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

  “Dining al fresco” Yellow-billed Stork Graphite on 300# Arches watercolor paper, mounted to 1/2" maple panel and varnished 15 x 7 inches After drawing the Saddle-billed Stork and Marabou Stork, I decided to draw a third, creating a series of Stork drawings from Tanzania. I vaguely remember seeing some Yellow-billed Storks in 2016 while searching for Hippos in the Serengeti, and off I went to my reference database. Although you can not see it in my drawing, the apparent reason for the Yellow-billed Storks name is because of the bright yellow of the bill. While photographing these birds, still on the lookout for Hippos, we were looking upriver, which created this long vertical feeling in the landscape, dotted with this repeating oval shape of the Yellow-billed Stork. There must have been 30-40 of these birds walking the river banks looking for their lunch. They were so engaged in their hunt for food that it was rare for them to raise their head and make eye contact with me. Inspir...

“The Stand” Marabou Stork Graphite on 300# Arches watercolor paper, mounted to 1/2" maple panel and varnished 11 x 6 inches These are such odd birds, and some would say ugly; I find them disturbingly beautiful. With its bare head, hunched shoulders, and skinny bare legs, the Marabou Stork is often referred to as the Undertaker. Not only for the way it looks but also for its vital role in the ecosystem. They eat carrion and clean the land of dead animals. Although I will stop to photograph these birds anytime when I am in Africa; my 2016 safari-inspired this particular scene. I was in the Serengeti and up and about before sunrise, in the Land Cruiser slowly driving and scanning the early morning terrain for movement. The sun was starting to hit the tops of the trees, and up ahead, I noticed a form in the top of a dead tree, a Marabou Stork. We stopped and sat back as the sun illuminated the top of the tree and brought the Undertaker into full view. That scene, for some odd reason, ...

  “Frog Legs” Saddle-billed Stork Graphite on 300# Arches watercolor paper, mounted to 1/2" maple panel and varnished 9 x 14 inches “Frog Legs” is the first drawing I drew in my Stork series, a Saddle-billed Stork. It is a beautiful bird to watch in the wild they seem sleek but comical with their movements on those long lanky legs. They have a bright red bill with a black band and a yellow frontal shield which looks like a saddle. As for most people, 2020 was a challenging year; for me, to put it simply, it was a loss of a business that I had been building for the last six years. I found myself in June 2020 realizing that my art school was most likely not going to survive the pandemic, and I spent the rest of the year working through the process of closing a business. During this time, I did not paint or draw except for instructional purposes for those students who followed me to online instruction.  In January 2021, I found myself able to focus on my art again. I decided to s...

Presenting two new drawings! I managed to finish up these two drawings around the holidays just in time for the opening last Friday, 1/9/2015, at glave kocen Gallery in Richmond, Virginia! "Without (African Elephant)" Graphite Pencil on Arches #300 watercolor paper, Hot Press 4 x 14 "Mischief Managed (Raccoon)" Graphite Pencil on Arches #300 watercolor paper, Cold press 6 x 9 Both of these drawings are available exclusively at glave kocen gallery gallery in Richmond, Virginia USA. Call 804.358.1990 or visit them online at  www.glavekocengallery.com “Size doesn't matter” Glave Kocen Gallery Richmond, Virginia January 9-31, 2015

"Margin (Lioness)" travels to Bennington, Vermont Art of the Animal Kingdom XVIII Bennington Center for the Arts Bennington, Vermont June 15 - August 25, 2013 "Margin (Lioness)" Graphite Pencil on Arches #300 watercolor paper 5 x 19 Robert's drawing "Margin (Lioness)" has been selected to appear at the 2013 Art of the Animal Kingdom exhibitions, June 15 through August 25, 2013, in Bennington, Vermont. The Bennington Center for the Arts brings world-class fine art, history and theatre to the residents and visitors of Southwestern Vermont. The center's permanent art collection, sales exhibitions, live theatre and exhibits within the Covered Bridge Museum are available throughout the year. Considered one of the most prestigious wildlife exhibitions in the country, this year's Art of the Animal Kingdom features 65 pieces of art. Carel Brest van Kempen is this year's special guest artist and juror of the exhibi...

   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...