Movement

   So, here I sit in my studio in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. It's gonna be really cool. When it's done. When my art supplies finally make it here from Kentucky. It's very frustrating. I have great ideas. I have lots of art supplies, just not here with me. I've got space to spread out. I make do with what I have. It's really the only choice I have right now. When you have no choice, embrace your destiny. I've organized all my notes. Set up my computers. Planned the final design of my studio. And, every night, I paint a watercolor and an acrylic painting. I organize my portfolio. I concentrate on making sales. And I dream. I dream of a day when it all comes together. And then, I smile. 'Cause I know it's all gonna work out. Anyway, here's some art. I know that's why you're here.

  And, as always, here's a place to make a donation to support my art. If you wanna:

AKO ANG HARI
     DOUG

Birthing A New Studio

   I'm in the process of moving back to my home town in Missouri. Back into the house I grew up in. My new studio will be in the bedroom where I first slept. It's gonna be a wonderful thing. When it finally gets done. I won't go in to all the stones in our passway as we've moved here from Paducah, KY, but there have been a lot of them. Nothing that I would call 'normal' or 'expected'. I've been here in the new, and soon to be improved, Darkwater Studios for about two weeks. Most of my art supplies are still in Paducah. I have a couple sketchbooks and enough supplies to do my daily watercolors and acrylics. I was supposed to be transferring my job up here, but that hasn't happened yet. The stress is really getting to me. Maybe it's making my art better. Maybe it's shortening my life. I guess only time will tell. In the mean time I'm trying to sell my art to get the bills paid. Not at all how I pictured it being, but hopefully on the path to get back to some for of normalcy. Well, here's some of the new art:

   I'm quite proud of them. If you're interested in buying any of my art, drop me an email and we'll work a deal. If you'd like to make a donation to help me get my stuff up here, all in one place, here's the way to do it:

   Anything you can spare would be very helpful.


AKO ANG HARI
     DOUG

I Know This Sounds Crazy

   So, I got a better computer, thanks to my friends Steve and Ashley. As I'm loading all my pictures on it I realize that I have several back up discs that I haven't looked at in a while. And, they contain more pictures of paintings that weren't in my redone portfolio. Some paintings I had completely forgotten. They're all being posted on my Facebook Fanpage, so I won't post them here. I will post more 'making of' pictures. I really wish I done more of these.

    This is the painting. "What Do You Want?" It's a good painting. I'm not sure what possessed me to take pictures while I was painting it. No matter. Here they are.

 Okay, sorry. I thought I had three stages of the making of, but it was just three of the same stage from slightly different angles. Yeah, still not sure why. Anyway, this really shows the difference that the final black stage makes. Also, this has some rare non-black sponging. I forgot I did that on this one, but I think the red sponging is a great addition. I did one other one that has blue and red sponging on it:

  And, i don't have a picture of it. I was hanging on the wall in my dining room, but since I'm in the process of moving it's not there. Nor is it on my Deviant ART profile. What the hell. Oh, well, I'll post it when I get unpacked in my new studio. Promise.

AKO ANG HARI
     DOUG

More Re-Discovered Gems

  As I'm putting my portfolio back together I've come across some paintings I'd forgotten about. Here's a series I did in the later stages of my Cleveland days. I love the magenta (Liquitex Medium Magenta) against the black. I rediscovered three of these. In my defense, I have painted well over a thousand paintings, so it should be understandable that I've forgotten a few. Any way, here's the paintings from my favorite series:

As always, thanks for stopping by. I appreciate your support.

AKO ANG HARI
     DOUG

Artist Problems

So, I've been reorganizing my portfolio, after the unfortunate issue with my back up drive . I found some really cool pictures that I had forgotten about. Here's some more. They're the "making of" pictures of Picasso:

I really like this one. It hangs in my bedroom. It's the first thing I see, after my wife, every day. I'm quite proud of it. It's six feet tall and four feet wide. Massive artistic goodness. So, here's how I made it. First, I attached four canvases together. Then I laid out the rough areas of the face:

Nothing special so far. His hair makes him look like a mad scientist. I'll fix that. Here's the next step:

Okay, so nothing happened in between these two. I'm not sure why I took an extra shot of this stage, but who am I to question myself? It does show part of my studio, which was in the basement of the house I grew up in. I was taking care of my mother at the time. It was a pretty cool studio. Anyway, I'm gonna be taking a sea sponge, dipping it in black, and blending in the roughed out patches of color: 

I darkened the hand and shoulder after this one. Turns out there weren't really a whole lot of 'in progress pictures'. Sorry. At least this will give more of an idea of how I did things back then. Pre digital camera. So, here's another series. The only other on I have. I'm not sure why this one got photographed. It's not a bad painting, just nothing really different from what I was doing. Oh, well, why ask why?

I roughed out the picture in black and white, then brushes layer upon layers of thin paint to give it the color. The white patches on the right side are from me getting excess paint out of my brush. On my canvas. I'd adjust my easel to hold them horizontally and sometimes I'd even mix paint on the painting itself. I obey no rules. Sometimes I would blend colors, sometimes just build them up. this particular one doesn't have any tonal blending in it. It's all gonna get done with black paint. My go to.

I was always amazed at how much the paintings change at this stage. I never got tired of these. I don't know how other artists feel, but I felt amazing doing these. No self doubt. No problem I couldn't face. It never sucks to be me when I'm
in the studio.

AKO ANG HARI
     DOUG

So, That was Pretty Cool

  My computer files with my art portfolio in them are pretty screwed up. It all started with an update of my computer that accidentally overwrote my main back up drive. Completely my fault. I wasn't paying attention to what I was doing. So, I set out to put the thing back together. I had other back ups. I'm not a barbarian. As I rebuild it and put it back on my back up drive I get motivated and decide to declutter and reorganize my portfolio. Because I'm a professional like that *cue laughter*. I get impatient and try to force the transfers to go quicker. You probably see where this is going. The files get corrupted. Not the end of the world, but frustrating. I have more back ups. Apparently not as up to date, but I got 'em. I'm sorting, rebuilding, making all kinds of progress. Then, I think about a painting called "The Hunter"

And I realize I don't have a picture. No problem, I'll download it from DeviantART. It's my online portfolio. However, a search of my gallery reveals it's not on there. Somehow. So, this painting has mysteriously disappeared from my computer and my online portfolios. Okay. Whatever. I decide to go lay down and relax (I am recovering from the flu. Types A and B. Go big or go home).Then, It hits me. I have DVDs of backups. Sure enough the DVD marked Big Portfolio Backup has it. And others. So many others. One's I had forgotten. Some I still don't recall painting. But, some of the jewels are the 'in progress' pics of Fear Finds Felicia.

 This was pre-digital. I'm not sure what prompted me to use film for this, but what a great decision. So, anyway here they are:

This was supposed to be a stand alone abstract.

I'm pretty sure less than a dozen people have seen these before now. You want awesome content? There it is. Thanks for dropping by.

AKO ANG HARI
     DOUG

Watercolor Review

   So, I've painted every day. I'm not sure how many days I've been going, but it's been quite a while. Probably a good two months. I've always enjoyed watercolors. Even when they do the exact opposite of what I want them to do:

This one was supposed to blend in the damp paper. Instead, it ran like a scared dog. I tried to salvage it with some white gauche, but I'm not happy with it. At all. I only posted it because I promised to paint every day and post the results. Plus, I'm sure a lot of people will like it. That's the beauty of art. There's also this one:

Not my best work, nor one of my favorites. It is for sale. They all are actually:
  
   Now, painting everyday has helped me shake off the ring rust.I think that these are some of my best paintings. Ever.

Minimalistic and moody.

Graphic and muted.

Minimal and vibrant.

She looks right through you. I think that one eye says everything.

I simply love these two. Sharpie drawings with just the right amount of color. I think the guy in the cowboy hat is one of the best piece of art I've ever created. 

   Maybe I should have done this first, but here's the first one I did in the daily series:

I'm very happy with it, especially considering I hadn't watercolored in years.

AKO ANG HARI

     DOUG