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

Work in progress... A quick update on the "Dam Painting."  I have finished drawing in the under drawing and believe that it is now ready to have some color added to it! Although I more than likely will not do that for a couple of more weeks, after school starts back in so that I can have larger blocks of time to paint. Until then you can see the finished under drawing below and I will get to work on the next under drawing for another painting, this one is of a beautiful roof line from Charleston , South Carolina.

Work in Progress… “Dam Painting ( Great Blue Heron ),” Oil on panel, 30 x 40 – Under drawing stage (in progress) I have wanted to paint this scene from the moment that I was standing at the base of the Keystone Dam which is just outside of Tulsa, Oklahoma over 2 years ago. I spent a morning there capturing as much reference as possible of White Pelicans and Great Blue Herons that where fishing at the bottom of the dam in the spill way. This dam was huge and I was just awed by its size, it helped that I was at the base of the dam looking up and over the great expanse of it. Couple that with the fact that you know that there is all this water behind that great wall of concrete exerting pressure against the other side of it makes you feel small. It was this feeling of being small, positioned at the base of this huge edifice exerting an immense sense of pressure behind it in this painting that I wanted to convey in my composition.. It has taken me almost 8 months of playing with th...