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

Seasons Greetings! "Classy Snow Lady (Mourning Dove) " Graphite Drawing, 5 x 8 Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful. ~Norman Vincent Peale Best wishes for a happy and prosperous New Year! ~Robert

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 ...

Grasping color was as far as the distance of the moon. My first successful painting was in black and white. Recently I was interviewed by a writer from Southwest Art Magazine for an upcoming article in the February 2014 issue. During that interview I was asked several questions about the road of my becoming an artist which of course lead to my college years and my inability to paint. Towards the very end of my senior year I had finally created to what I consider to this date my first successful painting and that painting always hangs in my studio to remind me that every obstacle can be met, tackled and eventually with patience overturned. I majored in Communications Arts with a concentration in Illustration so all of my work from college revolves around illustrating stories. To this day I am not sure if I choose this particular book or if it was the professor but I illustrated the story  "The Distance of the Moon" by Italo Calvino which was in his book “Cosmicomics....

Adventure in Tanzania 2013! Part 1 Map Source Google Maps It has been two weeks now since my return from Tanzania and I am still processing  all that I saw, felt, touched and yes smelled. I took 15,964 photos while on safari this time and it will take me some time to go through all of them to organize and revisit the memories of the actual events. Such great moments from seeing hippos in Silale swamp, apparently this is the first time in 13 years, to a great big bull elephant , that we got extremely close to and our surprise visit to Ngorongoro Crater. Hippo in Silale swamp, Tarangire NP, Tanzania I had the privilege of spending 13 days in Tanzania with eight world class artists and what a great time it was to spend every moment with like minded individuals. We were up every morning at 5:00am, in the Land Cruisers at 5:45 and at the park gate promptly at 6:00 am when they opened. From there we went ALL day most of the time note returning back to camp until after dark...

The Thirty-Three Project is at it's end! The Thirty-Three conservation project is drawing towards the end as Robert prepares to travel to Tanzania. One of the first things Robert will be doing in Tanzania will be to present Pratik Patel the founder of Africa Wildlife Trust with a check from the money raised through this project to help AWT's anti-poaching efforts of Elephants in Tanzania. This is something that has been very close to Robert's heart and we thank everyone who has participated so far in helping to raise money for the African Elephant and to give Robert the chance to give it to someone who is directly involved in saving these majestic animals. The sale of the limited edition print and conservation DVD package will end at 12:00pm EST on Friday October 18, 2013. There are only five prints available!  "Thirty-Three (African Elephants)" and DVD Conservation package. $250 You may click on the link above to order your print ...

Way to much time has gone by since my last posting and much has happened since then,  too much to even try to write about.  So I'll share what I currently have on the easel and actually it is the first painting that I have worked on in almost 7 months. The drawing book kept me covered in Graphite dust since the beginning of the year. This is the latest painting in progress on the esael and it's of a Lilac-breasted Roller perched  in a Baobab tree. It is a commission from my africa trip in 2012, the collector asked for one bird and that was the LBR and me being a newbie at traveling to africa I was worried that I wouldn't see one. Apparently they are everywhere and after the first day I had enough refernece to probably paint several paintings. The composition has been completly drawn  in and the canvas is tonned ready for color that you can is mixed and ready to go in the foreground on the pallette.