St. Patrick's Day

The charms of the Emerald Isle have been written and sung about here in America for generations. We visited Ireland in 1998 and found it to be a place that not only lived up to, but exceeded all expectations.  Much of the trip was spent driving around searching out castles where I would sketch and paint for a little while before finding a nice pub for refreshments. This was a little tower we stumbled upon on a back road on a bright sunny day somewhere in county Tipperary.
Here's wishing everyone a safe and Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Pulp Update

Just a quick post today of the updated pulp piece from 2 weeks ago. This has to be finished by tomorrow so I'd better get to work. I saved the version with the crocodiles but the tentacles add an element of mystery.

Objects may appear larger..The Valley that Time Forgot

After last weeks post a comment was left regarding the use of the reference pictures and how certain aspects of the model were greatly exaggerated. Of course the comment was posted by my wife and occasional reference model Kari. Well here's another example of taking liberties with reference. Like the comment said, it just takes a little imagination. This painting is special to me because it was painted for a good friend who encouraged me to draw vikings and dinosaurs way back when we were kids.

Pulp in progress

Here are a couple of progress shots of a piece for an upcoming "Pulps" challenge. One of my favorite Illustration genres. What's not to like about heroic adventurers, damsels in distress, amazon warrior princesses, savage beasts. Get the picture? Action! The covers were always moments of action or at least great tension.  Very appealing subject matter if you enjoy letting it all hang out.
My wife Kari helped me with the damsel and I did my best imaginary adventurer. Of course I should have taken the shot splashing around in our little backyard pond but it's February and despite a mild winter it's just too cold to be splashing around in ponds..

The Arena

The combatants circle each other warily.  Any misstep could provide an opening for a quick thrust from the hasta or a decisive slash from the spatha. No gladiator can afford any mistake. In the arena, mistakes can mean the end, but victory can be the path to fame, fortune and freedom.

Lewis Carroll tribute

Before the Jabberwocky was dispatched by the vorpal blade among the borogroves by the Tumtum tree the knights came forth by two and by three. The Jubjub birds gabbled and stood and watched them enter the tulgey wood. Galumphing they went, Callooh, Callay! . a bandersnatch will soon end their day.
 You can read "The Jabberwocky" here
http://www.potw.org/archive/potw128.html

New challenge

These are a few progress shots for an upcoming art challenge on theartorder.com. The only description is"A young female human wizard with black hair who always wears white trimmed in gold." The next step is to take some reference photos in order to make the hands more interesting. The magical activity also needs quite a bit of work. The final and a link to the challenge will be posted when completed.