Blue Guitarist

This post is about my new painting and song, 'Keep It Simple.'

This is an acrylic painting of a guitarist on a 72 x 48 (6ft by 4ft) primed canvas. It is titled 'Keep It Simple.' It shares the same title as a song I wrote around the same time. The emotions in the song and the painting reflect each other.

There is an old saying, "Blues had a baby and they called it Rock n' Roll." That was the theme behind this project. The song is a Rock n' Roll piece with strong Blues roots.
I did a digital sketch of the piece before I painted it.

Above is a photo of me with my painting. I like this photo because it puts into perspective how big the painting is.

Oil Painting

-Sam Winder
This is my first oil painting ever. It is a very impressive piece, but I didn't do without help. I worked with my friend Shari Griffiths (http://www.sharigriffithsart.com/). Check out her website, she's great! We worked together and she helped me every step on the way. I have done many other oil paintings after this one that weren't very good. I always look at this one it reminds me of what I am capable of.

This is a portrait of a guy named Mike. Mike wanted to pose nude, but I don't know if I am mature enough to handle that yet. I did this piece with Mitch Baird one night in his studio. His portrait of Mike turned out a lot better obviously because he is a professional. I am still happy with this piece because I blocked out the shapes and created form. I think I am seeing the planes of the face.

I was struggling with mixing warm and cool colors, and I still struggle with it. Learning how to mix colors correctly can be a lifelong pursuit. After this portrait I learned that the difference between cool and warm colors when doing a portrait is based off of the light source and shadows. For example, under a bright yellow light the skin tones will be warm, while under natural light or florescent light the skin tones are usually cool. To create warm flesh tones I would use cadmium red when mixing with white and yellow ochre. To create cool flesh tones I would use alizarin crimson because it has a little bit of blue in it.

This is one of the pieces I did in high school. I think it is pretty good, but the flesh tones seem to be off in the arms. There are things in this piece that I could have improved on a lot. This piece is done in acrylic and oil. I can put oil over acrylic and not vice versa. The cloths and guitar are acrylic while everything else is done in oils. The more I work with oils I have learned to first block out and then add detail. I did not do this in this piece and it still turned out okay. It could be a lot better, but it is only my second time working in oils ever.
-Sam Winder

This piece receive some awards and honorable mentions at shows. I don't know what I won, and don't really care. The only thing I remember is that I received the department award for art at honors night when I graduated. It is nice to know others like my work, but right now this piece is just sitting in my closet gathering dust.

This is my french easel set up in the Columbia River Gorge in Oregon. I am still learning how to be effective en plein air painting (french for in the open air). It was a beautiful day in late early August. It started off cloudy and then the sun came out. This changed the lighting of the scene I was painting which made it difficult to mix the colors. It didn't rain, but it wouldn't have mattered if it did, because the water wouldn't effect the oils.

I enjoyed doing this project and getting some fresh air, this is what painting is all about. At the same time I don't like doing landscapes very much and am working hard to improve my landscape skills. Anything I paint will make me a better artist, because it is essentially about seeing. When I paint landscapes it will help me when I do my portraits or cartoons. Truely, Sam Winder.

Animals Playing Musical Insturments Concentration

In high school I had to do a concentration in my Advanced Placement Art class. I had to choose a theme that I had to do twelve pieces focusing on that theme. I have six of those pieces posted below.

My concentration was to focus on animal playing musical instruments.Above is a picture of a frog playing the french horn. The origional was done in early 2009 for my concentration. The piece was acrylic on board, but I later redid the piece in photoshop.

Frogs Playing French Horn

Bears Playing Bass

Here is my morphing bears playing bass.  This goes with my animals playing musical instruments pieces.

Horses Playing Drums

Here is another piece in my animals playing musical instruments concentration.  This one is of horses playing drums.

Birds Singing and Morphing

Here is another piece in my animals playing musical instruments concentration.  This one is on Birds Singing and morphing.  The original was done on board with acrylic.

Collage Pen and Ink

This is a collage done in pen and ink.  I compiled images from some of my favorite things, which are: Citizen Kane, 2001 A Space Odyssey, Rolling Stone's Tattoo You, Jimi Hendrix, and Eric Clapton.

How Eye Learned To See

Front cover

Click to Enlarge Picture

It is hard to see clearly at the bottom of a waterfall.

This is a story about a man named Leaumas Rednew, but everyone called him Red for short. He had a red Mohawk, wore glasses, and loved to play guitar. He lived in a city called Lazy River.

Red played in a rock n’ roll band. Rock n’ roll was Lazy River’s past time. Everyone played an instrument of some kind. It was how people found peace and serenity.

The greatest musician from Lazy River was a man named Ace Weller. He revolutionized music with his guitar skills and brilliant song writing abilities. He was everyone’s hero.

Ace was last seen in Lazy River 321 years ago. One day he just disappeared. The people of Lazy River built a monument to Ace. They were all waiting for the day he would return.

There was a boat that floated down Lazy River everyday. The boat provided a day of rest, but not everyone rested. A lot of people played games and had fun too. People gathered in this sheltered boat to escape the problems of a stormy world.

One of the many activities the boat provided was Tramp Ramp Ball. Tramp Ramp Ball was very similar to basketball. The only differences were: the ball was black with one large white stripe, the hoops were twenty feet high, and people had to jump on trampolines to get to the rim. Red was a great Tramp Ramp Ball player. He played every Thursday with his friends on the activities boat.

Only ramped up tramps played this game!

One day while Red was playing Tramp Ramp Ball he blocked a shot from one of the other players. The ball flew out of the boat and into the river.

All of the players watched as the ball floated away. Red offered to rescue the ball because it was his fault that the river carried it away.

Red got into a canoe and paddled down the calm river in pursuit of the ball.

When Red found the ball he was in rapid water. He used a lot of caution because beyond the rapids was a very dangerous waterfall.

Red got the ball, but then he noticed something. There was a beautiful woman standing on a rock at the edge of the waterfall. He was so hypnotized that he forgot what he was doing and dropped the ball.

The woman appeared beautiful at first, but then she transformed into an evil witch. It was a trap and Red was very scared.

The witch pulled him out of the river

He started to shake and shiver

She was choking Red

With her hand on his neck

The witch held Red over the edge of the waterfall and then she let go. She cackled a high-pitched laugh.

Red fell down 401.37 meters.

Red finally fell into the water at the bottom of the waterfall. His glasses came off. It seemed he was doomed.

Red survived the fall, but he had to keep going. He swam down a dirty river to eventually get to land.

When Red got to shore he saw his glasses. They were shattered.

With his limited vision, Red noticed a frightening city named Kant Town. He also noticed a very sad man who was fishing for weird fishes.


The sad man’s name was Zoey Joey. He had unhealthy green skin and dirty cloths.

Zoey Joey and Red became friends, and they walked into Kant Town together. Kant Town had a lot of eyecantinas.

Eyecantinas were places that sold eyecantequila and other hard drinks.

Zoey Joey got very excited, because he loved eyecantequila. He was an addict.

Zoey Joey persuaded Red to go into the eyecantina. Inside a lot of people seemed happy, but the rest were depressed.

Zoey Joey drank 9.0004 gallons of eyecantequilia. This made him happy for a while, but in a couple hours he would feel terribad.

Some women were dancing on a stage. Zoey Joey thought they were gorgeous. Red thought they were ugly and inappropriate.

After 27.43 seconds of watching the new friends went back outside.

When the friends got outside they saw a horrible scene.

Innocent people were hanging dead like laundry out to dry.

Red opened his eyes to a world that was killing everything beautiful and pure.

Red continued to walk around Kant Town and noticed a large crowd of people. They had assembled together to listen to their leader.

The leader of the people in Kant Town looked very scary. He had horns and no eyes. Without eyes people can’t see.

The leader tried to lead his people to higher ground, but he actually led them down a canyon of despair.

That is what happens when the blind lead the blind.

Red started to miss Lazy River because he knew it was a better place than Kant Town.

Red told Zoey Joey about Lazy River and how everyone was happy and kind.

Zoey Joey wasn’t sure if he wanted to go because they had to climb a very tall mountain to get there, but Zoey Joey promised Red he would go because they were friends.

Red and Zoey Joey were just little specks compared to the dark cold mountain that stood before them.

The friends strapped on harnesses and got ready to climb the mountain.

A lot of people thought they were crazy for trying to climb the mountain. Some pointed and laughed while others gave lectures saying they couldn’t do it.

Red was positive they could do it, but Zoey Joey wasn’t so sure.

Red and Zoey Joey began their climb up the mountain. With a lot of hard work they started making progress.

When they got a couple feet from the top of the mountain Red’s rope snapped. The friends started to fall. Zoey Joey held onto Red’s legs. He was relying on his friend. After all they could do, it still wasn’t enough.

When everything seemed hopeless someone’s hand grabbed Red by the arm.

Red looked up and saw that it was Ace Weller, the iconic hero of Lazy River. Nobody had seen Ace for 321 years, but he had returned to save Zoey Joey and Red.

When Red got back to Lazy River he received a warm welcome. He washed off all of the mud from Kant Town until he was sparkling clean.

After Red changed his cloths, Ace Weller gave him a new pair of glasses. They were stylish.

Ace asked Red what it was like in Kant Town. Red told him it was hard to see clearly at the bottom of a waterfall.

Ace Weller then asked Red to play guitar with him. This was a great honor so Red couldn’t say no. Zoey Joey also got to play with his friends. He played the sitar, which made him look better, and act more positive.

Now stay cool!