4th of July, Sunset and Fireworks

Hope everyone State side had a fun and safe 4th of July. A bit more about mine later in this post, but first the drawings I  have been working on. Above is my 2nd try at a portrait this go round. Done from a photo in an old Discover Magazine I had around the house. Not bad but not great, I have to continue to practice.

I have decided to try and do different ethnic faces if I can find source material. They are a bit more of a challenge for me, and good practice.

With that thought in mind I selected the next source drawing of an actor. It isn't quite him, the face should be a bit thinner and I didn't spend enough time on the mouth and teeth, but it is close enough that others who have seen this have guessed his name, Will Smith.

Next image is a work in progress and not a portrait:

This is done from the photograph I made of a Hosta starting to bloom. Not sure at this point if I will add color. I may or I may just leave it black and white. This is stipple work and so far I haven't used any lines (don't count the pencil lines they will be erased later)

Next I have a couple of photos from yesterday's 4th of July celebrations:

The first isn't a man made image, this is not photoshopped, the clouds actually did obscure parts of the setting sun last night long enough for me to make the above photograph. Looks like a face doesn't it. The location was Nahant looking across the bay to Revere/Lynn, MA. The tide was almost fully out and you can see the sun light reflected across the sand flats. The photo is cropped, but otherwise I have haven't made any changes.

We had had a lovely sunny day with a few clouds until toward evening some clouds moved in and some areas had thundershowers. Where I was we had only a bit of rain, but on my way home it was easy to tell that other areas had had far more. Thankfully the rain was early enough to not cancel the fireworks.

One last photo of some fireworks. Everything is blurred because the lens stays open too long, but still I sort of like this photograph. It does give some sense of the beauty of the fireworks last night. They had some really beautiful and different shells. It is amazing what the makers can do with them now a days. I don't recall many of the elaborate shell patterns we see now from when I was younger. But fireworks are always fun, and it was a great way to end my evening.

That is it for today. Per usual comments are welcome.