speedy...

One of my good buddies, Mike, and his crew at the old gallery have reorg and will be reborn a new gallery named The Piranha Shop.  The old name was Ouch My Eye.

The combination of the two names put an image in my head that I just had to paint out.  And here we have it...

It's at the printers!

So, here's the final lineup of miniprints that will be available for you at next week's comic con.
Heather and I had fun working one these and can't wait to see the final printing.
 

Onward and upward...

Not literally...  

But, I am going to try something different.  Something sort of new.

Next week, I'll be participating in another group show.  And the theme:  Coffins.

50 artists were given a small coffin to paint up however they want.  

I think I'm going to cut it close, but I finally had an idea of what to do ,and I hope it all works out.

I decided to make the coffin, itself, a character.

This is the angel of death seeks the souls of lovers meant to be together.  Even into the afterlife.

Unlike her sibling Death, known for his black and brooding attire.  She is seen robed in white, believing it symbolizes the innocence and purity of love between the two souls she collects.  In fear of tainting the souls and their love at her touch, she had Death cut her limbs, she rely on her minions of fallen cupids to do her deeds.  And, in exchange, they can continue to exist by feeding from her own soul.


Here are some sketches and the start of production...

La Mort des Amants

Nous aurons des lits pleins d'odeurs légères,
Des divans profonds comme des tombeaux,
Et d'étranges fleurs sur des étagères,
Ecloses pour nous sous des cieux plus beaux.

Usant à l'envi leurs chaleurs dernières,
Nos deux coeurs seront deux vastes flambeaux,
Qui réfléchiront leurs doubles lumières
Dans nos deux esprits, ces miroirs jumeaux.

Un soir fait de rose et de bleu mystique,
Nous échangerons un éclair unique,
Comme un long sanglot, tout chargé d'adieux;

Et plus tard un Ange, entr'ouvrant les portes,
Viendra ranimer, fidèle et joyeux,
Les miroirs ternis et les flammes mortes.

— Charles Baudelaire

*Translated


The Death of Lovers


We shall have beds full of odors, light
Couches deep as tombs,
And strange flowers on shelves
Blossomed for us Under more beautiful heavens.
Exercising at will their last heats,
Our two hearts will be two immense torches
Which will reflect their double lights
In both our minds, those twin mirrors.
One evening made of rose and mystic blue,
We exchange a single flash,
Like a long sob, charged with farewells;
And later an Angel, opening doors,
Will revive, faithful and joyful
The tarnished mirrors and the flames died.

-Charles Baudelaire

and maybe one more...

WIP, but I'm really happy how it's coming together from the magic that his Heather!

What's the scoop?

a sneak preview in the lastet collab Heather...

To be continued...

Tables are turned...

Another sneak preview!

This time Heather had drawn out one of her fave characters for me to paint up.  I'm still working on the finishing touches... still a ways to go, but getting close.

More to come...

The latests...

Hi all,

Just wanted to share the latest collaboration between me and Heather on our pieces for the upcoming Emerald City ComicCon.

This dude I hold dear to heart, as he is one of my fave characters in the comic book universe.

Morning warm ups: The Saturday Edition

The demons that hide in our shadows
and the epic battle forthcoming...

Rewind. Another warm up moment.

The image of this particular person had been stuck in my mind for some time.  It came back to me this morning when i was thinking up an image to paint up.
I saw him a while back during a trip to Vancouver, BC.  The first time I saw him was at a bus stop.  He was this big, intimidating fellow who donned a black trench coat, with a huge wound on his head above his eye.  I could only guess that he was in some sort of skirmish.
The following morning, I spotted him again.  Although, this time, he had an guitar with him.  He sat down on a chair off to the side and out of the way of everyone walking.  The music he was playing was brilliant.  Surprised the hell out of me for sure.  He played a range of blues to rock, not even looking up to the people passing.  This mysterious musician lost in his own musical world.

I walked by an hour or so later and he was standing off to the side, having a smoke.  He'd let another person pick up his guitar and play while he took a break.  But, the new guy strummed something less dynamic.  In fact, I remember it to be a bad rendition of Jimi Hendrix...

Next at bat...

I just picked this up last night.  I'll be participating in a group show sometime in March.  Might be the same weekend as the comic convention.
Basically, it's a custom coffin show.
I've a vague idea of what I want to do.  On top of everything else going on, I just hope I can get it done on time.
I guess this is where having insomnia becomes a good thing, no?  hahahayeah.
The funny thing is I don't want to do anything death related... too cliche'.  
Hopefully, something clever will come to mind.  So, stay tuned.

Things are happening...

To say that I've been keeping busy feels like an understatement.

Within weeks from each other, I'll be three shows, plus taking part at this year's Emerald City Comic Con.

I've been getting work together for a sketchbook (which my sister's been awesome about helping me put together), and some new prints to put out on the table.  These are a sneak preview of what's to come.  

This idea actually hit me a few days ago and I've been collaborating with my friend, Heather.  She's an incredible artist and will be painting up my sketches.  

The series is the Justice Little League.  Where, I depict our favorite superheroes holding balloons.  

I know... I know...  

It's a little far outside the box.  I'm going to blame it on lack of sleep.

Anyhoo, the balloons, at least, will reflect the characters.

Not sure how many we'll get done for the convention.  But, we're having fun putting them together.  And, we hope you will enjoy them, too.

Here's a sneak preview, beginning with the original sketch to final drawing.  Heather had sent me the painted up version, too.  And, she did an amazing job...

The last sketch shows who's up next on the lineup.

Morning throwdowns

Warm up for the day.  Saw this kid while waiting for light to turn.  When I first spotted him, he was jumping around and kicking about.  He must have realized that people were watching because he suddenly stood still.

For my good friend, Tom...

Inspired by the poetic phrase, " Sh*t's about to get real " and loosely based

on not so real events between the hours of 5:oopm and 6:oopm.

Morning throwdown

Been a while since I posted... feeling a little guilty...
More to come... it's going to be a busy weekend of getting more
art done for the convention.

...hopefully.

These are just a few morning warm up sketches.

Breakthrough and progress...

It's been a while now since I posted the latest of the oil painting I started a... damn.  The one I started a couple of months ago.  I didn't like the direction it was heading.  Then, between doing the past digital paintings, staring at the canvas and doing some more digitals...

I finally found a groove and started painting over the previous version.
I hope I don't screw this version up now.  Still some layers to throw down, but at least I'm happy with this direction.
I'm loving these water based oils.  As weird as it sounds, these oils are really making it fun to paint.

Anyways... here it is so far.  First pic:  Redid the hair  Second pic:  Face... some more to go.
Part of me wants to get some sleep... the other wants to see how it comes out in the end.


Ugh.  I should probably get some sleep.  In a couple of hours...