On Sunday, July 5, I brought my camera so that I could get a photo of the last and most recent foal born at the ranch. I had brought them into the roundpen to get them out of the hot sun.
While I was in the roundpen the two Vizsla dogs were not to happy that I had excluded them from the fun and were doing everything they could to get in. You will find a short photographic story in this Gallery.
This is a study drawing I was doing this late afternoon using graphite, carbon and white pencil on brown paper. I have converted to B&W in this image.
Cooksie takes on a pose suitable for a John Singer Sargeant Oil Portrait.
The Twist Foal Teddy approaches as I take photos. Nothing will draw a foals attention better than a camera.
I was experimenting with an image this weekend for a possible drawing or pastel. In order to match the size of the paper I created an 12x18 image. The cow was added from another image and background softened. The rider is Callie Oatman on Kudos Debutante.
This week I sketched the Turkish Horse bronze again, this time from a lower back view. The media is carbon and white pencil on brown card stock.
Our assignment this week was to sketch a figure in the European gallery and then move to the a new installation of contemporary art and create a background. In the new composition we would be placing old in front of new. I chose the Bugler by Manet, and placed in in front of an abstract distemper painting by Peter Doig. For this project I used a medium gray paper, white, carbon and Sanguine pencil.
This past Saturday there were many storm clouds in the evening that offered an excellent opportunity to capture some of my favorite subject: Cloudscapes. A selection of my images from last Saturday may be found in this gallery.
This past Thursdays' Sketching classs was held at the Nasher Sculpture Garden. Our instructions were to tone our paper with charcoal or Conte and then draw our chosen sculpture using an eraser for highlighting.
These two colts are living in the front pasture. 
Teddy and Hope live in the lower pasture
This week we first went to the African Galleries and chose two different objects and drew the basic contour of the object. We then went the European Galleries and filled the contour shapes first within the contour on one sheet, and then on the outside of the contour on the other.
This week we were in the European Silver Gallery drawing reflective subjects. I chose this bowl because it did not have lots of textural surfaces. I was working on the drawing the specular nature and the reflections from the surfaces. This is also a continuation of an experiment with drawing white on black. I felt this was the perfect media for this project.
As I promised a few, I have posted my recipe for eggplant parmigiana. This recipe is shown with photos in this gallery. Click on the first thumbnail and then scroll through and read the captions.
Teddy was recently introduced to the lower pasture to find his new friend, Hope
At any time a race might begin.
Three Viszla Pups in a head to tail race through the barn.
Feeding the Pups
Hope is this years first born filly
Hope with her Dam, Faith
Paintbrush, the first wildflowers of Spring.
The project for this past Thursday night was to integrate 2D and 3D. We were sketching in the Japanese/Chinese Decorative Art Galleries. I chose this pair of vases from the 19th century Meijing Period. I used my favorite light and dark sketching technique. I believe that these vases depict Mt Fuji. They were on a pedestal with one forward and the other back closer to the wall.
This drawing was done in the George Segal Exhibit at the Nasher on March 19. I thought that this scene was very similar to that depicted in Edward Hopper's Nighthawks in both subject and character.
This sketch was done in the European Galleries on March 12. Our assignment was to integrate multiple 2d Artwork into one. All of the paintings I chose were on the same section in the gallery. The children in the foreground are in a painting entitled "The Lesson." A Manet Painting entitled "The Bugler" is in the background, as is the portrait to the left.
This is the first filly at the Ranch for 2009. She was born last Monday morning and is already giving her dam fits as she tries to keep up with a real runner. She was quite curious about the camera and came over quite close (too close to focus) to see what I was all about. She is living in the lower pasture with 5 other mares and geldings, none of whom dare approach. One mare approaches the photographer to divert some of the attention away from the foal.
This pastel on toned ground is of homeless man plaster cast at the George Segal Street People Exhibit at the Nasher Sculpture Center. This exhibit is a wonderful collection of lifesized plaster and bronze figures in their environment. Most of these sculptures are from other collections, however a grouping entitled "After Rush Hour" is part of the Nasher Collection, and I had drawn this a little over a year ago in the Sculpture Garden.
Both of these life size sculptures as well as others on both floors of the Nasher Sculpture Center were modeled after the Sculptor and his friends. This exhibit continues until April 5, 2009.
I started this dish by sauteing some white chopped onion and diced pork country style rib. When pork was mostly cooked I added sliced mushroom and cooked until it was just about cooked, and then added some baby spinach. I continued cooking until it was tender and then put the contents in a glass dish (coated with non-stick spray) over 4 corn tortillas. I then poured 2/3 can of Hatch Green Chili Enchilada Sauce over the mixture and then topped with 4 more corn tortillas. I poured the remaining enchilada sauce over the top and then topped with shredded Mexican style cheese and added shredded broiler roasted Anaheim chili. I baked this in the oven for 30 minutes.
