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

WIP - "Three Princes" Oil Painting, 24 x 36 Painting notes: I happily started back to work on my painting of the three bull elephants today! This painting has been composed and on the panel for several months now, mocking me from the corner of my studio - not anymore! This was actually the first piece that I composed when I got back from my Tanzania 2012 adventure and it was inspired by several events that lead up to my securing that adventure. So when I went to Tanzania I had this painting in mind and was extremely pleased to have captured the needed reference for this painting on the very last  day as I literally was driving out of the Tarangire gate. Currently the painting is in the under drawing stage, this is where I completely draw in the composition establishing all of my values of the finished piece, I will cover this with color. I find myself looking for a quicker way to get this stage done especially since it is a large pi...

Adventure in Tanzania, Africa 2013 Part 2 Encounter with a very large Bull Elephant Field sketch from Tarangire NP, Tanzania 2013 Halloween 2013 and I am out in the bush on a game drive, the west side of Silale Swamp in Tarangire National Park, Tanzania. About mid morning we had made our way over to the area by Kuro Air strip, a small airport for what I call “puddle jumpers” to land at. Just as we were coming around a bend in the road that actually intersects with the road to the airstrip I saw the largest bull elephant I have seen to date and with what I considered to be huge tusks. Just a grand elephant! We of course stopped and got into position to watch and photograph this gentle giant. I guess when you are that large and older you earn the right to move slower, to go at your own pace, slowly pulling Acacia leaves off the tree that you are under and watching us with one eye as he goes about his business. He eventually walked out from under the tree and into the sunligh...

Adventure in Tanzania, Africa 2013 Part 2 Among a pride of nine Lions Field sketch from Tarangire NP, Tanzania 2013 I went to Tanzania with a goal, more really of a high hope, that I would get a chance to see big cats. I say this because when you go on safari  you need to be happy with whatever Africa will give you, even if its your 207th zebra.   Africa... Africa was very generous this last trip! On October 14, 2013, which was day 3 of my 2013 safari, we were on the east side of Silale Swamp on a park road that isn't heavily traveled. To be honest I wasn't expecting much from this drive because many of the previous trips down this particular road in 2012 didn't offer up much. But as I said previously… Africa was very generous this trip. We had eaten our bush breakfast on the side of the hill that leads down into Silale Swamp about 9:30 in the morning and were making our way south down the road to the bottom of the swamp to cross over and go back up the ...

November 7, 2012 Two lions spotted at Silale Tarangire National Park, Tanzania, Africa Field Sketch Another field sketch drawn while in Africa, I delivered this to one of my collectors just a few weeks ago. I drew this little sketch back in my tent the night after we had the fortune of seeing two female lions on the edge of Silale swamp which doesn't look like a swamp. This sketch was the "warm up" for my drawing "Margin (Lion)" (I'll post about this drawing later). The collector who received this was extremely gracious enough to lend me his very nice camera body for my adventure in Africa, I asked him what I could give him in return and he said a lion. Well I of course couldn't bring a lion home but I could create a sketch of what I saw, two magnificent lions in the tall grasses of Africa. My collector was pleasantly surprised and asked if he could lend me his camera for my next adventure.

To a friend who loves cats! I had the honor and privilege last night to have dinner with a collector of my art who is also a very dear friend and present her with this field sketch from Africa. She was caught completely off guard because she had no idea that she was getting the sketch. I thought it was the least I could do since she has supported me over these many years not just with adding a few of my pieces to her collection but by telling me again and again that my work was good enough even when I thought different. This sketch was drawn in my tent the second night after I had the great fortune to have seen two female lions just on the rim of Silale swamp  which doesn't really look like a swamp. After another great day of game drives, a fantastic sunset by the fire pit with a glass of wine at Kikoti Camp and a superb dinner I went back to my tent to do a little sketching. The funny part about this little story was that I was awoken early in the morning, 4:30am, by a very...