Bike Ride". It's based on some pictures taken from a Moochie's Restaurant bike club ride that took place earlier this year. It just felt done to me, and I thought it rather looked interesting. It's a bit of a change from how I usually paint, and I hope that you find it as interesting as I do.

This is done in oils on a canvas that measures 16" x 20".

I would love to hear some feedback on what you think...

Cycling Chalk Creek... A Painting

Here's the latest oil painting based on photos that were taken during a beautiful summer day spent cycling in Chalk Creek Canyon. Chalk Creek is a scenic dead-end boxed canyon that is not far from Coalville, UT. There's a creek that winds along the two lane paved road. The canyon has rolling hills with farms that grow hay and also quite a few have sheep, cows, and goats. This oil painting measures 12" X 14" and is painted on canvas board. I hope I managed to capture the sunny and beautiful day. Enjoy!

Little Red Riding Hood!!!

Oh what a FUN time!

Check out more fun pictures on my other blog--

the Allgood life ( http://theallgoodlife.blogspot.com/ )