Whats new?

Well quite a few things actually...

First the Greeley Stampede Inviational Western Art Show opens up tonight in Greeley, CO.  It will run through July 4 in conjunction with the Greeley Stampede Rodeo and other events.  For more info click the link above.  I have been selected for People's Choice Award the past two years (the only years I have been in the event) and the purchase award in 2009.  Hope I can make it three for three ;)

One of my pieces was published on the front page of the Greeley Tribune - the local newspaper in Greeley either yesterday or today (a friend on facebook told me).  You can see the article and images at: http://www.greeleytribune.com/article/20110622/NEWS/706229960/1051&ParentProfile=1001

I also just returned from our annual scratchboard group get together.  We have been having annual workshops since 2009 and they never fail to be one of the highlights of my year!  The group throughout most of the year is connected through the online scratchboard forums on wetcanvas.com  If you are interested in scratchboard there is NO better place to learn the medium as well as interact with a bunch of really fun people.  Once a year we find a location to hold workshops taught by members on the forum.  We have people come from all over the US as well as often having a few Canadians.  This group has the BEST sense of humor and keeps me rolling for the whole time, as well as sharing lots of great ideas and techniques.  You can find our workshops from 2009, 2010 and this year on youtube too. 

My demo was on fur and eyes and I did it on a little 3"x5" board and titled "Eye Spy".  Here is the finished project life size-->

Also only about 3 weeks until I leave on a trip for South Africa - I am SOOOOOOO excited!!

Cuteness!!

I spent yesterday at the Denver Zoo and a good portion of that time was spent watching 4 baby siberian tiger cubs, born May 31.  How cute are these little ones!!  There are two males and two females born to mother, Koshka (Koosh-kuh), and father, Waldemere (Wald-uh-meer).  I believe they are both first time parents.  More photos posted on facebook if interested.

summertime... BUSY

I feel like I have been on the go for the past month and will be off to Indiana in early July too.

Despite that I am trying to make time for my art, of course!

I believe I have pretty much finished up "A Rustle In The Brush" (16"x20"); I find backgrounds are hard to get good photos of as they always seem to loose some detail.

I also started a new horse piece of a pinto indian pony; obviously still a long ways to go.  Size is 14"x18"

updates

Right now I am donating 15% of all sales done through my web site (www.aphelionart.com) toward Oil Spill Relief efforts to help wildlife.  Now is a great time to buy, as you will not only get great art, but also help out!

I have made more progress on Rustle and also started a new piece while in Oregon.  The background is still being worked on, but getting closer to completed and just a little more tweaking.

This small macaw piece I will be using as a demonstration at the Indianapolis scratchboard convention in July.  I will be doing a demonstration on how I color my work and also on doing feathers and different textures.

Tiger Eyes

This was a small board that I started before Alamosa and worked on as a demonstration at the show.  It is a little 5"x7" piece and is available framed with museum glass for $400 (minus 15% from my winter sale!).  Don't miss out!  e-mail me for more info or to purchase.

"The Interuped Drink" completed

Just in time to sign it with the years 2009 I am happy to finish Raja's piece and very pleased with how it came out.  It has a subtle dark green background that is quite difficult to see in this photo.  I am going to wait to put a zoomify image on my web site until I get a scan or better photo of the work that shows the background more correctly. The values and colors on the cat are about correct.  Thanks for following along... and on to the next piece and a new year!!

The Interrupeted Drink- the start of adding color (in real life)

I'm not quite done with the color and for some reason a lot of the reddish brown areas are showing really light, but the eyes look about right. I'll try to finish it by the end of the weekend and hopefully get a chance to get a more accurate photo.  The real thing is somewhere between this image and the photoshopped version, but I think I will leave the colors a bit more subdued than the photoshop version.

Closer

And even closer...

"The Interrupted Drink" and photoshopping color

 am almost done with the black and white portion of Raja.  I have decided to call it "The Interrupted Drink". I will be coloring the eyes and adding subtle color throughout the rest of the board as well.  I have added more water drops and toned down the chest area as well.  I still have some 'tweeking' to do in a few areas, but overall the black and white scratching is close to complete.  I have deviated from my photo reference a moderate amount and gone off of a vision in my head, which is not always a good idea.  At times the way it looks in my head is not how it turns out, but overall I am fairly pleased with the result so far.  I chose to add the water to add more visual interest to the work as well as tell more of a story than just a tiger head portrait. 

Curious how the water drops are done?  Here is a closer look:

Often (almost always) when I am planning on coloring a piece I do it first in photoshop to see how I want to get it to look.  It helps me also figure out what colors of ink I will need to mix up, and how strong or diluted I want them to be.  In this case Raja actually has quite a lot of light reddish brown fur on his face and around some of his stripes.  I will use the ink quite diluted for these areas, as I don't want to overpower the white.  I will ink, then re scratch several layers.  So while the photoshop version won't be exactly how the color version will end up being it does give me a good idea of where I am going and the colors I will need to get there.  Here is my photoshop mock up of Raja with colored eyes and fur.

Often when coloring a work you need to scratch it lighter than if you were going to leave it a black and white work.  I can now tell from my mock up in photoshop a few areas that I will need to take lighter than I have them too (such as the chest that I just darkened :D)  (and the green in the background I am not sure about yet, we'll see)

Raja continued

More progress and now I need to actually go get some stuff done for the rest of the day (maybe some Christmas shopping), but might have more time tonight. I just found out the tiger's name is Raja.

And a couple of close ups. Only one side has whiskers at this point, because I still have to lay in values of the underfur that the whiskers will go over. I also never noticed until working on this that white tigers have black noses, but normal orange tigers often have pink pigment on portions of their nose!

Here kitty, kitty

My internet decided to go down yesterday afternoon and just got it back... yeah! I can't get by without my internet fixes!  Without the distraction of the internet I was able to make quite a bit of progress on my tiger. 

I am thinking about coloring it, but since he is a white tiger the color would be subtle. I am changing the composition a bit from my reference too, so have to see how it all works out.

Anyways a photo from yesterday and another update from this afternoon.

A close up from when I took the picture yesterday (top image)

White Tiger

I started a new piece yesterday of a white tiger.  He is also from references I took at Rolling Hills when there for the SAA opening.  I have to inquire to remember his name.

At any rate white animals are is many ways much more difficult than darker ones in scratchboard, as well as more time consuming.  When you look at how white hair layers the shadow left by the hairs on top is only a few shades lighter than the white itself.  Since I am scratching away black it often looks too harsh, which means many more layers of hair must be added to get the look I desire. 

I am quite pleased with how it is progressing and should have tomorrow morning to work on it.  I am looking for a good title, so if you think of one let me know!