Great Gift for the Holidays!

OK, I can hear you saying it "COME ON...Summer isn't even over and you're talking about the holiday season already!? You're crazy!" Here's the thing, while I may be a little crazy here and there, I'm actually not on this one.

I looked at the calendar and just about died! How do I figure? 2 weeks for holiday shipping + 4-6 weeks for drying time (most portraits are painted in oils and they take a long time to dry) + time to work on the painting (they each require several steps with drying time in between) and WOW! Here we are!

If you’ve been thinking about ordering a special gift this year contact me before September 10th and save 10% on a custom portrait!

Sale on Custom Portraits
10% off now through September 10th

Garden Waterfall

This is another submission for Mosaic Medley. I'm not quite as happy with the way this one turned out. There's too much going on in this one and the ink faded more than I'd like when I went over it with the watercolors. Oh well, I had fun with it and I like the Polaroid feel these little paintings have.

Garden Waterfall
Pen & Ink and Watercolor
4x4

Mosaic Medley Challenge #2 - Water

These are submissions for the Mosaic Medley art challenge. I ordered some 4x4 canvases which didn't arrive in time so I was forced to do something different and am glad I did. It was fun to use these materials again. I have one more which I'm hoping to complete...we'll see how that goes.

Waterfall in Brandon, VT
Pen & Ink and Watercolor
4x4

Tall Ship
Pen & Ink and Watercolor
4x4

Just for Fun!

I'm a HUGE fan of the show It's Me or the Dog and trainer, Victoria Stilwell so I decided to do a quick caricature of her.

Boston's South End Pen and Ink Finished!

Boston South End

Pen and Ink

8.5x10

Here it is! I've completed my pen and ink/watercolor? (did I originally say this was also going to be a watercolor?) of Boston's South End. I decided in the end to skip the watercolor on this one. I think the subject matter and the fact that I put in so much detail with the pen and ink warrants keeping this black and white.

I had some photos which I'd like to work with printed up today and I also have a bunch of illustrations for a children's book which I desperately need and want to work on. Unfortunately, I don't feel I'm in the mental mode to get back to those yet. I may pick one of those up next week. In the mean time, I think my heart is calling out to the pastels! While I'm working on that I've got the initial sketch for the first of the children's book illustrations set up on my desk where I can let my subconscious work through where I'm going to go with those style and media-wise as this seems to be my hang up on getting those past the sketch stage. 

Boston's South End - Work in Progress Part 5

I worked on the buildings and the plants, I'd liked to have gotten this finished but it's getting late and as I can no longer see straight I've decided to call it a night.

Boston's South End - Work in Progress Part 4

Mostly I worked on the brick sidewalk so, there's just the buildings, plants, and touching up left to do. I'm hopeful that I'll get the rest of the pen and ink done by tomorrow. Then I'll need to decide whether or not to proceed with the water color portion. I've been working on 300# watercolor paper which is not the easiest thing in the world to do pen and ink on such a rough surface. I need to stop frequently to remove paper fibers which get caught in the nib. Not to mention that the ink doesn't go down the smoothest on such rough paper. Not to say I didn't know what I was getting into, I've done this several times before, it's just to say that for that reason alone I may proceed with the watercolor. 

Boston's South End - Work in Progress Part 3

I worked some on the ground on the left and finished up the pole in front. I'm starting to wonder if I may just leave this as a pen and ink and not apply the watercolor to it. Usually when I do both I don't get as detailed with the pen and ink portion but for some reason I haven't been able to help myself on this one.

Boston's South End - Work in Progress Part 2

Here's the piece as it stands now. You can see I did make some progress over the weekend and last night. Not as much progress as I'd hoped but there is progress none the less and I guess there's something to be said for that.

Boston's South End - Work in Progress

This is a sketch for a pen and ink/watercolor painting I'm working on. I was hoping to have it completed by now but best laid plans and all...I've decided to post a step by step of my progress instead.