Pinto Continued

I worked on this piece more last night and some today too in between updating my website and adding some new sections.

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.

Travels and Such

I appologize to those following along on the tiger.  It will be a bit before I come back and finish her, as I am going to be traveling for about 10 days to Oregon and won't be taking it with me.  Then I will be returning and busy, busy with the opening of the Greeley Stampede Western art show.  I hope to squeeze some hours to work on her toward the end of the month.

My artwork will be gracing the poster for this year's stampede event since I won thier purchase award last year.

working the background

More background is being added.  It is primarily being created with the fiberglass brush for the foreground plants and a nail buffer for the stalks in the background.  Diluted ink is added to help push the elements 'back' so that they are not too bright and do not distract from the tiger.

And more...

The depth of fur that you see on the body is created with a comination of a scalpel blade done in somewhat randome directions, followed up with a light touch with the ultrafine fiberglass brush to soften the lines.  By  leaving some lines darker it looks like the fur has clumped together.

Developing the foreground brush

More Rustling...

New Piece - A Rustle In The Brush

 A new tiger piece I started on Wednesday.  This piece will have a moderate amount of folliage and environment to go with it.

Sometimes when you open the box...

...you find good things!  Today I finally got around to opening my box that I got back from LSU Animals In art Show a couple of weeks ago.  As I am  unpack my piece,  "Shaking It Up", out comes an envelope as well.  Inside the envelop are two articles printed in local newspapers during the show (one that my piece is mentioned in) and also a People's Choice Award ribbon!  Woo Hoo!  It turned around a day that started out not very good and put me in a much better mood. 

My list of awards still astounds me; that my work can win awards so consistently under so many different judges is well... amazing.  With this win, this year I have won awards in every show I have entered.

To Black and White

I feel like I should write an ode to black and white art with that title, but in this case I actually mean completed to black and white. My bear that I have titled "Patience Is A Virtue" has been completed to black and white.  It will be colored at a scratchboard symposium in Indianapolis in July as part of a demonstration I will be giving.

Bear-ling along

I have spent several hours for the past few days working on my bear.  She is about 2/3 done to the black and white version (have to finish her muzzle, the rock in the lower corner and the leg that is resting on the rock).  I will be taking her along with me to a scratchboard workshop on July and using the piece as a demonstration on coloring black boards.

For now I am calling it Bear Prayer, but she looks more contemplative than praying to me.

Bear

I started this grizzly bear sow on Wednesday.  Size is 12"x12"

Arabian Night completed

Simple and effective, at least that is my goal :)  I like it when I can let the black do some of the work for me and let the viewers eye fill in details in the shadow.

Detail look at the scratchwork on the piece

Scratch by scratch

I got a couple more hours of work in on the Arabian horse last night. 

Arabian Night

I started a new piece about 3 days ago that I am tentatively calling "Arabian Night"  It is from a photo that I took a couple of weeks ago during a photo shoot of two Arabian Stallions.  The photo in and of itself is not really all that spectacular, but I liked the light in his eye.  With a bit of photoshop to add drama and contrast I decided it would make a nice board.  Size will be 18"x36" which ends up being pretty close to life size with this crop.  It has been progressing quite quickly so far.