1. Majestic Mixed Media, 28” H by 38.5” W

2. “Majestic” is a mixed media work on fine art paper. I use both traditional media and digital media in my work.

3. Spending as much time as possible in the natural world... I was fortunate to have grown up in a time and place in which it was safe for a young child to roam around in the woods alone... Inspiration & Influences

4. I have always admired the meticulously detailed work of the 15th century German artist, Albrecht Durer. He has been described as “the greatest mind that ever expressed itself in line”... Inspiration & Influences

5. The British illustrator Alan Lee is most influential in his creation of the living things found in nature... Inspiration & Influences

6. The expressive twisting trees in Gustave Durer’s incredible engravings which illustrate Dante’s Inferno... Inspiration & Influences

7. The amazing texture German artist Gerhard Richter achieves in his abstract work... Inspiration & Influences

8. I photographed my subject, then using Adobe Photoshop I adjusted the brightness and contrast. When I liked what I saw I printed it as a visual reference. The Creative Process

9. Keeping the print out close at hand I started by drawing a rough outline of my subject. I used a mechanical pencil and kept a lead sharpener close by. The Creative Process

10. After the outline had been sketched in, I created the texture and values by utilizing line shading. The Creative Process

11. The drawing portion of Majestic was completed in just one week while I was visiting artist friends in The Netherlands during the first week of March. The Creative Process

12. I worked in this studio for 3 days in Leeuwarden in the Province of Friesland. The Creative Process

13. And another 3 days in Hooghalen in the Province of Drenthe. The Creative Process

14. The drawing portion of Majestic took 18 hours to complete. The Creative Process

15. To get to this stage I prepared a painting using tusch (used in lithography). And then created texture on another surface using thick applications of oil pastel going over it with a metal brush. The Creative Process

16. I scanned the drawing at 1600 ppi on my large format scanner. I did the same with the tusche painting and the oil pastel texture painting. The Creative Process

17. I used Photoshop to combine the 3 high resolution scans together utilizing layer modes and layer masks. Because the images were scanned high resolution I could increase the scale of the image once it was completed. The Creative Process

18. I printed out proofs and put them up in the studio. I needed to look at the image for several days. I made revisions when I saw something that I realized needed to be changed. The Creative Process

19. Because of Majestic’s large format I sent the completed image file to a local service bureau to be printed on fine art paper and dry mounted onto gator board. When I had it back in the studio I started adding the encaustic. The Creative Process

20. The encaustic applications included mixtures of white beeswax and damar resin. I also added small brush strokes of black encaustic. The Creative Process

21. “Majestic” is a reminder that we are all elementally tied to the world around us and that as such it must be cherished and appreciated. Landscape should be respected as a living thing. The Finished Piece