Bivouac

As I was working on another painting, upcoming to the blog shortly, I began a painting that takes place at night. This stands as a departure from my usual fare, especially the one I was working on in tandem with this one. 

It went along quickly from the beginning point. I had it completed in a couple of days instead of my usual couple of weeks. 

Finished product:

Bivouac

24"x18" 

Oil on Canvas Board

Black aluminum framed price $85

Approaching

The second painting in my landscapes series was originally going to be an abstracted cityscape. That concept stopped inspiring me about thirty seconds into starting it, so I added some mountains that were MUCH more interesting.

 

See, mountains.

I got tired of the stylized clouds so I wiped them out to start over. I ended up liking this subdued look more than anything. This inspired parts the final product.

Approaching

24"x18"

Oil on canvas board

Back aluminum frame price $85

Tennessee by Jodi

Honorable mention goes to my partner in crime Jodi, who made this excellent watercolor landscape. I love the difference between her style and my own. She can apply subdued color and paint strokes to make an excellent illustrated effect on a piece. This is Tennessee by my wife Jodi:

Tennessee

16"x"12 

Watercolor on Paper

Distressed black wood frame price $50

Aspen

The painting that follows is the first of many landscapes that I hope to undertake in the near future. It is titled Aspen.

Using a pallet knife I inlaid the mountain ridge. The knife gives a craggier look to the mountainscape, as opposed to a brush which would have made the rocks too soft. 

As usual, a change needed to be made in the lefthand corner. It was too dark with the full ridge extending to the foreground, so I eliminated it. 

In go the aspens...

 And the finished product: 

Aspen

Oil on Canvas Board

16"x 12"

Black aluminum framed price: $75 

Portfolio 4, Commission

My boss commissioned me to create three watercolor paintings for our company's conference room. The big blank white wall was getting depressing. 

She is from London, England and now lives in Columbus, Ohio. She wanted to see a combination of the two cities in her paintings. The following are the three pieces combining elements of each city throughout different parts of the day. 

Morning

Rush Hour

Evening

Portfolio 3, Portraiture and Figure Drawing

In college I was tasked with drawing and painting many things, but I loved most to re-create people.

 

What follows are figure drawing studies in Red Conte Crayon, Black Conte Crayon, and portraits in watercolor, oil, and chalk pastel.

 

 Red Conte Crayon figure studies

 

 

 Self-portrait in Red Conte Crayon

Pastel portrait study of Peek 

Final oil painting titled Peek

Black Conte Crayon portraits of woman sleeping

Black Conte Crayon studies of human features and figures

Here follows some of my better achievements:

Mouth

I really like this portrait. It's off-center, with no eyes, barely a nose, and muted tones. Something about it has always spoken to me, and it's not because I made it.

Dusk

This painting gives me fits. Sometimes I look at it and it's excellent. Then I look again and I see every flaw (and there are many). I think this painting is ultimately the sign of an immature painter that could not overcome his own flaws. This painting now only exists electronically. It has been destroyed-by-gesso. The canvas now resides in my parent's basement. 

Wedding

A watercolor portrait I painted of my wife on our wedding day. To date, it is the finest painting I have ever created. The credit goes to the subject of the painting, not the painter. This painting has won awards, been featured in a museum exhibition, and is simply my favorite. Maybe I shouldn't have a favorite, but I do.

Portfolio 2, Children's Book

In college, I took a class called Children's Literature. The professor offered one hundred extra points to create a children's book. I took him up on the offer, wrote, and drew illustrations for my book called Never Ever #1.

It was a fun project, the original book was completed in its entirety with pen and ink and colored pencils on a 22 page sketch pad.It now resides on a shelf.

What follows are the panels created electronically for possible submission to editors.

Panels 1 and 2, to lead off the book. Basically a thesis statement for the story that follows.

The other panels I created are kind of scatter shot. They do not follow the chronology of the book. I wanted to create a smattering of panels to convey what the book would ultimately look like. 

 

The story is fairly simple. An average kid is always being out-done by a nice-looking blond kid and it makes him more determined to achieve great things. Over time, he becomes really successful by never giving up on his goals. At the same time the blond kid becomes a famous formula one racer, then, at the end of the book, dies in a fiery crash. The last panel shows that the average kid (now an adult) is happy about it. He leans back in his overstuffed chair in his corner office and says "Second Place Ain't So Bad." 

This book sounds kind of awful now that I type it all out like this. 

At least my professor gave me all one hundred points.