"Le Tigre"

I finished up this guy last week and he's all sealed and ready to go. I'm fairly happy with the results, as I haven't painted anything in months (and gotten my head zapped so who knew if I would remember what to do!).

He'll go up for sale tomorrow, Tuesday, January 25th at 12pm EST in the shop. Enjoy and good luck!

Progress

I had a theme of 'tigers' for one of this month's Flash Magazine illustrations. After doing the initial sketch...

...I was inspired to actually paint him instead of continuing on in Photoshop for the final. I roughed in the colors, shading and textures in Photoshop...

...and then transferred that to a plaque and began painting yesterday afternoon:

Just a teeny bit nervous since this is my first painting in months, but then again, I was always nervous painting ;)

This Is A Lucky Cat...

In the mail a couple days ago, we got our copy of Flash Magazine. Flipping through, I noticed this little guy:

Maneki Neko or Lucky Cat. I completely do not remember doing it, but Ed assured me that I did in fact do this particular illo. After looking around on my computer I found the reference, and bits and pieces began to filter back to me about it. Since I haven't posted anything art-wise here in a looooong time, I thought I'd give it a shot over on my Facebook page. So far it's gotten the most response of anything I've ever posted. Maybe everyone is just being nice to me but I do get the feeling that they really do genuinely like this little guy. So I went ahead and put up a pre-order page in the shop for prints of him. I'm waiting on a delivery of paper and I'm set to go away for four days (Jan 9 - 12) so it just made sense to put it up ahead of time so I can get an idea of how many of these I have to pump out when I get back from vacation.

Perhaps you've got a soft spot for Maneki Neko as well, or just want to see some close-ups of what the print will look like, so feel free to click on the pic above to go to the shop. I'm so happy that something I don't even remember doing is being so well received - thank you all :D

Thinking Ahead...

I hope everyone (who celebrates) had a great Christmas yesterday! I had a wonderful couple of days with my family and dogs and am now settled in with my new iPod staring out at the blizzard that's just starting to blow outside. They're predicting 40mph winds and up to 16 inches of snow! So happy we went out and bought a snow blower a couple weeks ago :)

Of course I can't just relax and watch new dvds and look at the pretty lit up Christmas tree against the snowy window. No. I have to start thinking ahead. To Valentine's Day.

I know, I know, YOU guys just want to relax and that's totally cool. But I kinda thought some of you might like to know what I've decided to do for Valentine's Day this year. Last year I released the limited edition mounted prints of "Kokoro" which sold out. And many of you have been emailing me about making more, which I can't, because a limited edition is a limited edition.

But I decided that I COULD make an open edition of an 8 x 10 giclee print of "Kokoro" and hopefully make a whole bunch of people happy in the process!  That's worth a little prep a few weeks in advance, isn't it? And I thought I'd try something else new and put them up for pre-order in my shop right now. This way you're guaranteed a copy will be ready to ship to you January 17th, you've got a jump on your Valentine's Day shopping and I get an idea of how many prints to make! Sound good?

So click on the photo below to go to the shop and have a Happy, Healthy, Prosperous New Year! I can't thank you all enough for your support and kind words over the past year -- I have the best fans!

My Poor Meatball

While walking through B&N looking at magazines I noticed a cover that had a plate of spaghetti. 'Well, now why haven't I done a little meatball boy with a swirl of spaghetti on his head?' I know now. Spaghetti and meatballs are hard.

So I present a little sample of where I started, a video of my progress and where it all ended up. Enjoy :)

I wanted to get specific photo reference for this one so I made up a little batch of meatballs and spaghetti to play around with. A few toothpicks, some strategically placed sauce and about 30 photos later I came up with the first photo. Then on to Photoshop to get the details finalized along with an appropriate background and shadows.

With that done, I printed out a version that was sized to my plaque, traced it and then began to paint.

The finished piece, with some closeups below. The fat reflections on the top of his head are my favorite.

It always amazes me that I have no idea what I'm doing or how I go about painting - I hope for the best and it just happens. Thank goodness it worked out once again ;)

I Need a Vacation

Maybe that's why this little guy decided to come out now after a year of thinking about painting a little coconut character.

"Frou Frou" measures 5 x 7, acrylic on a beveled wood plaque. He's going up for sale on Wednesday, October 27th at 3pm EST in the shop.

A closeup so you can see some of the details. Man those coconut hairs were not neccessarily easy or fun. Very glad that he reads as a coconut though. He does, doesn't he?

So enjoy! and if anyone is sitting on a tropical beach right now enjoying a frou frou drink, think of me ;)

New Stuff for Small Stuff 4

Just finished up the third piece I'm going to have in Bear and Bird Gallery's Small Stuff 4 show starting November 21st. I was super excited to get the email from Amanda asking me to participate. I just wish I was able to go to the opening :( Oh well, maybe some of you can go for me. :)

"Ole Roastie Chesternut" 5x5 acrylic on wood plaque

"Poison Claw" 6.75 x 6.75 acrylic on wood plaque

"Rad" 5 x 7 acrylic on wood plaque

Also wanted to let everyone know that I decided to make a handful of some new mounted prints. "Pimento Mori", "Nutty" and "L'amour or Less" are now in the shop :D

L'amour Or Less

I'm not sure what to write. These two are the first paintings I've done in months. A departure in a few ways - a set, smiling and nothing creepy. It's been a long, long road back to this point and I'm happy they came out alright. I'll let you know when they'll go up for sale - and yes, they will be sold as a couple. Enjoy!