New OZ Children's books in the works

Recently I've signed on to illustrate 2 books by Roger Baum who is the great grandson of Frank Baum who wrote the Wizard of Oz. The two books that I'm working on are Oz books and the first book is a Christmas story. The Christmas book should be available sometime this Nov/Dec. I've attached the cover illustration and a sample illustration that was done.

Dia de los Muertos painting and Saturday's Art-a-thon pics

Saturday's Art-a-thon was a big success raising almost $1900 for new studio spaces in the Art Factory 417. Don't know if I'll ever paint for 12 hours straight again into the wee hours of the morn but got to work beside many great Springfield artists. Above is the finished painting which I finished in 12 hours and will be displayed at the Lemon Drop gallery on Commercial for the 1st Friday Art Walk next month. Below are progress pics through the night that were taken by Meganne Rosen O'Neal

Burlesque Life Drawing - 07-06-2010

Tuesday night I ventured out of my safe and normally controlled environment and ventured into the realm of the Burlesque where ordinary women dress in outlandishly complex and seductive lingerie ensembles. For those of you who have not heard of or don't know what burlesque is here's a quick definition.

burlesque -

• a theatrical entertainment of broad and earthy humor; consists of comic skits and short turns (and sometimes striptease)
• spoof: make a parody of; "The students spoofed the teachers"
• parody: a composition that imitates or misrepresents somebody's style, usually in a humorous way

The first 2 sketches are 20 min drawings followed by a 10 minute drawing. Then the last 2 are quick 5 minute drawings. Planning on visiting again in 2 weeks to do more Burlesque drawings 

The model is from Springfield's Cherry Bomb Burlesque and the drawing session is every other Tuesday at  The Art Factory 417 located at 1303 W. College, Springfield, MO from 8 to 10pm. The cost is $7 at the door. 

 

 

Pastel portrait of girl and baby opossum

This is a commissioned portrait that I just finished using pastel. Been awhile since I used pastel and it had it's challenges. At the bottom of the post is the pastel drawing in stages before I reached the finished version.

Sorry for the lack of updates lately. Been very busy but basketball is over and I'm feeling very productive!

More Soon! 

 

Violin Girl Painting in Local Newspaper not once but twice!

Music paintings and Steve Nash painting on SALE

It's half time during the Phoenix Suns game and it's been awhile since I've posted anything on my blog. This May and June all Music paintings ( includes grunge) and the Steve Nash of the Phoenix Suns painting is 25% off.

Also am including a pic of the program that the Steve Nash painting was featured on for the Phoenix Suns game against the Utah Jazz on March 19th of this year

GO SUNS! GO SUNS! GO SUNS! GO SUNS! GO SUNS! GO SUNS!

New Project and SALE items for April - Alice in Wonderland and Grunge

Alice in Wonderland paintings are again on SALE for the month of April for 20% off. Also the Grunge Postcard set is also on SALE for $3.50. 

If you haven't got a postcard set yet better get one because this is the lowest price yet!


Also, just finished this tile sample for a painted tile mural that I'll hopefully be working on in the future. This tile took me 5 hours and the mural's are 3 x 3 ft and 3.5 x 4.5 feet. This project is going to be huge and time consuming.

Alice in Wonderland painting progress 2

Here's some more progress on the painting that I'm currently working on. Still a bunch of detail to do yet. Hopefully finish it within the week.

Creative Concepts - Artist of the Month and art class info

Come check out Creative Concepts gallery where I'm the featured artist of the month! Check out the banner! The gallery is located just south of Sequiota Park and the address is 3830-B South Lone Pine Ave in Springfield, MO. All of my Alice in Wonderland paintings are being shown there and a bunch more.

I'm also going to be teaching acrylic and drawing courses there starting the end of the month!

Here are the details for the courses:

Beginner Acrylic Course - 4wk   $80

session 1 - Mondays, March 29th @ 6 pm - 8 pm thru April 12th

session 2 - Fridays, April 2nd 6pm - 8pm thru April 16th

1st class - Go over materials and uses, primary colors and color wheel, blending color (30 min - hour). Second part of class will be beginning to paint a still life painting and working with student to help decide the layout, color, and give tips.

2nd class - Discuss layout, light and shadow (30 min). Work on finishing 1st painting

3rd class - Discuss art history, different styles (impressionism, pointilism, realism, etc... (30 min). Start second still life painting

4th class - Discuss Brightness & Contrast, texture, varnish, and framing (30 min). Finish 2nd painting and discuss progress between 2 paintings and what the student has accomplished.

Beginner Drawing Course - 4wk   $80

session 1 - Thursdays, April 1st - 6pm - 8pm thru April 22nd
1st class - Go over materials and uses, shading, light and shadow (30 min - hour). Second part of class will be beginning to sketch different simple objects and work on light and shading. Will give out simple drawing assignment for next class

2nd class - Discuss brightness & contrast, hatching/crosshatching, texture, layout, go over assignment(30 min-hour). Work on drawing of still life. Give out a drawing assignments for next class

3rd class - Discuss art history, different styles (contour drawing, pointilism, go over assignment(30 min) Do a contour drawing, work on drawing from a still life. Give out a drawing assignments for next class

4th class - Discuss Portrait and landscape drawing then go over assignment(30 min). Sketch and draw from model or if nice draw outside

Main focus of classes are to have fun, learn and have a sense of accomplishment!

Alice in Wonderland painting in progress

Back to Alice in Wonderland paintings! 

This is the newest painting that I'm working on. I'm about 7 or 8 hours into the painting. The scene in which the painting takes place is where Alice is inside the white rabbits house and she drinks the potion on his table and all of the sudden grows really big filling up the entire room. I've added some cracks in the ceiling and the broken chair to show her destructiveness. In the painting I've also tried to make Alice as sad as possible to show the predicament that she is in. Included is the sketch on which the painting was based and an earlier update. Alice has changed a little from the original sketch. More updates on this painting soon!

If you haven't seen already the Alice in Wonderland paintings are on SALE this month for 20% off to celebrate the Tim Burton's movie release of Alice in Wonderland. Can't wait to go see the movie it looks like a ton of fun :-)

 

Jimi Hendrix illustration and tshirt

This turned out awesome! Took me forever to clean up around the hair so I could add the psychedelic color behind Jimi but it was worth it. The person that commissioned the artwork hasn't seen it yet but hopefully they'll approve. 

You can purchase this illustration on a t-shirt on Redbubble. They have a variety of different t-shirt colors you can choose from. Free shipping if you buy 3 shirts on Redbubble. Probably do more t-shirt designs in the future. Let me know if you have any ideas?

Finished Stevie Nicks of Fleetwood Mac painting

Finished the Stevie Nicks painting early this morning. Decided to add the moon and stars at the last minute and believe that it adds just a little something to the painting. This was a commission so the painting is not for sale but you can get prints at Redbubble!

Next Up: Jimi Hendrix ink drawing and then back to Wonderland

Stevie Nicks of Fleetwood Mac painting progress 1

Still have a lot of work to do but this gives you a good idea of where it is headed. The face needs a little more work and the white in the hair is basically to get a feeling of the movement of the hair before I start the detail. Stevie will also have necklaces around her neck. More to come!

I'm really enjoying this painting. It's been years since I've listened to Fleetwood Mac and am loving the music while painting. I think Sara is my fave Fleetwood Mac song.

RedBubble and Facebook

You can now purchase greeting cards, prints, and posters of some of my paintings on Redbubble by clicking the link below. I'll be adding more artwork to Redbubble soon.

Redbubble link

Also if you like viewing my artwork please become a fan on my facebook fan page:

Facebook fanpage link

Thank you all for the support!

Steve Nash of the Phoenix Suns - WIP 2

Here is the newest update on the Steve Nash painting. Removed the hands at the bottom of the painting but will probably add them back in. The background isn't going to be the solid orange but am not sure what I'm going to do yet. More to come!!!!

Steve Nash of the Phoenix Suns - WIP 1

This is a painting in progress of Steve Nash who plays for the Phoenix Suns which is my favorite basketball team. Steve plays the point guard position and has been the NBA MVP twice. This is one of those paintings that I've always wanted to do but have put off doing. If this turns out good I might have to do an Amare Stoudemire painting as well!