Vizzini. . .he said to go back to the beginning

And so I have. Instead of continuing to stare at the rough sketch of the polar bear, hoping to get up the courage to start using my watercolors (and new Niji waterbrushes) to finish the painting, I decided to try something else in the interim. And like Vizzini said, I have gone back to the begining and my roots. Sketching.

Usually I do tons and tons of cross-hatch (sometimes too much) but for this I wanted to do something a little more down and dirty with the shading. Something a bit more basic. So, I used my trusty ol' #2 pencil, and you just don't get more basic than that.

I do plan on finishing the polar. . .hopefully even soon.

Lucky Dog
9x12, pencil on bristol 

Ah yes, I remember it well. . .

Prom stole it from Paul's blog. Now I am stealing it from her.


"please post a comment here on my blog with a completely made up and fictional memory of you and me. Anything you want—positive or negative—but the original said please keep it clean but you don't have to do that here. And remember: it has to be fake! After you've left your comment, post this little paragraph on your own blog—and be surprised (or mortified) about what people don't actually remember about you."

As you wait for updates. . .another quiz

Your results:
You are Superman

Superman 75% Spider-Man 70% Green Lantern 60% The Flash 60% Supergirl 55% Robin 50% Iron Man 50% Hulk 50% Wonder Woman 35% Catwoman 35% Batman 30%

You are mild-mannered, good, strong and you love to help others.

Click here to take the "Which Superhero are you?" quiz...

Here is to hoping I am more productive

In an attempt to get my self motivated again to paint/draw, I have posted the initial sketch of a polar bear that I have wanted to paint for a while. For this, I want to try something a bit different. I am going to use watercolors, something that I am not very proficient in, and augment the painting with pastels, something that I am more comfortable using. It could be cool, as I have seen some nice pictures done in this technique. Or it could be a big mess, but at least I am attempting to stretch myself. And isn't that what this is all about?

Either way, I will post the picture in stages. . .let's see what happens.

Polar Bear
14x11, pencil on watercolor paper 

National De-Lurking Week

Because everyone else is doing it. . .and I have not started painting the picture that I have been meaning to. . . 

An older piece

In a effort to be more active on this blog, I have dug through some of my older work. I am really surprised that I have not posted this one before. This is the only painting that I have done on artagain, a thick black fiber-enhanced paper. The black paper gives this piece a neat and ominous air.

As always, this is something I should try/use more often.

Dragon
9x12, pastel on artagain 

Ah, the perverse irony of Happy Bunny

school prepares you for the real world which also
sucks.


Who's Your Happy Bunny?
brought to you by Quizilla

Song Bird in Blue

A bird. I have never attempted a pastel painting focused on a bird as the subject. A bit mundane, but yet, completely differnt for me. I have had some requests to paint birds, and realized that I had never painted one in pastels. So I needed to try something first. Sure, I have drawn many birds with charcoal, pencil and colored pencil, just never pastel. It was an interesting process.

Sorry for no pictures of the process (do you guys even enjoy that? Lemme know), just did not do it for this. Plus, this painting was fixed to a board for most of the painting process, making the process of taking pictures (or in this case, scanning) rather cumbersome. I did not even use workable fix to layers the colors. Instead, I used increasing more "softer" pastels to achieve the same effect.

Hope you like it. Enjoy!

Song Bird in Blue
9x12, pastel on paper 

And now for something completely different

Started a new painting last week and hope to have it finished in another week. It is a small one, 9x12", and so it is much easier to cover the paper. I really want to be more productive so I thought this size would be perfect. Plus, I like alternating the size of the paintings, it just seems more fun that way.

The reason I am not posting the painting in a step by step process is because the subject matter is much different than what I am accustomed to painting. I think that this is the first time that I have attempted this subject matter. No that the subject matter is anything original, but it is new to me.

Interest piqued? I hope so. Look for finished product in a week or so.

Now what?

Finished and uploaded.

What a relief. The picture I was starting to think I would never complete is done. And I must say, I am happy with the results. There were several times while I was working and reworking this that I thought it was going to be a larger orange mess. But that is the beauty of pastels. Just hit it with workable fix and repaint it.

I thought reposting the other pieces in the sequence would be a neat idea. Thanks P-man, I am glad you talked me into taking pictures during the painting process. Of course, now everybody knows how much of a slacker I was about finishing this one. . .but I guess that is okay.

Now, I need something else to paint. But what size and what subject?

And finally, the finished product!! Hope you like it!
Mountains of Fall
16x20, charcoal on Canson Mi-Teintes board

Beginning to put in the details 

Finished blocking the color 

Starting to block in the colors 

The sketch 

Finally Done. . .I think

Well, after a nearly 6 month delay, I have finally finished "Mountains of the Fall". . .I think. The truth is, I never really know when a painting is done and this is no different.

Do not worry, I will be posting a photo of it soon so you can decide. It may need more work, then again, it may be over-worked. Just not sure.

And of course, now I think the title will need to be changed. The painting has become more about the trees in the foreground and less about the mountains in the background. Sigh.

But it is done. I think.