Been a while . . .

I know it's been a while since I've posted anything but it's been an incredibly busy last couple of weeks. I have been dropping in on the Illustration Academy which is hosted near me and if you've never heard of it you should definitely check them out. Simply put one it's one of the best programs I have ever had the privilege to be a part of (and this is technically my fourth year!). I am also on vacation this week and away from home as well as my scanner. I have been trying some new things and should have quite a bit to post when I return.
It's definitely great to get away and see some new things. I really enjoy traveling and would eventually like to travel more. I feel it would strongly help my work and broaden my artistic horizons; though some artists have a made quite a prolific career from staying relatively close to home. Andrew Wyeth comes immediately to mind and he stayed pretty much in one (regional) spot his whole career and did amazingly well! But each artist is (thankfully) different and I enjoy visiting places and looking at pictures of other places too much to not ever want to visit them. One day . . .
Well, time to get back to the drawing board (or sketchbooks). To my (possibly) 2 loyal readers, I hope you're doing well and thanks for following along.

Abstract Designs

Well, it's been a while but I'm finally getting a chance to post again. My computer has been out of commission for about a week, so I haven't been able to do much. Anyway onward and forward . .

I have been trying to experiment lately with some paintings based completely on abstract design. I am traditionally a realist painter, meaning I paint a tree, it looks like a tree. I do not naturally gravitate towards abstract art, it usually seems too random to me. I realize that it is painting in its truest form, painting pure design with abstract shapes and/or colors and not limiting yourself to a representation of an object or scene but rather expressing an interpretation of the object or scene (or feelings derived from). Technically, all painting is actually abstract design. I do enjoy some abstract art though it is a rare occurrence and given the choice between an abstract piece and a realist piece I will almost always be more moved and inspired by the latter. I can't help it, it's just the way I am.

So, in light of my abstinence of abstract art, I am attempting to broaden my horizons and experiment in an area that is outside of my comfort zone; in hopes that I will find some success here and it will ultimately make me a better painter, artist, and person. I hope you enjoy.

Voyage of the Dawn Treader

Well, my blog has survived it's first month. Congrats to me! AND today happens to be my youngest son's 3rd birthday!!! I can't believe he's already 3. He'll be driving before we know it.

Here is something I did a couple of years ago. Brought back to mind with the upcoming (and now pushed back) Chronicles of Narnia: The Dawn Treader. I had just finished the book and did these drawings for it. The first would be for a cover and the second is an interior page illustration. I really enjoyed the Chronicles of Narnia and especially the Dawn Treader, of course spending a couple of months just reading and rereading the book for the illustrations helped it to stand out. It had a great sense of adventure and I enjoyed seeing some familiar 'faces' again. I hope you enjoy these.

Sketchbook Pages

Here are some of my latest sketches and doodles. Sometimes meetings and phone calls are great times for me to get some mindless sketching done. It's a very difficult thing to just "sit down and sketch" something. Most times that is when the larger than life blank canvas screams back at you. In a sketchbook, pages should be screaming "mess me up, try something new" or something along those lines, but a lot of times my brain says "do something cool" or "just drawing anything," but anything can be very similar to nothing when nothing is consciously stirring around. Sketching while doing something else is wonderful because you get to access a portion of your subconscious thoughts. I've heard it described as daydreaming on paper and that's a great place to be.

Norman Rockwell had a wonderful approach to beginning a painting when he didn't have a firm direction. He would begin by drawing a lamppost somewhere on the page. It was a simple object that he could always draw and it would serve the purpose of 'jump starting' his brain. From this simple sketch, his paper was no longer CLEAN and he then freed himself to experiment in any direction. He would take this lamppost and draw something next to it and that would spark an idea. This would lead to another idea and so on and so forth, until he reached a solution he was happy to develop and paint. Leaving the simple lamppost far in the dust. Thanks Norman Rockwell, you've opened doors and paved paths that I'm sure we'll never quite see the end of.

Scribble Sketches

I was going through one of my old pocket sketchbooks and found this. Thought I'd share as it's very abstract and unlike most of my sketches. Maybe I should do more of these to 'loosen up'.

These are what I see:
A) The Gardner: quietly admires his flutterfly while listening to his headphones in his garden.
B) Sludge Monsters???

What do you see?

New Painting

I was walking around a while back and happened across this house that was kind of run down sitting in front of a pond. I liked the isolation of this lonely house and imagined how it might have been a long time ago, before the neighborhood grew up around it. Composition is not quite there yet but it's close. Colors may also be more subdued in the final.

Fantasy Realm

Graphite sketches.