In the studio with artist, photographer and instructor Robert Louis Caldwell

“Why such a detailed drawing for under your painting?”  "Behind the Shed" - Under drawing I am always asked why I draw such a detailed drawing for my paintings on the canvas (board) before applying the paint. Actually I don’t consider them so detailed, if you put one of my “under drawings” next to one of my “finished drawings” on paper they are nothing alike, in my eyes. Simply put……………. this is how I taught myself to paint!  "Behind the Shed" - Toned Canvas (Board) I have been drawing since I was two, as my mother will tell you, and I just recently started painting in 2005. I had wanted to paint for a long time but just couldn’t figure it out; color adds a whole different level of creativity to the picture. Don’t get me wrong, my passion is graphite pencil but there is just something great about a nicely painted image.   "Behind the Shed" - Blocking in layer one of color In high school I tried several paintings and quickly trashed my attempts and...

   Happy Holidays everyone! "Snow woman (Cardinal)" Graphite drawing 6 x 8   The gift of love. The gift of peace. The gift of happiness. May all these be yours this holiday season! Best wishes for a happy and prosperous New Year!   .

   These are two small portrait pieces of a male & female orangutan that I have had stirring around in my head for awhile now. I have been wanting to create another primate piece ever since I finished "Contemplation (Chimpanzee)," you can see so much emotion in their expressions and that makes a lot of fun to draw or paint. The female orangutan is the same little lady that so graciously posed for my "Jojo" drawing -- she's such a ham, she actually poses for pictures! Initially I had planned to do these as paintings and as many of you know I always start with a detailed drawing first but I am on the fence right now whether or not to call these finished or to move on to the next step and start painting them. I have only created one other graphite on gessoed board before, "Backscrather," and I really liked the way it looked so I am giving it some serious thought to not paint these. .

Presenting... "Keystone King (American White Pelican) " Graphite pencil, 6 x 10 I finished this drawing up early this week, sealed it, matted it and got it into its frame. This drawing is slated to go to Lovetts Gallery in Tulsa, Oklahoma in March for my Solo exhibit and painting demonstration, ironically the reference for this piece came from my visit to the gallery last year. I have not created a graphite drawing in awhile and it was nice to do so, as you'll read below as soon as I saw the reference for this piece I knew it had to be a black and white piece. I really wanted the extreme white of the pelican to pop off of the paper so I had to push the background back some to accomplish this. I did that by making the water darker than it was and taking away all highlights in the water. Off to start the next piece! In March 2010, I was visiting Lovetts Gallery in Tulsa, Oklahoma, for a painting demonstration and was fortunate enough to take a drive through the cou...

   Well I thought I would have been finished with this by now but those little things in life that pop up every once in awhile and scream “take care of me NOW” have to be taken care of.  I have the background about finished although I believe that I will need to go in and make it a bit darker so that the “white” of the pelican really pops out. It will just be a small adjustment in the overall tone of the water but the reason that I wanted to draw this piece was because of the extreme white of the pelican and I really want that to come through on the finished drawing.  I plan to go in tomorrow and start working on the rest of the pelican and hopefully finish it and then make the decision on the tone of the rest of the piece. Another fact about American White Pelicans: Favored foraging sites are shallow marshes, rivers, and lake edges, where mainly fish of little commercial value are taken. White pelicans obtain their food by dipping their bills into the wat...

Back in the Studio... I have been away from my studio for several weeks now and am just now getting back into the swing of things. I have a painting started on my easel but have away from it for so long now that I’m not sure where I left off. So with that in mind I am getting back to work not standing at my easel but sitting at my drafting table working on a drawing of a White Pelican. I captured the reference for this while I was out visiting Lovetts Gallery in Tulsa, Oklahoma last March. I was told that Bald Eagles had been spotted up at Keystone dam and that is why I had drove to the dam. I was pleasantly surprised to see five white Pelicans, instead of the Eagles, at the base of the spill way looking for some breakfast. This was my first time actually observing White Pelicans in the wild and was thrilled to have the chance to capture some reference, actually a lot of reference! The image below is the beginning of my new drawing of one of the White Pelicans. This piece was b...