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charcoal – Matthew French-Holt

Waiting for water to boil – Jetboil stove sketch

While backpacking in the Upper Yosemite Valley, I was sitting and waiting for water to boil (at least with the Jetboil’s lid on you can’t actually watch!) It made sense to sit and draw the stove itself (at least to me) so that’s what I did. This workhorse was purchased about 10 years ago and has been going strong ever since!

Continue reading Waiting for water to boil – Jetboil stove sketch

Trees and Shadows

When in the National Parks, it’s not always the grand vistas that capture my interest. Often, the small details invite me to come closer, to explore in more detail. Though you wouldn’t know it if I didn’t tell you, this is almost Yosemite. The RV was parked just outside of the park (free camping, woohoo!) and one afternoon the sun created these slashing shadows from the trees and it caught my attention. As is always the case when trying to capture natural light, I had to work fast, since the shadows were changing by the moment!

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Charcoal drawing of trees casting shadows in the forest

Wizard Island in Crater Lake

After exploring Yosemite, we also visited Crater Lake National Park in Oregon. It was also snowed in, so Rim Drive was closed. It was really cool to walk in the shoveled-out 12′ deep paths from parking area to visitor center, and the view from the edge of the peak down to the lake was amazing!

I didn’t waste any time sketching out Wizard Island, since it quickly gets chilly sitting in the snow. And a steaming hot chocolate afterward certainly helped to thaw out my stiff fingers. 😀

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Charcoal drawing of Wizard Island in Crater Lake National Park
Wizard Island, Crater Lake National Park

Half-Dome sketch in Yosemite

While in Yosemite, we took an overnight backpacking trip up into Little Yosemite Valley. Half-Dome wasn’t open yet, since it was still snowed in. That was fabulous, as it felt that we had the whole valley to ourselves. Though we didn’t make it up to the top of Half-Dome, we did hike up to the snow line. While there, I sat and enjoyed the view, taking the opportunity to sketch Half-Dome from the north side.

Matthew sketching Half Dome

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Charcoal drawing of Half Dome in Yosemite National Park
Half Dome, Yosemite National Park

Yosemite Valley charcoal sketch

It seems like every National Park has an “Inspiration Point” somewhere along the trails. And from that point you can see an iconic view.

Yosemite was no different and the view was truly stunning, overlooking Yosemite Valley itself. It was a wonderful place to stop on the way into the valley, enjoy a short hike up to the point itself, and enjoy lunch before capturing the view in a charcoal sketch.

You can see El Cap on the left, Half-Dome in the middle, and Bridal Falls toward the bottom right. What a fabulous experience!

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Charcoal drawing of Yosemite Valley in the National Park
Yosemite Valley

Old Portraits

My focus while in art school was figurative work, which built on a few years of working as a portrait artist. Here are a few blasts from the past:

The superhero was drawn with chalk on black paper in 2011. Entering it into the 2012 National Arts Program netted me a Best of Show award.

A friend posted this picture as her facebook profile image. I thought it would be great fun to recreate with some charcoal in 2010.

Another facebook profile image, Bethany has really bright blue eyes, and she happened to be wearing a matching dress. Charcoal and pastel in 2010.

My wife modeled while I explored a new take on an old concept. This triptych was painted on canvas with acrylic in 2010.