I'm Dave

As this is my first post...an introduction.

That's me concentrating hard and scribbling. The furry bundle next to me is my trusty assistant Emma, our 7 month old White Westie pup. Emma generally works the crowd for free pets (food if you happen to have it) while I work the pen and paints. Which brings me back to me.

I'm retired. Which means I'm a "ski bum" and a "boat bum." I spend my winters skiing as a a Senior Ski Patroller and a Level 2 Certified Professional ski instructor. Summers are spent sailing on Lake Michigan on our 1988 Catalina 30 sail boat Amadeus (home port Whitehall, Michigan). In the winter home is Battle Creek, Michigan. That's Amadeus next.

Art wise I've been drawing since I was a kid. I'm primarily self taught but have spent years reading and experimenting my way through watercolor and sketching books. I've also taken watercolor classes, and life figure drawing classes at the Kalamazoo Institute of the Arts. I'm also a photographer (something else I've been doing since I was a kid). In back of the camera I do a lot of marine photography...concentrating on most any boat that has sails and on quaint areas where sailboats hang out. I've also managed to shoot a couple of covers for "Good Old Boat" magazine. Subjects for my pen and watercolors are similar to that which I take interest in with the camera. I enjoy marine subjects but also enjoy drawing buildings - especially ones that are older, that incorporate interesting shapes and textures such as wood, brick, and stone. I also very much enjoy working with graphite pencils drawing portraits, figures, and most anything else of interest.

Closing out this first entry are two watercolor sketches that I did last weekend on Sunday. The first is of Clara's restaurant.

Clara's, before it was Clara's, was Battle Creek's New York Central railroad station. The tracks once ran right through the spot where I sat sketching. Now the old track route is a delightful, shaded, walking park that extends through the length of town. Turn around from where I sat and you see part of down town Battle Creek and our river, now encased in a concrete spillway. Here's the view.

That's it for my first post. Very excited to be a part of this group.