// HOMES and HOUSES var rowerlakehouse = '

Drawn from 3 photos in a retro style to show the lake house as it was when the now adult children were young.

Time: 39 hours

' // RAILROAD var aliveandwell765 = '

This is a subject that is very close to my heart. Fired by the fact that I grew up in Lima, Ohio, one of the largest Railroad junctions in the state of Ohio. I can remember the early generation diesel engines and I would stand and marvel at the size and pure power of these seemingly living moving works of mechanical art as they did their daily tasks.

Then one day as a 9 year-old boy, my grandpa Henderson told me that we were going to see something that I would remember for the rest of my life. We lived about 100 yards from the then B&O main line and there was to be a sight that hadn\'t been seen on those tracks for about seven years. One of the Lima Locomotive Works, Berkshire Steam Engines and its Tender would be passing through on its way to our Lincoln Park to be permanently displayed. It would be its last run under live steam.

I stood with the hundreds of other people, who were gathered along the tracks, to see this monster roll by. It wasn\'t going very fast, but I was glad of that. I wanted to get a good look at it as it moved past. I got as close as my grandpa would let me.

The ground was rumbling as it moved closer. I was standing about 20 feet from the tracks, watching as the steam blew out of the valves on the side, and whisped from the top and sides of the safety openings. It was ALIVE! Large arms moving, driving, as it forced the huge wheels around and around. Smoke puffing up out of the stack as water droplets dripped off the Steam tubes and open lines.

My Grandpa Whitehead, had a large part in reinforcing the love I had for railroading as well. He was a Conductor on the Grand Trunk RR in Pontiac, Michigan. He took me for my first train ride when I was 11.

I had wanted to do this drawing for over 5 years, and then decided to do the drawing based on the current configuration of the 765 which is now a part of the Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society.

' var ftjenningsdepot = '

50% of the proceeds of each print sold
will go directly to the restoration project for the Depot.

Railroad history is a love of mine and has been since I was a small boy. I heard of this project through my mother, as her family doctor and his father are involved in restoring the abandon railroad Depot that originally serviced the Ft. Jennings, Ohio section for the Clover Leaf Subdivision of the Nickel Plate Railroad.

The Ft. Jennings Depot was built in the early 1920\'s and served the line as a combination Freight and Passenger Depot until 1969 when it was sold to a Mr. Biedenhorn who had the structure moved to private property near Cloverdale, Ohio where it stands today.

The property and the Depot structure were subsequently purchased by Doctor Wesley Klir who, finding out the history behind the Depot, decided that it should be restored.

Doctor Klir has been acquiring many items of historical significance for the Depot to be placed in the newly restored building to make the project complete. It is his hope to open the Depot up to the public and the school students as a Valuable Historic Landmark to show how important the Depot and the Railroads were to the lives of the people in the area.

After hearing of this project and talking with Doctor Klir, I knew I wanted to be a part of it. I have decided to do TWO drawings of the Depot. The first, as it was when Doctor Klir saw it and became inspired to do the restoration work. Then, one of the completed Depot. The completed Depot drawing will be in done in Color with an ink-work base. The initial drawing, pre-restoration, is done in 100% acid free Ball Point Pen Ink.

To help in this worthy cause, I have decided to make available a run of ONLY 100 signed and numbered Limited Edition prints, and I will donate 50% of the price of each print directly to the restoration project for the Depot.

' var grovecitydepot = '

This study was done specificaly for the Grove City, Ohio "Arts In The Alley" juried art show and competition.

The drawing combines two important themes in the Grove City history. It was the train depot that was the hub of transportation and commerce in the area and the trolley rail line that brought the people of Grove City to and from the major empoyment center of Columbus, Ohio. I wanted to represent these two related subjects in this one drawing. I therefore drew the train depot and then placed an electric powered trolley motor car on the tracks passing in front of the depot.

The drawing won the "Peoples Choice" award for the show and was purchased by the City of Grove City and is now on display in the main City Building

' // LANDSCAPES var oldmanscave = '

\"Old Man\'s Cave\"

This is the First in a series of Three drawings that I will be doing from the Hocking Hills State Park near Logan, Ohio, USA.

We first visited this location in southern Ohio five years ago when my wife Cheryl and I stumbled on the website of a get-away location in the heart of the Hocking Hills State Park, in Logan, Ohio. Cheryl was online and found the Inn At Cedar Falls while doing a search for cabin get-away destinations. I would encourage anyone wanting to get back to nature to visit there soon.

The drawing is set at the heart of the Hocking Hills State Park and in the main natural attraction there.

The view I chose to draw was from a standing position inside the cave recess, looking out and down toward the stone bridge that spans the creek bed. I took the photo that I used for reference back in 2004 in the early fall. The creek was dry at the time and that is why I left it that way in my drawing. There are large areas of tree canopy and then the ground cover is mostly sand stone rocks and boulders and of course sandy gravel and dirt on the floor of the cave.

' var conkleshollow = '

\"Conkle\'s Hollow, West Rim Trail\"

This is the First drawing that I did from the Hocking Hills State Park area located near Logan, Ohio, USA. This scene is taken from the west side of the Upper Trail that goes around the Conkle\'s Hollow trail just before you get to the stairs that go down to the lower trail. The trail is approximately 2 miles long and takes an average of 2 hours to hike.

The hike is well worth the effort. Set approximately 110 feet above the hollow floor, the views are breath-taking! Photo opportunities abound.

My wife and I first visited this scene in 2004 and that is when I took the photo for reference for this drawing. We came around a small bend in the trail to this opening and decided to rest a minute before continuing. That is when I looked down the trail and said, \"This is a drawing\". I took the photo and now the drawing is complete.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did re-creating the scene.

' var upperfalls = '

\"The Upper Falls\"

This is the second in a three part series of drawings that I am doing from the \"Old Man\'s Cave\" area in the Hocking Hills State Park, Ohio, USA.

The Upper Falls is located at the northeastern end of the Old Man\'s Cave area. You can hike the area and see first hand this view that I have chosen to draw. I took the reference photo myself in the early fall of 2004 while my wife and I were on a get-away trip for a few days.

The upper falls is framed by natural rock walls on each side and the pond at the lower front foreground. The archway bridge was built by the parks service and is faced with stone from the cave area. It makes a wonderful back-drop for the falls themselves.

Setting in the viewing area in the early morning hours is a quiet and peacefully relaxing time. It affords the opportunity to reflect and observe this natural beauty in real time. My wife and I have been there many times and we never grow tired of visiting there.

' var standingguard = '

"Standing Guard" is the 3rd drawing in the series from the Old Mans Cave area in the Hocking Hills State Park in Logan, Ohio, USA.

This scene is taken from a view at the base of the cave itself, looking toward the north east up the stream trail in the direction of the Upper Falls.

The drawing took approx 43 hours to complete. It is done in Staedtler Triplus, Ball Point Pens on Hammer Mill, Acid Free, 110# Heavy Cover Stock. I used both Medium and Fine Point pens and worked from a reference photo that I took in 2006.

' // VEHICLES var corvettestingray = '

This is the first color pencil study that I have done of my 1976 Corvette Stingray. My wife and I spent 6 years doing the restoration work on it and then having it painted in a custom color "Inferno Red Metalic".

Now that it is done I wanted to have something different than a photograph to display it.

Done in Prisma Color Pencils on Hammer Mill acid free Heavy Cover Stock.

' // ANIMALS var maggiemaeandbear = '

After loosing our 6 year old Black Lab "Bear", to a rapid growth cancer, my wife and I felt that we didn\'t want to try to replace him with another Black Lab. We waited a while but ended up going with a wonderful little lady in our new Chocolate Lab female "Maggie Mae" - M & M for short like the chocolate candy.

She is precious to us and I wanted to capture her in the same portrait that I was doing with Bear.

' // BARNS var swaneyroadbarn = '

Swaney Road Barn - BUCKEYE RED, WHITE & BLUE

This scene was put together from severial different images that I have taken from all over Ohio. Mostly from the area around where my wife and I live and others from the Grove City, Ohio area. The American Flag reference was taken from a photo that I took while at a football game in the Ohio State University stadium known as the \"Shoe\", because the stadium is shaped like a horseshoe.

This was many firsts for me as an artist. This is the first time that I have put an American Flag on a barn in my drawings. It was the first time that I had taken scenes from more than one area to create one drawing. It was also the very first time that I have used Red and Blue ball point pens in my work as a main tone or color tool. I plan on using them again for sure...

I wanted to do a drawing that recreated a typical rural setting with a patriotic theme. I love the rural farm land and the barns and fence rows that dot its country side. I am also a disabled veteran and love displaying the flag when I can. This drawing includes all those things in one. The fence row is something that is quickly being taken out of the country. They are being bull-dozed out and the brush burnt. So, I decided I wanted to do this as the foreground image. I took great care in rendering the posts and weeds that I love. The barn, as I mentioned, is a composit of many in Ohio. I love the lap tin roof and the stone corner. The vertical siding is very typical in Ohio barns as it sheds rain and holds up well in our four seasonal weather.

More than just just slapping a flag on the side of the barn, I wanted to give the feeling that it was painted on the barn siding, from life, so to speak. It is drawn as it was captured, in motion. I wanted it to look like the artist had just finished it and had stepped down to the bottom of the hill and outside the fence row to admire his work. That is why I included the \"apple ladder\", the paint cans and the artists tool box in the mid-ground just in front of the facing side of the barn. The artist had not yet taken the time to pick up his tools and supplies from the work area. The smell of the wet paint was still fresh in his nostrils. I hope that this drawing brings out those emotions and more as you enjoy it...

' var betweentwotrees = '

\"Between Two Trees\"

This drawing originally started out to be a tree study for my tutorials page. But, a couple of weeks after I took the photos of the trees, I found out that the barn in the background on the property was to be taken down.

According to the Elwer family, who owns the barn and property, the cost of repair verses demolition were too high. The roof had deteriorated so badly that it would have cost over $10,000.00 to completely repair and replace it. I looked through my photos that I had taken that day and found that one of them had the barn framed by the two trees. It became the reference for this drawing.

The drawing was featured on the Front Page of the Delphos Daily Herald and won the \"Best Of Show\" award that year for the Once Upon A Sunday arts festival and juried show held at the Ohio State University campus in Lima, Ohio.

' // PORTRAITS var danreichard = '

This was a commissioned portrait of Dan Reichard done as a Chirstmas present for 2009. Commissioned by his wonderful wife as a tribute to a truly outstanding man.

Dan is a veteran of WWII and lives with his wife near Columbus, Ohio.

The inset portrait was done from an image taken when he was in the Navy during the war.

' var marandasinlaws = '

This was a commissioned double portrait of the wonderful In-Laws of Maranda Debbie.

It was done as a Chirstmas present for 2009.

'