Mule and Marine Maquette

Today I got the basic maquette worked out for the upcoming "A Mule and his Marine" sculpture-- it's of course an homage to Frederic Remington's Mountain Man, but will have a fully-packed mule being led down the slope of a mountain by his Marine packer.

Today's Work

Today I got in the equine and human armatures, for use on the Mule and Marine sculpture!

A company makes them anatomically correct in several sizes, for ease of posing and to take away hours which otherwise would have been taken up by the artist having to correct and re-correct the proportions of the skeletal armature.

In a related subject, here's today's graphite wash sketch of Marines and a mule in the mountains of the Mountain Warfare Training Center in Pickel Meadows, CA:

Here also is an oil sketch I did several weeks ago, based on an experience in Afghanistan--

The subject is a group of Marines playing cards after dark at FOB Delhi (the same group of guys who I'd seen playing during the day) At the risk of over-featuring the subject of such Marine leisure activities, I decided to paint this scene because I've only done one nocturne before, and the lighting here was dramatic and gave for a loose brushwork I find interesting.

Art Update

Here are some of the drawings and oil sketches I've done lately.

They cover everything from Afghanistan to Haiti, and are in a variety of media.

From Bridgeport and environs, I have a couple sketches in graphite wash as well as an oil study of a column of Marines going down the road in the desert near Hilton Ranch

From Afghanistan, there's a figure study in oil of Chaplain Roberts doing his laundry at FOB Delhi, and a composition study in oil depicting Marines and interpreter talking to a local Afghan farmer.

From Haiti, there's an oil sketch of a sail boat I saw just off shore near Carrefour.

From VA hospital in Richmond, there's a portrait of Wounded Warrior Zach Stinson