More ACEO cards: These next pieces are acrylic on a finer weave of canvas paper and will let me achieve better detail than the larger weave I have been using. I usually work on several pieces at the same time. It does tend to cut down time and I get a flow. Unfortunately and fortunately, I am signed up for several freelance jobs this upcoming month with several clients. I will continue to work on these when I can.

The two sketches are based on the book: "The Last Unicorn" by Peter S. Beagle. I thought since I have been drawing unicorns lately, it was a natural progression to remember the only really good unicorn story I read when I was a kid. I loved the animated cartoon by Rankin and Bass which was drawn by Japanese artists and back then the "Animae" look was exotic. The sketch of the girl, of course, is the semi-tragic Lady Amalthea, who was once a unicorn, and as a human, feels pangs of love and complex emotions of a human girl, then becomes a unicorn again, changed forever.

Working on a small ACEO card for ebay...I took one of the unicorn drawings from below and stretched it in photoshop to fit the 2.5x3.5 inch frame. This is not done yet. I have also put an irredescent gold on it.

I did a real quick concept page for a t-shirt designer who asked for a pink carousel unicorn.

Laura Wambsgans

This is the latest plein aire painting from Laura Wambsgans blog. She uses oils and she has been very patient and kind while encouraging me as an artist. Thanks Laura! Can't wait to paint again next month! If anyone wants to join us, please check out the Santa Clarita Artists Association paint outs.

Lombardi's Ranch 48 hours ago

I painted this on Saturday with the Santa Clarita Artists Association. We meet once a month and paint plein aire. This was a real challenge, since very quickly it became as busy as Disneyland, hot, lots of wind, and hundreds of people pushing into my space, nearly knocking me over to show their kids that "the artist is painting a picture." The hardest part? It was like painting in the middle of a buffalo stampede, so I really had to focus and ignore the public. I did this in about a hour and a half to 2 hours.

Correction: We just saw on the news that Lombardi's did not burn in the fires!

Quick Crow: Acrylic on canvas paper.

More cool and warm colors...

Gearing up for Halloween: Normally I paint in warm earthtones, so this time, for the fall I am painting in cool tones. This painting will be available at Ebay soon.

An update:

In the Works: Surfing Fairie

In contrast, I went to a sunny happy pic. One is a quick value, color study, the other an underpainting.

Here it is: Sulee and LeoPardine. I am overall disappointed in the way it turned out. It appears to be painted with mud. I think it shows my weaknesses--I really need to work with color better, lighting, and atmospheric effects. That is supposed to be fog in the background, not grey cotton. I may do another color study in photoshop--then take another crack at this one but not in the near future.

This painting is now available at ebay: http://cgi5.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll

Sulee and LeoPardine:

I have been working on some paintings so the posts will be slower in coming. Here are some details of one that is almost finished.

I am working on some fairies and dragons for the next posts!

In the Works:

Value and light source study for LeoPardine painting.

Prehistoric Arboreal Cat

Been working on this for a while now. Special thanks for fantasy artist, Christopher Moeller, who helped me establish a light source for the painting and for all his encouragement and patience. I met Christopher at the Comic Con this year and peppered him with questions for almost an hour.

This is about 12x7.5, acrylic on canvas paper and lots and lots of glazes.

And here is a drawing study I forgot to post.

Head "Centaurion"

I have been drawing centaurs lately and this one is actually a caricature of Greg. He is very fun and easy to draw.

Done. Finally. Little Brandon came out better than expected; expressive, buttery, fresh. And if Amy looks labored over--she was! I had to paint her over and over and Greg kept looking over my shoulder, thinking I was insane. Brandon was painted in a tonal values first, then flesh tones were applied. This was very successful, but for some reason, when I tried it with Amy, (I think I got too opaque with the washes) it did not work.

A free logo for Sienna's school. This will be printed on t-shirts. Greg helped me with the props and picking and placing type.

Creatures

Someone at Greg's work asked if I could draw creatures. I dashed these out this morning--got other jobs I need to get a handle on. These were fun, fun, fun. I love drawing animals and people and these are a strange mix of both. These go hand in hand with John Quinn's and Danbob Thompson's "Big Foot" drawings (see John Quinn, right).

Portrait exercise, a combination of layered transparent washes and opaque applied paints. All acrylic. Started turning out kinda Bouguereau-esque, which was not my intentions, but learned a lot anyway...